Three Levels of Text Read Reagan’s First Inaugural on your own. Choose one passage in the text that you feel is

important. Level 1: Read aloud the passage you selected to the

group. Level 2: Say what you think about the passage

(interpretation, connection to past experiences, etc). Level 3: Say what Reagan sees as implications of his

work

The Reagan Administration

1980-1988

Style: Good natured, “man’s man” Actor: can play a role Great communicator Assassination attempt:

heroic

Ideas: Government should be smaller Taxes should be lower for everyone Traditional Christian principles should be

upheld

Budget Cuts Could not cut Medicare or Social Security

The elderly were a key support group. Budget cuts mainly affected business

regulation, programs for the poor Ex: school lunch programs Ex: nursing homes Ex: the environment

Tax Cuts Cut taxes across the board 25% Believed in “supply side”, or “trickle down”

economics. Cut taxes on the wealthy They spend their money to create jobs The poor get jobs, work is rewarded

Problem: Did not cut spending enough.

Result: Huge debt!

Reagan increased our debt more than all the presidents before him combined.

Spending Hike: Defense Strategic Defense Initiative: “Star Wars”

Plan to develop space-based systems to shoot nuclear weapons out of the sky before they reach us.

Reagan’s idea, not rooted in science.

Wacky Ideas Work Star Wars scared the Soviets. They believed we could do it. They couldn’t compete. Led them to negotiate, seek reforms that led

to the downfall of communism in the USSR and surrounding countries!

A Conservative Supreme Court Appoints three justices:

Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy Sandra O’Connor – 1st female

Attempted Assassination 1981 John Hinckley shot and

punctured Reagan’s lung after a speech in Washington D.C.

Reagan survives 3 others wounded

Challenger Disaster“And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's take-off. I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.” -Reagan

Iran-Contra Affair Reagan wants stop communism in Nicaragua. Communists = Sandanistas Anticommunists = Contras Congress cuts off funding to Contras through the

Boland amendment. The Reagan administration secretly sells weapons to

our enemies, Iran, to raise money to fund the Contras.

“Teflon” president, Bush pardons all.

1984 Re-election Republicans:Reagan and H.W. Bush v. Democrats: Walter Mondale and Geraldine

Ferraro