It was the year of big hair, the Walkman, and a geopolitical landscape that felt like it was constantly on the verge of either a breakthrough or a total breakdown. If you’re asking who was president of the United States in 1987, the answer is Ronald Reagan. But honestly, just saying his name doesn't really give you the full picture of what was happening in the Oval Office back then.
Reagan was 76 years old in 1987. He was the oldest person to hold the office at that point in history.
By this time, the "Great Communicator" was deep into his second term, and things were getting complicated. It wasn't just about "Morning in America" anymore. The 40th president was juggling a massive scandal that threatened to sink his legacy while simultaneously trying to end the Cold War. It's a weird paradox. You had a president who was arguably at his weakest domestically while performing at his most influential on the global stage.
The Iran-Contra Shadow
You can’t talk about Ronald Reagan in 1987 without talking about the Iran-Contra affair. It was everywhere.
In March of that year, Reagan had to go on national television and basically tell the American people that even though he told himself he didn't trade arms for hostages, the facts said otherwise. It was a rare moment of public admission. He looked tired. He looked human. The Tower Commission—which was the group appointed to figure out what the heck went wrong—had just released a report that was pretty scathing about Reagan’s "hands-off" management style.
Basically, his subordinates were running a secret operation to sell weapons to Iran (which was an enemy) and using that money to fund the Contras in Nicaragua (which Congress had specifically said they couldn't fund).
While the hearings were a circus, one man became a weird sort of folk hero or villain, depending on who you asked: Oliver North. He showed up in his crisp military uniform and talked about "neat ideas" that were actually illegal. For Reagan, 1987 was about surviving this. His approval ratings took a massive hit, dropping from the high 60s to the low 40s almost overnight.
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"Tear Down This Wall!"
While the domestic front was a mess, June 1987 gave us one of the most iconic moments in 20th-century history. Reagan traveled to Berlin.
Standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate, he delivered a speech that many of his own advisors told him to tone down. The State Department was worried it would be too provocative. They wanted to play it safe. Reagan, being a former actor and a master of the "big moment," ignored them.
He looked toward the East and challenged Mikhail Gorbachev directly. "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
At the time, it felt like a bold piece of rhetoric. Nobody actually thought the wall would be gone in two years. But the chemistry between Reagan and Gorbachev was real. They were both reformers in their own way. Earlier that year, Gorbachev had started pushing glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in the Soviet Union. Reagan sensed an opening.
The 1987 Economic Rollercoaster
If you were an investor in October 1987, you probably still have nightmares about it.
Black Monday happened on October 19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 22.6% in a single day. It was the largest one-day percentage drop in history. Everyone thought another Great Depression was coming.
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Reagan had to balance his "Laissez-faire" economic philosophy with the reality that the market was in freefall. His administration worked behind the scenes to ensure banks kept lending money, and surprisingly, the economy bounced back faster than anyone expected. It was a testament to the resilience of the era, but it definitely added gray hairs to everyone in the White House.
The Robert Bork Battle
The presidency isn't just about foreign policy and money; it’s about the courts. In 1987, Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.
It turned into a total war.
Democrats, led by Ted Kennedy, launched a massive campaign to block him. They argued Bork was too originalist and would roll back civil rights. The term "to bork" actually entered the dictionary after this because the opposition was so intense. Bork was eventually rejected by the Senate, which forced Reagan to eventually nominate Anthony Kennedy.
This moment changed how Supreme Court nominations worked forever. It became a political bloodsport.
A Personal Year for the Reagans
On a more personal note, 1987 was tough for the First Family. Nancy Reagan was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy in October.
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She was criticized by some for choosing a mastectomy over a lumpectomy, but she was firm in her decision. This brought breast cancer awareness to the forefront of American conversation in a way it hadn't been before.
Meanwhile, the President had his own health scares, including prostate surgery earlier that year. The country was watching an aging leader and his wife deal with the same vulnerabilities as everyone else. It made them feel more relatable, even as the political world was trying to tear them down.
Key Milestones of the Reagan Presidency in 1987
- January: Reagan undergoes prostate surgery.
- March: The President addresses the nation regarding the Iran-Contra scandal, admitting "mistakes were made."
- June: The "Tear Down This Wall" speech in West Berlin.
- July: Oliver North testifies before Congress, becoming a household name.
- October: "Black Monday" stock market crash shakes global confidence.
- December: Reagan and Gorbachev sign the INF Treaty, the first time the superpowers agreed to actually reduce their nuclear arsenals instead of just limiting their growth.
The INF Treaty: A Final Note on 1987
To wrap up the year, Reagan and Gorbachev met in Washington D.C. to sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
It was a huge deal.
For the first time, both nations agreed to destroy a whole category of nuclear weapons. Reagan used the Russian proverb "Dovorey, no provorey"—Trust, but verify. Gorbachev reportedly laughed and said, "You say that at every meeting."
It showed that despite the scandals and the age and the political fighting, the man in the Oval Office in 1987 was still capable of changing the world's trajectory.
How to Dig Deeper into 1987 History
If you're looking to understand this period better, don't just read history books.
- Watch the "Tear Down This Wall" speech in full. Don't just watch the soundbite. See the context of the whole event.
- Look up the 1987 Tower Commission Report. You can find summaries online that explain how the executive branch actually functions (or fails to).
- Check out the Reagan Library archives. They have digitized thousands of documents from 1987 that show the day-to-day grind of the presidency.
- Listen to 1987 news broadcasts. Sites like the Vanderbilt Television News Archive give you a sense of the "vibe" of the news cycle back then.
The presidency in 1987 wasn't a static thing. It was a moving target, defined by a man who was trying to cement his place in history while dealing with the messy reality of being human. Whether you liked his policies or not, there's no denying that Reagan's 1987 was one of the most consequential years in modern American history.