A Conservative

Realignment:

1977–1990

Chapter 33Lecture Outline

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Modern Conservative Movement

http://wwnorton.com/college/history/america9/full/ch/33/author-video.aspx

• The Camp David Accords

– Carter would broker a peace

treaty between Israel and

Egypt in 1978 in which Egypt

recognized Israel’s right to

exist and Israel returned to

Egypt all the land it had taken

in the Sinai Peninsula.

Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat (left), Jimmy Carter (center), and Israeli

prime minister Menachem Begin (right) at the announcement of the Camp

David Accords, September 1978.

The Carter Presidency

The Carter Presidency

• Mounting Troubles

– Carter’s greatest failure was the mismanagement of the economy.

– When he left office, inflation averaged 13% per year.

– He signed the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II)

negotiated by Gerald Ford.

The Carter Presidency

• Iran

– The Iranian Revolution erupted in 1979 when fundamentalist

Muslims joined to overthrow the pro-American shah.

– They were led by Ayatollah Khomeini, and would take the U.S.

embassy there, holding the fifty-two diplomats and staff as

hostages.

– Carter appealed to the United Nations, but Khomeini refused to

listen.

– The president would launch two rescue attempts, but both failed

due to helicopter problems.

– Eventually they would be released, but only after Carter had been

defeated and Reagan had been elected, in 1980.

The Carter Presidency• The Election of 1980

– The downturn in the economy that had grown worse under Carter and

the foreign affair debacle with the Iranian hostage crisis led Reagan in

1980 to win the presidency

The Reagan Revolution

• The Making of a President

– Reagan was a movie star before running for governor of CA. He would

run against Ford in 1976, but would lose in the Republican primary.

• The Rise of the “New Right”

– Reagan benefited from a shifting of population to Florida, California, and

Texas, which shifted those states from liberal to conservative.

• The Moral Majority

– Reagan’s chances for the presidency corresponded with a national

revival of evangelical Christians. (Rev. Jerry Falwell)

– The so-called religious right would back Reagan even though Jimmy

Carter was a Baptist who openly practiced his faith.

• NRA

– Gun Control Act of 1968

• Heritage Foundation

– Conservative “think –tank”, non-profit lobbying group that attempts to

influence legislators

The Reagan Revolution

• Anti-Feminist Backlash

– Another factor in the rebirth of the conservative movement was a

reactionary movement of women opposed to the dramatic

changes feminists were demanding.

– Women who relished their roles as homemakers and mothers

opposed what they considered “a bunch of bitter women seeking

a constitutional cure for their personal problems.”

• Promoting Conservative Ideas

– Conservatism had become engrained in the business world in the

1970s, and due to the issues that compounded the miseries of

that time period, caused business leaders to invest heavily in

Reagan’s campaign

The Reagan Revolution

Anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion demonstrators pass the Washington Monument on their way to the Capitol.

Reagan’s First Term

• Reaganomics

– supply-side economics

• Reagan's economic advisers concentrated on supply. By

reducing taxes and business regulations, they hoped to make

it easier to produce more goods. They reasoned this larger

supply of goods would drive down prices and stop inflation. It

would also lead to fuller employment. Some called this new

strategy "Reaganomics."

• By 1983, the economy began to come out of recession.

Reagan's tax cuts, deregulation and military spending

encouraged greater business activity, while new supplies of oil

from Alaska and the North Sea stabilized oil prices.

• Budget Cuts

– In addition, the federal government’s budget was cut in areas that

were deemed not for the “truly needy.”

Reagan’s First Term

Reagan’s First Term

• Reagan’s Anti-Liberalism

– In 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went on

strike, which was against federal law.

– Reagan fired all of the members of this union and provided replacements

from the military.

• Sandra Day O'Connor:

– In 1981 , President Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor as the first

woman Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

– Born in El Paso, Texas, she studied in California before moving to

Arizona. O'Connor had served as Arizona's Assistant Attorney General,

State Senator, and a Superior Court Judge.

– During her early years on the U.S. Supreme Court she was a

conservative who preferred "judicial restraint."

– She emerged in the late 1990s as a swing vote between the

conservative and liberal groups on the Court.

Reagan’s First Term

• The Federal Deficit and the National Debt:

– The federal deficit is the amount of money that the federal government

spends beyond what it collects in taxes. Reagan had promised a budget

in which government spending would be limited to the amount of taxes it

raised. But because of military spending, the federal deficit actually

increased greatly, and the national debt more than doubled.

• The Trade Imbalance:

– During the Reagan years, Americans bought more goods and services

from abroad than they sold overseas. This imbalance led to the loss of

millions of jobs, the closing of steel mills and auto plants, and a drop in

the disposable income of many Americans.

• Immigration Policy:

– President Reagan introduced new changes to our immigration laws. To

deal with the problem of illegal immigration, the Mazzoli-Simpson Act

(1986) "legalized" illegal aliens who had lived continuously in the United

States since 1981.

Reagan’s First Term

• A Massive Defense Buildup

– Reagan charged that most of the

trouble in the world politically lay at

the hands of the Soviet Union in

Moscow.

– Labeling the Soviets an “evil empire,”

he initiated a dramatic buildup of

nuclear and conventional weapons

and announced the creation of the

Strategic Defense Initiative, a space-

based anti-weapons platform.

Reagan strongly believed in a policy of Peace through Strength -"Let he who desires peace prepare for war."

Reagan’s First Term

Strategic Defense Initiative President Reagan addresses the nation on March 23, 1983, about the development of a space-age shield to intercept Soviet missiles.

Reagan’s First Term• The Americas

– Central America was rife with communist activity, such as El Salvador,

where communist-supported forces had been attempting to overthrow

the government since 1980.

– Reagan send advisors and aid but the revolutionaries used this to their

advantage and won control of the nation.

– In Nicaragua, Reagan would empower the CIA to train and supply anti-

communist rebels to fight against the Soviet- and Cuban-armed govt.

Reagan’s First Term

• The Middle East

– Wracked by an Islamic civil war between the Iran and Iraq.

– Afghanistan invaded by the Soviets, who were bogged down in their own

version of Vietnam.

– Israeli troops pushed Palestine Liberation Organization’s forces from

Lebanon, and U.S. troops sent in as peacekeepers.

– In October 1983, an Islamic suicide bomber would kill 241 marines,

leading Reagan to withdraw all forces from the area.

Reagan’s First Term

• Grenada

– Also in 1983,

Reagan would

respond to pleas

from neighboring

nations of Grenada

to depose a

communist

government there

that had overthrown

the previous

regime.

In 1985, Reagan announced the Reagan Doctrine. He stated that the United States would not simply confine itself to the containment of Communism. It would also attempt to "rollback" Communism by aiding anti-Communist ''freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua, and Cambodia.

Reagan’s First Term

Reagan’s Second Term

• The Election of 1984

Reagan’s Second Term

• Domestic Challenges

– Using his election as a mandate to continue his previous term’s

goals, he would sign the Tax Reform Act, which reduced the

number of tax brackets and lowered rates once again.

Reagan’s Second Term

• The Iran-Contra Affair

– For the last two years in office, Reagan faced an opposition Congress.

– Reports would begin circulating about illicit arms sales to Iran in

exchange for Iran working to secure American hostages in Lebanon.

– Money from these sales would in turn be used to fund the Contra forces

fighting in Nicaragua.

Reagan’s Second Term

The Changing Social Landscape

• The Computer Revolution

– The invention of the silicon chip in 1971 led to the computer age.

Led by Bill Gates the personal computer revolution would

transform the marketplace and the economy.

• Debt and Stock Market Plunge

– During Reagan’s administration, the federal debt tripled, savings

among Americans were at an all-time low, and on October 19,

1987, the stock market crashed.

– Although it was worse than the 1929 crash, automatic safeguards

enacted since then prevented the worst from occurring.

The Changing Social Landscape

• The Poor, the Homeless, and the Victims of AIDS

– The government had given up on building new public housing for

low-income families, and urban renewal programs were not

required to locate new homes for those whom it displaced.

– As a result, the number of homeless rose during the 1980s.

The Changing Social Landscape

The computer age Beginning with the cumbersome electronic numerical integrator and computer (ENIAC), pictured here in 1946, computer technology flourished, leading to the development of personal computers in the 1980s and the popularization of the Internet in the 1990s.

The Changing Social Landscape

• A Historic Treaty

– Under the new Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russians would

pursue détente to focus on their domestic problems.

– Gorbachev would meet with Reagan and sign a treaty that would cause

both sides to reduce the number of nuclear warheads they had in their

possession.

• Reagan’s Legacy

– During his administration, Reagan was able to redefine the role of the

government and promote a more active engagement with the Soviets in

an attempt to win, or at least end, the Cold War.

Tear down this wall: https://youtu.be/YtYdjbpBk6A

The Changing Social Landscape

The Changing Social Landscape

• The Election of 1988

The H.W. Bush Administration

• Domestic Initiatives

– Bush’s biggest domestic problem was the size of the national

debt, which had grown to three times what it had been in 1980.

– He would also wage war on illegal drugs, and would appoint

William Bennett as drug czar.

The H.W. Bush Administration

• The Democracy Movement Abroad

– In communist nations where a

strong leader who had the power

to hold the system together was

lacking, revolutionary

movements took root.

• Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria,

Romania, Poland, Hungary,

and eventually East

Germany

– Although he was globally

popular, Mikhail Gorbachev

faced a coup back home and

was removed from power. He

was replaced by Boris Yeltsin.

Bush and Yeltsin would both

agree to a dramatic reduction in

the numbers of nuclear

stockpiles.

The H.W. Bush Administration

Dissolution of the Soviet Empire West Germans hacking away at the Berlin Wall on November 11, 1989, two days after all crossings between East Germany and West Germany were opened.

The H.W. Bush Administration

Action against Gorbachev In August 1991, one day after Mikhail Gorbachev was placed under house arrest by Communists planning a coup, Russian president Boris Yeltsin (holding papers) makes a speech criticizing the plotters.

The H.W. Bush Administration

• Panama

– Bush would send troops into Panama in 1989 to overthrow

Manuel Noriega, who in 1983 had taken the de facto leadership

position of Panama.

– He would use his connections to run drugs and arms into the

United States. Within a day, Noriega had been captured.

The H.W. Bush Administration

• The Gulf War

– On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. Bush would send

troops into Saudi Arabia to defend that nation from a similar

attack. After deadlines expired in January 1991, a coalition force

made up of thirty nations would attack Iraq and drive it out of

Kuwait. After six weeks of fighting, the war ended.

The H.W. Bush Administration

The Gulf War U.S. soldiers adapt to desert conditions during Operation Desert Shield, December 1990.