ABSTRACT
As it was, when 1985 began, it seemed that the next few years would be occupied by the same familiar issues: the economy, fiscal policy, and the Cold War. In his State of the Union message in February, Reagan told how he saw things at the halfway point of his presidency. Mostly he repeated what he had been saying even before 1980: cut government subsidies, eliminate wasteful spending, stand firm against Soviet power, and help those who fight Marxist dictatorships.
