THE REAGAN YEARS

In what the press dubs the “Halloween Massacre,” President Ford orders a reorganization of his cabinet.  He names Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary, Elliot Richardson as Commerce Secretary, George Bush as CIA director, and Richard Cheney as White House Chief of Staff.  Henry Kissinger remains Secretary of State, but turns over his duties as National Security Advisor to Brent Scowcroft.  Vice President Nelson Rockefeller withdraws his name as Ford’s 1976 running mate and former California Governor Ronald Reagan announces he will challenge Gerald Ford for the Republican presidential nomination.


In early 1982, President Reagan and a few key advisers began mapping out a strategy to attack the fundamental economic and political weakness of the Soviet system.