Standard 11.11.2

• Discuss the significant domestic policy speeches of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton (e.g., education, civil rights, economic policy, environmental policy)

• Essential Question: How would you characterize the 1980s from an economic and societal standpoint?

ModerateCentrist

ConservativeRepublican

LiberalDemocrat

Issues

low taxessocial programs

pro-military

police force

gun rights

pro-life

Christian value

little/no regulation

environmentalismlaissez-faire

pro-choice

labor rights

affirmative action

freedom of speech

stem cell research

death penalty

censorship

anti-illegal immigration

Gay marriage

euthanasia

personal drug use

Minimum wage

Universal health care

ModerateCentrist

ConservativeRepublican

LiberalDemocrat

The People

African American

unions

veterans

Gays-Lesbians

Moral Majority

Catholics

PhDs

White

Protestant

rural

urban Elderly55+

under 35

HispanicAsian

women

men

single

married

Cubans

Reagan

• Ronald Reagan– charismatic, humorous ex-CA governor

• the Great Communicator• the Teflon President• age 70 at the beginning of his presidency• shot by John D. Hinckley in 1981

– Reagan restarted the arms race– he fought for “traditional” American values

R Ronald Reagan 43,899,248 489

D Jimmy Carter 35,481,435 49

I John B. Andersen 5,719,437 --

Reagan’s Domestic Policy

Liberal Conservative

•national government •state government

•higher taxes on rich •reduce taxes on rich

•social programs •feared growing debt

•regulation of industry •deregulation

•diplomacy •strong military

The New Right

• New Right– new coalition of conservative voters

• lost faith in Great Society• suburban voters• southern whites• Moral Majority

– abortion, gay rights, school prayer

Reagan + Economics = Reaganomics

• Reaganomics– Reagan cut taxes by 25%– Investment = Jobs

• unemployment rose to 10% in 1982 but fell after that• hit blue collar and farm workers the hardest

– increased military spending– cut $40 billion from the budget (mostly social

programs)– deregulated banks, airlines, and telecommunications

Another Crash

• Black Monday, 1987

–biggest single-day stock market drop of all time• 508-point stock plunge

–Federal Reserve Bank stepped in to avoid collapse

Reagan’s Domestic Policy

• budget deficit– the amount the government

is short at the end of the year

• $79 billion in 1981• $221 billion in 1986

• national debt– the amount the national

government owes• rose to 2.5 trillion

Reagan’s Domestic Policy

• Sandra Day O’Connor– Reagan appointed her to the Supreme Court

in 1981– held the deciding vote on the court for several

years

1986 - 2005

R Ronald Reagan 52,609,797 525

D Walter Mondale 36,450,613 13

1980s Culture

Reagan’s Foreign Policy

• Strategic Defense Initiative, 1983– high-tech space-based laser defense system

to shoot down enemy missiles• (don’t write this )the “Star Wars” system

would have been more expensive than gold-plated nuclear missiles

– combined with funding for B-1 bombers and MX missiles restarted the arms race

Two L’s

• Lebanon, 1983– truck filled with explosives

crashes into Marine headquarters in Beirut

• 241 U.S. peacekeeping troops killed

• Libya, 1986– Muammar Qaddafi claimed he

bombed a nightclub in Berlin– Reagan bombed Libya killing

one of Qaddafi’s daughters

Iran-Contra Affair

• Iran-Contra Affair, 1986– Reagan feared “domino effect” in Latin

America– US military sold weapons to Iran then

sent the money to anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua

– Oliver North destroyed any evidence that might link Reagan to the scandal

• Reagan said he didn’t know it was happening

Mikhail Gorbachev

• Mikhail Gorbachev– Soviet secretary implemented reforms in

USSR that led to the end of the USSR– glasnost

• allowed limited freedom of speech, press and religion

– perestroika• allowed limited capitalism

USA + USSR = BFF’s?

• US-USSR summits, 1985 – 1989– four meetings between Reagan and

Gorbachev– discussed cutbacks in weapons and START I