THE PRESIDENCY OF RONALD REAGANUS History Standards:SSUSH25 The student will describe changes in national politics since 1968. d. Describe domestic and international events of Ronald Reagan’s presidency; include Reaganomics, the Iran-contra scandal, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

THE ELECTION OF 1980

• As the fight for reelection approached, many Americans had lost confidence in Carter’s administration – unemployment was high and the hostages still weren’t released

• Ronald Reagan, a former actor and leading conservative from California, won the Republican nomination

• Many Americans were tired of the continued problems of Carter’s Presidency and liked the optimism of Reagan

• Reagan won the election with 51% of the vote

THE RISE OF CONSERVATIVE POLITICS

• With Reagan’s Presidency, a new Conservative political agenda took over

• The New Right believed in smaller government, a strong economy, and cutting government funded social programs

• Many conservatives also believe in the restoration of Christian values in society

REAGAN’S ECONOMIC POLICIES

• Reagan’s economic policies rested on the idea of supply-side economics, nicknamed “Reaganomics”

• The theory of supply-side economics held that if people paid fewer taxes, they would save more money, and then banks could loan that money to businesses who could invest in resources, increasing productivity, then the supply of goods would increase, driving down prices

• To do this, Congress passed massive tax cuts during Reagan’s terms as President – income taxes were cut by 25% over a three-year period

• Reagan also wanted to eliminate government regulation of businesses

MILITARY BUILDUP• At the same time, Reagan authorized increases

in military spending that was more than the cost of the social programs that had been cut

• Over a 5-year period, the US spent $1.1 trillion on defense during Reagan’s Presidency

• Most of the money went into new weapons and technology – the Cold War was still going on

• 1983 – Reagan announces the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also called Star Wars, designed to block any future attacks with a satellite defense shield

ECONOMIC WOES

• From July 1981 until November 1982, America was in the most severe recession since the Great Depression

• However, the economy recovered in 1983 and thrived until the stock market crash of 1987

• Tax cuts helped the rich but hurt the poor

• The federal government spent much more than they took in revenue leading to a large deficit

• By the end of his first term, the national debt had almost doubled

SOCIAL REFORM• As a result of the voting rights acts,

many African Americans were being elected to prominent positions in large cities

• MLK’s birthday became a national holiday

• AIDS came to the United States and threatened, at first, homosexual men and IV drug users

• Several Conservatives were named to the Supreme Court, including the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor

• The space shuttle Challenger accident- January 28, 1986

CHALLENGER EXPLOSION

IRAN CONTRA AFFAIR• Reagan was concerned about two foreign policy problems:

a number of American hostages were being held in Lebanon and the left-wing Sandinista government which controlled Nicaragua

• Congress declined to provide military aid to the contras who were fighting against the Sandinista government

• In 1985, an arrangement was made to sell arms to Iran (to aid in the Iran-Iraq War) in return for Iran’s aid in obtaining the release of American hostages

• Payments for the arms were diverted to the contras

• This violated the Congressional ban against aiding the rebels and Reagan’s repeated vow not to negotiate with terrorists

• Oliver North, a Marine Lt. Col., took the fall for the scandal

• Reagan claimed to have no knowledge of it – even if it was true, it gave Reagan the image of a president who was lazy and uninvolved

THE COLD WAR ENDS

• In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union

• He inherited many problems within the USSR, many of which revolved around the Soviet economy

• Gorbachev first instituted a policy called glasnost (openness) which allowed for open criticism of the Soviet government and took steps towards freedom of the press

• The next plan was for perestroika, the restructuring of Soviet society which called for less control of the economy, some introduction of private enterprise, and steps towards establishing a democratic government Mikhail

Gorbachev

THE COLD WAR ENDS

• The introduction of democratic ideals led to a wave of nationalism within the Soviet Union’s non-Russian republics

• In Dec. 1991, 14 of these non-Russia republics declared independence from the Soviet Union

• Eventually, Gorbachev resigned, effectively dissolving the Soviet Union

• This led to the collapse of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, including the fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany on November 9, 1989

FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL