The background and pro and con arguments were written by ProCon.org staff based upon input from the following footnotes (directly referenced) and sources (used for general research and not directly referenced):
Footnotes:
CNN, "Ronald Reagan Dies at 93," www.cnn.com, June 5, 2004
National Archives, "Reagan's Nomination of O'Connor," www.archives.gov (accessed Sep. 13, 2010)
Veronique de Rugy, "President Reagan, Champion Budget-Cutter," American Institute for Public Policy Research website, June 9, 2004
Lawrence J. Korb, "Spending Without Strategy: The FY 1988 Annual Defense Report," International Security, Summer 1987
Stephen F. Knott & Jeffrey L. Chidster, Presidential Profiles: The Reagan Years, 2005
Edwin Meese, With Reagan: The Inside Story, 1992
Ron Chepesiuk, The War on Drugs: An International Encyclopedia, 1999
Shahid M. Shahidullah, Crime Policy in America: Laws, Institutions, and Programs, 2008
Tom Bowman, "Reagan Guided Huge Buildup in Arms Race," www.baltimoresum.com, June 8, 2004
Peter Sperry, "The Real Reagan Economic Record: Responsible and Successful Fiscal Policy," www.heritage.org, Mar. 1, 2001
Department of Education, "Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform," www.ed.gov, Apr. 1983
Deborah A. Verstegen, "Education Fiscal Policy in the Reagan Administration," American Educational Research Association, Winter, 1990
ClimateConservative.org, "Timeline of Ronald Reagan's Environmental Accomplishments," www.climateconservative.org (accessed Sep. 27, 2010)
Ronald Reagan, "Remarks on East-West Relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin," www.reaganfoundation.org, June 12, 1987
David E. Hoffman, "Hastening an End to the Cold War," Washington Post, June 6, 2004
US Department of Labor, "Health Plans & Benefits: Continuation of Health Coverage - COBRA," www.dol.gov (accessed Sep. 20, 2010)
Ronald Reagan and Frederick J. Ryan, Reagan: The Great Communicator, 1995
International Association of Fire Chiefs and National Fire Protection Association, Fire Officer: Principles and Practice, 2010
Kathleen Schalch, "1981 Strike Leaves Legacy for American Workers," www.npr.org, Aug. 3, 2006
Sean O'Keefe, "Remembering the Legacy of President Ronald Reagan," www.nasa.gov, June 7, 2004
Mark Crawford, "Reagan Okays the Supercollider," Science, Feb. 6, 1987
Marvin B. Sussman, Suzanne K. Steinmetz, and Gary W. Peterson, Handbook of Marriage and the Family, 1999
Paul Krugman, "The Great Taxer," www.nytimes.com , June 8, 2004
Joint Economic Committee, "The Regan Tax Cuts: Lessons for Tax Reform," www.jec.senate.gov, Apr. 1996
AtomicArchive.com, "Cold War: A Brief History, Reagan's Star Wars," www.atomicarchive.com (accessed Oct. 6, 2010)
Lee Hamilton and Daniel Inouye, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair, Nov. 13, 1987
Jim Sweeney, "Summary: Looking Back on the Reagan Presidency," chnm.gmu.edu (accessed on Oct. 14, 2010)
Dinesh D'Souza, Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader, 1997
Ronald Reagan, "Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in New Orleans, Louisiana," www.reagan.utexas.edu, Sep. 28, 1981
Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Reported Crime in United States-Total," bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov (accessed Oct. 8, 2010)
Paul Ruffins, "Critics Say No to Reagan's Drug Policy," Black Enterprise, Aug. 1988
Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Drugs and Crime Facts," bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov (accessed Oct. 14, 2010)
Lawrence J. Korb, "Did Readiness Get Its Fair Share of the Defense Buildup in the First Reagan Administration?," Defense Policy in the Reagan Administration, Eds. William P. Snyder and James Brown, 1998
Greg Schneider and Renae Merle, "Reagan's Defense Buildup Bridged Military Eras," www.washingtonpost.com, June 9, 2004
Office of Management and Budget, "Historical Tables: Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009," www.whitehouse.gov, 2009
William A. Niskanen, "Reaganomics," Library of Economics and Liberty website (accessed Sep. 10, 2010)
Anne Constable, Douglas Brew, and Maureen Dowd, "A Course in Politics," www.time.com, June 20, 1983
Amanda Little, "How Green Was the Gipper?: A Look Back at Reagan's Environmental Record," www.grist.org, June 10, 2004
Patricia Sullivan, "Anne Gorsuch Burford, 62, Dies; Reagan EPA Director," Washington Post, July 22, 2004
Allen White, "Reagan's AIDS Legacy/Silence Equals Death," articles.sfgate.com, June 8, 2004
Ronald Reagan, Kiron Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, 2003
PBS, "Timeline of Ronald Reagan's Life," www.pbs.org (accessed Sep. 14)
Andrew Kohut, Jodie T. Allen, and Richard Auxie, "It's All About Jobs, Except When It's Not: Unemployment and Presidential Approval Ratings 1981-2009," pewresearch.org, Jan. 26, 2010
Ronald Reagan, "Remarks of the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida," www.reaganfoundation.com, Mar. 8, 1983
AtomicArchive.com, "Cold War: A Brief History, Reagan's Star Wars," www.atomicarchive.com (accessed Sep. 21, 2010)
United Nations General Assembly, "The Situation in Grenada (A/RES/38/7)," www.un.org, Nov. 2, 1983
Arms Control Association, "The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at a Glance," www.armscontrol.org (accessed Oct. 6, 2010)
Ann R. Markusen, "Cold War Economics," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Jan.-Feb. 1989
Bootie Cosgrove-Mather, "A Look Back at the Polls," www.cbsnews.com, June 7, 2004
Ronald Reagan, "Text of Letter Written by President Ronald Reagan Announcing He Has Alzheimer’s Disease," www.reagan.utexas.edu, Nov. 5, 1994
Lawrence Walsh, "Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters," www.fas.org, Aug. 4, 1993
Sources:
BBC, "Reaganomics or 'Voodoo Economics'?," news.bbc.co.uk, June 5, 2004
CNN, "How the Electoral College Works," www.cnn.com (accessed Oct. 11, 2010)
CNN, "The Reagan Years," www.cnn.com (accessed Oct. 13, 2010)
David J. Hanson, "Reagan's R&D Legacy: From Supercolliders to Star Wars, Ronald Reagan Provided Excitement for Scientists and Engineers," Chemical & Engineering News, June 15, 2004
Jaime Holguin, "Reagan's Cold War Legacy," www.cbsnews.com, June 10, 2004
John Iceland, Poverty in America: A Handbook, 2006
New World Encyclopedia, "Ronald Reagan," www.newworldencyclopedia.org (accessed Sep. 17, 2010)
NPR, "The Life of Ronald Reagan: A Timeline," www.npr.org (accessed Sep. 28, 2010)
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library, "President Reagan's Domestic Policy: A More Perfect Union," www.reaganlibrary.com (accessed Sep. 30, 2010)
John W. Sloan, "The Economic Costs of Reagan Mythology," Deconstructing Reagan: Conservative Mythology and America's Fortieth President, 2007
Dinesh D'Souza, "How Reagan Won the Cold War," National Review, Nov. 24, 1997
