Name AP US History II period President Reagan Date Mrs. Homstein 1. List some of the issues stressed by the "Christian right." 2. How was the "New Right" bruit? What was Ronald Reagan s role in the emergence of the movement? 3. To what extent was the tax revolt of the 1970s and 1980s as much an attack on government programs in principle as it was a frustration with high taxes? 4. Why did Ronald Reagan win such a decisive victory in 1980? What happened in the congressional races? 5. What were the key elements of the Reagan Coalition? How did it differ from the traditional Reagan constituency? 6. Explain the assumptions of supply-side economics or "Reaganomics." How did the Reagan administration implement it?
On Reducing the Size Government (1982) Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan, a former aci:or and Governor of" CaliFornia, was a conservative Republican. He campaigned in I:he 1980 presidential election on a familiar Republican theme of creating a smaller Federal government. He advocai:ed tax cues and less spending by the f"ederal government. Reagan captured the mood o~ i:he country, which was dissatisfied with rne continuing poor economy and President Carter s alleged weak leadership. Reagan won the election againsi: Cari:er by 51 percent to 42 percent. Reagan believed thai: "Government wasn t pare of" the solution; governmeni: was parl: o~" the problem." In his 1982 Si:ai:e of" the Union Address, af"ter his first full year in of"rice, Reagan sei: out to make his vision of"a smaller f"ederal government a reality. The following is an excerpt f"rom that speech of January 26, 1982.... A year ago, Americans f"aith in their governmental process was steadil) decliniug. Six out of 10 Americans were saying they were pessimistic ahont their [\~ture. A new kind of defeatism was heard. Some said nut domestic problems were tmcontrollable, that we had to learn to live with this seemingly endless cycle of high inflation and high unemployment... Together. af~er 50 years of taking power away from the hands of the people in their States and local commnnities, we [Reagan aud Congress] have started returning power and resources to them. Togeflaer, we have cut the growth of new Federal regulations nearly in half. In 1981 there were 23,000 fewer pages in the Federal Register, which lists new regulations, than there were in 1980. By deregulating oil we ve come closer to achieving energy independence and helped bring down the cost of gasoline and heating fuel. 274
On Reducing the Size of Government 275 Together, we have created an effective Federal strike force to combat waste and fraud in government. In.just 6 months it has saved the taxpayers more than $2 billion, and it s only getting started. Together we ve begun to mobilize the private sector; not to duplicate wasteful and discredited government programs, but to bring thousa~ads of Americans into a volunteer effort to help solve many of America s social problems Our citizens feel they ve lost control of even the most basic decisions made about the essential services of governmeut, such as schools, welthre, roads, and even garbage collection. And they re right. A maze of interlocking jurisdictions and levels of government confi onts average citizens in tt ying to solve even the simplest of problems, They don t know where to turn for answers, who to hold accouutable, who to praise, who to blame, who to vote for or against. The main reason for this is the overpowering growth of Federal grants-in-aid programs during the past few decades. In 1960 the Federal Government had 132 categorical grant programs, costing {;7 billion. When 1 took office, there were approximately 500, costing nearly a huudred billion dollars--13 programs for energy, 36 for pollution control, 66 for social services, 90 for education. And here in the Congress, it takes at least 166 committees just to try to keep track of them. You kuow and I know that neither the President nor the Congress can properly oversee this jungle of grants-in-aid: indeed, the growth of these g~-ants has led to the distortion in the vital functlons of govenuneut. As one Democratic Governor put it recently: The National Govermnent should be worrying about "arms control, not potholes." The growth in these Federal programs has--in the words of one intergovernmental commission--made the Federal Government "more pervasive, more intrnsive, more unmanageable, more ine~ - fective and costly, and above all, more [un] accountable." Let s solve this problem wida a single, bold stroke: the return of some $47 billieu in Federal programs to State and local government, together with the means to fina~ce them and a transition period of nearly 40 years to avoid unnecessary disruption... In a single stroke we will he accomplishing a realignment that will end cumbersome [unmanageable] administration and spiraling costs at the Federal level while we ensure these programs will be
more responsive to both the people they re meant to help and the people who pay fbr them... We re not asking them [private sector groups] to replace discarded and often discredited government programs dollar for dollar, service tbr service. We.just want to help them peribrm the good works they choose and help others to profit by their example, Three hundred and eighty-five thousand corporations anti private organizations are already working on social programs rangiug from drug rehabilitation to.job training, and thonsands more Americans have written us asking how they can help, The volunteer spirit is still alive and well in America. Review Questions 1. Why did the Ronald Reagan administration in 19.81 cut the growth of new Federal regulations in half?. 2. Why did President Reagan claim tha~: cit(zens &It they had control ofeven the most basic decisions about the essential services of government? 3. Why did Reagan want to transfer many programs to the state level of government? 4. How did Reagan hope to help create a better government through smaller government? 5. Wha role did volunteers play in this task? 6. Da you agree with Reagan s philosophy about a smaller fedeml gowrnment? Why or why
7. What steps were taken in the area of deregulation in the Reagan administration? 8. What lifted the economy out of the 1982-1983 recession? What contribution did Reagan s economic policy make to the recovery? 9. What long-term developments and short-term actions of the Reagan years led to the current debt? 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955!960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 The National Debt, 1930-2602 World War II provided the flrst major boost to the national debt. But it was the policies of the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, 1991-1993, that explosively expanded the debt to the $4 trillion level. By the 1990s, 14 percent of federal revenues went to interest payments on the debt. The budget surpluses created by the booming economy of the second Clinton administration (1997-2001) raised the prospect that the debt might be paid off. But the combination ot the George ~ Bush tax cuts and increased military spending sent the debt socatng again after 2001, though a combination of lower interest rates and a growing economy left federal interest payments as a percentage of GDP at their lowest levels since the 1970s, about 1.4%. (Sources: Historical Statistics ot the United States and Statistical Abstract of the United States, relevant years; 1996 and 1997 figures from Economic Indicators, Council o! Economic Advinors.) 1970 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 1970 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 1970 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 kowest 20 perceat Middle 60 percent Highest 20 percent Share of Income Received by Families, by Quintile, 1970-2000 Since 1980 the incomes of the lowest 20 percent and the middle 60 percent have been shrink while he incomes ot the highest 20 percent, and particularly the top 5 percent, have climbed ~teadily. (Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2003.)
10. What stance toward the Soviets and communism in general constituted the so-called Reagan Doctrine? l 1. How was the Reagan Doctrine applied in Latin America and the Caribbean? 12. How did the rise in terrorism as a political tactic shape American foreign policy in North Africa and the Middle East?