Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger is indicted by a federal grand jury on five felony counts of lying to Congress and investigators about the Iran-Contra scandal, marking the highest-ranking Reagan administration official charged in the affair. Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh brings the …
Former President Ronald Reagan is questioned under oath in a videotaped deposition for the trial of former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, providing 293 pages of testimony in which he repeatedly claims he cannot recall virtually any specific details of the Iran-Contra affair. …
Ronald ReaganJohn Poindexteriran-contrareagan-administrationaccountabilityperjurycover-up
Comprehensive organizational analysis reveals Hoover Institution as unique conservative think tank exploiting Stanford University affiliation for academic credibility while advancing corporate-conservative agenda. Founded in 1919 by Herbert Hoover as library, the institution transformed into policy …
Hoover InstitutionHerbert HooverStanford UniversityRonald ReaganGeorge Shultz+4 moreorganizational-profileacademic-credibilitythink-tank-infrastructurereagan-administrationconservative-economics+2 more
Ronald Reagan leaves office with a domestic legacy of systematic corruption, regulatory capture, and policy failures that define American political economy for decades. The S&L crisis triggered by his deregulation will ultimately cost taxpayers $160 billion and require prosecuting 1,000+ bankers …
Ronald ReaganGeorge H.W. BushAmerican publicreagan-legacycorruptionpolicy-failureeconomic-inequalityderegulation
President Ronald Reagan signs the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, introducing the “aggravated felony” concept into immigration law for the first time. Initially defined narrowly to include murder, federal drug trafficking, and illicit trafficking in certain firearms or destructive devices, …
Ronald ReaganU.S. CongressDepartment of JusticeImmigration and Naturalization Serviceimmigrationdeportationwar-on-drugsmandatory-minimumdue-process+1 more
The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act becomes law on August 4, 1988, requiring employers with 100 or more workers to provide 60 days advance notice before plant closings or mass layoffs. Congress passes the bill over President Reagan’s veto threats, responding to the …
U.S. CongressRonald ReaganU.S. Chamber of CommerceAFL-CIOlaborplant-closingsdeindustrializationcorporate-loopholesworker-protection
The United States Senate rejected President Reagan’s nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court by a vote of 42-58 on October 23, 1987, marking the first time in nearly a century that the Senate rejected a Supreme Court nominee primarily on the basis of ideology rather than qualifications …
Robert BorkRonald ReaganEdward KennedyLewis PowellAnthony Kennedy+4 moresupreme-courtjudicial-capturefederalist-societyconservative-movementantitrust-abandonment+3 more
FCC Chairman Dennis R. Patrick’s Commission votes 4-0 to abolish the Fairness Doctrine in the Syracuse Peace Council decision, eliminating the 38-year requirement that broadcast licensees using publicly-owned airwaves must provide balanced coverage of controversial issues and present opposing …
Dennis R. PatrickFederal Communications Commission (FCC)Ronald ReaganMark S. FowlerMimi Weyforth Dawson+3 moremedia-regulationfairness-doctrinederegulationfccregulatory-capture+3 more
CIA Director William Casey dies at age 74 from nervous-system lymphoma, taking critical knowledge of the Iran-Contra scandal to his grave without ever testifying before Congress. Casey dies less than 24 hours after former colleague Richard Secord testifies that Casey supported the illegal aiding of …
William CaseyRonald ReaganRichard Secordiran-contraciareagan-administrationaccountabilitycover-up
The Tower Commission delivers its report on the Iran-Contra affair to President Reagan, producing findings widely criticized as a whitewash that shields Reagan from accountability while blaming subordinates for the illegal scheme. The commission, composed of former Senator John Tower, former …
Ronald ReaganJohn TowerEdmund MuskieBrent ScowcroftWilliam Caseyiran-contrareagan-administrationcongressional-oversightaccountabilitycover-up
Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that proceeds from secret arms sales to Iran were illegally diverted to fund Nicaraguan Contra rebels, publicly exposing the Iran-Contra scandal that had been revealed three weeks earlier by the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa on November 3. The announcement comes …
President Ronald Reagan signs the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), also known as the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, enacting the first federal law to impose sanctions on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers while simultaneously granting amnesty to approximately 3 million undocumented …
Ronald ReaganAlan SimpsonRomano MazzoliU.S. Congressimmigration-policyamnestyemployer-sanctionslabor-exploitationregulatory-failure
Congress passes the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, establishing a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses—imposing the same penalties for possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine as for 500 grams of powder cocaine. The legislation provided mandatory minimum …
Ronald ReaganCongressmass-incarcerationracial-justicewar-on-drugscriminal-justicesentencing-reform+1 more
On October 22, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) into law, implementing the most dramatic restructuring of the federal tax code since World War II. The legislation reduced the number of individual income tax brackets from 16 to just 2, slashing the top marginal …
Ronald ReaganDan RostenkowskiBob PackwoodBill BradleyJack Kemp+2 moretax-policyreagan-administrationsupply-side-economicswealth-transfercorporate-corruption+3 more
President Reagan vetoes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, calling economic sanctions against South Africa’s white minority regime “economic warfare” and claiming they would hurt the impoverished Black majority. Reagan’s veto represents the culmination of his …
Ronald ReaganDesmond Tutuforeign-policyhuman-rightsapartheidsouth-africareagan-administration
President Reagan signs the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA), which includes the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) requiring hospitals with emergency departments to screen and stabilize any patient regardless of ability to pay. While framed as …
Ronald ReaganAmerican Hospital AssociationHealth Insurance Association of AmericaPete Starkhealthcareunfunded-mandateemergency-carecost-shiftingregulatory-capture
President Reagan signs a finding on December 5, 1985, retroactively authorizing covert arms sales to Iran already conducted by National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, formalizing an illegal shadow foreign policy run through the National Security Council. McFarlane had undertaken the sale of …
Robert McFarlaneJohn PoindexterOliver NorthRonald Reaganiran-contrareagan-administrationnsccovert-operationsconstitutional-crisis
Hollywood icon Rock Hudson dies at age 59 of AIDS complications, becoming the first major U.S. celebrity to die of the disease and forcing President Reagan to finally acknowledge the epidemic publicly. Hudson’s death marks a turning point: Reagan had maintained complete public silence on AIDS …
Rock HudsonRonald ReaganNancy ReaganC. Everett Koopaidsrock-hudsonreaganpublic-healthlgbtq+1 more
Israel sends 96 American-made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran through arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, marking the first covert arms shipment in what becomes the Iran-Contra scandal. Hours after receiving the weapons, the Islamic fundamentalist group Islamic Jihad releases one American …
Ronald ReaganRobert McFarlaneOliver NorthManucher Ghorbanifariran-contrareagan-administrationforeign-policyarms-traffickingcovert-operations
Several Opus Dei members and sympathizers gain positions in the Reagan Administration, including key roles in economic policy and judicial nominations. This marks the beginning of systematic Opus Dei influence in Republican politics, particularly around conservative economic and social policies. By …
Ronald ReaganOpus Dei MembersRepublican Partyreagan-administrationopus-deirepublican-politicsconservative-influence
On October 30, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, fundamentally deregulating the cable television industry and setting the stage for massive media consolidation. Written and championed by conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the act amended …
Ronald ReaganBarry GoldwaterFederal Communications Commission (FCC)Cable industrymedia-deregulationcorporate-consolidationregulatory-capturereagan-administrationmedia-infrastructure
Congress passes the most restrictive version of the Boland Amendment, explicitly prohibiting any U.S. government agency involved in intelligence activities from providing support for military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua. The amendment, effective from October 3, 1984, to December 3, 1985, …
Edward BolandRonald Reaganiran-contracongressional-oversightnicaraguareagan-administrationconstitutional-law
President Reagan signs the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act, known as Hatch-Waxman, which ostensibly balances pharmaceutical innovation incentives with generic competition but creates loopholes that brand-name manufacturers exploit to extend monopoly pricing for decades. The …
Orrin HatchHenry WaxmanRonald ReaganPharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of Americahealthcarepharmaceutical-industryregulatory-capturepatent-abuselobbying
President Reagan sends Donald Rumsfeld as a special envoy to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, establishing formal diplomatic relations and initiating a strategic partnership during the Iran-Iraq War. The now-infamous handshake between Rumsfeld and Hussein symbolizes the Reagan …
Donald RumsfeldSaddam HusseinRonald Reaganforeign-policyiraqreagan-administrationwar-crimeschemical-weapons
A federal jury convicts EPA official Rita Lavelle of perjury for lying to Congress about her handling of the $1.6 billion Superfund toxic waste cleanup program. Lavelle, who headed the Superfund division, is found guilty on four of five felony counts for false testimony regarding her knowledge that …
Rita LavelleEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Aerojet-General CorporationRonald ReaganCongressepaperjurysuperfundconflict-of-interestregulatory-capture+1 more
Interior Secretary James Watt announces his resignation after describing a department panel as having “a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple,” mocking affirmative action. Watt resigns within three weeks of the September comments amid bipartisan condemnation. His controversial 33-month …
James WattRonald ReaganDepartment of InteriorBeach Boysinterior-departmentenvironmental-deregulationracismregulatory-capturepublic-lands
On April 26, 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education released “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform,” a report that fundamentally reshaped American education discourse and laid the ideological groundwork for decades of privatization efforts. The …
National Commission on Excellence in EducationSecretary of Education Terrel BellRonald ReaganHeritage Foundationeducationprivatizationreagan-eramanufactured-crisisschool-choice+1 more
The Social Security Amendments of 1983 establish Medicare’s Prospective Payment System (PPS), fundamentally transforming hospital economics by replacing cost-based reimbursement with fixed payments based on Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs). Under the new system, hospitals receive a …
Ronald ReaganRichard SchweikerAmerican Hospital AssociationFederation of American Hospitalshealthcaremedicareregulatory-capturehospital-industrycost-shifting
Anne Gorsuch Burford resigns as EPA Administrator after becoming the first cabinet-level official in American history held in contempt of Congress. Gorsuch had refused to turn over Superfund records related to a $1.6 billion hazardous waste cleanup program, citing executive privilege on …
Anne Gorsuch BurfordRonald ReaganCongressEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Neil Gorsuchepaenvironmental-deregulationregulatory-capturecontempt-of-congresssuperfund+1 more
The Heritage Foundation reached over 100 staff members and a $10 million annual budget by 1983, representing explosive growth during the Reagan administration’s implementation of Heritage policy recommendations. In just six years since Ed Feulner became president in 1977, Heritage had grown …
Heritage FoundationEdwin FeulnerRonald ReaganRichard ScaifeState Policy Network+1 moreheritage-foundationconservative-movementthink-tank-influenceinstitutional-capturedark-money+3 more
Under Reagan administration SEC Chairman John Shad, former vice chairman of E.F. Hutton, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopts Rule 10b-18, creating a ‘safe harbor’ from manipulation liability for corporate stock repurchases. Prior to this rule, large-scale share repurchases were …
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)John ShadRonald Reaganseccorporate-powerwealth-extractionstock-buybacksderegulation+1 more
President Reagan signs the Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act in the Rose Garden, calling it “the most important legislation for financial institutions in the last 50 years.” The Act removes Depression-era constraints on thrift asset holdings, allows S&Ls to make high-risk …
Ronald ReaganJake Garn (R-UT)Fernand St Germain (D-RI)Chuck SchumerSteny Hoyer+2 morederegulationthrift-industryregulatory-capturereagan-administrations&l-crisis+1 more
On September 3, 1982, President Ronald Reagan signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) into law, reversing substantial portions of the Economic Recovery Tax Act he had signed just 13 months earlier. TEFRA raised nearly $100 billion in federal revenues through closure of tax …
Ronald ReaganRobert DoleJack KempBruce BartlettSenate Finance Committeetax-policyreagan-administrationsupply-side-economicsdeficit-spendingfiscal-crisis+3 more
The Equal Rights Amendment expires on June 30, 1982, after failing to achieve ratification by 38 states, marking a stunning victory for Phyllis Schlafly’s decade-long STOP ERA campaign and establishing the template for modern conservative movement organizing. Despite 30 of the necessary 38 …
President Reagan signed the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, extending Section 5 preclearance requirements for 25 years and critically strengthening Section 2 by adopting a “results test” that made proving voting discrimination far easier. The legislation represented a major defeat …
Ronald ReaganCongressBob DoleEdward KennedyCoretta Scott King+1 morevoting-rightsfederal-legislationsection-2results-testreagan-administration+1 more
Reagan’s Antitrust Chief William Baxter released the Department of Justice’s 1982 Merger Guidelines, fundamentally transforming how the federal government evaluated mergers and effectively repealing Congressional antitrust statutes through administrative policy. The FTC simultaneously …
William F. BaxterDepartment of JusticeFederal Trade CommissionRonald Reaganantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolmerger-guidelinescorporate-power+1 more
General Efraín Ríos Montt seizes power in Guatemala through a military coup, beginning what would become the bloodiest period in the nation’s history. The Reagan administration, seeking regional allies for its covert war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, immediately embraces the …
Ronald ReaganEfraín Ríos Monttforeign-policyhuman-rightscentral-americagenocidereagan-administration
President Ronald Reagan appointed Robert Bork to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on February 9, 1982, elevating the author of “The Antitrust Paradox” to the federal bench widely considered the nation’s second-most important court. Bork’s …
Robert BorkRonald ReaganDC Circuit Court of AppealsFederalist SocietyDepartment of Justice Antitrust Division+1 morejudicial-captureantitrust-abandonmentchicago-schoolfederalist-societyconservative-movement+3 more
The Department of Justice and AT&T finalize the antitrust settlement requiring the telecommunications giant to divest its seven regional Bell operating companies (Baby Bells) in 1984, breaking up the AT&T natural monopoly. However, this settlement paradoxically marks the end rather than …
AT&TDepartment of JusticeRonald ReaganRobert Borkantitrustmonopolyderegulationreagan-administrationcorporate-power
The national debt under President Reagan explodes from $997 billion in 1981 to $2.9 trillion by 1989, representing an increase of 186% and adding approximately $1.9 trillion in new debt during his eight-year presidency. Annual budget deficits average 4.0% of GDP during Reagan’s tenure, …
Ronald ReaganCongressOffice of Management and Budget (OMB)Department of Treasurydeficitnational-debtreaganomicsfiscal-policysupply-side-economics
President Ronald Reagan issues Executive Order 12324, authorizing the U.S. Coast Guard to interdict vessels carrying undocumented migrants in international waters and return passengers to their country of origin without asylum screening. Though framed neutrally, the order specifically targets …
Ronald ReaganU.S. Coast GuardImmigration and Naturalization ServiceJean-Claude DuvalierDepartment of Stateimmigrationasylumracisminterdictiondetention+1 more
On August 13, 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA) into law, enacting one of the largest tax cuts in American history. The Act reduced the highest marginal individual income tax rate from 70% to 50% and the lowest rate from 14% to 11%, implementing an …
Ronald ReaganJack KempWilliam RothDavid StockmanHeritage Foundation+3 moretax-policyreagan-administrationsupply-side-economicscorporate-corruptionwealth-transfer+4 more
President Ronald Reagan fires 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who refused to return to work, permanently banning them from federal service. When 13,000 PATCO members went on strike August 3 seeking better pay, improved working conditions, and a reduced workweek, Reagan declared the strike a …
Ronald ReaganProfessional Air Traffic Controllers OrganizationPATCOFederal Aviation Administrationlaborunionspatcoreaganstrike-breaking+1 more
The CDC publishes the first report on unusual immune system failures in five previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles, marking the medical recognition of what becomes the AIDS epidemic. President Ronald Reagan’s administration responds with years of complete public silence while the epidemic …
Ronald ReaganCenters for Disease ControlC. Everett KoopLarry Speakesaidspublic-healthreaganlgbtqepidemic+1 more
President Ronald Reagan appointed Stanford Law Professor William F. Baxter as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, marking the formal beginning of antitrust enforcement collapse and the operationalization of Chicago School ideology throughout the federal government. Baxter, a …
Ronald ReaganWilliam F. BaxterDepartment of JusticeStanford Law SchoolSenator Howard Metzenbaumantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolreagan-administrationenforcement-collapse+1 more
President Reagan appoints James Watt, former president of Mountain States Legal Foundation (funded by Coors and oil companies), as Interior Secretary. Watt immediately opens federal lands to mining and drilling, reverses environmental protections, and staffs the department with industry executives. …
Ronald ReaganJames WattMountain States Legal FoundationCoors CompanyOil Industryreagan-eraregulatory-capturederegulationinterior-departmentoil-industry
Ronald Reagan’s inauguration marked the beginning of the most consequential transformation in American antitrust policy since the Sherman Act of 1890—an eight-year systematic dismantlement of competition enforcement that would enable four decades of corporate consolidation and monopolization. …
Ronald ReaganWilliam F. BaxterDouglas GinsburgRobert BorkFrank Easterbrook+3 moreantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolreagan-administrationenforcement-collapse+2 more
In 1981, ALEC formalized its systematic corporate legislative capture mechanism by establishing seven Cabinet Task Forces that worked directly with the Reagan administration on policy development. President Ronald Reagan formed a national Task Force on Federalism headed by U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt …
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)Ronald ReaganPaul LaxaltTom StiversJohn Kasichcorporate-capturelegislative-capturealecreagan-administrationstate-level-politics+2 more
Ronald Reagan wins the presidency in a 44-state Electoral College landslide, marking the triumph of the conservative infrastructure deliberately built over nine years in response to the Powell Memo blueprint. Reagan’s victory demonstrates the effectiveness of coordinated institutional power …
Ronald ReaganHeritage FoundationPaul WeyrichEdwin FeulnerEdwin Meese III+2 morereagan-presidencyconservative-movementheritage-foundationpowell-memoelectoral-victory+1 more
Ronald Reagan opened his general election campaign at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia, Mississippi—just seven miles from where Ku Klux Klan members had murdered civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner in 1964. In his first major speech after the Republican …
Ronald ReaganRepublican Partyracial-politicsdog-whistle-politicspolitical-strategyrepublican-partysouthern-strategy+2 more