The Resurgence of Conservatism

The Reagan Years

“We the people tell the government what to do. It doesn’t tell us”

- Ronald Reagan

Created by: Mr. Chansen, Stephen T.Department Head - Sunset High SchoolDallas Independent School District

Reagan Becomes a Conservative

• 1932 – Graduated from Eureka College

• Became a radio broadcaster & then a Hollywood actor by the late 1930s.

• 1947 – Became president of the Screen Actors Guild (A union for actors)• As its leader, he testified before the House Un-American Activities

Committee during the 2nd Red Scare.• He had been a liberal Democrat, but became Conservative after dealing

with many Communists within the union.

• 1950s – Travels the nation to promote a T.V. show he hosted• During the trip he met many people who complained about “big

government”

• 1966 – Ran and won for the governorship of California.• Ran as a committed conservative and wins• Re-elected in 1970• 10 years later president of the U.S.

Election of 1980

• Americans are frustrated with current government

• Reagan’s Campaign Promises:• Cut taxes• Increase defense spending (More money for the

military)

• Reagan wins the social conservatives by calling for an Amendment to ban abortions.

• Reagan easily wins the election• The Republican Party also wins control of the

Senate for the first time since 1954.

Reaganomics

• Reagan thought that the way to fix the U.S. and its problems was to get Americans to believe in themselves again.

• Chief economic problem was Stagflation.

• Reagans solution was to embrace supply-side economics.• Supply-side Economics – economic theory that lower taxes will

boost the economy as businesses and individuals invest their money, thereby creating prosperity and economic growth that will offset the tax cuts.

• Asked the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high• Asked Congress to pass a massive 25% tax cut

• Critics called this “Reaganomics” or “trickle-down economics,” and argued that this would make the businesses and rich more wealthy but very little would “trickle down” to the average American.

Cutting Programs

• A result of his tax cuts was a national deficit• Deficit – the amount by which expenses exceed income.

• To balance the budget, Reagan proposed to cut government spending in Social programs like:• Food stamps• School lunches• Medicare payments• Unemployment compensation• Student Loans

• Congress struggled and debated, but eventually passed most of Reagan’s suggestions.• However, the debate convinced Reagan that Congress would

never pass enough cuts to balance the budget.

Economy & Re-Election

• Reagan also thought that regulation of industry was hurting the economy.• His 1st act as president was to get rid of price-

controls for oil and gasoline.• Also deregulated large parts of: broadcasting,

banking, and automotive industries.• Eased EPA restrictions and allowed increased mining

& drilling on public land• This angered many environmentalists

• 1984 – U.S. was in biggest economic boom in its history, and Reagan won a landslide re-election victory.

Shifting the Courts

• Reagan made a point of trying to only appoint Federal judges who followed the original intent of the Constitution.

• He nominated moderate-conservative Sandra Day O’Connor, who became the 1st female Supreme Court Justice in 1981.

• 1986 – Reagan replaced retiring Chief Justice Burger with conservative Justice William Rehnquist as Chief and judge Antonin Scalia to fill Rehnquist’s opening.

“Peace through strength”

• Reagan rejected both the previous U.S. policies of “Containment” and “Détente,” and instead simply labeled the Soviet Union “an evil empire.”• It was Reagans policy to oppose evil, not contain or negotiate with it, but

to destroy it.

• Launched a $1.5 Trillion military build-up• This was meant to bankrupt the Soviets if they tried to keep up and

spend the same amount or more.

• Went after nations who supported terrorists• Libya was hit with air strikes after it supported an attack

• The massive spending created many new jobs in the defense industry.

• Despite the idea of supply-side economics that government cuts would balance the budget, the new military spending increased the annual national deficit from $80 Billion to over $200 Billion.

The Reagan Doctrine

• Reagan’s policy was to support ANYONE fighting against Soviet/Communist aggression ANYWHERE• 1979 – Soviets invade Afghanistan, U.S. helps train,

fund, and supply several groups who fight them including the Mujahideen, a group that would eventually give birth to Al-Qaeda. 1988 – Soviets withdraw.

• 1979 – Pro-Soviet rebels in Nicaragua over-through the pro-American dictator and accept Cuban & Soviet aid.

• 1983 – Grenada, radical Marxists over-through the government. Reagan sends in U.S. troops to defeat the rebels and Cuban troops there and set up an anti-communist government

Iran-Contra Scandal

• In 1979, when the Nicaraguan rebels overthrew the pro-American dictator, Regan began to secretly arm a different group of rebels called Contras.• Congress found out and banned any further aid.

• A few of Reagan’s advisors simply decided to ignore Congress and began to illegally fund the Contra by way of Iran.• This was done by first secretly selling weapons to Iran (an enemy &

terrorism sponsor) in exchange for releasing U.S. hostages. Then any profits made from the sales were given to the Contras.

• 1986 – The Operation is discovered and broadcast over the news. Several men, including Marine Colonel Oliver North, senior National Security Council members, and CIA officials admitted to their crime. Congress investigates and determined that Reagan knew nothing about the money being sent to the Contras.

Military Build-up

• Reagan places missiles in Western Europe to counter those of the Soviet Union.• Protesting erupted in many parts of the world.• Reagan offered to cancel the missiles if the Soviets would agree to

remove their missiles.• He also proposed the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) to reduce

the number of nuclear weapons on both sides by half, but the Soviets refused.

• He hated the MAD policy, and sought a way to defend the U.S. from nuclear missiles.• MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) – the strategy assuming that, as long

as two countries can destroy each other with nuclear weapons, they will be afraid to use them.

• “Star Wars” – In March 1983, he proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to develop weapons that could destroy incoming missiles and provide a sort of umbrella for the U.S. in the event of a nuclear war.

Beginning of the End

• 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union.• Agrees to resume arms-reduction negotiations / knows the

U.S.S.R. cannot keep up with U.S. spending.• Meets with Reagan several times.

• 1st summit ended in a stalemate.

• Reagan, standing at the Berlin Wall, publicly challenged Gorbachev and the Soviets to make reforms, and to “tear down this wall!”

• 1987 – both leaders signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

• Gorbachev then pushed through more reforms which eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.