CHAPTER 40

ELECTION OF 1980Jimmy Carter

Democrats nominated Jimmy Carter after a challenge from Senator Edward Kennedy

Ronald ReaganRepublicans nominated Ronald Reagan of CaliforniaReagan the leading spokesmen for conservatismWas a B-grade movie star in the 1940’s Worked in Hollywood to purge communists from the film industryGovernor of California from 1966-1974

John AndersonJohn Anderson, an Independent Congressman, ran on a third party ticket

THE 1980 CAMPAIGNReagan called for reductions in government spending and taxes, a shift in power from the federal govt to the states, and advocated “traditional American values”--family, religion, hard work, and patriotism Blasted the Soviets for their aggression and vowed to rebuild US military

The New Right

The Moral Majority

Reagan received vigorous support from the “New Right” including evangelical Christian groups like Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority

Reagan promised to get government off people’s backs!!!

1980 ELECTION RESULTSReagan got over 51% of the vote, Carter 41%, Anderson 7%Carter first sitting president to be unseated by voters since Herbert HooverRepublicans gained control of the Senate for the first time in 25 years

Ushered in the conservative “Reagan Revolution” that

would continue into the mid-1990s and beyond

“THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR”Reagan had superb communication skills and optimism that gave Americans a renewed sense of hope and destiny in the 1980’s following the frustrating and cynical 1970’s

REAGAN: THE COLD WARReagan’s early rhetoric about the Soviet Union was harsh

US concerned about Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979

Reagan sought to deal with Soviets from a position of strength by embarking on a massive new round to the arms race!!!

Americans could better bear the burden of the expense while the Soviets could not!!!!!!!!!!

SDI: “STAR WARS”In 1983, Reagan announced his intention to pursue a high technology missile-defense system

Plan called for battle stations in space that could fire laser beams or other forms of concentrated energy to vaporize intercontinental missiles on lift-off

Reagan claimed SDI offered a nuclear umbrella over US cities

Most scientists viewed SDI as impossible and it became the cause of much ridicule in the scientific community

The biggest reason Reagan used SDI was to scare the Soviets!!!!!

THE “EVIL EMPIRE” SPEECHReagan called the Soviet Union “the evil empire” and the “focus of evil

in the modern world”!

This justified his military buildup as necessary to thwart aggressive Soviets!!!!!

REAGAN: THE MIDDLE EAST?Lebanon Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon in 1983 as part of

an international peacekeeping force after Israeli attacks against Palestinian strongholds in Lebanon caused chaos

October, 1983--a suicide bomber crashed his truck into the US Marine barracks killing 241 Marines

Reagan soon pulled remaining American troops while suffering no political damage from the attacks

Opponents called him the “Teflon President” to whom nothing politically damaging could stick!!!!!!

REAGAN: THE MIDDLE EAST?Libya Reagan ordered the bombing of

Libya in 1986 in retaliation for an alleged Libyan-sponsored bombing of a West Berlin discotheque that killed US servicemen

Col. Mommar Quaddafi had long been a sponsor for terrorism against the West

REAGAN: THE MIDDLE EAST?

Iran-Iraq WarUS backed Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein as Iran and the US had become bitter enemies since the 1979 Iranian Revolution

REAGAN: WESTERN HEMISPHERE

NICARAGUA EL SALVADOR GRENADASandinistas were socialist revolutionaries who made practice of condemning capitalism and US policies in Latin America

Supported by Cuba

Reagan accused Sandinistas of being a base for Soviets and Cubans

Reagan sent covert aid including CIA-led mining of harbors to the “contra” rebels opposing the anti-US govt in Nicaragua

Results in the Iran-Contra Scandal

Reagan sent military “advisors” to prop-up pro US (anticommunist) govt of El Salvador as well as gaining congressional approval for $5 billion in aid

Public opinion soured after news of govt “death squads” eliminating hundreds, perhaps thousands of opposition

s

In 1983, Reagan sent 6000 troops to tiny Grenada in the Caribbean where a military coup had killed the prime minister and brought a Marxist regime to power

US forces successfully overran the island

END OF THE COLD WARIn 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became a reform-minded leader of the Soviet Union

Gorbachev courted the West

“Iron Curtain” fell in 1989--the costs of maintaining satellite countries, both politically and economically, were too much a burden for USSR to handle

Berlin Wall torn down in November

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTAssassination attempt in March 1981 nearly killed Reagan

White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head and debilitated for years

REAGANOMICSReagan cut taxes on the “trickle-down” idea that if peple had more money, they would invest rather than spend the excess on consumer goodsCongress granted Reagan a 25% cut, spread over three years

Reagan enacted large budget cuts in domestic programs

Defense budget increased by $12 billion

RESULT: HUGE BUDGET DEFICITS THAT RESULTED IN A RISE IN NATIONAL DEBT

1982 recession occurred, yet inflation fell dramatically

Reagan and Congress also deregulated many industries

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERSSTRIKE

In 1981, federally employed air traffic controllers went on an illegal strike

Reagan fired 11,400 of them after they refused to follow his order to return to work

Destroyed the air traffic controllers’ union

SANDRA DAY O’CONNORReagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first female justice on the Supreme Court in US history

ELECTION OF 1984Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale

Democrats nominated Mondale, former VP under Carter

Geraldine Ferraro nominated as first female VP nominee in US history

Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush renominated by Republican Party

Results: Reagan defeated Mondale 525-13 in the Electoral VoteDemocratic Coalition of the FDR New Deal broken apart

IRAN-CONTRA AFFAIRScandal exposed in 1987 that showed money had been diverted from the secret sale of weapons to Iran and then money funneled to “Contras”

Congress had expressly forbidden US money being sent to the “Contra’s”

Led by Lt. Col. Oliver North

Became biggest scandal of Reagan Administration

Reagan claimed he was unaware of what was going on in his Administration

CHALLENGER EXPLOSION1986--Space shuttle Challenger exploded on liftoff killing 7 astronauts including the first teacher in space

Damaged NASA’s credibility and reinforced doubts about the complex technology required for the SDI program

ELECTION OF 1988George H.W.

BushMichael Dukakis

TIANANMEN SQUARE 1989--Chinese students for democracy protested in communist China

President Bush criticized the Chinese govt, but insisted on normal relations with China

PERSIAN GULF CRISISIn 1990, Iraq under the leadership of Saddam Hussein invaded neighbor Kuwait

President Bush moved with the UN to form a massive coalition to push Iraq out of Kuwait

Massive invasion became known as Operation Desert Storm