Liberalism in America

• Believe that government should regulate the economy to protect people from large corporations

• Federal government should take a role in disadvantaged Americans

Liberalism in America

• This should be done by putting a tax burden on wealthy Americans

• What is the name of the group that supports this?

• Liberals

The Conservative Movement Builds

• Many Americans resent the cost of federal entitlement programs– Programs that

guaranteed and provided benefits to particular groups

The conservative Movement Builds

• What is the name of the group that generally opposes higher taxes?– Conservatives

• 1955 National Review a conservative magazine was founded by?– William F. Buckley

The New Right

• As 1970 progressed right wing grass roots groups emerged

• To support single issues that reflected their key interests

• Focused its energy on controversial social issues, especially Affirmative Action

• Policy giving preferences in hiring and admission to minority groups

The Conservative Coalition

• Alliance of business leaders, middle class voters, disaffected Democrats, and fundamentalist Christian groups

• Voices were heard in Newspapers and conservative think tanks

The Moral Majority

• Religion, especially evangelical Christianity

• Played a large role in growing strength of conservatives

• Who founded the Moral Majority?– Jerry Falwell

Moral Majority

• Television allowed ministers to reach a large nationwide audience

• What were they called?Televangelists

Moral Majority

• Pushed for a return in “family values” reduce– Divorce rates– Out of wedlock births– Bring back individual

responsibility– And patriotic times

Conservatives Win Political Power

• Ronald Reagan won the nomination for president in 1980

• Choose George Bush as his running mate

Reagan’s Qualifications

• Originally a New Deal Democrat

• Became a conservative during the 1950s

• Two-term governor of California (1966-1974)

Presidential Election

• Question asked by Ronald Reagan during the debate with President Carter?– Are you better off than

you were four years ago?

• What were the issues Reagan ran on?– End communism, rebuild

military, and cut taxes

The Great Communicator

• Reagan wins in a landslide

• 51% of popular vote• 44 states• 489 electoral votes• First time since 1954

Republicans gain control of the Senate

• Works to translate conservative agenda

• To get the economy moving again, Reagan focused on getting more money into the economy:– Cut taxes– Lower Interest rates

• Reaganomics rested heavily on supply-side economics– Theory of cutting taxes

would give people incentive to work, save and invest more

Supply Side Economics

LGM-118A Peacekeeper

• Originally known as the MX for Missile eXperimental.

• Intercontinental ballistic missile.

• The MX could carry up to 10 re-entry vehicles, each armed with a 300-kiloton W87 warhead/MK-21 RVs (twenty times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.)

B-1 Lancer

• Strategic long-range bomber used by the US Air Force.

• Developed as a primarily low-level penetrator with long range and supersonic speed capability.

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

• Created by President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles.

• It was soon derided as Star Wars, after the popular 1977 film.

Recession and Recovery

• The economy went into a severe recession from July 1981 until November 1982

• Worst since the Great Depression

• 1983 Economy boomed because of reduced taxes and lower interest rates

• The first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

• She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006.

• O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Sandra Day O’Connor

Conservative Court

• President Bush nominated to Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall in 1991

• Thomas's confirmation hearings were bitter and intensely fought.

• Key accusations that he had made sexually harassing comments to attorney Anita Hill.

• Thomas was ultimately confirmed by a vote of 52–48.

Clarence Thomas

• Walter Mondale– Carter VP from Minnesota

• Geraldine Ferraro– 1ST woman on major party ticket

Democrat Ticket - 1984

• A former two-term senator from Colorado, the married Gary Hart's bid to become the Democratic nominee in the Presidential election of 1988 was derailed after The Miami Herald printed photographs of him aboard a yacht—aptly named Monkey Business—with 29-year-old model Donna Rice.

• “Follow me around. I don't care. I'm serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They'll be very bored.“ – Gary Hart

• George HW Bush– VP for 8 years under

Reagan

– Former head of CIA

– Former ambassador to China and UN

– WW II Fighter pilot

Republicans - 1988

• Michael Dukakis beat out Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, Joe Biden to win the nomination.

• Chose Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as VP candidate.

• Attacked for being soft on crime and unpatriotic.

Democrats - 1988