Building the Shining City

on a Hill

The Reagan Revolution (Chapter 23.1

and 23.2)

The 1980s CultureBecame the “Me! Me! Me!” generation of status seekers

Donald Trump made his millions

“If you’ve got it, flaunt it!”

“Shop til you drop!”

Video games

Rising costs for college

Nerds become the hot commodity

MTV is born (it used to be for actual music videos)

Pop, rock, new wave, punk, country, and rap or hip hop became popular

New Waves of Politics

Liberalism

Born of the New Deal and the Great Society

Gov’t intervention in society, central planning of economy, high taxes, internationalism, and judicial activism

Neo-ConservatismSame vein as AuH2O

Free market, limited gov’t, personal freedom and responsibility, fewer taxes, pro-business, strong national defense, and judicial restraint

Social Conservatives = Religious Right

Conservative Activists

Sagebrush Rebels – wanted Feds to give control of land to the states

The Moral Majority – angry at Federal stands on social issues

Pro-life, pro-religion in school, anti-Equal Rights Act, anti-gay

Enter Ronald Reagan

AuH2O conservative

Opposed “big gov’t”

Wanted a strong military

Believed in “traditional values”

The “Great Communicator” radiated optimism

Appeal of ReaganSportscaster & Hollywood actor

President of SAG (Screen Actors’ Guild) then Gov . Of Cali

Strong anti-communist, led Hollywood against Communism

1980 Election

Ran against Jimmy Carter

Asked “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

“Can do” attitude sweeps Reagan to victory

The Reagan Inaugural

Reagan Shot“Honey, I forgot to duck.”

ReaganomicsSupply-Side Economics

Major tax cuts to individuals and businesses (from 70%-28%)

More federal revenue projected from new sales and payroll taxes in lieu of income taxes

Cut regulations and size of Federal Gov’t

Effects of Reaganomics Inflation drops from

11.83% to 3.8% by 1982

16,000,000 jobs added

GDP grows at average rate of 3.4%

Total family wealth and income surge

Critiques of Reaganomics

Jobs added in total – overall average 7.5% unemployment

25% jump in poverty as Social net cut

Median income drops as people forced off welfare and into lower paying jobs

Budget swells (militarism)

Reagan Gets Tough1981 – Illegally, Air Traffic controllers went on strike

PATCO – Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization

Reagan fired them all after 48 hour warning and hired new workers

Labor HATES Reagan

Union power broken in the US

CRACKED! The War on Drugs

Crack cocaine hit America’s cities

Surge in addiction, homelessness, murder, theft, robbery, and long-term imprisonment

Nancy Reagan started “Just Say No” program

Federal money cut for drug users (housing and college)

Random drug tests for Federal workers

Treatment facilities

Racism of Drugs

Rock or crack cocaine

common among blacks

Powdered cocaine common among whites

Courts sentence crack abusers MUCH more frequently and harshly

More jail time for blacks

“Ghettoization” of cities

Social Changes for Women

Increasingly involved in politics

1981 – Sandra Day O’Connor

1st woman on Court

By 1989 – 20 states have equal pay laws

Cuts for federally funded daycare

AIDS1981 – disease hits US

Called “Slim Disease”, “Gay Disease”, the “4H Disease” (Haitians, homosexuals, heroin users, and hemophiliacs)

By 1990 – myths begin to separate from facts

Transfusions (Ryan White), toilets, touching

The AIDS Epidemic

Reagan is criticized for remaining silent on AIDS for years as it ravages America

Controversy over its impact in the gay community

Controversy over sex education in schools

A Global Issue

In US today, AIDs now seen as something one can live with

On the rise again as sexual caution disappearing

2009 – DC sees 22% jump in AIDs

Triumph and Disaster1981 – new, reusable cheaper

vehicle created

1986 – Challenger explodes

1984 Election Reagan vs. Mondale (and Jesse Jackson))

Scandal Hits Wall StreetThe S&L Scandal

Federal insured banks hit by $2,600,000,000 theft

Deregulation of banks blamed

Reagan uses tax-payer money to pay off

Americans angry

Foreign Policy and Cold War Policy Issues of the 1980s

1982 War in LebanonCivil War in Lebanon

threatened regional peace and security

US sent in troops as peacekeepers with multi-national force

1983 – US Marine barracks bombed, 220 killed

Iranian funded Hezbollah behind the attack

NOW – seen as early Islamic terror event

US leaves Lebanon

Bombing in Beirut - 1983241 Americans are

killed by suicide bombers in barracks in Beirut, Lebanon

Hezbollah (backed by Iran) claims responsibility

LibyaUS and Libya dispute international water

Libyans attack US Navy and US crushes

Libya contracts for W. Berlin disco bombing where two US soldiers were killed

April 1986 – US bombs Libya in retaliation for state-sponsored terrorist bombings

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi left in power

Dec 1988 – PanAm Flight 803 blown up over Scotland

Linked back to Libya

Iran-Contra Affair

Reagan alleged to have secretly and illegally sold weapons to Iran

To get Iranian air in pressuring Lebanon to release US hostages

Funneling money to anti-Sandinista Nicaraguan rebels (Contras)

Oliver North took the fall but many blamed Reagan

Afghanistan – A Secret War

1973 – communists seize Afghanistan

Peasants fear anti-religious message, organize Mujahideen

Soviets fear spread of Holy War into southern USSR

Enter the US

The Triumph of Reagan1980 – Reagan runs to

oppose communism

Massive raises in defense

spending

Star War (Strategic Defense Initiative [SDI]) - use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the US from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles

Focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of MAD

“The Evil Empire”

The Russian Situation

Afghan War spending combined with new US arms race – cause Soviet economic disaster

Social programs cut

Soviets can’t buy bread and guns at the same time

Taking on the “Evil Empire”

Reagan approved a 40% increase in defense spending from 1981 – 1985

“Peace Through Strength” - Deterrence

Mikhail GorbachevA Last Ditch Soviet Effort

Perestroika

Economic restructuring

Capitalism?

Glasnost

Social Openness

Freedoms of press and speech

Summits with GorbachevGorbachev was

someone Reagan could work with

Perestroika and Glasnost unraveling the USSR

Reagan’s plan working