1. 2-4: Ronald Reagan and the End of the Cold War, 1980-1992

2. Objectives
CUL 1.0 Explain how religious groups and ideas have affected American society and political life.
POL 1.0 Explain how and why political ideas, beliefs, institutions, party systems, and alignments have developed and changed.
POL 2.0 Explain how popular movements, reform efforts, and activist groups have sought to change American society and institutions.
POL 3.0 Explain how different beliefs about the federal government’s role in U.S. social and economic life have affected political debates and policies.
WOR 2.0 Analyze the reasons for and results of U.S. diplomatic, economic, and military initiatives in North America and overseas.

3. Key Concepts
A newly ascendant conservative movement achieved several political and policy goals during the 1980s and continued to strongly influence public discourse in the following decades.
The end of the Cold War and new challenges to U.S. leadership forced the nation to redefine its foreign policy and role in the world.

4. Overview Domestic Policy Foreign Policy
Resurgent conservative movement
Foreign Policy
Buildup of military power
Collapse of USSR

5. The Reagan Revolution Election of 1980
Supply-Side Economics (Reaganomics)
Federal Tax Reduction
“Trickle-down” theory
Significant tax cuts
Spending Cuts
Viewed liberal programs as counterproductive
Cuts from education, food stamps, public housing
Met opposition due to popularity of some programs

6. The Reagan Revolution Deregulation Budget and Trade Deficits
Wanted to reduce government interference with business
Intended to promote economic growth
Budget and Trade Deficits
High military spending
Eventual tax increases
Impact of Reaganomics
Unemployment and inflation declined
Stock market increase
Stable prices led to farm bankruptcies
Also weakened banks who had their loans defaulted

7. Foreign Policy During the Reagan Years
Renewing the Cold War
Military Buildup
Soviet Union an “evil empire”
Use of limited military interventions
Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars)
Central America
Grenada
Iran-Contra Scandal
Improved U.S.-Soviet Relations
Assessing Reagan’s Policy
Contributed to fall of USSR
Promoted interventionism beyond Cold War

8. George H.W. Bush and the End of the Cold War
Foreign Policy
Collapse of Communism
Tiananmen Square
Breakup of the Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev
“glasnost” (openness)
“perestroika” (restructuring)
Fall of the Berlin Wall
End of the Cold War
What is the new role of America?
Invasion of Panama
Persian Gulf War

9. George H.W. Bush and the End of the Cold War
Domestic Issues
Budget deficits
Abandonment of aspects of Reaganomics
Stock market woes and slight recession
Americans with Disabilities Act