CONSERVATIVE RESURGENCE1980-2000UNIT 9 CH.30

LEADING ISSUES

Prop 13- California voters cut property taxes (1978)Moral Majority attacked “secular humanism”Discriminatory practices

Johnson first started a policy of setting quotas for government agencies based on race and gender (affirmative action)

Backlash against this “reverse discrimination” by the 1980s

Deregulation of Business Curtail regulations, lower corporate taxes, weaken labor unions

ELECTION OF 1980

RepublicansRonald Reagan: former actor and Governor of

CaliforniaMisery index (unemployment + inflation)

“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

Democrats Jimmy Carter: incumbent

Challenged by Edward Kennedy for the nomination

REAGAN REVOLUTION

Reaganomics Supply-side economics that advocated tax and gov. spending

cuts to stimulate the economy by increased private investment

Reduced spending on entitlements by $40 billion

Deregulation energy, transportation and banking industries

Labor Unions Tough stance; fired striking air traffic controllers

REAGAN REVOLUTION

Recession (1982) and Recovery Recession and cheaper oil reduced inflation

Recovery widened gap between rich and poor

“yuppies”- young urban professionals

Social Issues Conservative Court- Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia,

Anthony Kennedy

ELECTION OF 1984

Jesse Jackson made a strong run for the Democratic nomination under his “Rainbow Coalition”

Dems- Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro Reps-Reagan and George H. W. Bush

"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience," Ronald Reagan quipped during the 1984 presidential debates when asked if, at 73, he is too old to be President. The line — a classic example of Reagan's sense of humor — even solicited a laugh from Democratic opponent Walter Mondale. 

BUDGET AND TRADE DEFICITS

Federal deficits of $200-$300 billion per year because of increased military spending

National debt tripled ($900 billion to 2.7 trillion) Tax cuts increased consumption of foreign luxury and

consumer items In 1985, the U.S. became a debtor nation Political debate now centers on which government programs to

cut

RENEWING THE COLD WAR

Military Build-up Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), B-1 bomber, MX missile

Central America Provided financial support to contras (counter revolutionaries) in

Nicaragua and the government in El Salvador

Grenada Marines intervened to keep the friendly government in power

RENEWING THE COLD WAR

Iran-Contra Scandal Congress discovered the CIA was training contras (Nicaraguan guerillas) they

cut off funding government officials made secret arms sales to Iran to continue the program when found out Lt. Col. Oliver North took the fall

Middle East U.S. backed Israel in invasion of Lebanon in 1982 to stop the PLO U.S. had to send in troops to quell a civil war Two suicide bomb attacks in Lebanon on the embassy and a Marine base left

over 200 American’s dead

U.S-SOVIET RELATIONS

Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms Glasnost- openness to end political repression and move toward

greater political freedom

Perestroika-restructure the Soviet economy by introducing some free-market practices

INF agreement US and USSR agree to destroy all intermediate range missiles

END OF THE COLD WAR

Election of 1988 George Bush v. Michael Dukakis

Tiananmen Square Prodemocracy student movement that ended in hundreds of

deaths

Eastern Europe Gorbachev pulled Soviet troops out and the communist

governments fell

Germany reunited in 1990

END OF THE COLD WAR

Breakup of the Soviet Union Soviet Republics began declaring independence leaving

Gorbachev nothing to rule over

Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Republic, abolished the Communist party and attempts to establish democracy

The End START I & II reduced the number of nuclear weapons (start II also

offered economic aid to Russia)

OTHER FOREIGN CONCERNS

Panama- Noriega removed from office and U.S. troops stay until elections are held

Persian Gulf War Iraq invaded Kuwait in Aug. 1990

UN sanctions were ineffective

U.S. and 28 other nations launched Operation Desert Storm in Jan. 1991 which resulted in the quick defeat of Iraq (5 weeks of air strikes and 100 hours of fighting on the ground)

DOMESTIC PROBLEMS

Clarence Thomas Conservative views on judicial issues attacked

Accused of sexual harassment

Nomination confirmed by the Senate

Economics “Read my lips, no new taxes”; $133 billion in new taxes

Budget deficits

Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) The only domestic policy accomplishment

ELECTION OF 1992

George Bush (incumbent) (R) William Jefferson Clinton (D)

Focused on economic issues; “It’s the economy, stupid!”

H. Ross Perot (I) Texas billionaire

Anti-Washington and anti-deficit

Received 20% of the popular vote

Clinton wins; Carol Moseley-Braun become first black female Senate member

CLINTON’S FIRST TERM

Deficit-reduction budget First federal surplus since 1969

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (1993) U.S., Canada, Mexico created a free-trade zone

Family Medical and Leave Act

Oklahoma City bombing (1995) Federal building bombed by anti-government militia

Critics called him “Slick Willy” for his waffling on policies and eagerness to compromise

REPUBLICANS TAKE CONGRESS

1994 Midterm elections gave both houses of Congress to the Republicans for the first time since 1954

Newt Gingrich becomes Speaker determined to keep the “Contract with America” of cutting

government spending; led to two government shutdowns in 1995

Balanced Budget Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act

Limited welfare benefits to five years

ELECTION OF 1996

Bill Clinton- First democrat since FDR to be reelected Bob Dole- Senate majority leader; Republicans retained both

houses of Congress Ross Perot

CLINTON’S SECOND TERM

Budget surplus Longest peace time economic expansion in U.S. history

Republicans wanted taxes reduced and Democrats wanted welfare spending increased

Investigation and impeachment Congress investigated the Clinton’s for real estate deals, White House

staff firings, political use of FBI files, and sexual harassment while Clinton was gov. of Arkansas

Perjury and obstruction of justice charges over sexual relations with a White House intern (Monica Lewinsky) led to impeachment, but not removal from office

CLINTON’S FOREIGN POLICY

Peacekeeping

Somali civil war (1993), Haiti (1994), Northern Ireland (1998)

Europe Expansion of NATO membership to include former Eastern bloc nations

Strained relations with Russia over Chechnya, and NATO admittance of Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary

Serbian dictator Solobodan Milosevic violently suppressed independence movements in the former Yugoslavia NATO troops intervened in Bosnia (1995) and Kosovo (1999)

CLINTON’S FOREIGN POLICY

Asia

India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons (1998)

North Korea set up a nuclear reactor

Established diplomatic relations with Vietnam

Middle East

Airstrikes in Iraq after weapons inspections refused by Hussein

Continued Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts

Globalization

World Trade Organization (WTO) established in 1994 to oversee trade agreements, enforce trade rules, and settle disputes

G-8 (world’s largest industrial powers) would begin to meet over global economic strategy