Reagan and Bush

RONALD REAGAN

The Conservative Movement Grows

Liberal Viewpoint• Favored more gov’t

involvement to lessen extreme economic inequalities through – Social programs– Gov’t regulation of industry

• Favored international diplomacy to combat communism In other countries

Conservative Viewpoint• Favored limited gov’t

involvement in order to stimulate economic growth by – Reducing taxes– Decreasing regulation of

industry

• Favored relying on our own national defense and actively fighting against communism in other countries

Ronald Reagan• Reagan promised to rebuild

military strength and to fix the economy, all while creating a balanced budget and cutting taxes

• Assassination Attempt March 1981– 1993 Brady Bill – Federal

background check to purchase a gun

Reaganomics• Reagan raised interest rate– restricted the money supply and controlled inflation

• He also cut taxes by 25% on the rich• “Trickle-down” theory: – “supply-side” economics: lower taxes would increase

revenue because it would stimulate the economy• Reagan also deregulated the energy, automobile, and cable

television industries to promote growth in competition

Recession of 1982

• Unemployment rose• Banks closed• Anti-inflation policies were started by the Federal

Reserve in 1979 led to recession• Income gaps widened between the rich and poor – Median household income actually declined in the early

1990s• Major deficit was a result of military expenditures

(costs)– $2 trillion

TerrorismBeirut (Oct. 23, 1983): • Israel invaded Lebanon, seeking to destroy

Palestinian bases• Reagan sent Marines on a peace-keeping mission

but withdrew forces after attacked by a suicide bomber, killing 241 Americans

Libya (Apr. 15, 1986): After Libyan sponsored terror attacks in Germany, the US retaliated with an air strike aimed at taking out Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and terrorist training facilities

Reagan & The Cold War• Abandoned all efforts at détente • Declaring them an “evil empire” – Goal: deplete their economy through military spending– $1.5 trillion on defense– “Star Wars”

The Reagan Doctrine• Reagan believed that that the US had a moral

obligation to show support for guerrilla groups who were fighting communist or pro-Soviet governments

• This policy would lead to US intervention in several conflicts– Afghanistan ($570 million in military aid)– Nicaragua (secret aid to Contras)

• Iran Contras Scandal– Grenada

• Ousted insurgents that created a military corp brought Marxists to power

Iran-Contra Scandal• Government secretly funded Contras in Nicaragua– Congress directed that US cut off aid

• Reagan’s administration had instead been funding them with the illegal sale of weapons to Iran

• Reagan claimed to have no knowledge of the operation, placing blame on his Security Council and the CIA• 14 men were indicted, including Col. Oliver North who had run the entire operation, but none ever did any prison time

1988 Election• Republicans nominated

vice-president George Bush who made the famous campaign promise: “Read my lips - No new taxes!”

• Democrats nominated Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis over civil rights activist Jesse Jackson

• Bush won easily. Thanks largely to Reagan’s success as president

BUSH:END OF THE COLD WAR AND GULF WAR

The Cold War Ends

Communism ends in Eastern Europe:• Communist regimes in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East

Germany, and Romania collapsed.• Fall of the Berlin Wall (Nov. 89) symbolized the end of

communism in Europe

Soviet Union Breaks Apart (1991): • Gorbachev’s policies glasnost and perestroika moved away from

a socialist controlled economy.• USSR separated into 15 independent republics. Boris Yeltsin was

the new leader of the Russians Federation• Tiananmen Square (1989)

Tiananmen Square• Chinese students staged a

prodemocracy protests • In the heart of Beijing • Americans hoped that this

might result in fall of communism in China

• Chinese tanks rolled in and killed, crushed, and imprisoned activists

• RESULT: Bush administration condemned action and suspended arms sales to China

Former Soviet Union

• After the fall of the Soviet Union long-suppressed ethnic and racial hatreds were exposed

• Ethnic warfare and “ethnic cleaning” campaigns begin

• Western Europe was now threatened by social and economic weakness of former communist lands

The Persian Gulf War

• August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait• Saddam Hussein invaded to secure oil

reserves- He could control 20% of world’s oil• The UN objected to Iraq’s aggression, taking

economic sanctions and setting a deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait

• 700,000 troops were assembled in Saudi Arabia- American, British, French, and Egyptian

Operation Desert Storm

• January 16, 1991• American-led attack on Iraqi forces• Air and missile attacks before beginning a ground

invasion of Kuwait • 148 American deaths• Bush elected not to fully conquer Iraq because the

UN-approved mission had been to simply liberate Kuwait and the political consequences of removing Saddam Hussein from power would have been too steep

1992 Election• Republicans nominated

Bush for re-election• Democrats nominated

Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, who promised widespread reforms

• Billionaire H. Ross Perot ran as an independent, promising to run America like a business by cutting the federal deficit and balancing the budget

• Clinton won in a hotly contested election

Was Reagan A Good President?Pros Cons

List 5 facts from the reading List 5 facts from the reading

THIS IS YOUR LEFT SIDE FOR TODAY