Ronald Reagan

===Civil rights===
[[File:President Ronald Reagan at the Signing Ceremony for Martin Luther King Holiday Legislation.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Ronald Reagan at the signing ceremony for Martin Luther King Jr. Day legislation in the Rose Garden. Coretta Scott King, George H. W. Bush, Howard Baker, Bob Dole, Jack Kemp, Samuel Pierce, and Katie Hall looking on.|Reagan signing the Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 1983]]

Despite Reagan having opposed the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]],{{sfn|Cannon|2000|p=458}} the bill was extended for 25 years in 1982.{{sfn|Keyssar|2009|p=213}} He initially opposed the establishment of [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/02/reagan-establishes-national-holiday-for-mlk-nov-2-1983-244328 |title=Reagan establishes national holiday for MLK, Nov. 2, 1983 |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=November 2, 2017 |website=[[Politico]] |access-date=January 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105034714/https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/02/reagan-establishes-national-holiday-for-mlk-nov-2-1983-244328 |archive-date=January 5, 2023}}</ref> and alluded to [[Martin Luther King Jr.#Allegations of communism|claims that King was associated with communists]] during his career, but signed [[Passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day|a bill to create the holiday in 1983]] after it passed both houses of Congress with veto-proof margins.{{sfn|Cannon|2000|p=461}} In 1984, he signed legislation intended to impose fines for [[fair housing]] discrimination offenses.{{sfn|Shull|1993|pp=56–57}} In March 1988, Reagan vetoed the [[Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987]], but Congress overrode his veto. He had argued that the bill unreasonably increased the federal government's power and undermined the rights of churches and business owners.{{sfn|Cannon|2000|pp=462–463}} Later in September, legislation was passed to correct loopholes in the [[Fair Housing Act of 1968]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/09/13/Reagan-signs-Fair-Housing-extension-into-law/8310590126400/ |title=Reagan signs Fair Housing extension into law|last=Thomas |first=Helen |date=September 13, 1988 |work=[[United Press International]] |access-date=March 13, 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Shull|1993|p=14}}

Early in his presidency, Reagan appointed [[Clarence M. Pendleton Jr.]], known for his opposition to affirmative action and equal pay for men and women, as chair of the [[United States Commission on Civil Rights]] despite Pendleton's hostility toward long-established [[civil rights]] views. Pendleton and Reagan's subsequent appointees greatly eroded the enforcement of civil rights law, arousing the ire of civil rights advocates.{{sfn|Shull|1993|pp=114–116}} In 1987, Reagan unsuccessfully [[Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination|nominated Robert Bork]] to the Supreme Court as a way to achieve his civil rights policy that could not be fulfilled during his presidency; his administration had opposed [[affirmative action]], particularly in education, federal assistance programs, housing and employment,{{sfn|Amaker|1988|pp=157–159}} but Reagan reluctantly continued these policies.{{sfn|Patterson|2005|p=171}} In housing, Reagan's administration saw considerably fewer fair housing cases filed than the three previous administrations.{{sfn|Amaker|1988|pp=92–95}}