1980s

Reagan Revolution

a Shift to the Right

Liberalism / Conservatism• Interventionism• Big government• Favor change –

innovation & experiment

• Coercion• Deficit spending• Centralization• Pro choice,

affirmative action – diversity is a good

• Laissez-faire• Least government• Status quo• Volunteerism• Balanced budget• Tax cuts for

corporations & rich• States’ rights• Anti abortion,

affirmative action• Stress morality /

religion

Reagan, 1980 Republican Convention

Reagan, the “Great Communicator,” the campaign

Triumph of Conservative Coalition

• Diverse groups that favor traditional social values

• Evangilicals (Evangelical Christians) gain a political voice – conservative fundamentalists

• NEW RIGHT• Helped bring about Reagan Revolution of the

1980s• Moral Majority – 1979, political lobbying group

led by Reverend Jerry Falwell• Christian Coalition – Reverend Pat Robertson• Hermitage Foundation – think tank

1980overwhelming victory in electoral

college & popular vote

• Reagan’s optimism• “Are you better off than you were four years

ago?”• Reagan won support of: religious right, most

Republicans, many business leaders, and many moderate Democrats

• Senate – Republican majority, first since 1955

• Iran freed the hostages minutes after Reagan took office

Expands the New Federalism

• Assult on big government• Shift power from federal government to the

states• Nixon had used revenue sharing; Reagan

block grants to hand programs in health, education, and welfare to states

• States more flexibility but less money: reduced federal spending on social programs

Supply-Side Economics

• Economic growth depends on increasing supply of goods and services --

• Way to increase supply is to cut taxes to stimulate saving and spending( 1981 bill to cut taxes 25% over 3 years)

• “Vodoo economics” unrealistic that lower taxes would increase revenues

• Economic resurgence – some say due to increased defense spending

Reganomics

• Personal income in the 1980s- income gap between rich and poor widened

• (trickle down from rich to poor)• 1984 election – Reagan rides the new

prosperity: “it’s morning again in America”• Mondale loses in a landslide• 1982-1988: national debt soared – triples

between 1980-1988 – deficits: guns/butter debate

Social Policies: move to right

• Cut spending on social services. Critics: pollution and social problems increased as a result –slashed spending on Johnson’s anti-poverty programs: food stamps, aid to elderly, poor, and disabled, student loans, subsidized housing

• Jesse Jackson – National Rainbow Coalition to support equal rights and challenge Reagan’s social policies

• Conservative Court: Supreme Court moved to right under Reagan; (case limit privacy rights for students) – Sandra Day O’Conner, Scalia and Anthony Kennedy

• Immigration reform: increased immigration controls on U.S.-Mexican border; penalties for employers of undocumented workers

• In 1980s, several states passed laws “english official; language”

Deregulation / Environmentalism

• Another key element of the Reagan economic plan

• Reduction / removal of government controls on business – stimulate free enterprise – EPA lowers federal standards for air and water quality; Sect. of Interior James Watt removed many environmental regulations – sale of public lands and opened up more national forest land to logging

• Some court decisions and Congressional actions slowed Reagan officials in drop environmental regulations

Reagans: Foreign Policy

• Anticommunism guides Reagan’s foreign policy• Soviet Union described as “evil empire”• SDI – Strategic Defense Initiative – missle sheild

(Star Wars)-increased arms spending to counter Soviet threat

• Reagan Doctrine: openly supply anticommunist insurgents and movement around the world – “freedom fighters”

• Nicaragua: Sandinistis vs U.S. backed Contras

Iran-Contra Affair

• Reagan admin. faced a scandal over arms sales to Iran and the diversion of funds to the Contras. Several top official convicted of illegal actions. (teflan president)

• Damaging to Reagan presidency• Broken promise• Illegal funding• Lying to Congress• Abuse of executive power

Negotiations with “Evil Empire”

• Gorbachev, changing Soviet union: 4 summit meetings on arms control – frienship develops between Reagan & Gorbachev; 1991 start of Soviet Union collapse; 1989 – wall comes down

• Perestroika - restructuring• Glasnost - openness• Nuclear freeze movement• INF Treaty – intermediate-Range Nuclear

Forces Treaty

George Bush

• Compassionate conservatism – soften the antigovernment language of Reagan Republicans – “kinder, gentler America”

New Democrats

• Clinton moderate New democrat• Moderates attracted to the party in 1990s by Bill

Clinton• Clinton – “opportunity agenda”

– Welfare reform, balanced budget, expanded trade, tough stand on crime

– 1992 – Clinton election, leaves Clinton without a mandate, 43% of the popular vote

– Took office with a majority in both houses– Failed to enact universal health care – Welfare reform a legacy

Clinton’s Domestic Agenda

• NAFTA: 1992• North American Free Trade Agreement• Reduced trade barriers, such as tariffs,

among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico• Continued affirmative action – civil rights• Promotes equal rights for homosexuals,

“Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military• Creates a more liberal Supreme Court –

liberal values

1988 Clinton impeached

• House of Representatives impeached Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice\Senate, however, did not remove him from office

1994 midterm elections

• Contract with America – Newt Gingrich

• 1995 – Republicans have majority in House and Senate – win control of Congress with their 10-point Contract with America

2000 Election-Bush v. Gore• 2000 – consumer

advocate Ralph Nader ran on the Green Party – spoiler for Al Gore

• Supreme Court decided the outcome, denying Gore’s demand for a recount in Florida.

• Al Gore led George Bush in the popular vote by a very thin margin

George W. Bush: Conservatism in Action

• 2000 presidential election – decided by Supreme Court

• No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) – accountability in public schools

• One of his main legacies is education reform• Revive the economy with tax cuts• Broke the no-taxes pledge in an effort to balance

the federal budget• Failed to reform the Social Security system

Post-Cold War Era

• Neoconservatives “new conservatives” favor using U.S. military power to confront hostile dictatorships and promote democracy around the world

• After 9/11- invasion of Afghanistan• Bush extended the war on terrorism to Iraq.• Building democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq• NAFTA and WTO