1. President Reagan
The 1980s

2. Conservative Backlash: Conservatives reacted against changes in the US during the 1960s/70s
American foreign policy (decline of American power)
“Lost Vietnam”
OPEC and Oil Embargo
Iranian Hostage Crisis
USSR invasion of Afghanistan
Affirmative Action/ Women’s liberation
Lagging Economy
Stagflation
De-Industrialization
People lacked confidence in government (i.e. Watergate)
Opposition to many liberal social and racial policies.

3. Conservative Concerns and Ideology
Conservative reactions to the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s
Lost control of America
Divorce, gay rights, abortion, day care, big government, & decline of the family
New traditionalism
Creationism, family values, cut government, stop communists, end abortion, no immigration
Strong military / national defense
American global power
Individualism
Religious Fundamentalism

4. Election of 1980 and Reagan’s First Term
The Main Idea
In 1980 Americans voted for a new approach to governing by electing Ronald Reagan, who powerfully promoted a conservative agenda.
Ronald Reagan [R] 489 Electoral Votes 51.6% Popular Vote
Jimmy Carter [D] 49 Electoral Votes 41.7% Popular Vote
John Anderson [I] 0 Electoral Votes 6.7 % Popular Vote

5. America was a nation ready for change in 1980
The 1980 Election
Reagan promised to return the country to a simpler time of low taxes, smaller government, a strong military, and conservative moral values.
Focused on “family, work, neighborhood, peace, and freedom.”
Reagan asked if people were better off than they were four years ago.
Reagan and his running mate, George H.W. Bush, won in a landslide; Republicans also gained control of the Senate.

6. Reagan’s Presidential Agenda
Reduce the federal bureaucracy
Deregulate certain industries
Cut taxes
Increase the defense budget,
Take a hard line with the Soviets
Appoint conservative judges

7. Reagan’s plan for tax and spending cuts Two goals
Reaganomics
Reagan’s plan for tax and spending cuts
Two goals
Reduce taxes to stimulate economic growth
Cut the federal budget
Based on supply-side economics
A theory that says breaks for businesses will increase supply of goods and services, aiding the economy

8. Reaganomics: “Trickle-Down”
Department of Defense (DOD) spending up 45%
$3 trillion debt,
Deregulation and Savings & Loan Crisis
$500 billion
Expansion of “working poor”
Decline in real wages
Household debt increased
Rising number of Fortune 500 Companies
Tax cuts boosted elite incomes
Privatization and deregulation

10. The Effects of Reaganomics
1981 & 1982 = Nation suffered the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Unemployment rose and government revenues fell.
Federal spending soared and the federal deficit skyrocketed.
1983 = Economic upturn sends consumers on spending spree
Stock Market surged and GDP went up 10%
Recession
and
Recovery

11. Reagan’s Foreign Policy and the Cold War
President Reagan took a hard line against communism around the world.
Reagan rejected the policies of containment and détente; he wanted to destroy communism.
Position worsened relations with the Soviets
Critics of his policy called Reagan reckless
Reagan obtained massive increases in military spending.
Much of the new spending went to nuclear weapons.
Promoted the Strategic Defense initiative (SDI)—a shield in space to protect the United States against incoming Soviet missiles.
Critics called this Star Wars and said it wouldn’t work.

12. 1. A Thaw in the Cold War The Soviet Union
By the late 1970s the Soviet economy was shrinking.
Industrial and farm production, population growth, education, and medical care all fell.
The Soviet Union started importing food
The communist Satellite Nations of the Soviet Union begin to demand political and economic reforms
U.S.-Soviet Relations
Mikhail Gorbachev: becomes Soviet leader in 1984; reform minded
Economic (perestroika), Social (glasnost), Military (diplomacy), and Political (democratization).
Reagan and Gorbachev sign Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987
Fall of the Berlin Wall Nov. 1989

13. Increased Defense Spending
Military budgets increased for six straight years (FY ).
Reagan Administration spent about $2.4 trillion.
Defense budgets rose to $ billion annually.
Money was Spent ON:
Maintenance, training, and compensation.
New weapons systems.
B-1 bomber
Trident II missile
MX missile
new ships
At end of Reagan Admin, defense spending cut back.
Real increase attributable to Reagan admin more than $500 billion.

14. Strategic Defense Initiative
Announced March 1983.
a/k/a “Star Wars”
Sought to develop a system to destroy incoming missiles
Sought to develop a system of surveillance and tracking systems along with various devices to destroy incoming missiles (ground-based, laser, kinetic – “brilliant pebbles”)
SDIO (office) spending $3.1 billion by 1986 to pursue research into needed technologies.
As envisioned, never implemented/developed, but AB systems put under SDIO, fosters new ABM tech.
Becomes bargaining chip

15. Arms Control: Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START)
U.S.-U.S.S.R. negotiations from
Almost produce an agreement during Reagan- Gorbachev meeting at Reykjavik, Iceland, 1986.
Summit fails on issue of SDI
START talks produce treaty in 1991

16. Reagan Doctrine
Called for helping anti-Communist movements around the globe. Examples:
Nicaragua: aid for the contras (anti-Sandinista guerillas).
Afghanistan: aid for mujaheddin tribesmen.
Angola: aid for UNITA
Note – assistance for movements hoping to topple Communist governments
“rollback”

17. Latin America & Middle East Policy
Violent civil war between Marxist guerrillas and government troops supported by armed extremist groups
Reagan administration supported José Napoleón Duarte—a moderate leader who won the 1984 election.
El Salvador
U.S-backed Anastasio Somoza Debayle was ousted by the Sandinistas—a Marxist group.
Reagan cut off aid to Nicaragua saying that the Sandinistas were backed by the USSR.
Reagan then allowed the CIA to equip and train a Sandinista opposition group called the Contras.
Boland Amendment: Congress banned all further direct or indirect U.S. support of the Contras
Nicaragua

18. Island was tied to Communist Cuba
Reagan sent 2,000 troops in 1983 to overthrow the pro-Cuban government
18 U.S. soldiers die
Granada
Muslim and Christian groups waged a civil war.
Israel invaded Lebanon to expel the PLO.
U.S. sent 800 peacekeepers.
A suicide bomber killed 241 marines.
Reagan withdrew the troops.
Lebanon

19. In 1985 National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane persuaded Reagan to sell arms to Iran in hopes that Iran would help obtain the release of U.S. hostages in Lebanon.
- This violated a U.S. arms embargo.
Vice Admiral John Poindexter and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North carried out the plan to divert arms sale money to the Contras.
Reagan admitted authorizing the sale of arms to Iran but denied knowing that the money was then diverted to the Contras.
Administration engaged in a cover-up of their actions.
- North admitted destroying key documents.
- High-level Reagan staff members lied in testimony to Congress and withheld evidence.
- North was convicted of destroying documents and perjury. His conviction was overturned on technicalities.
Iran-Contra
Affair

20. US opposed Sandinistas in Nicaragua
Secret weapon sales to Iran
$ from weapon sales send to Contras
Contras fought war against Sandinistas
Destabilized both regions

21. 2nd Term Problems for the Reagan Administration
Budget and debt issues.
Congressional opposition.
Lax oversight of subordinates leads to political crisis.

22. “The Culture Wars” Abortion Immigration Affirmative Action
Bilingual Education
Multiculturalism
Communism
Homosexuality
HIV-AIDS
Desegregation
School Prayer
Taxation
Church and State

23. International Events End of the Cold War Reagan: “Evil Empire”
Mikhail Gorbachev
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Collapse of USSR
Reagan took credit for the end of the Cold War