If you were sitting in front of a wood-paneled Zenith TV in 1987, you saw one face more than any other. It was the face of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. He was 76 years old. That made him the oldest person to hold the office at the time. People called him the "Great Communicator," and by 1987, he was deep into his second term. It was a year of massive highs and some pretty scary lows.
He wasn't just a politician. He was a former Hollywood actor who knew exactly how to use a camera. In 1987, the Cold War was the background noise of everyone’s life. People were genuinely afraid of nuclear war. Reagan’s job was to navigate that fear while dealing with a messy scandal at home that almost took him down.
Who was the US president in 1987? A look at Reagan’s toughest year
To understand who was the US president in 1987, you have to look at the Iran-Contra affair. This wasn't some minor policy disagreement. It was a massive, tangled web of secret deals. The administration had been selling weapons to Iran—which was under an arms embargo—to help get U.S. hostages released in Lebanon. Then, they took the money from those sales and funneled it to the Contras, a rebel group in Nicaragua.
The problem? Congress had specifically forbidden funding the Contras.
In March 1987, Reagan had to go on national television and address the nation from the Oval Office. He looked into the lens and admitted that while his heart told him he hadn't traded arms for hostages, the facts and the evidence told him he had. It was a rare moment of a president admitting a mistake, even if it was phrased in a "mistakes were made" kind of way. His approval ratings took a massive hit. Many people wondered if he would even finish his term.
But Reagan had a weird way of bouncing back. He had this Teflon quality.
Tear Down This Wall
While the Iran-Contra mess was bubbling in Washington, Reagan traveled to West Berlin in June. He stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, just a stone's throw from the Berlin Wall. This was the literal and metaphorical divide between the democratic West and the communist East.
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He gave a speech that practically defined the decade. He challenged the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, directly. He said the words that every history book now includes: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
At the time, some of his advisors actually wanted him to cut that line. They thought it was too aggressive. They thought it would ruin the delicate diplomacy they were trying to build. Reagan kept it in. He knew the power of a good line. It didn't make the wall fall that day, but it set a tone that changed the world just a few years later.
The Economy and the Crash of '87
1987 wasn't just about spies and walls. It was about money. Lots of it.
The 80s were the era of "Greed is Good," but in October 1987, the party stopped. On Black Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by 22.6% in a single day. It was the largest one-day percentage drop in history.
People panicked. They thought another Great Depression was coming. Reagan had to project calm. He leaned on his Treasury Secretary, James Baker, and the newly appointed Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan. They pumped liquidity into the markets and somehow prevented a total collapse. It was a chaotic moment that showed the presidency isn't just about speeches; it's about managing a crisis when the numbers on the screen go red.
Reaganomics was the buzzword of the era. It was all about tax cuts, deregulation, and big military spending. In '87, you saw the results of that—a booming upper class but a growing deficit that would haunt future presidents for decades.
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A New Relationship with the USSR
The most surprising thing about Ronald Reagan in 1987 was his relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev. If you asked someone in 1983 if Reagan would ever sign a major peace treaty with the "Evil Empire," they would have laughed at you.
But in December 1987, Gorbachev came to Washington D.C.
The two leaders signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This was huge. It was the first time the two superpowers agreed to actually reduce their nuclear arsenals, not just limit their growth. They agreed to destroy an entire class of nuclear missiles.
Reagan used a Russian proverb constantly: Dovorey, no proverey. Trust, but verify.
It was a strange sight. The old cold warrior and the young, reform-minded Soviet leader laughing and joking in the East Room of the White House. It signaled that the Cold War was finally, actually, starting to end.
The Bork Nomination Battle
Politics in 1987 got incredibly ugly when it came to the Supreme Court. Reagan nominated Robert Bork to the bench. Bork was a brilliant but very conservative legal scholar.
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The fight over his confirmation was a bloodbath. Senator Ted Kennedy gave a famous "Robert Bork’s America" speech that painted a terrifying picture of a country where women would have back-alley abortions and the police could break down your door.
The Senate eventually rejected Bork. This gave birth to a new verb: "to bork." It means to systematically attack a political nominee’s character and record to prevent their appointment. It’s a tactic that defines D.C. politics to this day. Eventually, Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy, who was confirmed and became a crucial swing vote on the court for thirty years.
Ronald Reagan’s 1987 was a rollercoaster. He went from the brink of impeachment over Iran-Contra to the heights of statesmanship with the INF treaty. He was a man of contradictions. He preached small government but oversaw a massive expansion of the federal debt. He was a fierce anti-communist who ended up being the best partner the Soviet Union ever had for peace.
If you are looking back at this era, don't just see a statue or a name in a textbook. See a president who was dealing with the literal end of an era while trying to keep his own administration from falling apart.
Next steps for deeper understanding:
- Watch the "Tear Down This Wall" speech on YouTube. It’s only about 25 minutes long, but the Brandenburg Gate section is the part that matters. Pay attention to his pauses; they were calculated for maximum impact.
- Research the Tower Commission Report. This was the official investigation into the Iran-Contra affair. It’s a dense read, but if you want to see how a "shadow government" actually operates, that’s your source.
- Check out the 1987 INF Treaty documents. You can find the declassified transcripts of the meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev at the National Security Archive. They show a surprisingly human side to these two giants of history.
- Listen to a podcast about Black Monday. Specifically, look for episodes that interview floor traders from 1987. The technology back then—or lack thereof—made the crash feel much more visceral and terrifying than modern digital dips.