Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, the American presidents of America, have a lot in common. Their fight against communism is a major commonality. However, even though they share a common goal, their approaches to solving the problem vary greatly. Although the differences between Nixon and Reagan are great, it’s easy to see that Nixon was more concerned with Nixon’s view of the American Economy. Ultimately, the leadership of presidents Richard Nixon and Ronal Reagan shared similar goals of Communist-annihilation, but they differ immensely in terms of U.S. economic policies and practices.

Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon shared a common goal: to eradicate the threat from global communism. Richard Nixon was elected President during the Vietnam War. His platform promised to end the war while he was president. But, in fact, Nixon secretly prolonged the war to try to eliminate the threat of communists living in that part of Asia. Nixon secretly attacked Laos and Cambodia after it became clear that North Vietnam was importing supplies from Laos. Nixon’s secrets caused public distrust of the government after they were revealed. This is a significant difference in Reagan’s approach towards communist suppression. Ronald Reagan chose to use less aggressive tactics to stop communist threat. He used the Reagan Doctrine to assert America’s rights to intervene in any soviet-influenced country. The Reagan Doctrine provided aid to groups trying to topple communist-influenced countries (The American Journey page 897). The less aggressive approach proved to be far more effective than the bombing innocent civilians. This could be due to Reagan’s ability, through peace negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev and to end the Cold War, to disintegrate Soviet Union (The American Journey p.900). Both presidents had the same goal of eliminating global communism. However, their approaches produced very different results. Both Nixon and Reagan were very different in their economic approaches and policies. Ronald Reagan believed in Big Business. Therefore, he cut OSHA and EPA programs that Nixon created to allow large corporations production without any red tape. Reagan had hoped that these practices would stimulate the economy. However, twenty years later the American Journey p. 887 shows that Reagan set the stage for the economic collapse by deregulating banking systems, which allowed banks to spend more money and make more money. Reagan’s pro Big Business attitude seemed to be more harmful in the long-term.

Nixon’s presidency saw the economy fail for many reasons. But the most significant was the fact the U.S. spent $3 billion every month to fund the Vietnam War. Also, the Arab Oil Embargo had a huge impact on America’s economy. It saw OPEC countries refuse to sell oil to America for five consecutive months. This caused a period characterized by stagflation. Although Nixon didn’t make a significant contribution to the American Economy in any way, he certainly did not cause it to crash as much as Reagan’s policies. These acts are not all the same, but they are representative of their time.

These similarities are rare, but the differences between their leadership are striking. Their policies, as well as the results, are almost opposites. Despite both Presidents wanting to end communism’s threat, Reagan has been the most successful.

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