Ronald Reagan

The ascension of Ronald Reagan, a former actor and governor of California, marked the revitalization of the conservative western wing of the Republican party that many thought had died with the defeat of Barry Goldwater in 1964. As president, he challenged many of the liberal programs that had dominated the federal government since the New Deal, and throughout his presidency, he strove to cut the size of government. Reagan unapologetically reduced social welfare programs and encouraged a conservative social ethic regarding the role of religion in public life and reproductive rights, but his conservative stance led him to largely ignore the AIDS crisis. Finally, in foreign policy, Reagan guided the United States through the end of the Cold War. When he left office in 1989, the Soviet Union was already falling apart, but it did not officially break up until two years later.