Timeline of the Ronald Reagan presidency

The presidency of Ronald Reagan began on January 20, 1981 when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 1989.

1981

Further information: Timeline of the Ronald Reagan presidency (1981)

1982

• January 4 – President Reagan sends a letter accepting National Security Advisor Richard Allen's resignation.[1] Deputy Press Secretary Speakes describes President Reagan as having "deep regret" over Allen's departure.[2]
• January 5 – President Reagan announces his nomination of Hugh W. Foster for Alternate Executive Director of the Inter-American Development Bank, and Harold J. Buoy for membership of the National Productivity Advisory Committee.[3] President Reagan meets with Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Schmidt in the Oval Office at the White House. The two country leaders attend a luncheon together, and after Chancellor Schmidit departs, President Reagan delivers remarks on the White House's South Portico.[4]
• January 7 – President Reagan releases a statement on the Registration Program continuation under the Military Selective Service Act.[5]
• January 26 – President Reagan delivers the 1982 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress.
• May 31 – President Reagan announces open negotiations between the US and Soviet Union in Geneva on June 29.[6]
• June 8 – President Reagan gives his "Ash heap of history" speech to the U.K. House of Commons.[7]
• June 11 – President Reagan visits West Berlin for three hours, calling on the Soviet Union to move toward a freer society.[8] Demonstrators number the thousands, holding signs calling the president a fascist, imploring him to return home, and calling for his assassination, the protest continuing even after the president left.[9]
• June 29 – President Reagan signs a 25-year expansion of the 1965 Voting Rights Act during an East Room ceremony.[10]
• September 3 – President Reagan signs the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982.
• October 13 – President Reagan signs the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982.
• October 15 – President Reagan signs the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act.

1983

• January 7 – President Reagan signs the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
• January 25 – President Reagan delivers the 1983 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress.
• March 8 – President Reagan gives his "Evil empire" speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida.
• March 10 – President Reagan establishes the U.S. exclusive economic zone.[11][12]
• March 23 – President Reagan publicly announces the Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as "Star Wars".
• April 20 – President Reagan signs the Social Security Amendments of 1983.
• October 25 – The Invasion of Grenada begins, lasting until December 15.

1984

• January 25 – President Reagan delivers the 1984 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress.
• July 17 – President Reagan signs the National Minimum Drinking Age Act.
• July 18 – President Reagan signs the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984.
• September 28 – President Reagan signs the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act.
• October 30 – President Reagan signs the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984.
• October 30 – President Reagan signs the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984.
• November 6 – President Reagan wins re-election against former Vice President Walter Mondale from Minnesota, the Democratic candidate.

1985

• January 20 – Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan
• February 6 – President Reagan delivers the 1985 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress.
• March 1 – During a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Reagan referred to the rebels of the Nicaraguan Government as a "moral equal of our Founding Fathers."[13]
• April 19 – The White House announces President Reagan will be visiting the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp site. Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council Elie Wiesel calls on President Reagan, during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room, to not visit a cemetery where Nazis were buried and cited the president's place as with their victims.[14]
• May 5 – President Reagan attends a ceremony in regards to 2,000 German soldiers in West Germany with Chancellor Helmut Kohl.[15]
• June 4 – President Reagan meets with Senator from Utah Jake Garn and six of his colleagues from the fourth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery.[16]
• July 13 – President Reagan undergoes surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Vice President Bush is acting president for about seven hours, under section 3 of the 25th Amendment.
• November 19–20 – President Reagan attends the Geneva Summit.
• December 12 – President Reagan signs the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act.

1986

• January 28 – President Reagan addresses the nation concerning the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
• February 4 – President Reagan delivers the 1986 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress, which he postponed due to the Challenger disaster.
• April 7 – President Reagan signs the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985.
• April 15 – 1986 United States bombing of Libya.
• May 19 – President Reagan signs the Firearm Owners Protection Act.
• June 6 – President Reagan creates the Federal Employees Retirement System.
• June 20 – President Reagan nominates William Rehnquist as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
• June 24 – President Reagan nominates Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court.
• September 16 – Senate confirms Scalia to the Supreme Court.
• September 26 – Senate confirms Rehnquist as Chief Justice. The same day, President Reagan vetoes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act.
• October 1 – President Reagan signs the Goldwater–Nichols Act.
• October 2 – Congress overrides President Reagan's veto of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, making it become law that day.
• October 11–12 – President Reagan attends the Reykjavík Summit.
• October 22 – President Reagan signs the Surface Freight Forwarder Deregulation Act of 1986.
• October 26 – President Reagan signs the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
• November 3 – The Iran–Contra affair is first publicly revealed by a Lebanese magazine, due to a leak from Iranian official Mehdi Hashemi.
• November 6 – President Reagan signs the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
• November 25 – U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese admits that profits from weapons sales to Iran were made available to assist the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. National Security Advisor John Poindexter resigns, and President Reagan fires National Security Council staff member Oliver North for his involvement in the affair.

1987

Further information: Timeline of the Ronald Reagan presidency (1987)

1988

• January 2 – President Reagan co-signs the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement.
• January 25 – President Reagan delivers the 1988 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress.
• February 3 – Senate confirms Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court.
• May 29 – June 3 – President Reagan attends the Moscow Summit.
• June 6 – President Reagan says the US and the Soviet Union have a new "dimension of trust and cooperation" thanks to his Moscow Summit trip and praises Gorbachev for the "real changes" he has brought about in the Soviet Union.[17]
• August 10 – President Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
• August 23 – President Reagan signs the Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act.
• October 13 – President Reagan signs the Family Support Act.
• November 9 – President Reagan meets with President-elect Bush at the Oval Office to discuss the transition of power between the presidents.
• November 10 – President Reagan signs the Undetectable Firearms Act.

1989

• January 7 – President Reagan undergoes surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
• January 11 – President Reagan delivers his farewell address in the Oval Office.
• January 20 – President Reagan finishes his time in office and departs the White House with his wife, Nancy Reagan. His successor, George H. W. Bush, was inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States, at noon EST.

References

1. Letter Accepting the Resignation of Richard V. Allen as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (January 4, 1982)
2. Statement by Deputy Press Secretary Speakes on the Resignation of Richard V. Allen as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Designation of William P. Clark for the Position (January 4, 1982)
3. Nominations & Appointments, January 5, 1982
4. Remarks of the President and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the Federal Republic of Germany Following Their Meeting (January 5, 1982)
5. Statement on Continuation of the Registration Program Under the Military Selective Service Act (January 7, 1982)
6. Miller, Judith (May 31, 2001). "U.S.-SOVIET MEETING ON ARMS CUTBACKS WILL BEGIN JUNE 29; Transcript of speech, page A14". New York Times.
7. Apple, Jr., R. W. (June 9, 1982). "PRESIDENT URGES GLOBAL CRUSADE FOR DEMOCRACY; Text of Reagan's address, page A16".
8. Weisman, Steven R. (June 12, 1982). "REAGAN, IN BERLIN, BIDS SOVIET WORK FOR A SAFE EUROPE". New York Times.
9. Tagliabue, John (June 12, 1982). "THOUSANDS OF ANTI-REAGAN PROTESTERS CLASH WITH THE POLICE IN WEST BERLIN". New York Times.
10. "VOTING RIGHTS ACT SIGNED BY REAGAN". New York Times. June 30, 1982.
11. Geman, Ben (July 31, 2013). "Lawmakers Debate Whether to Name Ocean Waters After Reagan". The Hill. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
12. "Ronald Reagan: Proclamation 5030—Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States of America". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved February 10, 2017. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
13. Boyd, Gerald M. (March 1, 1985). "Reagan Terms Nicaraguan Rebels 'Moral Equal of Founding Fathers'". New York Times.
14. Weinraub, Bernard (April 20, 1985). "WIESEL CONFRONTS REAGAN ON TRIP; PRESIDENT TO VISIT BERGEN-BELSEN; SURVIVOR OF HOLOCAUST URGES HIM NOT TO STOP AT GERMAN CEMETERY". New York Times.
15. Weinraub, Bernard (May 6, 1985). "Reagan Joins Kohl in Brief Memorial at Bitburg Graves".
16. "Garn, Colleagues From Space Meet With Reagan". Los Angeles Times. June 5, 1985.
17. de Lama, George (June 6, 1988). "Reagan says he sensed 'new hope' in USSR". Chicago Tribune.

External links

• Miller Center Reagan Presidential Timeline