Reagan & Bush

1980-1992

1980 ElectionCarter vs. Reagan

Carter is unpopular for several reasons

Economic recession

Energy prices

Iran hostage crisis

Carter wins only five states

Reagan promises a “Revolution”

Ideological changes in government and defense

Promises to cut spending

Blames government as the source of the problem

Reagan becomes a tremendously popular President

“Great Communicator”

Booming mid 1980’s economy

Likable public image

New RightGroup of primarily social conservatives

Replace New Left of the 1960’s

Dislike social change and reform

Dominated by evangelical Christians (values voters)

Moral Majority

Coalition of conservative Christian groups

Based on fundamentalist religious teachings

Also included conservative intellectuals and disaffected Democrats

Reagan was elected by a large number of former Democratic voters

Primary issues:

Fight government regulation (state’s rights)

Morality issues (abortion/ERA)

“Supply-Side” EconomicsReagan’s primary economic philosophy

AKA “Reaganomics”

AKA “Voodoo economics” (Bush before VP nomination)

Theory behind “supply-side”

Stagnant American economy based on over-taxation

Inadequate capital available for investment

Reducing taxes on capital gains will help economy

Cuts taxes on big business and the rich

“Trickle down” theory

Reduced government spending needed to compensate

Economic RecoveryUS will undergo rapid recovery beginning in 1982-1983

Reagan will cut capital gains taxes, but not spending

No balanced budget

Nat. debt 900 billion (1980) to 4 trillion (1992)

Massive defense spending will aid economy (Keynesian)

($1.6 trillion over 5 years)

OPEC collapses due to a world wide oil surplus

Result of increasing oil prices

Declining energy prices help decrease inflation

Tight Federal Reserve policies had eliminated inflation

Loose policies will follow encouraging investment

Although Reagan’s economy boom, Reaganomics is never truly tested

• Would supply side economics work in your opinion?

Foreign PolicyReagan believed that USSR was an “evil empire”

Reagan doctrine

Official foreign policy

Called for largest military build up in US history

Attempt to restore international prestige

Pledged to support opponents of communism anywhere in the world

SDI

Known as Star Wars

ABM system may have possibly bankrupted the Soviet economy

Violated previous agreement (SALT I) and prevented passage of others

Foreign PolicyReagan commits US troops to Lebanon

Attempt to calm Civil War

US troops help Israeli forces hunt PLO terrorists

Series of terrorist attacks against US forces in Lebanon

US embassy and US Marine base bombed

Hostages taken by Iranian extremists

US invasion of Grenada

Overthrow pro Cuban Marxist government

Secret commitments

Nicaragua--Congress passes Boland amendment forbidding involvement there

Afghanistan--Secretly support Afghan rebels

Libya—bombing of Tripoli in response to terror attacks

Iran ContraMassive scandal involving Reagan’s “secret government”

CIA and NSC had illegally sold weapons to Iran (fighting our ally Iraq) in exchange for return of American hostages

Money illegally funneled to right wing Contras attempting to overthrow Marxist Sandanista government in Nicaragua

Congressional hearings can not tie Reagan to the scandal

National security aide Col. Oliver North and National Security Advisor John Poindexter and others refuse to implicate Reagan

Public opinion sympathetic to North

US and USSRMikhail Gorbachev assumes command of USSR in 1985

Initiates Perestroika (reform) and Glasnost (openess) programs

Nuclear talks between two nations

INF treaty (1988)

End of the Cold War (1989)

Gorbachev’s reform and financial crisis in USSR lead to an end of communism rule in Eastern Europe

Berlin Wall torn down (Germany reunified 1990)

Eventual fall of USSR (1991)

Cold War victory credited to Reagan by some historians

Bush calls it “New World Order”

• How will the demise of the USSR contribute to a less stable world system?

BushElected in 1988

Will continue with policies similar to those of Reagan

Tax cuts/small government/defense spending

Handicapped by an emerging economic recession

Major foreign policy

1989 Tiananmen Square

Massacre of student protesters

Bush sends aides to restore relations with China

1989 Panama

Overthrow/arrest Manuel Noriega for drug trafficking

Part of larger War on Drugs initiated by Bush

1991 Operation Desert Storm

Attacks Iraq to liberate oil rich Kuwait

Social IssuesWar on Drugs

Just Say No campaign by Nancy Reagan

Response to rising drug addiction

Undeclared war by Bush after murder of Enrique Camarena by Mexican drug cartel

Aging population

Rising costs of health related programs

Strain on Social Security programs

Emerging AIDS epidemic

Disease discovered less then 30 years ago has spread rapidly

Environmental awareness—Exxon Valdez

Shifting demographics-Growing minority population

Increasing roles of women and minorities in society through 1970’s and 1980’s