The presidency of Ronald Reagan began at noon EST on January 20, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan's 1980 election resulted from a dramatic conservative shift to the right in American politics, including a loss of confidence in liberal, New Deal, and Great Society programs and priorities that had dominated the national agenda since the 1930s. Reagan and Carter met in one presidential debate, held just one week before election day. Reagan and Carter met in one presidential debate, held just one week before election day. A journalist asked the president if he still considered the Soviet Union the evil empire. 'No,' he replied, 'I was talking about another time, another era.'