He was directly responsible for restoring the reputation of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. It was a good sign when Reagan put Coolidge’s portrait up in the Cabinet Room, and a sign certain impending disaster when G.H.W. Bush took it down.
Kemp was, of course, the author of Kemp-Roth, a 30% across-the-board tax rate cut. It should have been enacted whole in 1981. Instead, it was reduced to three stages by the evil Tip O’Neill and his minions. The delay in the rate reductions helped deepen and prolong the recession through 1982, helping the Democrats enormously at the polls. When the final rate cut kicked in in 1983, the economy took off. The tax reform of 1986 accomplished a dream that had seemed impossible in 1980—a 28% top rate, almost immediately undone by G.H.W. Bush.
Jack Kemp is directly responsible for the economic growth of the last 25 years. If not for wicked, stupid people in Washington, and the wicked, stupid people who vote for them, much more could have been accomplished—in particular, the restoration of real money.
Thank you for your thoughtful, informative post.