It’s interesting to note that Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign and Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns have essentially the same slogan: Make America Great Again.
To be precise, Reagan’s slogan was, “Let’s Make America Great Again,” which Trump shortened to “Make America Great Again” or MAGA.
#OTD July 17, 1980
Ronald Reagan:
“… a great national crusade to make America great again.” pic.twitter.com/WuaOWUzX9Z— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) July 17, 2022
The question is what particular time in American history were the two leaders hoping to bring back.
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For Reagan, it seems pretty clear it was the 1950s, when the United States stood unrivaled with the best economy and the best military in the world.
Let’s Make America Great Again
Ronald Reagan (1980)
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸#July4th pic.twitter.com/sQmJYHXN3e
— Dr. Malachi – (Dr. Run) (@malachiobrien) July 4, 2022
Many may not realize that Reagan had been a life-long Democrat until in 1962 when, in his early 50s, he switched to the Republican Party.
Who was a better president?
He famously said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”
Reagan and the 1950s
Reagan was part of the “Democrats-for-Eisenhower” campaigns in 1952 and 1956, when former World War II Allied commander Gen. Dwight Eisenhower ran for office.
Reagan then backed Ike’s vice president Richard Nixon over moderate Democrat John F. Kennedy in the 1960 campaign.
What did Reagan like about the 1950s economy? It boomed with low inflation and low unemployment.
The U.S. Gross Domestic Product grew over one-third larger during the 1950s.
“It was a time of extraordinary economic growth, with household income rising nearly 30 percent in the four years after World War II and nearly doubling during the decade,” American University history professor Leonard Steinhorn wrote in a piece for The Washington Post in 2022.
“Families that suffered hardship and sacrifice during the previous two decades could now afford a home with appliances and a backyard — in safe neighborhoods where children could ride their Schwinn bicycles without worry.”
In 1964, Reagan warned that the Democrats’ “Great Society,” big government agenda, which launched under President Lyndon Johnson, was going to bring down America.
In his “Time for Choosing” speech delivered in support of Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign, Reagan said, “This is the issue of this election: whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.”
“You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right,” he continued.
“There’s only an up or down — [up] man’s old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.”
Reagan’s prediction had become true by 1980, as the nation experienced double-digit inflation, double-digit interest rates, low economic growth and high unemployment (7.8 percent on its way to 10.8 percent early the new president’s term).
In his inaugural address in January 1981, Reagan said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
“It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise,” he pronounced.
“We have every right to dream heroic dreams,” Reagan said. “Why shouldn’t we believe that? We are Americans.”
To get the economy moving again, Reagan enacted across-the-board tax cuts and slashed government regulations. Newly unfettered, the economy boomed, adding 3.5 million new jobs in 1983 and 3.9 million the following year.
Like the 1950s, the economy grew about one-third larger during the 1980s.
Additionally, the poverty rate dropped by the largest percentage in over a decade in 1984, with nearly 2 million people leaving the ranks of the poor that year alone.
Reagan also embarked on the largest peacetime military build up in U.S. history as part of his “Peace through strength” policy, which helped bring about the end of the Cold War.
Trump and the 1980s
During the 1980s, Trump became a national figure and a best-selling author with his 1987 book “The Art of the Deal,” and he no doubt remembers the Reagan years with fondness.
Thank you POTUS 45 for #MAGA!
POTUS 40 is smiling down on you Sir
It is time to reawaken this Industrial giant, get government back within its means & to lighten our punitive tax burden. & these will be our 1st priorities & on these principles there will be no compromise
40
🎄 pic.twitter.com/CsxJui4Lws— Steven M. Yanchak (@StevenYanchak) November 28, 2018
In his first term, Trump implemented a lot of Reagan-like reforms, including slashing taxes and regulations, and the economy boomed, bringing unemployment down to its lowest rate in 50 years.
In his inaugural address, Trump said, “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.”
“America will start winning again, winning like never before. We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams,” he added.
“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.
From this day forward, it’s going to be only America First, America First!
Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families!” pic.twitter.com/A1m9lIsObk
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) November 11, 2019
CNBC reported in 2018 that during Trump’s first year in office salary and benefits went up the most since 2007, meaning better than the eight years of the Barack Obama-Joe Biden administration.
In 2022, Heritage Foundation economist EJ Antoni reported that due to inflation under Biden, Americans had lost the equivalent of $4,200 in annual income.
By contrast, American worker’s real annual earnings were up by $4,000 under Trump.
So the Biden administration wiped out all the gains made during the Trump years — and then some.
Former Trump and Reagan economist Larry Kudlow explained earlier this year on his Fox Business Network show, “It’s the falling level of wages and the rising level of prices that has caused high anxiety over Joe Biden’s economic policy. That’s the key point. Affordability has dropped significantly over the past three years.”
In foreign affairs, Trump adopted Reagan’s “Peace through strength” approach, and the result was no new wars.
While Trump was commander in chief, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was relatively quiet. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not take more of Ukraine, a country he first invaded during the Obama-Biden administration.
Iran was on its knees economically, thanks to crushing sanctions enforced by Trump, so it was not able to freely fund Hamas.
And Israel had entered into multiple peace treaties with Arab nations in the region with the Abraham Accords.
Under President Trump, we had peace through strength. Biden is weak, and there is chaos. pic.twitter.com/j8SQg2GWDj
— GOP (@GOP) May 10, 2024
When Reagan spoke of making America great again, he was clearly referring to the economic and military strength it had last seen under Eisenhower in the 1950s.
And when Trump appropriated Reagan’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan and “Peace through strength” foreign policy stance, he was certainly trying to bring back the best of the 1980s.
Of course, as he runs again this year, he can also look back on his first term and say he wants to finish what he started.
