Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan: Hatred

This image suggests that many people were much better off when Reagan was not in power. Despite Reagan being seen as a great American President, as he represented the American Dream, he was not liked by all Americans. This is for a number of reasons, including, his political views. He believed that the 'trickle down system' would work- meaning that the wealth of the very few, would make its way to the poorest of Americans. However, not only did this not work, but Ronald Reagan also believed that "the U.S. economic pie should be enlarged, not that everyone should receive an equal slice". This reinforces the notion that although Reagan wanted better things for the United States, he did not believe in welfare or helping the poorest of Americans. The image confirms this, because the it is saying that during Ronald Reagan's presidency, the family were living in poverty throughout the 8 years Reagan was in power. This is a long time to be in poverty, especially when 'the trickle down system' was supposed to be beneficial for the majority of Americans who were not wealthy. This image not only indicates hatred for Ronald Reagan, but also highlights many flaws of his presidency too.

The image is not from an 80's viewpoint because it is comparing the past (during Ronald Reagan's presidency) and the present, (which is 2013, when the image was  published). This is interesting because the image highlights that when a Republican president was in power, poor Americans were worse off. Whereas, in 2013, Obama (a democrat) was in power, which the image suggests is when the poorest of Americans were much better off financially. This reinforces the image being an example of hatred rather than hagiography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O164HT5U8Rw (Video from the image)

This YouTube video is really interesting because it has a number of images with facts about Ronald Reagan's presidency. A key theme throughout is proving how much Ronald Reagan was hated and how little he actually did for the majority of Americans. He was a president who was only interested in the very few wealthy, thus why the image above has a negative viewpoint on Ronald Reagan and his presidency. The title of the video states "Ronald Reagan The Worst President Ever". This proves that the image is an example of hatred, rather than of hagiography.

Reaganomics:
This was the economic policies that were promoted during the 1980's. In theory, this was suppose to be a positive thing for all Americans. It included tax cuts, and cutting government spending. However, Ronald Reagan focused on cutting taxes for the richest Americans, despite being in a recession. This is known as the "trickle down economics", the idea of cutting taxes of the most richest Americans, so they have more money, therefore, they have more money to spend and invest. This would then benefit the poor, because of the notion that the money of the most richest Americans, would then trickle down to everyone else. So to the wealthy Americans, Ronald Reagan was seen as a hagiography president, because they benefited hugely during his presidency. But on the other hand, the rest of the country were not better off financially, and some were even worse off, therefore Reagan was seen as a president who was hated by many.

Grace La Traille

Sources: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ronald+reagan&biw=1366&bih=673&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiGxtrPwKvKAhVKExoKHSkZDukQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=ronald+reagan+seen+as+bad&imgrc=CvK106xUucarsM%3A 
http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Welfare_+_Poverty.htm
https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/economic-report-of-the-President/2013
http://www.ushistory.org/us/59b.asp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5CCRI1vdwE