Download - The 1980s Ronald Reagan & George Bush
The 1980sRonald Reagan & George Bush
Liberalism• Government should• Regulate the
economy• Help the
disadvantaged• Protect citizens from
power of large companies
• NOT regulate social behaviors
Conservatives• Government shouldn’t
• Regulate the economy• Hurts free enterprise
• Oppose high taxes• Discourage investment
• Oppose social programs• Discourage peoples
incentive to work.
• Religion faith is important to morality.
OK…Remember the 70s Carter = BAD
President Unemployment Inflation Failed Foreign
Policies International
embarrassments
• Coalition of• Evangelicals /
Catholics• Conservatives • Corporate leaders
• Comprised to fight against• Business Regulation
(ECONOMY)• Taxes• Laws
• Against policies that favored (MORALITY)• Minorities• Homosexuals• Welfare recipients• Feminist
New Right
ENTER…………
I. Trickle DownSupply Side
Tax cuts = Research= New Products= Expansion= New jobs
Tax Cut for
business
New productsexpand
II. Defense Spending• Between ‘81 and ‘84
defense spending doubled.• Military• Weapons• Intercontinental Ballistic
Missiles• Bases• Strategic Defense Initiative
Defense Spending contd.• Foreign Policy• Peace
through strength
• Massive Soviet spending would collapse their system.
• Example• Strategic
Defense Initiative aka Star Wars
Satellite weapon that can destroy incoming missiles
Reagan Announces Defense Plan Called SDI….or ‘Star Wars’
III. Budget CutsLarge Defense Spending + Low Taxes = Deficit SpendingCUT THESE OUT• urban mass transit• food stamps• welfare• job training• school lunch
IV. DeregulationLowered prices and increased competition by Removing price controls
on oil eliminating inspections
for nursing homes deregulated the airlines TOO MUCH Regulation
limits profits TOO LITTLE Regulation
can be unsafe for people & economy
Sandra Day O’Connor First Woman
appointed to the Supreme Court
1984 Summer Olympics
Los Angeles, CA Carl Lewis wins 4
gold medals 1st since Jessie
Owens McDonalds nearly
goes bankrupt… USSR boycotts
due to Cold War tensions *US boycotted
Olympic games in Moscow 1980
1 United States 83 61 30 174
2 Romania 20 16 17 53
1984 Presidential Election
RepublicanPresident
Reagan
DemocraticWalter Mondale
Geraldine Ferraro• Became the first
woman Vice President running mate.
Reagan Foreign Policy
Afghanistan 1979-1989 Proxy war with the Soviet
Union US Sent 500 million in
munitions and relief 1989 Soviet withdraws
due to significant economic problems at home.
US assistance helped Afghans hold off Soviet Union
1982 Marines in Lebanon Israel invaded Lebanon
Christians v. Palestinians US Marines sent to
restore order. Pres. Reagan removed
troops from Beirut.
Nicaragua Sandinistas- Rebels who
removed PRO-US dictator and established a socialist government.
Contra (Counter Revolutionary) Used by Reagan to
combat Sandinistas Congress banned further
aide to contras
Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional
Sandinista National Liberation Front
Iran-Contra Scandal • U.S . sales munitions
to Iran (a sworn enemy) without the approval of Congress.
• Illegal sales were to secure the release of six U.S. hostages held by the Lebanese
• Lt. Col. Oliver North – Facilitated the selling of weapons to Iran and used the money to support guerilla fighters in Nicaragua
• ILLEGAL---Reagan did not get in trouble.
Lt. Col. Oliver North
“I was under orders from
my superiors."
Many involved were convicted under Reagan but pardoned under Bush. North granted immunity for his testimony.
Collapse of the Soviet Union
1985 Mikhail Gorbachev Arms Reductions New Economical Policies New Political Structure Reforms to government Withdraw from
Afghanistan
The Opening of the Soviet Union-1985
Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev called for Glasnost (Openness)
freedom of Speech religion press
• Perestroika • political & economical
reform • argued to be one
reason for the fall of Communism in the
• Soviet Union• Eastern Europe• End of the Cold War
Eastern Europe Glasnost spreads
Poland Hungary Czechoslovakia
Revolutions Democracy Free Elections Collapse of the Berlin
Wall Germany Unified
Balkan Wars Yugoslavia erupts into
bloody civil war. Ethnic cleansing Eventually six republics
Serbia Croatia Bosnia Montenegro Macedonia Slovenia
Soviet Union collapses Spending
Inefficient planning Arms Race People protest govt.
Eastern Europe & Balkans add to pressure
Coup D'état to remove Gorbachev
Soviet Union broken into 15 republics
Communism outlawed in Russia
Boris Yeltsin
Challenger Space Shuttle DisasterJanuary 28, 1986It broke apart 73 seconds into its flight
1980s defined Gang Violence
Crips/Bloods
MADD Stricter laws against driving
under the influence.
Crack Cocaine Very cheap, highly addictive
floods inner city streets.
HIV/AIDS Virus baffles doctors,
scientists Scares the nation
Presidential Election 1988Republican George Bush
DemocraticMichael Dukakis
U.S. Invasion of Panama December 1989
• Panamanian dictator & drug lord Manuel Noriega was deposed.
• President-elect Guillermo Endara sworn into office.
China
Tiananmen Square Students/workers
protest for democracy. 1 million protest Thousands Killed
Communist leaders want to stay in Power Tank Man= Symbol
of Protest
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 In China
The Army Moved In To Clear Out the Demonstrators
The Unknown Rebel..aka the “Tank Man”