Domestic Policy of The Ronald Reagan Administration - The Arts

The Arts

Though Ronald and Nancy Reagan were both former actors and he had served as president of the Screen Actor's Guild, his administration had a curiously mixed record on support for the arts. Via a 1982 Executive Order, President Reagan established the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. In each year of his presidency (except for the fiscal years of 1982 and 1986), Congress staved off the Administration's efforts to cut federal expenditures for arts programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts. In a 1983 speech he declared, "We support the National Endowment for the Arts to stimulate excellence and make art more available to more of our people," yet throughout his administration, beginning with an early threat to cut the Carter-era arts budget in half, Reagan's economic and social agendas put him at odds, often contentiously, with artists and arts communities nationwide.