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