Brown V. Board of Education Essay Example for Free

Brown V. Board of Education Essay Brown v Board of Education is a historical landmark case that dismantled segregation laws and established a great milestone in the movement toward true equality. The Supreme Courts unanimously decided on Brown v. Board of Education that separate but equal is inherently unequal. Ruling that no state had the power to pass a law that deprived anyone from his or her 14th amendment rights. For my historical analysis I will use Richard Kluger’s â€Å"Simple Justice†, in which he argues, â€Å"that the Declaration of Independence was marred by hypocrisy—all men were not equal if black†. His book will assist me in learning the policies that lead to and surrounded this case. Using interviews I conducted, where I questioned inner city high school students of their schooling experience in comparison to my brother who attends a predominately white privileged private school, I will ultimately uncover the many inequalities that still exist today. While researching I interviewed my great-Aunt Bertha, who grew up in the state of Mississippi, she had a first-hand experience of life before Brown v Board of Education and life after the Supreme Court ruled on the case, her life was changed forever. My research will focus on not only a historical analysis of what occurred, but how far America has claimed to truly come in dealings with race relations, and the inequalities that still exist today. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States also known as the â€Å"Union† and the few southern states that announced their separation from the United States known as the â€Å"Confederates†. The war was based mainly on differing opinions on the issue of slavery. The war lasted about four years and the results yielded in the Confederacy being defeated by the Union. Upon defeating the Confederates, the Union abolished slavery. From that moment on the process of rebuilding the Union as a strong united nation began. This Union was to guarantee freedom to slaves and began the process of having former slaves obtain rights entitled to all citizens. Once the Civil War had ended, so did the policy of legal slavery. However former Confederate leaders did not intend on allowing the former slaves to have all the same rights as whites nor did they intend for former slaves to be counted equally as citizens. Just before the end of the war, congress had passed the Morrill Act of 1862. This act was to provide for federal funding of higher education. Former slave-holding states decided to find loop holes in allowing former slaves to benefit from the new federal funding as they were not ready to asked them as citizens or even human for that matter. Post-Civil War, the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution granted equal protection under the law to all citizens. Although the amendment was put into effect Congress knew the transition from slave to citizen with a hand full of rights would be difficult for former slaves so to help with the transition process Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau. This program was created to assist in the integration of former slave into society as citizens. At the end of the reconstruction period in 1877 former Confederate states implemented random laws that would blatantly go against the federal law and the constitutional right granted b y the 14th amendment to all including African Americans for equal treatment under the law. Southern state believed they could somehow obey federal orders by having equality yet keeping order by having races remain separate. For many years the court at both state and federal level claimed the 14th amendment applied only to federal, not state, citizenship, therefore they had no control over how a state thought to treat or label an African American on their land. This was proven true of the court in the 1863 Civil Rights Case heard before the Supreme Court. This case was made up of five lower level court cases and made into one because they all had the same claim. In this case The Court held that Congress lacked the constitutional authority under the enforcement provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals and organizations, rather than state and local governments. After the end of Reconstruction, the federal government generally did not hear racial segregation cases instead advising the issue be left up to each individual state to handle. In understanding Brown v Board of Education one must first understand a little about Plessey v Ferguson. The issue in this case was can the states constitutionally enact legislation requiring persons of different races to use â€Å"separate but equal† segregated facilities? And the Court ruled, yes. The states can constitutionally enact legislation requiring persons of different races to use â€Å"separate but equal† segregated facilities, this coming from the highest Court of the land. The trouble with this ideology was that it is contradictory even in its simplest form. Although the Constitution required equality, the facilities and social services offered to African-Americans were almost always of lower quality than those offered to white Americans; for example, many African American schools received less public funding per student than nearby white schools. Public water fountains, which were label â€Å"colored†, were always of lower quality than those labeled for â€Å"whites†. Life went on lived with this flawed idea of serrate equality for many years creating an inferior class of citizens, black were at the bottom and therefore not equal. Many people have tried to challenge the â€Å"separate but equal† rule but most went unheard and those that were heard failed have a change occur. Eventually in 1954 a case did make it on the Supreme Court docket, that case was Linda Brown v. Board of Education. Brown v Board of Education asked the Supreme Court to answer the question of does the segregation of children in public schools s olely on the basis of race deprive the minority children of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment? Blacks wanted justice and wanted this question to be answered and clarified for all the nation that they too are people entitle to all the same rights as whites. Thurgood Marshall was one of leading attorney, and civil rights activists, who fought against the segregation laws and policies that were violating the rights of African Americans, especially the children. Kulger â€Å"†¦the African Americans were going to ask equal treatment from top to bottom; buses, buildings, teachers, teacher’s salaries, teaching materials. Everything the same. Anything less was patently in violation of the Fourteenth amendement, Thurgood Marshall explained. â€Å" (18) Thurgood Marshall was one of leading attorney, and civil rights activists, who fought against the segregation laws and policies that were violating the rights of African Americans, especially the children. Kulger Black children were denied admission to public schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to the races. Linda Browns father though it to be insane that just based solely on the color of his daughters skin she would have to travel really far across train tracks to go to the black only school when they lived near by a school that happened to be labeled whites only. The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People picked up his case, making Linda Brown the poster girl for the cause; She was the embodiment of young black students that were not getting an adequate education that they are entitled to. Brown embellished the ideal look of an average, young, innocent girl, just trying to go to school like any other White child would. The NAACP hired a team of lawyers and civil rights activist to petition the court to hear out the constitutionality of this issue. The lawyers on the case complied many other cases into the same bulk because they all asked of the court the same question, which was the constitutionality of the separate but equal. The Supreme Court ultimately decided in favor of Brown and cited, â€Å"despite the equalization of the schools by objective factors, intangible issues foster and maintain inequality. Racial segregation in public education has a detrimental effect on minority children because it is interpreted as a sign of inferiority. The long-held doctrine that separate facilities were permissible provided they were equal was rejected. Separate but equal is inherently unequal in the context of public education.† This decision called for an end to all state maintained racial segregation. Although the legal end was called for the mentality of many remained the same some going so far as to verbally and physically torture blacks that would dare utilize the same facilities as whites. Brown v Board of Education was decided in 1954 approximately 60 years ago but the strong effects of life before the decision still live on today even in the State of New York which is known to be progressive and libe ral I find myself surround by many disparities. Within the New York Public school system for example. Although we are not literally labeled certain schools as a black school or a white schools the idea of zoning children into schools based on their address is just the new form of â€Å"separate but equal† in my eyes. I had the pleasure of interviewing a fellow political science major at The City College of New York. John Miller shared with me his experience within the New York City public school system, where he was educated until his graduation from high school or as he called it â€Å"aging out† of the system. John described in detail his experience of never having shared a classroom with a white person before enrolling at City College. John was born and raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. Bedford Stuyvesant is widely known as the black cultural mecca of Brooklyn, similar to what Harlem is to Manhattan. He explained to me the way New York City public school system works from kindergarten through 9th grade. Children are assigned a school tha t is in close proximity to their neighborhood. If they don’t like the school they are assigned to, which many do not, the answer from authority figures is â€Å"tough luck† or simply â€Å"move†. Unfortunately John was one of the students that had to stay in his underfunded school. He also told me about his best friend who was one of the lucky few that gained admission into a charter school (which seems to be the only way out of the failed Bedstuy public schools) in downtown Brooklyn. His friend was admitted into the school because his mother’s employer noticed what she felt was great intelligence for someone whose mother was a simple housekeeper. While he spent the day watching his mother clean her house she simply made a phone call to one of her friends who happened to be a big donor to the charter school and in just a few weeks he was being bussed to a 21st century private charter school. He was one of the lucky few to made it out. Miller is now at the University of Chicago studying biology, I hope of becoming a doctor. Most of their childhood friends from the neighborhood are either in prison most for crimes of necessity given their unfortunate circumstances. He described how another friend would frequently steal from the local grocery story to supply his family with food. Miller would like to point out that he is not trying to create excuses for the crimes committed, however he is sympathetic to their reasoning. He is also not oblivious to the fact that not all the crimes his childhood friends are being incarcerated for are crime of necessity but rather some are crimes of pure boredom. He is not sure where to place blame or on who in either circumstance. The past stories accounts for the majority of the men John knew but the women are not excluding from this group of underachievers. Most became pregnant at an extremely early age giving birth to children out of wedlock. They gave birth with the expectation that there is always â€Å"food stamps/welfare† I don’t need a job† while others are working dead end jobs making minimum wage. In his community education is clearly not something to value and I would make the claim that it is because from kindergarten the schools in this community are underfunded and have teacher who don’t care working in the system. If the teachers don’t care neither will the students and so the cycle continues. Was this system plan and created by our white socioeconomic counter part? We were taught to believe Brown v Board of Education would change our lives forever. Once the high Court made the claim that â€Å"separate but equal† actually was impossible to accomplish and an oxymoron within itself. Mississippi was so defiant towards the Brown v. Board of Education case, schools in the state refused to integrate. Therefore the federal courts in 1969 had to modify the Mississippi â€Å"desegregation order†. People still had their racist ideologies and even today 4 of the schools are â€Å"single-raced†, although it is legally outlawed. My aunt Bertha was a student in the Mississippi public school system in the year prior to and post Brown v. Board of education. She vividly recalls sitting with her family around a radio and hearing the Chief Justice announce the courts decision to declare â€Å"separate but equal† unconstitutional. Making separate schools for whites and black she thought would immediately become a something of the past. She admits to being very nervous yet excited about the idea of going to schools that white people would also go to. She even recalls telling her dad â€Å"maybe we wont have to share books anymore† pointing to the fact that her school was so underfunded and there weren’t enough books to go around. Bertha says 2 years after the decision was handed down by the court she remained a student at a school on the east side of the track which were for black and the whites remained enrolled in the other school. She visits once a year now for her high school reunion and is just now starting to notice some integration almost 60 plus years later the principle proudly announced we â€Å"now have a white population of 2.3 percent† although she was proudly to see Brown v. Education being implemented into her hometown she still is saddened by the fact that people of color on her side of the track could potentially go through life without ever having much interaction with the other race if they so chose. This saddens her because we are now living in 2012 and our President is black however whites and some blacks still seem very uncomfortable with they idea of being together, not just in the classroom but also in all aspects of life. â€Å"Segregation was an unmitigated evil, and no black man anywhere in America was free of its scar so long as the Supreme Court tolerated it† (290) We are still living in a systematic world of segregation in the New York City School System in the public and private sector. Schools where most of the students are minorities get underfunded. Is this a problem of economics? Distribution? Or an ongoing internal racism that often gets ignored? BIBLIOGRAPHY Kluger, Richard. Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black Americas Struggle for Equality. New York: Vintage, 2004. Print. Mississippi Schools Still Segregated Despite Court Order. Breaking News for Black America RSS. NewsOne Staff, 4 May 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. Miller, J (2012, 5 October) Personal Interview Moore, B (2012 15, October) Telephone Interview

Behind Convicts Eyes by Cerceral Prison Essay -- Behind Convicts Ey

"Behind a Convict's Eyes" by K.C. Cerceral Introduction This paper is about the book 'Behind a Convict's Eyes' by K.C. Cerceral. This book was written by a young man who enters prison on a life sentence and describes the world around him. Life in prison is a subculture of its own, this subculture has its own society, language and cast system. The book describes incidents that have happen in prison to inmates. With this paper I will attempt to explain the way of life in a prison from an inmate's view. Understanding Prison Life After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would l ike to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life. Describe Strategies and Compare with Voices from the Field Some of the adaptation strategies used by ?Anonymous? and the other inmates in prison where to use nicknames to feel more individual and unique. Being in prison can cause you to lose your identity as a person, most inmates are known by numbers. Another strategy was to conform to the schedule of the prisons. You can not eat when you want, shower, get up, go to recreation and go to bed. Everyone has a schedule and working with this schedules helps to learn how to cope. Also Anonymous and other inmates would take cla... ...y. As the book showed ?dad yells and blames everyone, mom yells at the kids, the older children yell at the younger children, and the youngest child kicks the cat.? (Carceral, 2004, pp. 200). The youngest child is not able to understand what is really going on and feels worthless and not loved without conditions. This child will turn to where they will get attention. This can lead to undesirable associates and into crime. As the child grows older, and has children of this/her own the syndrome is passed on. Conclusion I have to say the reading gave me a different outlook on what inmates? do and think while in prison. They become a number not a person and do have needs that have to be address. Addressing these needs will help in running an institution smoothly and more safely. Finally Anonymous makes a powerful statement in the writing of this book on some policies that should be changed in prisons. I really enjoyed reading this book and having maybe a new outlook in dealing with inmates. References Carceral, K.C., (2004), Behind a Convict?s Eyes, Wadsworth, Thomson Learning Schmid, Thomas & Jones, Richard, (2001), Voices from the Field, Wadsworth, Thomson Learning

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Analysis

In situations of desperation, desolation or depression humans may become capable of acting inexplicably. When a person is faced with a grim situation he may try to deny the reality of the situation, and as such remain optimistic that all will be set right. The protagonists of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Alexander Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich must cope with these elements of self-delusions, their bitter wisdom and the fragility of their own hope. People who believe they have nothing to look forward to, begin to change their perceptions of happiness to cope with their dismal situation. The human Gregor Samsa enjoyed happiness from making others happy, as seen through his intentions of sending his sister to the musical Conservatory or his ability to provide for his family. When he is no longer able to find happiness in human interaction, he begins to find happiness for himself in the simplest occurrences. Read also Analysis of Characters in Flannery O’Connor’s â€Å"The Life You Save May Be Your Own† â€Å"He especially liked hanging from the ceiling it was completely different from lying on the floor; one could breathe more freely; a faint swinging sensation went through the body; and in the almost happy absent-mindedness which Gregor felt up there, it could happen to his own surprise that he let go and plopped onto the floor.† During the initial stages of his metamorphosis, Gregor is proud and happy about his ability to provide such a comfortable life for his family. After his transformation he is not able to make others happy consequently being forced to seek pleasure for himself in the smallest things, despite how simple they may seem. Ivan Denisovich, also referred to as Shukhov, finds himself in a similar situation. He is forced to abandon the common goals shared by other men and to adopt a mentality where survival provides him with satisfaction. Ivan is happy about his day because he avoids additional punishment, has more than usual to eat, works at building a wall which he takes pride in and acquires some new tools. His enjoyment of these simple accomplishments demonstrates the changes which have occurred within him. â€Å"Shukhov went to sleep, and he was very happy. He'd had a lot of luck today. They hadn't put him in the cooler. The gang hadn't been chased out to work in the Socialist Community Development. He'd finagled an extra bowl of mush at noon. The boss has gotten them good rates for their work. He'd felt good making that wall. They hadn't found that piece of steel in the frisk. Caesar had paid him off in the evening. He'd bought some tobacco. And he'd gotten over that sickness. Nothing had spoiled the day and it had been almost happy.† The happiness felt by Ivan results from incidents that others would take for granted. His additional labour in the prison is not for any reason other than for his survival and satisfaction. Rather than thinking of how he could be made happier by what he does not have, he appears happy with what he is given. The protagonists of both novels force themselves into believing they are happy, to be better able to cope with the grim reality of their circumstances. Although there is no rationale given for their respective situations, the protagonists both have the knowledge that their life has changed for the worse. When Gregor reflects upon the life he once gave to his family, he begins to feel guilty about Grete having to care for him. His life has been based upon his role as the provider, but fulfilling his duties after the transformation is no longer plausible. â€Å"Often during Gregor's short stays in the city the Conservatory would come up in his conversations with his sister, but always merely as a beautiful dream which was not supposed to come true, and his parents were not happy to hear even these innocent allusions; but Gregor had very concrete ideas on the subject and he intended solemnly to announce his plan on Christmas Eve. Thoughts like these, completely useless in his present state, went through his head as he stood glued to the door.† His motivation has been fulfilling the financial and emotional needs of his family put forth on him, but he is no longer needed by his family. The Samsa family is now capable of surviving without his contributions, and seemingly are better people as they become independent. As the bug he is a burden to his family because his purpose in life has been made impossible to fulfill. Unlike Gregor, Ivan believes that he has a purpose (to work with his hands) but he is unable to because of an unfair conviction. â€Å"Easy money doesn't weigh anything and it doesn't give you that good feeling you get when you really earn it. The old saying was true-what you don't pay for honestly, you don't get good value for. Shukhov's hands were still good for something. Back home he'd surely find himself work making stoves, or something in the carpentry line, or mending pots and pans. The only catch was- if you'd been convicted with loss of civil rights, you couldn't get work anywhere and you weren't allowed back home.† Ivan is proud of the work he does with his hands but he is not permitted to choose his living because of the sentence. He is not able to return home and has lost his civil rights. His future will never exceed his past life. For Ivan true freedom means home but he will never have that freedom again. The male prisoners create a society in which they have the security of knowing what they will be doing and eating from one day to the next yet remain powerless over their futures. The changes caused by the peculiar situations give both protagonists a more pessimistic view of their lives. The promise of hope causes people to be optimistic even in the grimmest of situations, but a lack of it may be detrimental. In the case of Gregor the fragility of his hope is a disadvantage. He retains a human sense of frustration, memory and optimism despite his increasing animal instincts. During the incident when Grete attempts to remove his furniture he at first seems passive to the notion but once his mother voices doubts, saying the removal of the furniture would be symbolic of the family giving up hope of his return, he too becomes more hopeful, even wanting to give up crawling to retain his humanity. â€Å"Nothing should be removed; everything had to stay; he could not do without the beneficial influence of the furniture on his state of mind; and if the furniture prevented him from carrying on this senseless crawling around, then that was no loss but rather a great advantage.† The hope of others around him greatly influences his own, as instanced when he opens his door to measure the reaction of his family to his initial transformation. Later Grete declares the bug would have already left if it really were Gregor. She is essentially giving up the hope that the bug is her brother; expectedly Gregor dies that night. The will to live for Ivan, however, is strong enough to overpower his hopelessness and the endless difficulties of a life he cannot control. He has enough hope of getting out of prison to maintain his own sanity, but not so much that he becomes dejected about his situation. â€Å"Shukhov sort of liked the way they pointed at him- the lucky guy nearly through with his sentence. But he didn't really believe it. Take the fellows who should've been let out in the war. They were all kept in till forty-six- â€Å"till further notice.† And then those with three years who'd gotten five more slapped on. They twisted the law any way they wanted. You finished a ten-year stretch and they gave you another one. Or if not, they still wouldn't let you go home. But sometimes you got a kind of funny feeling inside. Maybe your number really would come up one day. God, just to think you might walk out and go home!† Ivan realizes that he will never have freedom yet wants nothing more than being released from prison. Restraining his hopes with a touch of reality enables him to find a balance between escape and contentment during his sentence. It is difficult to be truly happy when keeping the dismal reality in mind. The protagonists find their lives are worse because they know it is not possible to find the happiness they once had. Despite this knowledge, they maintain the hope of returning to normal for as long as they can. This hope serves to protect the potentially false happiness they experience. Both characters are described as being almost happy because, despite their self-delusions, they can only obtain true happiness if their lives were to return to the way they once were; but that is unfeasible.

Reagan on Reagan Book Review

In his reign as the fortieth United states President, Ronald Reagan Kept dairies for each day. The dairies contained his thoughts and routine day to day activities of his presidency. This collection is called Reagan’s Dairies. He was a Republican and was the President of the U.S from Jan 1981 to January 1989. The Book Reagan on Reagan contains major issues concerning the tenure of Reagan. The book superficially doesn’t talk much on political and historical dimensions of the President. From the dairies the strengths and weaknesses of his presidency can be seen.   For instance, in his first term, Reagan is said to have been more alert and active chief executive than his detractors care to admit. This strength remains as his description irrespective of the problem that he was tackling. In his first 17 months of his tenure, Ronald Reagan had faced many challenges and problems from Alexander Haig who was his initial secretary of the State. Haig thought of himself as a de facto policy maker. This could not work with Ragan and as such he Ronald Reagan accepted Haig’s resignation letter. This was after Haig acknowledged that there was some disagreements existed between them. The Dairies also reveal the former governor of California brand of the republican politics. He at times negatively referred to some of the moderates of Republican Party. These included Senator Bob Packwood, Charles Mathias among others.   Nevertheless, he was also critical on the New right and the and supply side stelwarts such as Howard Phillips, Senators Jesse, Bill Armstrong, among others. Reagan’s desire was to cut taxes and also spending however, during his administration spending grew. He supported the idea that Jack Kemp and Newt Gingrich giving to him an explanation as to why they felt their economic proposal were simple. Reagan was a good advocate for free markets and on taking over the office, it was his firm belief that the economy of America was negatively affected by the many economic controls and also misguided welfare programmes which were enacted in the year 1960s and 1970s. He took office during stagflation in the U.S. economy. He thus issued price controls on domestic oil. In his early days in office, Reagan was concerned about the military spending and some tax cuts. This led to the coming up of the economic policies such as the one called Reaganomics which achieved a cut in the income tax by 25%.However despite his reduction to spending policy, the federal spending grew in his tenure. Ronald Reagan supported George Bush as his heir politically. Reagan did not value the liberty of the press. He was angered by the coverage of his Visits to German Second World War cemetry, and in the Iran – Contra scandal. Reagan’s second term was not so much involved in matters of foreign affairs, he made contribution towards legislating some statutes on domestic matters. In the year 1982, he assented to the Bill of Voting rights act of 1965 for other 25years. Despite the fact that he had opposed the same bill in the 1980. This extension was to add protections to the disabled, blind and even the illiterate voters. Other pieces of legislations included: civil liberties act of 1988. This was to compensate the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki cities of Japan. The overhaul of internal revenue code in 1986. Reagan also assented to bills permitting the death penalty for offences of Murder. Reagan’s view on the rights of the gays is controversial. In the 1970s he supported the rights of the gays. Reagan paid a great deal of attention to family and religion. Brinkley in introducing the book underscores the essence of family to Reagan .The Marriage between Ronal Reagan and Nancy complicated the relations with children. This was especially so with Ron and Patti. Reagan‘s move to fire the nations traffic controllers who participated in the go slow was controversial. His increase of the solvency of the social security fund by cutting the survivor and disability benefits and also raising the payroll withholding tax. He was a fast to act on crime and drug peddlers however, many criticized him on his response to the AIDS scourge. On foreign affairs matters, Reagan at first rejected dà ©tente and acted by confronting the Soviet Union via a policy of peace through strength which included increased military spending. This was aimed at supporting the anti-communist revolutionary movements in Angola, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Cambodia. He later on went for negotiation and they both contributed to the end of the cold war. In his era Reagan took a military action against Lebanon, Libya and Grenada. However by the end of his term he still had a high rating public approval of 63%. President Reagan liked watching Hollywood movies and also listening to music. He also took riding at Camp David as a hobby others included: horse riding, chopping of wood ion the forest. This is the social part of the presidents’ life. These included his hobbies. Reagan’s dairies confirm that, Reagan had embedded custom of substituting public relations for serious policies. For instance, rather than fighting infections and ill health with a program that will fully cover the big gaps in the state health insurance coverage. He decided to only visit those suffering form lethal diseases and only empathizing with them. He likewise thought that, he could surpass his fame as President who doesn’t meddle in the affairs of civil rights by meeting black clergy me. In 1986 the Presidency of Reagan suffered a major scandal: Iran-contra scandals from which he many perceived him to be growing too old. Due to his sense and media skills, Reagan may be considered as the most successful of the United States Presidents since the years 1968 to 2008. However the readers of these Dairies may become aware of an existing gap. This President Reagan does not speak on the problems and even the challenges of the coming millennium. Works Cited New York Times. New York Times. 17 june 2007. 27 October 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/books/review/Phillips-t.html?pagewanted=2_r=1.