1980-present. * ronald reagan (r) 1981 - 1989 * george h. w. bush (r) 1989 - 1993 * william j....
TRANSCRIPT
1980-present
*APUSH Unit 9
*The Modern Presidents
*Ronald Reagan (R) 1981 - 1989
*George H. W. Bush (R) 1989 - 1993
*William J. Clinton (D) 1993 - 2001
*George W. Bush (R) 2001 - 2009
*Barack Obama (D) 2009 - present
Rise of the Conservative Coalition/Moral Majority
An alliance of right-wing groups who:
-Opposed government regulation of business, federal taxation, entitlement programs, & affirmative action
-Supported a return of morality to America (ex. encouraged prayer and creationism in public schools; restricted abortion rights)
-Evangelical T.V. ministers preached both religion and politics to their audiences
*Election of 1980
*Former Governor of CA and well known actor
*GOP spokesperson for conservative issues
*Defeated Carter with 51% of the popular vote & 91% of electoral vote
*Reaganomics
*Believed in supply-side or “trickle-down” economics
*Tax cuts for the wealthy & corporations and reduced government regulation would increase spending and investment
*Results—upper income groups prospered while the middle class remained stagnant and the lower class declined
*Legacy—huge federal deficits of 2-3 billion dollars a year
*1980s Social Change
*Conservative appointees to the Supreme Court (Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy, & O’Connor—first woman)
*AIDS epidemic came to light
*Geraldine Ferraro (D) was the first major-party female VP candidate in 1984
*Reagan’s Foreign Policy
*Reagan rejected détente and instead increased defense spending, military action, and Cold War rhetoric
*Examples of Renewed Cold
War
*Escalated the arms race and spent $3 trillion on the Strategic Defense Initiative
*Gave military aid to the Contras in Nicaragua
*Gave $5 billion to El Salvador to resist leftist guerillas
*Invaded Grenada to topple a pro-Cuban regime there
*Foreign Policy Debacles
*Terrorist attacks on U.S. forces in Lebanon led Reagan to withdraw peacekeeping troops
*The Iran Contra Scandal—the administration secretly sold weapons to Iran & funneled the money to the Contras in Nicaragua (both illegal)
*Officials were indicted, but Reagan denied knowledge of the events, which made him appear uniformed
*Foreign Policy Achievements
*Developed a friendly relationship with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
*Supported glasnost and perestroika
*INF agreement led to destruction of intermediate missiles
*By the end of Reagan’s 2nd term, the end of the Cold War was at hand
*The Space Program*Space Shuttle program
*First launch of the Space Shuttle in 1981
*Sally Ride was the first female astronaut in space
*Challenger Disaster (Jan. 28, 1986)
*broke apart 73 seconds after take-off
*Resulted in the death of all seven crew members (including the first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe)
Sally Ride, Ph.D.
*Election of 1988
*Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush won with 54% of the popular vote
*Democrats regained control of the House & Senate
*His campaign pledge would be his undoing
*Domestic Policy & Social Change
*The Americans With Disabilities Act (1990)
*Controversial confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas over sexual harassment charges
*Deregulation led to the collapse of the savings & loan industry
*Unpopular tax increases implemented to address the deficit
*Foreign Policy—End of the Cold
War
*1991 break-up of the USSR marked the end of the Cold War
*START I and START II treaties drastically reduced nuclear warheads
*Additional Foreign Policy
*1989 invasion of Panama to remove dictator Manuel Noriega and stop drug trafficking
*1991 Persian Gulf War to liberate Kuwait from the invading forces of Iraq