One focus of the Reagan administration from the beginning was an agenda of social issues ranging from opposition to abortion to support for mandatory prayer in the public schools. Much of the social agenda of
the conservative fundamentalist supporters of the president was adopted by the executive branch, but Reagan had little success in gaining its acceptance by Congress.
Source: Grolier Encyclopedia on-line, “The Presidency”
, Dec 25, 2000
Supported school prayer but didn’t push it
Reagan did not devote much energy to other aspects of his so-called “social agenda.”
Some of the items, such as his call for a constitutional amendment to restore prayer in schools, were never more than throwaway lines intended to comfort the Religious Right.
Source: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon, p. 813
, Jul 2, 1991
Ronald Reagan on School Choice
Targeted Dept. of Education to be abolished, but failed
The great social concerns of education and public health became back-burner issues for the Reagan administration.
Reagan’s anti-government vision had no room for a federal Department of Education, which he had pledged to abolish if elected president. It was one of his silliest promises, and no serious attempt was bad to keep it
Source: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon, p. 813
, Jul 2, 1991
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