Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Reagan President has successes, failures during two terms in White House The administration of Ronald Reagan, which officially ends in nine days, has been marked with remarkable successes and embarrassing failures. His presidency has been a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly. When Reagan came to the White House in 1981, he promised to limit spending, fight inflation, balance the budget and "get the government off the backs of the people." He did make pror in rrvmn nf thara oraor Knt tfia nran/^ant r-y-i uritVi mnntr giwaa 111 duiiiw ui iiivjv aicao, uui tiiv |;i^diuuu liiwi witu many difficulties during his eight years. With David Stockman as the architect of a complicated economic plan, Reagan tackled the budget problem with mixed results. Income taxes were justifiably cut, but some people benefited from those cuts more than others. Some wasteful programs were brought under control, but others that needed to be cut ? especially defense and foreign aid programs ? were left untouched. The result was a reduction in inflation and the prime rate, but an increase in the deficit. The nation experienced an extended period of economic growth, but that growth was tainted by the lingering problem of the budget. Ultimately, the greatest failure of Reagan's economic policy was the rapid growth of the federal deficit, which did not disappear as Reagan had hoped. In foreign policy, Reagan also had successes and failures. In arms control, he negotiated an important treaty with the Soviet Union that eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons. He had a series of meetings with Soviet leadership, including a summit in Moscow. But relations with the Soviets were often icy, especially when the president described the USSR as "the evil empire." The Middle East presented a complicated set of problems, most of which were never solved. Administration officials seemed unsure of how to handle situations in Lebanon, Iran and other countries. This apparent confusion led to the debacle of the Iran-Contra affair. Reagan had even more difficulty in Central America, a region i i . t r n , , tt i i r r? ne targeted as vital to u.s. interests, tie pusnea ior minions 01 dollars in economic and military aid to El Salvador's government, a regime of questionable integrity. Reagan also advocated aid for the Nicaraguan Contras, despite the fact that the rebels had little chance of winning, primarily because they could not win the hearts and minds of the people of Nicaragua. The president also had problems dealing with Panama and its corrupt dictator, Manuel Noriega. On domestic issues, the president was perhaps at his worst, because he tried to expand the role of government in spite of his promises to limit it. He attempted to add amendments to the Constitution to place prayer in school and forbid abortion. Reagan contributed to anti-drug hysteria, promoting random drug tests. He also had Attorney General Ed Meese waste tax dollars on a worthless study of pornography. The impact of the Reagan era will last even though the man is about to leave office. He brought economic growth, but he advocated a misguided foreign policy. Reagan will be remembered as a president who succeeded, but also failed. I "SAYS HES MAYOR BARRY AMP WHEN HESIN WASHIN6T0N HE ALWAYS CALLS ON ALL THE QTHER VISITORS" i i IMm The Gamecock Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Editor in ( hief Datebook Editor ANDY BECHTEL JAN PHILLIPS ivianagmg r.unur Graphics Editor JEFF SHREWSBURY MICHAEL SHARP Copy Desk Chief Comics Editor KATHY BLACKWELL TRACY MIXSON Assistant Copy Desk Chief Graduate Assistant CARYN CRABB ROBERT STEVENSON News Editor Adviser MARY PEARSON PAT MCNEELY Assistant News Editors Director of Student Media KELLY C. THOMAS ED BQNZA SUSAN NESBITT Advertising Manager Features Editor MARGARET MICHELS TODD HINES Production Manager Assistant Features Editor LAURA DAY TOM JOYNER Assistant Production Manager Sports Editor rAY BURGOS KEVIN ADAMS Assistant Advertising Manager Assistant Sports Editor BARBARA BROWN CHRIS SILVESTRI Photography Editor TEDDY LEPP Letters Policy: The Gamecock will lr> lo print all letters received. Letters should be, at a maximum. 25u to 300 words long. Guest editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for slvle or possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under anv circumstance. r "\ [ Vou WOULDN'T \ HAVE ACOUFIE. OF ASPIRIN, WOULD YOU?. I ' \ Legalization n Although recent surveys reveal that the majority of Americans prefer drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin to remain illegal, there are some intelligent, non-using Americans that advocate drug legalization. They see drug legalization not as an absurd or radical proposal, but as the only feasible means of winning America's "war against drugs." Their arguments are convincing and cer tainly deserve the consideration of our nation's leaders, lawmakers and the voting public. Despite the fact that America's "war against drugs" has failed to reduce the supply of drugs, drug dealers and drug users, not to mention the devastating crime and corruption surrounding the drug problem, those such as New York City Mayor Ed Koch refuse to recognize the soundness of the arguments for decriminalizing drug use. They fear that legalizing drugs will only increase the criminal and health problems of drugs ip our society and will encourage young people to experiment with drugs. This, they say, will cause problems and damage of greater proportions than now exist. On the other side of this issue are those like Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmocke, who has recently become one of the country's leading and most outspoken advocates of drug legalization. At a recent conference of mayors in Washington, D.C., Coach Felton Not many people can really grasp what it's like to be a head basketball coach at a major university. It is a job that is sometimes given too much credit and many times given too much blame. A head coach must not only be a wizard with offenses and defenses, he must also be a teacher, an administrator and too often an agile media representative. A head coach is bombarded with press calls all day long. He's hounded with the same questions for hours sometimes, and if one day he is curt, maybe from fatigue or just a bad day, he can be pounded for being "anti-press." Sometimes it's a no-win situation, because most coaches, like most people, don't like to speak to lots of people or into the bright lights of a TV camera. But coaches have to. It's expected of them as part of the job. They're expected to deal with it. With that in mind, USC's George Felton must be getting used to being a head coach. He's becoming more aware of his image, and he is becoming more of a personality than he was three years ago when he arrived. He has learned to balance all the aspects of head coaching and because of that has begun to endear himself to the many fans of USC. When Felton came to USC in 1986 (after being an assistant at Georgia Tech, East Carolina and North Carolina A&T) he was somewhat subdued by all the media hype that was dropped in his lap. He was so excited ? like a kid with a new toy ? he almost giggled for the first couple months when reporters asked him questions. Letters to the m 1 B t* - 1 A npnnlp nhnnt Koooery iauu us are wonde ~ # i sity is makinj of university keep hearing I am a senior living in Rutledge on "not respons The Horseshoe. During the the rooms. Christmas holidays, my apartment and other apartments around it were My questic broken into. My tape player and from respons some textbooks were stolen, and my sity police to roommates lost radios, cameras and dormitories i a television set. students are When I returned to the campus live in their r after the break, 1 talked to several $1,000 each H nay be answer f. -zur s Starks * c ?_____ t t Schmocke condemned Ronald Reagan's efforts to v fight the spread of drugs in America and advocated a that drug use be decriminalized. He argued that t legalizing drugs is the only means of freeing our c criminal justice system from its unwinnable "war / against drugs." Only when police officers and narcotics agents are out of the drug war can our public g health system deal with the effects of drug abuse, e Schmocke contends. t More importantly, to some, decriminalizing p drug use is believed to be a sure means of decreas- p ing the rate of crimes committed by addicts who v are often unable to afford their expensive drug e now coming i lli? s Shrewsbury fe [ After the initial excitement wore off he started to f understand what it was like for a head coach. He 1 v started to feel the drain. t When he speaks, he speaks softly, almost i whispering. He is not overt when it comes to inter- c views ? especially broadcast interviews. But then I who could feel comfortable with a microphone thrust in his face and a 400-watt bulb glaring at him s from three feet away? ( An assistant coach is not subjected to the off- r court trials and tribulations like that of a head \ coach. He is not expected to have a media per- t sonality every minute of every day. It can be a hard adjustment to make. I But Felton, like his program, is coming into his I own and making that adjustment. I The team is Top 20 material, and Felton is now being seen around the country as one of the up- t onH oAminn \/niino marhpc ( editor \ the incident, and all of Rutledge, but I am requirec ring whether the univer- whenever classes are not bi \ an effort to locate our (Thanksgiving, Christmas ty or reimburse us for break, etc.). he recurring phrases I Because this robbery occu is that the university is ing a period in which dc ;ible" for items left in always deserted, the univers should have kept a very tig on the premises over the >n is does this freedom They reprimand me whenev< ibility allow the univer- a tree or walk my bike tl neglect security of the campus building, but they during a period when notice that the doors of Rut! absolutely forbidden to been chiseled through until ooms? I pay more than returned from their bre semester to live in reported it. to drug war labits. Legalizing drugs could also prevent the pread of the AIDS virus through needle sharing imong addicts. Of course, these results can only >ccur if the government and private industry issume control and regulation of the drug supply. Looking beyond the politics and rhetoric surounding this debate, one might be persuaded by :onsidering our country's experience with attempts o control and regulate alcohol production, conumption and distribution in the 1920s. As veryone knows, Prohibition failed miserably. As a esult, U.S. laws banning alcohol consumption vere repealed. What we learned, however, was that >anning alcohol created an organized criminal network that began to illegally produce and distribute ilcohol. So when Prohibition ended, so, too, did he large-scale bootlegging and violence that it reated. Many have applied this scenario to the American drug problem. It is important to understand that those who sugest that drugs be legalized are not condoning or ncouraging drug use. It should also be understood hat legalizing drugs is not the answer to all of our roblems with drugs. But neither is the death ienalty for murderous drug dealers or increased inolvement of the military in drug interdiction fforts. nfA tiic Aii7ri 11IU 111k) l/TTU But one of the biggest pieces of evidence that relton is becoming comfortable with his position ame in a subtle way. On his television show this past week, Felton, Iressed in a snappy sweater and casual slacks, eemed unusually relaxed and open. He spoke with letermination and poise and, in what can only be een as an unprecedented event in the history of jamecock coaches' shows, Felton began a new egment of detailing some of his coaching >hilosophies and techniques. He used a chalkboard o diagram some plays and gave the viewers insight nto what they are seeing of their team every week. It seems like a small detail, but it is the best thing :elton could have done. Not only did it give iewers tremendous help in understanding a little >it more about the team, but it gave them insight nto what Felton is like as a person. It gave him a hance to talk about what he knows best, the way le knows how to talk about it. Whether it was the brainstorm of the Felton how staff or Felton's idea, it was a good one. loaches shows are all too often full of boring hetoric ("uh-huhs" and "yes, sirs") that gives no lelp for the fans. This change gives Felton a chance o talk like he's used to ? not forced to. It's these little things that signal the arrival of a lead coach. He's won over his fans by the play of lis team, and now ne's winning over nis ians wun lis personality. People are not only talking about Gamecock >asketball again. They're talking about head coach jeorge Felton. I to leave This time, the university is responsing held sible. It is impossible for every stu, spring dent to remove all of his or her property over every holiday vacation rred dur- since some students fly home and irms are have limited carrying space. Univerity police sity authorities should take the time ht watch to remember why the police force exholidays. ists in the first place, and if it is in;r I climb capable of doing its job, students trough a should be allowed to remain in their failed to dorms to protect their belongings, edge had students aks and John K. Nations Interdisciplinary senior