1980 ElectionCarter vs. Reagan
Carter is unpopular for several reasons
Economic recession
Energy prices
Iran hostage crisis
Carter wins only five states
Reagan promises a “Revolution”
Ideological changes in government and defense
Promises to cut spending
Blames government as the source of the problem
Reagan becomes a tremendously popular President
“Great Communicator”
Booming mid 1980’s economy
Likable public image
New RightGroup of primarily social conservatives
Replace New Left of the 1960’s
Dislike social change and reform
Dominated by evangelical Christians (values voters)
Moral Majority
Coalition of conservative Christian groups
Based on fundamentalist religious teachings
Also included conservative intellectuals and disaffected Democrats
Reagan was elected by a large number of former Democratic voters
Primary issues:
Fight government regulation (state’s rights)
Morality issues (abortion/ERA)
“Supply-Side” EconomicsReagan’s primary economic philosophy
AKA “Reaganomics”
AKA “Voodoo economics” (Bush before VP nomination)
Theory behind “supply-side”
Stagnant American economy based on over-taxation
Inadequate capital available for investment
Reducing taxes on capital gains will help economy
Cuts taxes on big business and the rich
“Trickle down” theory
Reduced government spending needed to compensate
Economic RecoveryUS will undergo rapid recovery beginning in 1982-1983
Reagan will cut capital gains taxes, but not spending
No balanced budget
Nat. debt 900 billion (1980) to 4 trillion (1992)
Massive defense spending will aid economy (Keynesian)
($1.6 trillion over 5 years)
OPEC collapses due to a world wide oil surplus
Result of increasing oil prices
Declining energy prices help decrease inflation
Tight Federal Reserve policies had eliminated inflation
Loose policies will follow encouraging investment
Although Reagan’s economy boom, Reaganomics is never truly tested
Foreign PolicyReagan believed that USSR was an “evil empire”
Reagan doctrine
Official foreign policy
Called for largest military build up in US history
Attempt to restore international prestige
Pledged to support opponents of communism anywhere in the world
SDI
Known as Star Wars
ABM system may have possibly bankrupted the Soviet economy
Violated previous agreement (SALT I) and prevented passage of others
Foreign PolicyReagan commits US troops to Lebanon
Attempt to calm Civil War
US troops help Israeli forces hunt PLO terrorists
Series of terrorist attacks against US forces in Lebanon
US embassy and US Marine base bombed
Hostages taken by Iranian extremists
US invasion of Grenada
Overthrow pro Cuban Marxist government
Secret commitments
Nicaragua--Congress passes Boland amendment forbidding involvement there
Afghanistan--Secretly support Afghan rebels
Libya—bombing of Tripoli in response to terror attacks
Iran ContraMassive scandal involving Reagan’s “secret government”
CIA and NSC had illegally sold weapons to Iran (fighting our ally Iraq) in exchange for return of American hostages
Money illegally funneled to right wing Contras attempting to overthrow Marxist Sandanista government in Nicaragua
Congressional hearings can not tie Reagan to the scandal
National security aide Col. Oliver North and National Security Advisor John Poindexter and others refuse to implicate Reagan
Public opinion sympathetic to North
US and USSRMikhail Gorbachev assumes command of USSR in 1985
Initiates Perestroika (reform) and Glasnost (openess) programs
Nuclear talks between two nations
INF treaty (1988)
End of the Cold War (1989)
Gorbachev’s reform and financial crisis in USSR lead to an end of communism rule in Eastern Europe
Berlin Wall torn down (Germany reunified 1990)
Eventual fall of USSR (1991)
Cold War victory credited to Reagan by some historians
Bush calls it “New World Order”
BushElected in 1988
Will continue with policies similar to those of Reagan
Tax cuts/small government/defense spending
Handicapped by an emerging economic recession
Major foreign policy
1989 Tiananmen Square
Massacre of student protesters
Bush sends aides to restore relations with China
1989 Panama
Overthrow/arrest Manuel Noriega for drug trafficking
Part of larger War on Drugs initiated by Bush
1991 Operation Desert Storm
Attacks Iraq to liberate oil rich Kuwait
Social IssuesWar on Drugs
Just Say No campaign by Nancy Reagan
Response to rising drug addiction
Undeclared war by Bush after murder of Enrique Camarena by Mexican drug cartel
Aging population
Rising costs of health related programs
Strain on Social Security programs
Emerging AIDS epidemic
Disease discovered less then 30 years ago has spread rapidly
Environmental awareness—Exxon Valdez
Shifting demographics-Growing minority population
Increasing roles of women and minorities in society through 1970’s and 1980’s