Ronald Reagan

40th President of the United States

Introduction

• Governor of California• Inaugurated January 20, 1981• Neoconservatism• Stimulate the economy, lower taxes, cut

liberal social programs, lessen federal government’s role in people’s everyday lives, increase American military strength

• Called Great Communicator: can simplify issues, give clear answers

The Economy

• Supply-side economics, Reagonomics, “trickle-down” theory

• Massive tax cuts – especially for wealthy individuals and corporations – would encourage personal savings and investment, lead to business growth, and create more jobs

• Result = larger supply of goods for consumers who would have more money to spend thus stimulating the economy

The Economy Continued

• Reduced spending on welfare benefits, Medicare benefits, children’s lunch programs, and one million recipients of food stamps lost their allocations

• Tax cuts mostly benefited the rich, and cuts in social spending drove the poor deeper into poverty

• Tax cuts + increase in defense spending = $4 trillion national debt

Social Issues

• Conservative stand• Opposed – busing of students to

integrate schools, gun control, the ERA, and the right of women to have legal abortions

• Landslide victory in 1984• Lost favor with women• Had little influence in changing

most of these issues

Social Issues Continued

• Created a more conservative court with the appointment of Sandra Day O’Connor, the court’s first ever woman justice

Deregulation

• To “get the government off of people’s backs”, Reagan decreased the bureaucratic “red tape” and restrictions so businesses could operate more freely

• Fuel-efficiency standards became more lenient

• Growth in the cable television industry• Airline fares and routes less regulated

Deregulation and the Environment

• Environmentalists was one group that opposed deregulation

• Wanted to prevent companies from polluting the air or water or dumping hazardous wastes

• Reagan administration asserted that some damage to the environment was a price Americans might have to pay to have a strong economy

• A 1985 poll showed that two-thirds of Americans did not accept this approach

The Military

• Launched an unprecedented peacetime arms buildup in case of war with the “evil empire”

• Proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, a new laser-beam-operated defense shield that could protect the U.S. from nuclear attack by destroying enemy missiles in space. Billions of dollars went into its development – did not work

Assassination Attempt

• March 30, 1981, President Reagan and other members of his staff were shot by a mentally unbalanced man named John Hinckley Jr.

Anticommunism

• Reagan Doctrine – secretly help those opposing communist governments around the world

• Led to successes such as the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan

Anticommunism – Latin America

• El Salvador – rebels receiving aid from Soviet Union so we must help the Salvadoran government – criticized action since the Salvadoran government was seen as one of the world’s most murderous and oppressive regimes

Iran-Contra Affair

• Reagan wanted to provide aid, arms, and training to the contras, rebels who wanted to overthrow the Marxist Sandinista government

• Congress refused because they didn’t see Nicaragua as a serious threat to Central America’s political stability

Iran-Contra Affair

• White House made a secret deal to sell arms to Iran and then divert the profits to the contras

• Americans were outraged• Congressional hearings to see if

Reagan was involved – could not find evidence

Health Issues• AIDS (acquired immune deficiency

syndrome) caused by virus- destroys immune system, makes body prone to infections, cancer

• 1980s, epidemic grows; increasing concern over prevention, cure

Social Concerns in the 1980s

Abortion• 1980s, battle over abortion intensifies

- opponents are pro-life; supporters are pro-choice

• 1989, Supreme Court rules states may place restrictions on abortion

Health, Education, and Cities in Crisis

Drug Abuse• Reagan administration prosecutes drug

users, dealers• First Lady Nancy Reagan has “Just say

no!” to drugs campaign

The Urban Crisis• Cities deteriorate as whites move to

suburbs; businesses follow• 1992 riots in LA after officers taped

beating Rodney King acquitted

Bush – 1988 Election

• Most Americans economically comfortable

- attribute comfort to Reagan, Bush• Republican candidate George Bush

stresses conservatism

- promises “no new taxes”• Gets 53% popular vote, 426 electoral

votes

The Cold War Ends

The Collapse of Communist Regimes

• Gorbachev reduces Soviet control of Eastern Europe, urges democracy

• 1989, Berlin Wall torn down; 1990, 2 Germanys reunited

• Czechoslovakia, Baltic states, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania democratic

• Ethnic civil war breaks out in Yugoslavia

Communism Continues in China• Students demand free speech, voice in

government• 1989, demonstrations in Beijing’s

Tiananmen Square, other cities• Premier Li Peng orders military to crush

protesters - unarmed students killed

China

Panama

• Bush sends troops to arrest dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega

• Noriega convicted of drug trafficking in U.S., sentenced to 40 years

Middle East Trouble Spots

The Persian Gulf War• Iran-Iraq War leaves Saddam

Hussein with great war debt- 1990, invades Kuwait to take its oil, threatens U.S. oil supply

• 1991, Operation Desert Storm liberates Kuwait from Iraq

• Victory parades greet returning soldiers

• Under 400 coalition casualties; 100,000 Iraqi deaths

Bush’s Domestic Policies

• Bush hurt by rising deficit, recession of 1990–1992

• Forced to raise taxes despite campaign promise

• 1992, approval rating drops to 49%