REAGAN -BUSH DOMESTIC POLICY

I. 1980 ELECTION

A. Republicans

• 1. Ronald Reagan won a tight race
  • a. movie actor - divorced
  • b. former governor of California (1966 - 1974)
  • c. age 69 - oldest ever
  • d. ultraconservative - most conservative since 1920s
• 2. George Bush - lost then took VP
  • a. former Congressman
  • b. CIA director
  • c. ambassador to China

B. Democrats

• 1. Carter/Mondale
• 2. Edward Kennedy - divided and weakened Democrats

C. Independent

• 1. John Anderson
  • a. liberal Republican defeated by RR
  • b. created 3rd party

D. Reagan won 44 million to 35 million to 6 million

• 1. Lack of leadership by Carter - poor image of US
  • "Are you better off now than 4 years ago?"
  • Positive optimism contrasted with Carter's Crisis of Confidence
    • friendliness, warmth
    • traditional values
    • ability to inspire Americans (JFK)
    • patriotism
• 2. Liberalism was on the defensive
  • attacked "tax and spend" policies of the past
• 3. Republicans + Boll Weevils (Southern Democrats) controlled the House
  • which had a Democratic majority
• 4. "Let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our raith and hope."
  • "We have every right to dream heroic dreams."
  • revived national pride and confidence
• 5. ""Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."
  • blamed liberal programs for almost every national problem
    • poverty
    • inflation
    • low productivity
    • dependency
    • crime

A. Republicans

• 1. Reagan - Bush team ran for reelection - routine

B. Democrats

• 1. Walter Mondale - won in heated race
• 2. John Glenn
• 3. Jesse Jackson - 1st black to seriously challenge
• 4. others

C. Issues

• 1. Reagan stressed new growth in national pride
  • "It's morning in America...just about every place you look things are looking up. Life is better - America is back - and people have a sense of pride they never thought they'd feel again."
• 2. Mondale - chose Geraldine Ferraro for VP candidate
  • a. 1st women chosen by a major party
  • b. Challenged RR - Gender Gap

D. Results

• 1. Reagan won by a landslide
• 2. 523-13 electoral votes
• 3. 53 million to 37 million - popular
• 4. Despite seeming popularity Republicans lost control of the Senate in 1986

A. Inexperienced outsider - knew how to work with other politicians

• 1. Convinced Democrats to give him programs which Carter had asked for but not gotten
• 2. Return to the Imperial Presidency - high style / kept cowboy movie image on retreat
• 3. Strong leadership

B. Brought in experienced advisers to make it easier to get things done

• 1. Donald Regan - Secretary of Treasury
• 2. David Stockman - Budget Director
• 3. George Schultz
• 4. Edwin Meese
• 5. Accused of being a puppet - allow his advisers to run the government

C. Focused on Big Picture

• 1. Not interested in details
  • slept through many cabinet meetings
  • signs of age and perhaps Alzheimers during his second term
• 2. Chose his cabinet told them what he wanted and let them run the show
• 3. often befuddled at press conferences - held few - kept getting it wrong
• 4. Great Communicator - delivered speeches written for him
  • a. even read to Congressmen from que cards when in private meetings
• 5. Lack of attention led to largest number of scandals since Harding - sleeze factor
  • a. Teflon President - no matter what went wrong he was not blamed
  • b. Even those who opposed him liked him

D. Assassination attempt - 3/31/81

• 1. John Hinckley (James Brady - gun control bill)
• 2. Washington D.C.
• 3. Sympathy helped get many of his early proposals through Congress quickly
• 4. Gave him large public support

A. The New Right - Southern Strategy completed

• 1. many Democrats abandoned the Democratic party over these issues
  • abortion
  • ERA
  • school busing
  • prayer in schools
  • promiscuity - HIV
  • war on drugs
  • law and order
• 2. felt that Democrats ignored the middle class for minority groups
  • minorities
  • the poor
  • felt they had quit fighting for higher pay and decent jobs for the middle class
• 3. felt they had abandoned traditional values and become too liberal

B. Evangelical Christianity played a key role in the rise of conservatism

• 1. Born Again Christians - huge religious revival - 1970s (Carter had tapped into this in 1976)
  • 1960 - 25% born again Christians
  • 1980 - 50% born again Christians
  • televangelists - Pat Robertson and others
• 2. Moral Majority
  • a. Jerry Falwell
  • b. opposed ERA, pornography, homosexuals
  • c. proposed Constitutional Amendments - supported by RR
    • 1. allow prayer in schools
    • 2. ban abortions
  • d. backed specific candidates like Reagan
• 3. Conservative Think Tanks created
  • Heritage Foundation
    • direct mail projects
    • fund-raising projects
    • targeted defeat of liberal Senators - defeated 7 of them
• 4. Republicans gained control of the Senate - 1st since 1952

A. Tax Cuts - Supply-side Economics

• 1. Trickle Down tax cuts
  • a. 8/81 - tax cuts for the rich including tax reform
  • b. $750 billion cut over 5 years + tax incentives for the rich
    • canceled after two
  • c. Goal - Stimulate economy by raising productivity
  • c. blamed high taxes for most economic problems
• 2. Laffer Curve - tax cuts would increase government income
  • a. Voodoo Economics according to Bush and the Democrats
  • b. Budget Deficits hit record high of $221 billion - 1986
  • c. national debt - $3.1 trillion (tripled)
• 3. Result - recession - see graph (1981-82)
• 4. 1982 - Volker still running show relaxed credit restrictions
  • Reaganomics canceled - Reagan asked for and got tax increases
  • Oil glut helped slow inflation - helped most states - hurt oil states
• 5. Results - recovery
  • expected growth rate never occurred - growth was sluggish
  • Republicans lost seats in Congress - 1982
• 6. Income Tax Reform - 1986
  • a. reduced maximum tax rates from 70% to 33%
  • b. tax rates for corporations also reduced, but some loopholes were eliminated
  • c. heavily favored rich
  • d. also eliminated 6 million low income people from paying taxes
  • e. taxes for some middle class taxpayers were raised
  • f. tax reform was long overdue
  • g. Carter requested tax reform - Congress blocked

B. Budget cuts

• 1. Goal - Balanced Budget by 1984
• 2. Gramm-Rudman Act - 1985
  • a. balanced budget law - Carter requested denied - Reagan got it
  • b. across the board cuts automatic if targets are not met
  • c. suppose to balance the budget by 1991
  • d. legal problems + loopholes
    • Social Security and Post Office funds used to offset deficits
    • and make things look better than they really are
• 3. Methods - force Congress to reduce government spending

C. Increased Defense Spending - $1.5 trillion

• largest peacetime build-up in history

A. Recession and Recovery

• 1981 - 1983 - Most severe recession since the Great Depression
• Unemployment topped 10%
  • many of those laid off failed to get unemployment benefits because of Reagan policies
  • 450 businesses per week were going bankrupt
• Federal Reserve Board had raised interest rates to bring down inflation - which worked
  • once inflation declined the FED let up and recovery began
  • recovery was stimulated by deficit spending - defense
  • triggered a consumer buying spree and a surge of speculative investment
  • laid the groundwork for serious economic difficulties after his departure

B. Balance of Trade - became unfavorable under Nixon and worsened

• 1. 1985 - US becomes debtor nation - 1st time since 1914
• 2. 1986 - US fell to #2 export behind W. Germany / Japan is close 3rd

A. Shift responsibility to states

• 1. Social concerns should be handled by
  • state and local governments
  • private charities (Hoover)
• 2. Federal government should only provide a Safety Net for the truly needy
  • reverse the ideas of the New Deal and Great Society
  • return to Social Darwinism
    • Survival of the Fittest
    • Laissez Faire
    • handouts create dependency
  • does the federal government have a duty to improve society and the lives of citizens?
• 3. Faith in Big Business to do what is best for America
  • Calvin Coolidge - Reagan's hero
  • "the business of America is business"
  • Privatization
  • Deregulation
  • Took anti-union position
    • 1. Air Controllers' Strike - 8/81
    • 2. Boston Police Strike revisited - workers fired not rehired
    • 3. Membership in Unions fell as we perceived them to be anti-American
      • compare to Gilded Age or 1920s attitudes

B. Goal - Dismantling the New Deal/Great Society

• 1. Budget Director - David Stockman
  • First proposed eliminating then later reducing many social programs
  • a. job training, housing, education, student loans, school free lunch programs all cut
  • b. food stamps - cut from 17 million to 8 million the number receiving aid by 1984
  • c. Medicaid - cut by 1 million
  • d. Proposed elimination of all farm supports
    • at a time when many farmers were in bankruptcy
  • e. proposed elimination of social security and minimum wage
    • proposal not followed - backed down
    • promised to leave the safety net after heavy public criticism
• 2. Cut social spending by $500 billion by 1984
• 3. Strain on state governments reaches breaking point
• 4. Scandals
  • a. HUD run for private profits - scandal not discovered until after he leaves
  • b. Defense procurement scandal not discovered until after he leaves

A. OPEC cooperation strained by war (Iran vs. Iraq)

• 1. failure to cooperate meant more oil sold
• 2. more oil meant lower prices
• 3. collapse of the oil prices helped the US recover from the 1981-82 recession
• 4. collapse of the oil industry had a very negative impact on oil states like Texas

B. Proposed eliminating Department of Energy as unnecessary

• 1. Claimed there was no energy crisis
• 2. James Edward - Secretary of Energy agreed
• 3. Eliminated alternative fuels research

C. Deregulation

• 1. Supported use of nuclear power wanted deregulation - Congress said no
• 2. Deregulated coal strip mining and eliminated oil price guidelines

D. Results - US dependence on foreign oil is now greater than 50%

• research into alternative has slowed due to lack of
• government involvement
•  

A. Urged to get rid of EPA and Superfund as wasteful

• 1. Congress said no
• 2. Budget slashed and/or not enforced

B. Sagebrush Rebellion

• 3. Secretary of Interior - James Watts
  • a. proposed leasing or selling off national parks
  • b. allowed lumberjacking, strip-mining for coal and drilling for oil in parks
  • and offshore - trust companies to clean up mistakes
  • c. purpose of parks = profit to lower national debt
  • d. Ballinger - Pinchot revisited
• 4. 20 officials convicted of corruption in EPA alone

A. Banking, Savings and Loans

• 1. S and L crisis not uncovered until after he leaves
• 2. Cost - $500 billion
• 3. Proposed selling TVA and Amtrak - blocked
• 4. OSHA / Consumer Protection / Auto emissions - rejected by courts

B. Stock Market

• 1. 10/19/87 - Black Monday - down 508 points
• 2. regulations replaced

A. New Federalism allowed states to cut aid for blacks

• 1. Many states did so
• 2. Block grants

B. Further dismantling of the Great Society hurt blacks

• 1. RR supported laws to aid all white private schools - blocked
• 2. RR opposed affirmative action
• 3. RR became the 1st President since Andrew Johnson to veto a civil rights bill
• 4. cut civil rights enforcement
• 5. cut education aid designed to help blacks
• 6. very few black appointments (hard to find conservatives)
  • a. biggest exception Samuel Pierce - HUD Secretary
  • b. Pierce is being tried for corruption

C. Women's Issues - Gender Gap

• 1. Mondale - chose Geraldine Ferraro for VP candidate
  • a. 1st women chosen by a major party
  • b. Challenged RR - Gender Gap
• 2. ERA got 35 of 38 states to approve
  • a. Deadline passed in 1982 after Congress under Carter extended it
  • b. Reagan opposition to ERA defeated it
• 3. Opposition to Abortion also hurt RR
• 4. RR responded by appointing
  • Sandra Day O'Connor - 1st woman Supreme Court Justice
  • Jean Kirkpatrick as UN ambassador (1st US woman)
• 5. RR also had two women in cabinet
  • a. Margaret Heckler - HHS
  • b. Elizabeth Dole - Sec. of Transportation
• 6. Any criticism of Reagan was viewed as negativism

D. Court appointments

• 1. attempted to complete Nixon's pattern of creating a conservative court system
• 2. 129 total judges
  • a. 12 women
  • b. 6 Hispanics
  • c. 1 black
• 3. Supreme Court - Rehnquist Court
  • a. 1986 - promoted Rehnquist to replace retiring Warren Burger as Chief Justice
  • b. 1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor - 1st women
  • c. 1986 - Antonin Scalia
  • d. 1987 - Anthony Kennedy
    • 1. Robert Bork rejected
    • 2. Douglas Ginsburg withdrew
  • e. Result - Supreme Court became a 5-4 conservative court after 1987

A. Shuttle launches began

• 1. Columbia, Challenger
• 2. scientific research increasingly replaced by top secret military research
• 3. Star Wars research began using shuttle flights

B. 2/86 - Challenger explosion

• 1. Seven crew members died
• 2. 2 year halt to shuttle missions
• 3. slowed NASA further

C. MIR - Russian permanent space station

• 1. put Soviets back ahead of US in space race
•  

FOREIGN POLICY

A. Sec. of State - Alexander Haig

• experienced - resigned in 1982

B. Sec. of State - George Schultz

• worked with RR in California

C. Caspar Weinberger - Secretary of Defense

• led the call for a strong military buildup

A. USSR = evil empire

• 1. communist plot to take over the world
• 2. "Soviet Union underlies all the unrest that is going on" in the world
• 3. Detente allowed USSR to pass US and become #1

B. New Arms Race - catch up

• 1. largest military buildup in peacetime history
• 2. 1981-85 = $1.7 billion increase = increase in the national debt
• 3. USSR would have to negotiate is the US was in a position of clear strength
• 4. USSR economic problems would make it impossible for them to keep up in an arms race
• 5. expected them to go broke if they tried

A. Haiti - 1986

• 1. Reagan did support the overthrow of Jean-Paul Duvalier despite the fact that he was anti-communist
• 2. pro-human rights in this case because Duvalier was losing anyway
• 3. Reagan did not want the replacement to be communist

B. Grenada - 10/83

• 1. Cuban-backed Marxist government took over - 20 mi. long island - pop. 110,000
• 2. Reagan claimed US students were threatened and used this as an excuse to invade
• 3. 1900 Marines easily recaptured (18 killed /115 wounded) island with foreign aid
• 4. Speed of victory prevented the use of the War Powers Act
• 5. popular at home - success - 90% agreed after the fact
• 6. popular with Grenada however Europe and LA disapproved
• 7. UN condemned US 108 - 9

C. El Salvador

• 1. Jose Napoleon Duarte - democratically-elected
• 2. replaced conservative dictatorship that ruled while Carter was President
• 3. communist guerrillas were fighting a civil war against the government
• 4. receiving their weapons from Nicaragua according to Reagan - evidence scanty
• 5. Reagan gave military and economic aid to Duarte
  • a. doubled military aid to $11.5 million - US spent 800 million between 81-83
  • b. sent 56 military advisers
  • c. Congress talked of Vietnam - threatened use of War Powers Act
  • d. Boland Amendment - 1981
    • 1. required Duarte to improve human rights
    • government death squads still existed - by mid 1984 - 43,000 civilians and 11 Americans had been executed
    • 2. required them to negotiate with the rebels
    • 3. these conditions had to be met before Congress would approve aid
  • e. 71% of Americans (1983) believed that Reagan was on the verge of another Vietnam in El Salvador or Nicaragua

D. Caribbean Basin Initiative - commission - 11/83

• 1. Created by Reagan to analyze US policy in Central America
• 2. Headed by Henry Kissinger
• 3. Recommended $8.84 billion in aid over 5 years
•  

E. Nicaragua

• 1. Reagan cut off economic aid to Nicaragua - 1981
• 2. Sandinista's lost support during the 1980's as their economy deteriorated
  • a. exports dropped from $660 million to $249 million
  • b. Was this the result of US pressure? or
  • c. Was this the result of communist mismanagement?
• 3. CIA-backed Contras - created late 1981
• 4. Congress disapproved of Contra aid - limited it to $100 million
• and eventually refused to give more (see Iran Contra Affair)
• 5. Reagan suggested the possibility of sending US troops against the
• communists - Congress said no - another Vietnam
• 6. Reagan refused to negotiate
  • a. This upset other LA countries
  • b. Oscar Arias - Costa Rica - developed a peace plan
  • c. Reagan was reluctant to even talk of peace
• 7. 7/83 - US navy practiced war games of Nicaraguan coast for 6 months
• 8. 9/83 - US marines practiced war games in Honduras
• Congress gave in and gave the Contras more aid in order to get US troops out - $24 million for 6 months
• 9. 10/83 - CIA commando raid blew up oil storage facilities in Nicaragua
• 10. 4/84 - Reagan mined Nicaragua's harbors to prevent them from receiving aid
• damaged one Soviet ship as well as some of our own allies
• US lost case in the World Court - refused to accept court decision
• 11. 1984 - US escalated Navy and Marine war games and asked for more aid
• 12. 9/84 - Ortega agreed to negotiate with Contradora peace group from LA
• 13. After Reagan left office Bush negotiated
• 14. Ortega surprised the US by allowing free elections
• Carter was one of the observers who went to make sure
• 15. Ortega lost to Chamorro and stepped down - we were surprised

F. Iran-Contra Affair

• 1. US sold weapons to Iran - Reagan denied doing so then changed his story
• and admitted that he had approved the sale
• 2. hoped Iran would help free our hostages in Lebanon - they did not
• 3. this made Reagan look bad because he had said for years that he would
• not negotiate with terrorists
• 4. Senate investigation found numerous laws broken but gave immunity
• to the lawbreakers in order to get the whole truth
• 5. Cash from the sales was illegally and secretly used to support the Contras
• 6. Boland Amendment - had outlawed US aid to the Contras
  • a. NSC - ignored this and broke the law
  • b. John Poindexter - National Security Adviser - apparently in charge
  • c. Oliver North - shredded documents and handled the money
  • d. William Casey - CIA director - suggested the plan - died
  • before the investigation
  • e.
  • f. Reagan denied any knowledge of any of this despite the fact that
  • North and Poindexter claimed that they were just following his orders

G. Falkland Island Crisis

• 1. Reagan used economic sanctions against Argentina

A. Arms Race renewed

• 1. Star Wars - SDI
  • a. Satellites and lasers in space
  • b. untested - dispute over whether it is feasible
  • c. caused stained relations with the USSR throughout the Reagan years
• 2. Other weapons
  • a. MX missile
  • b. B-1 bomber
  • c. Stealth bomber
  • d. aircraft carriers
  • e. Cruise missiles
  • f. Pershing II missiles

B. Poland

• 1. Poland arrested Walesa and shut down Solidarity
• 2. RR imposed economic sanctions against Poland in order to help the Polish people
• 3. Polish Americans opposed this policy

C. Korean Airliner shot down by the Russians - 9/83

• 1. Alaska to Seoul - strayed over secret Soviet military base
• 2. 269 passengers and crew killed
• 3. Soviets claimed we were spying (we had done this before)
• 4. tension strained relations - Soviets clearly evil

D. Early Arms Talks stalled

• 1. Reagan spoke out against negotiations unless we were ahead he failed to negotiate during his first term
• 2. Russian leadership may have been partially to blame
  • a. Leonid Brezhnev - died 11/82
  • b. Yuri Andropov - died 1984 All hardliners from
  • c. Konstantin Chernenko - died 1985 the Lenin-Stalin period
• 3. 3/85 - Mikhail Gorbachev changed Reagan's foreign policy
  • a. young and aggressive
  • b. adopted a Western style approach which caught Reagan off guard
• 4. late 1985 - Geneva
  • a. Reagan's first meeting with Soviets
  • b. Reagan made proposals which he expected the Soviets to reject
  • c. They did
  • d. Summit was Gorby's coming out party - the world was impressed with his style
  • e. Made RR seem old and out of date

E. Reykjavik, Iceland Summit - 11/86

• 1. Gorby shocked world and accepted RR's previous offer if US would drop Star Wars
• 2. Reagan rejected his own proposal
• 3. Made RR seemed confused and warlike
• 4. Gorby = peacemaker
• 5. Gorby popularity higher than RR even in US
• 6. Reagan forced to drop cold war and return to detente

F. Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

• 1. Washington D.C. - 8/8/87
• 2. all US and Soviet missiles with range 315 miles to 3,125 miles destroyed
• 3. 1st time the number of weapons ever reduced
• 4. US destroyed 364 cruise and Pershing II missiles that we had just built under the Reagan buildup
• 5. USSR destroyed 683 missiles
• 6. talks continued to eliminate or reduce other types of weapons
• 7. SDI research continued

A. China

• 1. relationship with China cooled until the 1984 election
• 2. during the campaign Reagan visited China

B. Philippines

• 1. Reagan gave support to Corazon Aquino after she overthrew Ferdinand Marcos
• 2. Communists had been growing stronger under Marcos this continued under Aquino
• 3. Aquino has considered not renewing Subic Bay Naval Station and Clark Air Base leases
•  

A. Lebanon

• 1. 6/82 - Israel invaded Lebanon
• 2. PLO bases were located there and were launching terrorist raids across the border
• 3. UN cease-fire put US,BR,IT,FR peacekeeping troop to separate them
• 4. Israel withdrew from Beirut to a Southern security zone
• 5. Lebanonese government collapsed - civil war occurred
  • a. Christians - Amin Gemayel - President of Lebanon
  • b. several Muslim factions - one backed by Syria
• 6. Muslim suicide attack against our embassy surprised US - Reagan promised
• it would not happen again
• 7. 10/83 - Muslim suicide attack then succeeded against US marine barracks
• which were unprepared - 200+ killed
• 8. Congress used War Powers Act and told Reagan to get out within 90 days
• 9. Reagan took them out early - 1984 - blamed for lack of defense
• 10. summer 1985 - Arab terrorist hijacked US plane to Beirut
  • a. 1 American killed before crisis ended
• 11. 10/85 - Achille Lauro seized by terrorists
  • a. 1 American died
  • b. ship taken to Lebanon
  • c. Egypt eventually gave hijackers plane flight to Libya
  • d. US intercepted and forced them to Italy - they were arrested
• 12. US Hostages were captured in Lebanon and are still held there
• 13. Reagan seemed as helpless as Carter when it came to Middle East terrorism

B. Libya

• 1. Reagan suspect Muammar al-Qaddafi was behind some of the terrorism
• 2. line of death - bombing incident
• 3. spring 1986 nightclub in West Berlin was bombed
  • a. two US servicemen were killed
  • b. US claimed they had proof of the Libyan connection
• 4. US retaliated by bombing Libya - flown from England
  • a. England owed US for Falklands support
  • b. France did not allow US to fly over
  • c. one US plane lost - missed Qaddafi

C. Persian Gulf

• 1. Iran-Iraq war threatened oil shipments
• 2. US and USSR among others sent war ships to protect their interests
• 3. 5/87 - USS Stark attacked by Iraq by mistake
  • a. 37 Americans killed
  • b. Reagan offered protection to Kuwaiti tankers from Iranian attacks
• 4. 150 attacks on shipping occurred in 1987 despite US presence

A. 1988 Election

B. Legal Issues Under Bush

C. The War on Drugs

D. The Aids Epidemic

E. Economic Woes

F. New Taxes

II. Toward a Post-Cold War World

A. The American People in the 1990s

B. Reforming Communist Societies

C. Changes Elsewhere in the Communist World

D. The Quest for Freedom in South Africa

E. The Persian Gulf Crisis

F. Competition in Trade

G. New Patterns of Trade

III. The Impact of Science and Technology

A. The World of Technology

B. Environmental Challenges

C. Fighting Pollution

D. The American Space Program

E. To the Edge of the Solar System

Return to History2 Main Page