January 29, 1984 – ABC Hourly News – ABC Information Network – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Janaury 29, 1984 – Amid a carefully planned and executed announcement – President Reagan declared his candidacy for a second term as President. Keeping the team from the first term in place, President Reagan, in a paid broadcast on radio and TV, as well as an interview in Newsweek Magazine; all timed to go simultaneously, said he wanted to complete with he and vice-President Bush set out to do three years prior.
For their part, the Democrats attacked the idea of a second Reagan term for its lack of Foreign and Domestic policy during the first term. House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neil predicted the people would reject the incumbent come November.
And the horse race was on.
Meanwhile, the issue of the Budget was making the rounds. This time, by way of conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation who, like President Reagan, claimed the problem lay with government spending, and not tax cuts. The Foundation suggested programs charge recipients fees, rather than have government monies support them, or eliminate the programs entirely. Other suggestions were taking most program funding away from the Federal government and handing it over to either the individual states or the private sector. The biggest suggestion was cutting the $11 billion Highway Trust Fund, which would eliminate almost all road projects and cancel all existing projects. Other suggestions included increasing recipients fees for Medicare and eliminate revenue sharing with States.
Needless to say, Reagan adviser Howard Baker was going to have his work more than cut out for him when he went to Capitol Hill on Monday to make the case.
And that’s just a small slice of what went on, this January 29th in 1984, as presented by The ABC Information network’s News On The Hour.
