The national debt quadrupled during Reagan's presidency, why?

In 1981, the supply-siders commandeered the Reagan Presidency and employed their Voodoo economics, as Bush senior had called it in 1980. Their economic theory stated that reducing tax rates, especially for businesses and wealthy individuals, stimulates savings and investment for the benefit of everyone. This was also called the trickle-down effect. Yeah right.

Bush senior stated that tax cuts would not increase government revenues. The Voodoo economics failed just as Bush senior predicted, and the supply-siders turned a 32-year winning streak into a debt disaster that continues to this day. For 20 years, under Reagan and the Bushes, the national debt increased compared to GDP every single year. In most other years it decreased. Twenty years in a row can't be just an accident.

For most of President Reagan’s term as POTUS he remained silent about the Aids epidemic as it began to spread at an alarming rate. Falwell said "AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals." Reagan's communications director Pat Buchanan argued that AIDS is "nature's revenge on gay men."                                             

By Feb. 1, 1983, 1,025 AIDS cases were reported, and at least 394 had died in the United States. Reagan said nothing. On April 23, 1984, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced 4,177 reported cases in America and 1,807 deaths. In San Francisco, the health department reported more than 500 cases. Again, Reagan said nothing. That same year, 1984, the Democratic National Convention convened in San Francisco. Hoping to focus attention on the need for AIDS research, education and treatment, more than 100,000 sympathizers marched from the Castro to Moscone Center.

Reagan would ultimately address the issue of AIDS while president. His remarks came May 31, 1987 (near the end of his second term), at the Third International Conference on AIDS in Washington. When he spoke, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with AIDS and 20,849 had died. The disease had spread to 113 countries, with more than 50,000 cases.

The Reagan administration was not without scandal. The Iran-Contra Affair occurred when several administration staffers were convicted of crimes ranging from lying to Congress to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The scandal involved the administration selling weapons to Iran and using proceeds from the sales to fund the "Contras", a guerrilla insurgent group in Nicaragua.

When Korean Air 007 Was Shot Down by the Soviet Union in 1983 Reagan gave a speech about it five days later.

In closing, Reagan had some successes in Foreign policy, but had failed economic policies. Reagan was a good President, Great, NO!