Reagan’s Road to the White House: Ronald Reagan made over 50 Hollywood films during his career as an actor……..he was an excellent public speaker and over time developed more conservative views in the political world. He ran for governor of California in 1966 and won again in Ten years later he ran for president. Election of 1980: Reagan Focused on economically frustrated Americans and promised to cut taxes. Appealed with conservatives with a desire to ban abortion.

Priorities: Reagan’s first priority was the economy. Most felt to fight unemployment, he must increase government spending, but knew it would make inflation worse. His Program to Fix the Problems: known as “Reaganomics” or “trickle-down economics.” Encouraged Fed to keep interest rates up while instituted a massive tax cut. Would help wealthy, corporations, and would “trickle-down” to everyday people. But did increase deficit.-> accepted this in order to cut taxes. By 1983-> economy was improving By 1984-> we were in the biggest economic expansion in history. By 1989-> incomes up 15% and 20 million new jobs Unemployment fell to 5.5%

New Supreme Court Member: Reagan changed the face of the Supreme Court by appointing the first female Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor. Reagan Wins Re-Election: Reagan Defeats Walter Mondale in a landslide victory. Mondale ran with the first female VP candidate, Geraldine Ferraro The Reagan Doctrine: This was his policy to support guerilla groups who were fighting to overthrow Communist governments in their countries. Example 1: We aided Afghan rebels to fight Soviet influence in their country Example 2: We aided guerilla forces known as the Contras in Nicaragua to go after the pro-Soviet group called the Sandinistas

“Star Wars”-Not the Movie: Fearing we couldn’t defend ourselves if the Soviets launched nuclear missiles at us, Reagan instituted the program, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), better known as “Star Wars.” It called for the development of new weapons that could stop a missile in its tracks. A New Leader for the USSR: Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the USSR in 1985 and knew he needed economic reform for his struggling country or it may collapse. It couldn’t afford a new arms race with the US. Reagan and Gorbachev met many times. Eventually Reagan realized that Gorbachev was serious about reform and ending the arms race. They were at the point that is considered the beginning of the end of the Cold War!

The Retail Revolution: By the 1980’s, superstores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart were exploding! People liked the prices and large quantities of products available. Birth of Cable Television: Until the 70’s, TV stations were limited to 3 national networks and some public access television. In 1975, Ted Turner launched TBS and CNN in 1980,the first 24 hour news network. Others followed-> like BET and MTV. Stressful Matters: Issues with Drugs: Cocaine and crack problems led first lady Nancy Reagan to begin the “Just Say No” Campaign. MADD formed against drunk driving. A Deadly Epidemic: AIDS was defined in First noticed in the homosexual population and those with blood transfusions. By 1988, 100,000 cases. A New Era in Space: 1 st Space shuttle launched was Columbia in First woman in space was Sally Ride in Disaster struck in 1986 with the explosion of the shuttle Challenger. Everyone aboard was killed right after take off.