Presidency of Jeane Kirkpatrick

Jeane Kirkpatrick's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began on March 30, 1981 following the assassination of President Ronald Reagan and ended on January 20, 1989. She had been vice president before she succeeded to the presidency. Initially a Republican, Kirkpatrick switched to the America First Party in 1983 and sacked most of her Republican cabinet members. She ran for and won a full four-year term in the 1984 election, defeating Republican opponent Jack Kemp and Progressive opponent Jimmy Carter. Se was succeeded by her second Vice President Donald Rumsfeld.

Kirkpatrick unexpectedly ascended to the presidency as a Republican in 1981 after Ronald Reagan was assassinated by John Hinckley Jr. After addressing the nation, Kirkpatrick announced sweeping economic reforms. Kirkpatrick’s 1981 Economic Reform Act made sure her presidency was defined by tight budgeting, inflation hawkery, and low tax rates designed to increase the amount of money in circulation. After various trade unions announced their intentions to strike, Kirkpatrick controversially responded by issuing law enforcement to quell the protestors using violent force.

In 1983, following the death of her Vice President Henry M. ‘Scoop’ Jackson, Kirkpatrick switched party allegiance from the Republican Party to the America First Party. She then nominated Labor Secretary and only other America First cabinet member Donald Rumsfeld to the vice presidency. The majority of her Republican cabinet, who had been appointed by her predecessor Reagan, then either resigned in protest or were sacked.

In 1984, Kirkpatrick won re-election, defeating Republican Senator Jack Kemp and former Progressive Vice President Jimmy Carter. In her second term, Jeane Kirkpatrick rented out the White House lawn for advertising space, a practise that would continued for nine years until it was ended by Ross Perot in 1994. She found less success in 1986, when she was forced to back down from her plans to privatise several national parks and close down most of the remaining American-Indian reservations after Attorney General Rehnquist threatened to resign if she followed through. Similarly, Kirkpatrick’s “Illegal Immigration Patrols” were disbanded after just 6 months in 1987 following continuous reports of the wrongful deportations and harassment of legal immigrants.

In 1985, Kirkpatrick suspended US activities at the United Nations for a seven-month period until she was forced to allow the US delegation to resume operations following international and domestic pressure to do so. In 1988, following an executive order, Kirkpatrick banned the Communist Party of America on the grounds of “unamerican activities”.

Leaving office in 1989, Kirkpatrick held an approval rating of 43%. She was succeeded by her Vice President Donald Rumsfeld, who was the only member of her original cabinet remaining.