American Presidents: Reagan, Truman, Harding
On January 23, 1982, President Ronald Reagan was early in his term as President of the United States with many issues with which to deal. Both, in 1952 and 1922, President’s Harry S. Truman and William G. Harding, respectively, were late in their terms and did not have as many issues as President Reagan did in 1982. The presidency will be the theme that I will be concentrating on throughout my paper. The information that I gained through old newspapers, the internet and Time Magazine gives me a public perspective on what issues each President was dealing with at that point in time. In one year, a president is just beginning his term while in another year; a president is preparing to end his term. Some newspapers contained articles relative to who would be the next President of the United States or whom the main political parties would select as their respective candidate. The public perspective of what was actually happening within the cabinet of the Presidency in 1952 and 1922 was substantially less than the public’s visibility in 1982. This was due to the limited information that was available to people during these periods on a timely basis and the press’s tendency to be more supportive and less controversial of administrations than you see today. This all changed with President Nixon and the Watergate scandal. This event seemed to give the press the “charge” to dig deeper into the Presidency and issues surrounding them. But the limited information that was provided to the public was correct in dealing with the social issues that each President faced in 1952 and 1922.
In January of 1982, President Ronald Reagan was preparing to give his State of the Union address to the country. The buildup of this speech was more of a will-he or won’t he commit to his economic plans that had circulated in the press and caused suspense that had been running for almost two months prior to his State of the Union address. The question running though the public’s minds was the effect of his economic plans on each person’s income and livelihood. President Reagan made good on his promises on what his plans were for the. He asked for higher taxes for people who spend an excessive amount of money on cigarettes, luxury cars and boats and possibly people who have sizable medical expenses or run up...