Domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration

This article is part of a series about Ronald Reagan
Entertainment and personal Filmography Bibliography Speeches and debates Death Eponyms Honors Depictions music Residences Birthplace of Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home Rancho del Cielo 668 St. Cloud Road 33rd Governor of California Governorship 1969 People's Park protest Elections 1966 1970 40th President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inaugurations first inauguration second inauguration Presidential library Tenure Assassination attempt Invasion of Grenada Bombing of Libya Iran–Contra affair AIDS epidemic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty Polls Scandals Reagan era Policies Domestic Economy Foreign Reagan Doctrine international trips Appointments Federal judges O'Connor Rehnquist Scalia Bork Kennedy Supreme Court candidates Presidential campaigns 1968 primaries convention 1976 primaries convention 1980 election primaries convention debates States' rights speech Reagan coalition 1984 election primaries convention debates
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This article discusses the domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration from 1981 to 1989. Reagan's policies stressed conservative economic values, starting with his implementation of supply-side economic policies, dubbed as "Reaganomics" by both supporters and detracters. His policies also included the largest tax cut in American history as well as increased defense spending as part of his Soviet strategy. However, he significantly raised (non-income) taxes four times due to economic conditions and reforms, but the tax reforms instituted during presidency brought top marginal rates to their lowest levels since 1931, such that by 1988, the top US marginal tax rate was 28%.^[1][2]

Notable events included his firing of nearly 12,000 striking air traffic control workers and appointing the first woman to the Supreme Court bench, Sandra Day O'Connor. He believed in federalism and free markets, passed policies to encourage development of private business, and routinely criticized and defunded the public sector. Despite his support for limited government, he greatly accelerated the nation's War on Drugs.^[3]