The 1980’sChapter 22

STAGFLATION

Loss of U.S. Military StrengthLost MoralityOvertaxed

Overregulated

OVERSIZED GOVERNMENT

Welfare State

The New Right

Conservative Political Activism

• FOR…–Reduced Size

of Government–School prayer–Strong military–Free-market

economies

• AGAINST…–Gun control–Equal Rights

Amendment–Busing to end

segregation–Gay Rights

Republican Campaign Strategy

Focus on:• The Iranian hostage

crisis• Claims that U.S. military

had fallen behind the Soviet Union

• Double-digit inflation, soaring interest rates and high unemployment– Reagan quipped, "A

recession is when your neighbor loses his job; depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

Campaign Commercials• Carter

– http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1980/peace-democrat

– http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1980/streetgov

• Reagan– http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercia

ls/1980/nancy-reagan– http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercia

ls/1980/door-slam

SOCIAL GROUPS AND THE PRESIDENTIAL VOTE, 1980

'80 Carter '80 Reagan

Race

Black 82% 14%

Hispanic 54% 36%

White 36% 55%

Family Income

Less than $10,000 50% 41%

$10,000–$14,999 47% 42%

$15,000–$24,999 38% 53%

$25,000–$50,000 32% 58%

Over $50,000 25% 65%

Reaganomics• A.K.A. Supply-side economics/Trickle-down

economics– Reagan believed that economic growth can be

best managed by people who produce goods• Reduced corporate tax• Tax cuts were accompanied by deregulation of

airlines, trucking, banking, and television.– Personal tax rates for the top tax bracket

dropped from 70% to 28% in 7 years

• This is the opposite of Keynesian “demand-side” economics which relied upon government spending

Trickle-Down?

Reaganomics• Like other stimulation efforts, Reagan's

policies also resulted in budget deficits and a increased national debt.

Did Reaganomics Work?• Inflation FELL from

12.5% to 4.4 %• Interest rates fell 6%• Eight million new

jobs were created as unemployment fell

• An 8% growth in private wealth.

• > # number poor – 31.8 million in1981– 39.3 million in 1992

• > budget deficit– $994 billion in1981– $2,867 billion

in1989– Soaring national

debt• Trade deficit grew

Trickle-Down?

Economic Problems

• Deficit Concerns• Gramm-Rudman

Hollings Act

• Savings and Loan Scandal (S&L)– October 19, 1987– Over 1,000 savings and

loan institutions failed

“Evil Empire” SpeechMarch 8, 1983

Reagan and the Cold War

• Felt USSR still posed a threat and military needed to renewed strength

• Increased the Pentagon’s budget– B-1 Bomber– M-X Missile

• 10x MIRV• Each 20x Hiroshima

Reagan and the Cold War

• Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) – Star Wars– Satellite-based

missile defense system

– Could we afford it?– Was it possible?

S.D.I. in the NewsMarch 25, 1983

Reagan and the Cold War

• Afghanistan– USSR continued to

plod through costly insurgent conflict

– 1979-1989

• Poland– Solidarity – Lech Walesa

Reagan and Latin America• Sandinistas of Nicaragua – pro-Soviet

government that Reagan targeted for removal– Contras – a large army recruited and trained by

the CIA, “freedom fighters”– Congress cut funding for contras in 1984

fearing a Central American “Vietnam”• The executive branch would continue to

fund this initiative through illegal means (Iran-contra Affair)

Iran–Contra Affair • Iran was sold 1,000 anti-tank missiles • Those profits were used to buy weapons

and supplies for the contras in Nicaragua• 1986 – Public becomes aware…

– A downed supply plane in Nicaragua was found to be carrying US weapons to the Contras

– A Lebanese newspaper reported that the U.S. sold missiles to Iran

– On T.V. President Reagan denied and one week later affirmed that weapons were indeed sold to Iran

Iran–Contra Affair• The Tower Commission – formed by

Reagan to investigate the Iran-Contra Affair– Criticized the actions of members of the

Executive Branch including Oliver North and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger

– Could not determine that the President knew/ordered the program, BUT

– President ought to have had better control of the National Security Council staff. • "If the president did not know what his

national security advisers were doing, he should have.”

Ronny and Gorby

Soviet Union Changes• Perestroika – “restructuring”,

began the dismantling of the Soviet-era command economy and its replacement with a market economy

• Glasnost – “openness”, policy of transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union

Yuppie

1988 Presidential Election

Bentsen-Quayle Debate

Potatoe?

Tiananmen Square

56

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the middle east? 5 quiz questions1) Who created most of the borders and

countries of the Middle East?a. France and Englandb. Jordan and Syriac. Saudi Arabiad. The United Nationse. The United States

57

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the middle east? 5 quiz questions2) What language is spoken in Iran?

3) When did it become illegal for women in Iran to go without wearing a veil? (with 5 years)

58

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the middle east? 5 quiz questions4) What is the most populous Islamic country

in the world?a. Egyptb. Indonesiac. Irand. Saudi Arabia

59

Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the middle east? 5 quiz questions5) Which of following is Iraq?

A B

C D

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Middle East Quick Quiz

How much do you know about the middle east? 5 quiz questionsAnswers!!

1. A2. Farsi3. 19834. B (196 million people)5. C

1991 Gulf War• In 1990, Iraq invaded its

oil-rich neighbor to the south, Kuwait

• US/UN forces sought to remove Iraqis from Kuwait and ensure that Iraq did not invade Saudi Arabia– "This aggression will not

stand" • Fighting began on January

17, 1991, when U.S.-led air units launched attacks against Iraq

63

Iraq Basics

Who? Ethnic GroupsA. Arab

B. Kurd

• 2/3 of Iraq

• 1/4 of Iraq

• Own language & customs

Kurds

• Brutally suppressed in Iraq

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Iraq Basics

Who? ReligionA. Shiite

B. Sunni

• 3/5 of the population

• 2/5th of population• 90% of world’s

Muslims

Kurds

C. Main differences: Who should lead the Muslim community?

65

Baath Party

B. What does it do?

• Secular (non-religious) government

• Uses oil $ for government projects

• Hussein begins to eliminate opponents

HUSSEIN CARD AS PART OF DECK OF 55 CARDS OF US CHARACTERS WANTED Reuters/CORBIS

67

Persian Gulf War PicturesKuwait Oil Well Fires from SpaceView from the space shuttle Atlantis of black smoke billowing from burning oil wells in Kuwait, which were set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops at the end of the

Persian Gulf War.Image: Digital image © 1996 CORBIS; Original image courtesy of NASA/CORBIS

Clarence Thomas

• Second African-American Supreme Court Justice– Conservative

• Accusations of sexual harassment – Senate Hearings– Anita Hill– “...as far as I'm concerned, it is

a high-tech lynching…You will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the US Senate rather than hung from a tree. “

Clarence Thomas

President Clinton• 1992 Election

– 3rd Party Candidate Impact

• Reversing Reaganomics

• Universal Healthcare Argument

• War in Kosovo• Middle East Peace?

1992 Presidential Election• Incumbent President, Republican George

Bush• Democrat Bill Clinton, Arkansas governor • Independent Ross Perot, a Texas

businessman. – Bush broke his 1988 campaign pledge against

raising taxes– The economy had sunk into recession– Collapse of the USSR & the defeat of Iraq in the

1991 Gulf War made foreign policy, Bush’s strength, seem less important

“Read my lips…

• 1988 Campaign pledge• Forced to break promise

with the 1990 Tax Act– Critics argued that govn’t

deficit was bloated and out-of-control

– Bush begrudgingly broke promise

• Contributed to his 1992 election loss

1992 Presidential Election

Liberal ConservativeModerate

1992 Presidential Election

Clinton Appointments• Ruth Bader Ginsberg –

Supreme Court Justice• Janet Reno – Attorney

General• Henry Cisneros – Sec.

Housing and Urban Affairs

• Madeline Albright – UN Ambassador

• Donna Shalala – Sec. Health and Human Services

• Dee Dee Myers – Press Secretary

Clinton and the Economy

• Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act– cut taxes low-income

families– made tax cuts available to

90% of small businesses– raised taxes on the

wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers

– also mandated the government budget be balanced

NAFTA• Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del

Norte – Clinton strongly supported free trade

measures• The bill passed the House 234 to 200

– Eliminated trade tariffs between US, Canada and Mexico

– Impact: Is it good for the U.S. economy?• Increased market for US products/greater competition• US manufacturing jobs move north and south• Mexican farmers must compete with US agri-business

Clinton and Healthcare• Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

– FMLA– Labor law allowing an employee to take unpaid

leave due to a serious health condition • employee unable to perform his job • to care for a sick family member • to care for a new son or daughter (including by birth,

adoption or foster care)

– Employer must continue medical coverage and hold job for up to 12 months

Clinton and Healthcare

• Plan would have enforced mandate for employers to provide health insurance coverage to all of their employees through competitive but closely-regulated health maintenance organizations (HMOs).

Clinton and Healthcare• Supporters

– Need to change system, increasing costs– Need to cover everyone– Current system creates high cost

• Critics– Too costly, would require HUGE tax increases– Government programs are inefficient– Would reduce consumer choice in free-market– UN-AMERICAN?

Clinton Healthcare Critics

This commercial was funded by the Health Insurance Association of America in opposition to President Clinton's proposed health care plan.

Foreign Policy Concerns• In the former

Yugoslavia ethnic cleansing/genocide of Albanians by nationalist Serbians

• Clinton used American troops in a 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia

Foreign Policy Concerns• Kosovo was then brought under

U.N. supervision• U.N. Court ruled NO genocide

BUT, "a systematic campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments".

• Slobodan Milošević, President of Yugoslavia, was charged with "murders of about 600 individually identified ethnic Albanians" and "crimes against humanity."

Foreign Policy Concerns• Clinton brought Israeli

PM Ehud Barak and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat together at Camp David

• Barak and Arafat signed agreement for limited self-government for the Palestinians in the West Bank– The situation broke down

completely with the start of the Second Intifada.

Foreign Policy Concerns• Democratically elected

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide overthrown in 1991

• Haitian refugees fled to U.S. to escape new military gov’t

• U.S. trade embargo unsuccessful

• U.S. invaded in 1994

Clinton left office with an approval rating at 65%, the highest end of office rating

of any President since World War II.