4/20/2017. union. The Conservative Revolution. the people WWII. Democratic Party and became a. Republican He served as a

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1 The Conservative Revolution Although the election appeared to mark a sudden shift in American politics, the roots of change lay deep in the past. Reagan voiced the growing frustrations of voters who believed that government had grown too large and lost touch with the needs of. the people Reagan was initially a Democrat who considered FDR his political hero. When Reagan began his career as a actor he became actively involved in the political affairs of the. union WWII After he found himself less comfortable with the Democratic Party and became a. Republican He served as a spokesman for General Electricand made speeches attacking. communism He also spoke strongly against. government regulations 1966 Reagan gained national attention in when he was elected governor of California. Likable,, photogenic and committed to, conservative values he won support to cut back social programs in his state. deficit During his term he eliminated the by modestly increasing taxes and reforming. state spending He called for similar reforms for programs run by the. federal government Reagan s political transition reflected a national debate over the proper size and scope of government. In the 1920s Republicans won by promising to keep taxes low and minimize spending. The Great Depression reshaped the debate with the introduction of New Deal programs that enlarged the role of government. Critics, especially the American, Liberty League fought back unsuccessfully during that period. 1

2 4/20/2017 Republican President Eisenhower accepted the basic outlines of the New Deal and never attempted to dismantle the. federal bureaucracy In fact, it even. grew In 1964, however, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater ran on a staunchly conservative platform. Many Republicans, particularly in the Northeast, felt he was too conservative, but his victory in the South showed they might break their ties to the Democrats. Conservatives were silenced for time when the the 1964 election gave Democrats political upper hand in the mid-1960s. The Great Society promised something for everyone, but cost billions of dollars annually and raised expectationsbeyond what the government could meet. Nixon elected in 1968, wanted to trim, welfare programs, which he believed encouraged people not, to work and to bring the budget under control. Yet the grow government continued to. Many conservatives were deeply troubled by the rapid cultural changes of the period. Rock music became increasingly lyrics more sexual and shocking, its. The use of drug-oriented drugs became widespread and a wave of violent student protests swept college campuses. riots at Reagan s strong opposition to Berkeley helped him get elected. One of his first acts in office was to dismiss the university s president for being too soft on. protestors sexual revolutionalso caused The conservative concern. The use of the new birth control pill encouraged. promiscuity After the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, opponents launched a campaign to overturn it. 2

3 gay lesbian The women s movement caused yet The movement for and rights further angered many conservatives. another rift. Many conservatives believed a woman should stay at. home The women s movement and sexual revolution were blamed for the decline of the traditional family, in which children have two married. parents Some programs aimed at ending discrimination also disturbed conservatives. While most supported the desegregation of, public schools some questioned the need to send their children to distant schools for the sake of. diversity Another controversy included affirmative action programs. Critics called those programs reverse. discrimination This issue helped attract some Democratic blue-collar workers to Republican ranks. In 1976, Reagan had challenged President for the Republican nomination and lost by a. Ford narrow margin moderates In 1980 he tried again, though claimed that he was too conservative to defeat. Carter Some Republicans feared that 1980 would turn into a repeat of the 1964 Johnson v. Goldwater campaign. Many of them supported Illinois Republican Congressman John Anderson s third-party campaign as a result. conservative groups By 1980, had formed a powerful political coalition known as the New. Right A key concern was the size of government and its role in the economy. They proposed cutting government-funded. social programs Christian values Another goal was to restore to society. Members of the, Moral Majority led by the Reverend, Jerry Falwell wanted to revive the traditional valuesthey believed strengthened the country in the past. Falwell, a pastor from Virginia, gained a national following through televangelism. He helped to cement a relationship between religious voters and the Republican Party. 3

4 During the campaign, Reagan very effectively attacked Jimmy Carter s handling of the economy. The continuing hostage crisis in Iran and other issues hurt Carter, and Reagan won in a landslide. 51% The popular margin was to 41% (with third-party candidate John Anderson winning most of the rest). The Electoral College vote was to Republicans also gained control of the Senate for the first time since. Eisenhower s first term Conservatives now controlled the nation s. agenda government Reagan s goals were to reshape the and restore the country s strength. and prosperity In simple terms, he wanted to put more money into, people s pockets instead of into. tax coffers He had campaigned on three broad policies that he would pursue: 1. Slashing taxes 2. Eliminating unnecessary government programs 3. Bolstering our defense capabilities 4

5 Reagan s economic program, dubbed, Reaganomics rested on the theory of. Supply Side Economics This theory reversed earlier policies based on the ideas of English economist. John Maynard Keynes In contrast to Keynesiantheory, Supply Side Economics focused not on the demand for goods but on the supply of goods. It predicted that cutting taxes would put more money in the hands of businesses that would then hire more people and produce more goods and services. The key was encouraging business leaders to invest in their companies. tax cut Reagan s first priority was a. The tax rate on the highest incomes dropped from 70% before Reagan took office to 50% in 1984, and to 28% after the 1986 tax reform. Reagan embarked on a major program of. deregulation He wanted to eliminate government regulations that he believed stifled free. markets The more that businesses spent to comply with, regulations the less they could spend on new. factories and equipment Reagan also challenged the power of. labor unions In August 1981, the air traffic controllers called a strike that threatened to interrupt air travel across the country. Reagan gave the strikers to return to work, and when most refused, he. 2 days fired them 5

6 Reagan believed that any American could succeed through. individual effort This belief ran counter to the argument on which welfare was based: that government should help people who could not help themselves. Reagan charged that the government had become too intrusive in people s lives. The administration eliminated jobs that were part of an. employment training program It reduced unemployment. compensation It lowered welfare benefitsand reduced spending on. food stamps It raised fees for. Medicare patients Despite these cuts, total federal spending on welfare rose between 1980 and 1982, though more slowlythan it otherwise would have. responsibility Reagan sought to give more to state and local governments. Like Nixon, he called his plan the. New Federalism Under this plan, the federal government would no longer tell states how federal aid had to be used. Rather, it would let states create and pay for programs as they saw fit. This idea never quite worked as planned. A recession early in Reagan s presidency left a number of cities and states. nearly bankrupt Reagan was determined to protect America s interests in the. Cold War He believed in a tough approach toward the, Soviet Union which he called an. Evil Empire He favored large defense budgets to strengthen both conventional military forces and the. nuclear arsenal enormous The costs of the buildup were. These expenditures contributed to the growing budget. deficits Much of the money went into and. new weapons technology America Reagan also explored ways to protect from nuclear. attack In 1983, Reagan announced the Strategic, Defense Initiative popularly known as. Star Wars It proposed the creation of a massive satellite shield to intercept and destroy incoming Soviet. missiles Soviet Union Relations between the US and USSR remained frosty during Reagan s first term. The US deployed intermediate-range nuclear missiles to Europe. The USSR had more missiles and more powerful missiles than the US, but did not have the financial resources to match Reagan s defense build-up. 6

7 Lebanon The population of this tiny country was very religiously diverse, with Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, and others fighting each other with support from neighboring countries The US sent peacekeepers in 1982, and a suicide bomber managed to kill 241 Marines The US withdrew, prompting many radical Islamists to conclude that they could beat the US Libya Muammar Gaddafi, dubbed the Mad Dog of the Middle East by Ronald Reagan, was the absolute dictator of Libya from 1969 to 2011 He sponsored terrorist attacks on American and Israeli targets The US retaliated by bombing Libya on April 14, 1986; killing 2 of his sons and more than 100 others El Salvador The US provided military aid worth about $1 million each day to a repressive military regime fighting against communist guerillas Grenada US military forces seized control of the island in October 1983 after a coup installed a communist government Reagan claimed he acted to protect several hundred American medical students on the island, but that seems to have been an excuse to overthrow the Communist leadership 7

8 During Reagan s first two years in office, the US experienced the worst economic downturn since the. Great Depression Federal Reserve The raised interest rates to reduce inflation, but they hurt business and discouraged Americans from borrowing to purchase goods or make investments. Foreign competition also cost thousands of. American jobs unemployment By 1982, had reached a postwar high of 10.8% and hundreds of businesses were going bankrupt each. week inflation By 1983, both and unemployment had already dropped below. 10% Republicans claimed that the recovery demonstrated the wisdom of supply-side economics. Poverty ratesand, homelessness however, remained high. During the 1980 campaign, Reagan had vowed to balance the, federal budget but his combination of tax cuts and defense spending pushed the deficit up, not down. The national debt climbed from $80 billionin 1980 to in $221 billion In spite of these challenges, many Americans supported Reagan because they shared his values and. principles In 1981, Americans reacted with horror when Reagan was woundedin an assassination attempt. Reagan, Press Secretary James Brady, and two security personnel were injured. While the others recovered, Brady suffered permanent paralysis and became an advocate for gun control. 8

9 John Hinckley Hinckley was mentally ill and had become obsessed with actress Jodie Foster. Inspired by the plot of one of her recent movies, Taxi Driver, Hinckley resolved to kill the president to prove his love for her and to earn her affection. He was committed to an asylum. courage humor The and with which he faced the situation only reinforced Americans for the President. respect The 1984 election pitted Reagan against former Vice President, Walter Mondale whose running mate was, Geraldine Ferraro the first on a national party ticket. woman Reagan s popularity gave him a landslide victory of 59% of the popular vote and every electoral vote except those of D.C. and. Minnesota Reagan wanted to recreate the sense of communityhe d known in his youth and to help revive the virtues that made America strong. After the turbulence that followed the, Vietnam War the 1980 s offered several occasions to celebrate patriotic : renewal Summer Olympics in Los Angeles th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty th Anniversary of the Constitution Why did the US win so many medals at the 1984 Olympics? The USSR and other Communist countries boycotted (retaliating for the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics), significantly reducing the competition in many events 9

10 During the 1980s an increasing number of African Americancandidates were elected to local, state, and national offices, especially in the. South In 1983, Reagan signed a bill designating the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. a national holiday. On the other hand, he opposed extending the 1965 Voting Rights Act until intense pressure made him change his mind. His administration also worked to end some programs. affirmative action women s The campaign for homosexual rights caused significant polarization. Contributing to the ERA Anti-abortion backlash was the spread of. AIDS Most abortions victims were drug users and, homosexual men though some contracted the virus through blood. transfusions The movement encountered a backlash with the 1982 defeat of the. groups also worked to halt federal funding of for the poor. Ryan White An Indiana boy with hemophilia who contracted HIV via blood transfusion, White helped to challenge the public perception that people only contracted AIDS due to their lifestyle choices 10

11 Many believed the government should promote abstinence as the best way to prevent the disease, rather than providing controversial information on alternative forms of. prevention Many social concerns wound up in the judicial system just as it began to shift. Reagan s appointees were fairly. conservative In 1981 he appointed Sandra Day O Connor to be the nation s first woman Supreme. Court Justice 1930-Present O Connor served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until Her nomination was opposed by many pro-life Republicans who feared she would not support their cause. She became the moderate, swing-vote on the Court. Antonin Scalia He also appointed and unsuccessfully nominated Robert. Bork Bork taught at Yale Law School and then served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and Judge of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals Reagan nominated him to the Supreme Court in 1987, but Democratic opposition became especially personal and fierce. His nomination was defeated and he resigned from the Circuit Court. Antonin Scalia Scalia graduated from Georgetown and Harvard Law School and was in private practice for a few years before going to work for the Justice Department. He taught law during the Carter years but Reagan appointed him to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in 1982 and the Supreme Court in Scalia was the most prominent proponent of originalism on the Court. After that rejection, he appointed Anthony. Kennedy 1936 Present Kennedy has served on the Supreme Court since He has grown increasingly moderate/liberal over the years. Following the resignation of O Connor in 2006, Kennedy has been the swing-vote on the Supreme Court. The Farm Crisis Many farmers had borrowed money to expand operations during the 1970s when farm prices were high Foreign demand was falling even as American farmers produced record amounts of food From 1980 to 1986 prices fell by roughly 50% Both government and private aid to farmers increased Shifts in Manufacturing Foreign competition began to replace more American manufacturing 11

12 This loss in manufacturing hit the old industrial heartland especially hard Unequal Wealth While incomes increased for all household quintiles, the income of the top 20% increased by 23% in the 1980s; the bottom quintile s income increased only 4% Many household incomes increased because of a second adult entering the workforce Reagan favored less government regulation of the economy. A decade later, neither political party would argue with that. Reagan also followed a hands-off style in running the government. He delegated authority rather than becoming involved in every decision. The Reagan administration and Congress pushed for the deregulation of Savings and Loan Banks (which made home mortgage loans to individuals) so that they could make riskier but more investments profitable Some officials took advantage of the new situation to make huge fortunes for themselves, and when those investments failed, many S&L s collapsed. Because bank accounts are insured by the federal, government taxpayers had to make up the billions lost. Some officialswere prosecuted for their role in the scandal. Nicaragua In, the Reagan administration sought to undermine the Marxist government that seized power in Reagan feared that the ruling group, the, Sandinistas would spread upheaval to other countries. US Congress discovered the program and Contras banned secret arms sales Iran The trained and armed guerillas (known as the ) in violation of American law. it in 1984, but some officials took profits from to to continue the program. Those sales were also meant to encourage the release of American hostages held in Lebanon by. Pro-Iranian terrorists 12

13 When these sales became public in 1986, Oliver North took the blame as Reagan claimed no knowledge of the operation. Lieutenant Colonel North served on the staff of the National Security Council until the scandal came to light. He accepted responsibility for diverting proceeds from weapon sales to Iran to the Nicaraguan contras. His convictions were overturned because the trial might have been influenced by his Congressional testimony, for which he received immunity. Iran-Contra Affair The did not damage Reagan s personal. approval rating When he left office in 1989, polls showed that more than 60% of the American people gave him high marks for his overall performance. One reason for Reagan s popularity was the improvement of relationswith the Soviet. Union Despite his fierce Anti-Communist stance, he developed a close relationship with Mikhail, Gorbachev who became in Soviet leader Gorbachev was Andropov s chosen successor but had a much more open attitude toward the West. He believed that the communists had to reform if they were to remain in power. Gorbachev To reform his country, pursued the policies of glasnost (which means ) political openness and perestroika (which means restructuring the economy to allow limited ). free enterprise The two leaders also negotiated the INF Treaty that provided for the destruction of about 2,500 in Europe. missiles Reagan s domestic policies could not dramatically reduce the. size of government Payments for entitlements grew faster than expected. Economic turmoil erupted near the end of Reagan s presidency when the stock market suffered a drop in one day. 22.6% 13

14 successor Though it recovered, Reagan s inherited many. economic problems The country soon slipped into another. recession Most Americans remember Reagan for his vigorous emphasis on restoring national prideand the force of his own optimistic. personality Many Americans felt confident again for the first time since the years. Kennedy It s hard following a legendary president. Bush sought to continue the revolution his predecessor had begun, but he lacked Reagan s charismatic appealand found it was not always easy to measure. up Connecticut senator The son of a wealthy, Bush served in WWII as a bomber pilot in the Pacific and was awarded the. Distinguished Flying Cross Bush became a pilot just days before his 19 th birthday, making him the youngest Navy pilot in history. In 1944 he was shot down but rescued without being captured. After the war he had a profitable career in the Texas. oil industry He began his political career in 1966 and filled many roles: member of Congress, ambassador to the, UN chairman of the, Republican Party envoy to, and head of the. China CIA moderate Bush had a reputation as a and loyal, Republican but he lacked the support of conservatives. Bush began the 1988 campaign far behind his opponent, Governor Michael Dukakis of. Massachusetts Michael Dukakis A graduate of Swarthmore and Harvard Law School, this three-term Massachusetts governor won the 1988 Democratic Presidential nomination by beating a large number of rivals 14

15 offensive No New Taxes Bush took the in the campaign and pledged there would be if he became president. Bush s attack ads successfully damaged his opponent but also alienatedsome voters /willie-horton 54% Bush won of the popular vote and carried 40 states in a electoral vote win. Yet Democrats still controlled. Congress foreign policy Bush s major triumphs came in. Even more than Reagan, Bush benefited from the historic changes in the Communist world unleashed by. Gorbachev Yakov Smirnoff Russian comedian Yakov Smirnov became something of a minor sensation in the 1980s by telling jokes about life in the Soviet Union. This may be evidence that the Communists were no longer feared so much. Why don't they have baseball in Soviet Union? In Soviet Union, no one is safe. Poland In, the stage was set for the downfall of Soviet. Communism When shipyard workers at Gdansk launched a strike in 1980, Lech Walesa joined them and became their leader. Walesa, an electrician, became the leader of the nonstate workers union and later the first post-communist president of Poland. The government agreed to their demand for the right to form a free trade. union This activity spread to form an alliance called, Solidaritywhich remained popular even after being suppressed by the government. Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for his acts of courage. economic collapse In 1988, further sparked a new round of protests. The government agreed to schedule for June 1989, and the people elected Walesa to be their president. free elections 15

16 Anti-communist revolts broke out throughout Eastern. Europe In, Czechoslovakia a poet and playwright named Vaclav Havel was elected president. Havel had been imprisoned repeatedly by the Communists but helped lead a peaceful revolution before his election as President. Bulgaria New regimes also took charge in, Hungary,, Romania and Albania. The most dramatic events of 1989 took place in. East Germany In November, the government of East Germany announced that their citizens could travel freely to West -. Germany People flooded around and over the hated _-, Berlin Wall the most potent symbol of the. Cold War Communist Party Within a month, the began to collapse. Within a year, East and reunified. West Germany Gorbachev hoped to reform the Soviet Union while keeping the Communist Party in power, but events slipped beyond his control. In August 1991, conservative Communists staged a coup that quickly collapsed. The country s republicsindependence sensed weakness and began to move toward. 16

17 Gorbachev resigned the presidency on December 25, 1991, and within a week the Soviet Union no longer existed. It was replaced by a loose alliance of former Soviet republics called the Commonwealth. of Independent States Russia s new president,, Boris Yeltsin emerged as the dominant leader in that land. President of Russia from Westerners had high hopes for Yeltsin, who promised radical reforms and friendship with the West. His administration was plagued a great deal of corruption. Even as the Soviet Union disintegrated, Bush continued. arms control talks Agreements in 1989 and 1990 limited the buildup of nuclear and chemical weapons. The first Strategic Arms Reduction Treatycalled for dramatic reductions in the two nations supplies of longrange. nuclear weapons Communist governments As tottered in Europe, Chinesestudents gathered in their capital,, Beijing to march for democracy and. reform They occupied Tiananmen Square in the heart of the city in spite of orders to leave. China On June 3, s leaders ordered the army to attack the protestors. Hundreds of protestors died, and many more were later and. imprisoned executed China Bush chose not to attack s leaders and risk an international, crisis preferring to negotiate quietly and encourage. trade Many concluded that Bush was indifferent to in. human rights China The United States was now clearly the world s lone superpower. Bush hoped the world would move smoothly to a peaceful New World Order under American leadership, but conflicts in different regions of the world became the focus of American. foreign policy Bush enjoyed support when he acted against the nation of, Panama the dictator of which ( ) Manuel Noriega was helping to smuggle into the United States. cocaine Noriega had worked with the CIA for years, helping the US to deliver weapons to allies in Central and South America. We invaded to remove him from power. He first hid in the Vatican embassy but surrendered after a few days. 17

18 The attack came in December 1989 and surrendered on January 3 rd Noriega Noriega was convicted of violating several laws and sentenced to serve time in a federal prison in Florida. He was released to Panamanian custody in 2011 to serve an additional 20 years in jail. Saddam Hussein In August 1990,, the dictator of, Iraq invaded his neighbor,. Kuwait Hussein was a brutal dictator who ruled Iraq absolutely from 1979 until His war against Iran ( ) was heavily financed by neighboring Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The US also supplied weapons to Iraq. Hussein used chemical weapons against the Iranians and even some of his own people. oil Bush viewed protecting the flow of as a national security issue. Months of diplomatic efforts failed to resolve the situation, so the US, working through the, United Nations mobilized an alliance of 28 countries to launch the. Persian Gulf War Desert Storm Coalition Military operations were organized by Colin, Powell the first African-American and youngest Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in American history. UN forces, led by Norman, Schwarzkopf liberated Kuwait in just six weeks of war. The Allies lost fewer than, 300 while the enemy lost. tens of thousands 18

19 Saddam Hussein Bush opted not to oust, hoping in vain that his domestic opponents would overthrow him. Colin Powell warned that the US would be responsible for occupying and administering the country if the government was overthrown, and Bush did not want to assume those burdens. He did encourage the Iraqis to overthrow Hussein, but Hussein subsequently crushed all uprisings against him. foreign policy While Bush s won him praise, Americans began to believe he didn t have a clear plan for handling domestic. problems Bush angered many liberals by nominating Clarence, Thomas a black conservative, to replace Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court. Thomas nomination tilted the Court in a more conservative alignment, leading liberal Democrats to viciously oppose him. Anita Hill Hearings Anita Hill had once worked for Thomas as a law clerk, but when he was nominated for the Supreme Court she came forth with allegations of sexual harassment. The televised Senate hearings were sensationalized and helped to polarize the country. Thomas was finally approved on a vote of 52-48, but all future nominations would be much more politicized than before. Bush angered many conservatives by accepting a deficit reductionplan that included new, taxes breaking his campaign promise. Bush s real undoing, however, was a recession that saw unemployment climb to. 7 percent This was caused in part by rising gas prices and cuts in defense and other industries. 19