Ch 40 PPT: Conservatism

TMWK

1. Pg 968 Map: Who won more electoral votes in the 1980 election? Who were the candidates?

2. Pg 969 Picture on right: What new "group" took control of the White House and the Senate?

1980 Election of Reagan

  • Ronald Reaganbeat DemocratPres Carter.
  • Reagancondemned federal intervention in local affairs, favoritism for minorities,elitism of arrogant bureaucrats.
  • Pro "Neoconservatives"-supported free-market capitalism; questioned liberal welfare programs and affirmative-action policies; called for traditional values of individualism and centrality of family.

Reagan Revolution

  • Conservativecabinet: James Watt- Sec of Interior.
  • Watt's Goal: reduce size of govt by shrinkingfederal budget and cutting taxes.
  • Proposed new federal budget: cuts of $35 billion in social programs like food stamps and federally-funded job-training centers.
  • March 1981: Reagan shot.Returned to work in 12 days.

What is Conservatism?

  • Marked by tensions and competing ideologies.
  • Fiscal conservatives and libertarians favor small govt, low taxes, limited regulation,free enterprise.
  • Social conservatives see traditional social values as threatened by secularism; tend to support school prayer, capital punishment and oppose abortion and same-sex marriage.

Battle of the Budget (Fiscal)

  • Reagan's economic program: tax cuts, amounting to 25%over period of 3 years.
  • Aug 1981: Congress approved tax reforms -loweredindividual tax rates, reduced federal estate taxes, created new tax-free saving plans for small investors.
  • Believed combination of budgetary discipline and tax reduction:"supply-side"economics(Reaganomics)would stimulate new investment, boost productivity, promote economic growth, reduce federal deficit.
    Result: Economy slipped into deepest recession since 1930s: unemployment rose, banks closed.
  • 1st time in 20th century, income gapswidened between rich and poor.
  • Some economists believereason of 1983 economic upturn wasmassivemilitary expenditures.
  • 1980s: Reagan gave Pentagon $2 trillion. He plunged U.S. into major deficit, even more than New Deal spending. 1982 = $100 Billion deficit (money owed by govt)

Tmwk

3. Pg 970 Cartoon: What is the topic of the cartoon? Add OI

Reagan Renews Cold War

  • Reagan's strategyforUSSR:greatly expandU.S. military
  • Threaten USSR with expensive new weapons.
  • American economy could better bear thecost than could Soviet system.
  • March 1983: Reagan announced high-techmissile-defense system - Strategic Defense Initiative(SDI), AKAStar Wars.
  • SDI Plan: orbitbattle satellitesthat could fire laser beams to vaporize intercontinental missile on liftoff. (not realized)
  • 1983: Korean passenger airlinershot downin Soviet airspace.
  • Late 1983: all arms-control negotiations broke down= Cold Warintensified.

Tmwk

4. Pg 971 Cartoon: What is the topic/event of the cartoon? Time Per, Geo Loc, Key ppl/country.Add OI

Troubles Abroad

  • June 1982:Israelinvaded Lebanonto destroy guerrilla bases from which Palestinian fighters attacked Israel. Reagan sent peacekeeping troops, but after suicide bomber killed 200 marines - withdrew.
  • 1979: Reagan sent "military advisors" to El Salvador to prop up pro-American govt.
  • Oct 1983: dispatched invasion force to Grenada; military coup had killed the prime minister and broughtMarxists to power.
  • Ousting the insurgents, American troops showed Reagan's determination to assert dominance of U.S. inCaribbean.

TMWK

5. Pg 973 Map: Give 2 examples how the USintervened in the CaribbeanIslands or Central Americain the 1980's.

Reagan Re-elected

  • Reaganwon 1984 election -beat Democrat Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro (Female VP nominee)
  • Foreign policy: dominated Reagan's 2nd term.
  • March 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev became leaderof USSR.
  • Gorbachev maderadical reforms in USSR: announced 2 policies, Glasnost and Perestroika, aimed at changing Soviet society by free speech/some liberty, and reviving Soviet economy by adopting free-market practices.
  • This required USSR to reduce size of military and concentrate aid to citizens.
  • Brought an end to Cold War!!!
  • Dec 1985:Reagan and Gorbachev signed IFN treaty, banning all intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe.
  • May 1988: Both leaders built a "friendship" at summit in Moscow.

Iran-Contra: Sale of Arms to Iran - Money went to Nicaraguan Contras

  • Reagan's Foreign policy problems: 1. continuing captivity of American hostages seized by Muslim extremists in Lebanon2. Grip on power of left-wing Sandinistagovernment in Nicaragua.
  • Money from the payment for arms to the Iranians was secretly given to the contras, who opposed/fought the Sandinista govt; Thisviolatedcongressional ban on military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels (contras).
  • Nov 1986: news of the secret dealings brokeintocontroversy.
  • Reagan claimed he had no idea of illicit activities.Criminal indictmentsbrought against Oliver North, Admiral John Poindexter,Sec of Defense Caspar Weinberger.
  • Iran-Contra affair: cast shadow over Reagan's record in foreign policy, covering president's achievements in building a new relationship with USSR.

Reagan's Economic Legacy

  • Reagan vowed to stimulate American economy by rollingback govt regulations, lowering taxes,balancing the budget.
  • Supply-side economic theory: promised lower taxes would increase govt revenue because it would stimulate the economy.
  • Combination of tax reduction and huge increase in military spending caused $200 billion in annual deficits.
  • Large deficitof Reagan years =economic failure. Reagan's highest political goal:containment of the welfare state.
  • Early 1990s:median household incomedeclined.

Religious Right (Conservatives)

  • 1979:Reverend Jerry Falwell founded a political organization called Moral Majority.
  • Preached with great success AGAINSTsexual permissiveness, abortion, feminism, spread of gay rights.
  • Collected millions of $$ and members.
  • Moral Majority became an aggressive political advocate of conservative causes.

Conservatism in Court

  • Supreme Crt became Reagan's instrument in "cultural wars."
  • Reagan appointed 3 conservativeJustices -Sandra Day O'Connor, 1st womanasSupreme Crt Justice. Reaganism rejected 2 liberal policies:affirmative action and abortion.
  • Affirmative Action - 2 cases in 1989 (Ward's Cove Packing v. Antonia and Martin v. Wilks), Crt made it more difficult to prove that an employer practiced racial discrimination in hiring.
  • Abortion - Roe v. Wade (1973), Crt prohibited states from making laws that interfered with woman's right to abortion during early months of pregnancy.Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989), Supreme Crt approved Missouri law that imposed restrictions on abortion, so a state could legislate in an area in which Roe had previously forbidden them to legislate.
  • 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey: Crt ruled states could restrict access to abortion as long they didn't place an "undue burden" on the woman.

1988 Election

  • Republican candidate George Bush (wins).
  • Democrat candidate:Michael Dukakis.

(Black candidate Jesse Jackson: hoped for support of minorities and disadvantaged, but not chosen as Democrat candidate)

Ending ofCold War

  • 1989: thousands of pro-democracy student demonstrators protested in Tiananmen Squarein China.
  • June '89: China's rulers crushed the demonstrators -Tanks/gunnerskilled hundreds of protestors.World condemns the bloody suppression.
  • Early 1989:Solidarity (workers) movement in Polandtoppled the communist regime.
  • Communismcollapsed in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, E. Germany, Romania.
  • Dec 1989: Berlin Wallcame down, and the 2 Germanies reunited Oct 1990.
  • Aug 1991: militarycoup attempted to preserve communist system - tried to dislodge Gorbachev from power.
  • Supported byBoris Yelstin,Gorbachev foiled the coup.
  • Dec 1991:Gorbachevresigned as Soviet pres.
  • USSR dissolved into component parts:15 republics loosely confederated in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); Russiamost powerful state and Yelstin becomesleader.
  • Demise of USSR=FINIISH of Cold War.

Persian Gulf Crisis

  • Aug 1990:Iraqi leader Saddam HusseininvadedKuwait, seeking oil.
  • UN Security Council demanded immediate withdrawal of Iraq's troops.
  • Hussein refused to withdraw, soUSledmassive international military deployment, sending 539,000 troops toPersian Gulf.

"OperationDesert Storm"

  • Jan 1991: U.S. and U.N. launched37-day air waragainst Iraq.
  • Allied commander, Am Gen Norman Schwarzkopf, planned to soften Iraqis with relentless bombing, then send in ground troops.
  • Feb 23, the land war, "Operation Desert Storm," began.Lasted only 4 days - Saddam Hussein forced to sign a cease-fire Feb 27.
  • War had failed to dislodge Saddam Hussein from power.

Bush on the Home Front

  • 1990: Pres Bush signed Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - prohibiting discrimination against citizens with physical or mental disabilities.
  • 1992: signed water projects bill that reformed the distribution ofsubsidized federal water in the West.
  • 1990: Department of Education challenged the legality of college scholarships targeted for racial minorities.
  • 1991: Bush nominated conservative African AmericanClarence Thomasto Supreme Crt.
  • Thomas's nomination approved by Senate despite accusations from Anita Hill that Thomas had sexually harassed her.
  • 1992: unemployment rate exceeded 7%, and federal budget deficit continued to grow.

Bill Clinton: 1st Baby-Boomer President

1992 Election:Democrat candidateBill Clinton and Al Gore, Jr.as VP.Tried a new approach - promoting growth, strong defense, and anticrime policies, while campaigning to stimulate the economy.

Republican Candidate Bush: proposed "family values"

  • 3rd party candidateRoss Perot
  • Clintonwon.
  • Democrats gained control of both the House and Senate.
  • Pres Clinton placedminorities and more women in Congress and in his pres cabinet, including 1st female attorney general, Janet Reno, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Supreme Crt.

False Start for Reform

  • Clinton called for accepting homosexuals in armed forces, but he had to settle for "don't ask, don't tell" policy that unofficiallyaccepted gays and lesbians.
  • Clinton appointed wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to change the health and medical care system.
  • Health Plan revealed in Oct 1993, buthighly criticized.
  • 1993:Clinton passed Brady Bill =gun-control law named after James Brady (wounded in Pres Reagan's attempted assassination.)
  • 1996:Clintonshrunk the federaldeficit to its lowest levels in 10 years.
  • July 1994:Clinton convinced Congress to pass$30 billion anti-crime bill.
  • Feb 1993: radical Muslim group bombed theWorld Trade Center in NY - killed 6 people.
  • April 1993: a fiery standoff at Waco, Texas between the govt andBranch Davidian cult; ended in a huge fire that killed 82 people.
  • April 1995:Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma - killed 169 ppl.
  • Through all these events, few Americans trusted the govt.

Politics of Distrust

  • 1994Newt Gingrich led Republicans on anattack of Clinton's liberal failures with a conservative "Contract with America."
  • Republicans won 8 more seats in Senate and 53 more seats in the House.
  • Gingrich became new Speaker of the House.
  • Republicans went too far: imposing federal laws that put new obligations on state and local governmentswithout providing new revenues.
  • Clinton tried to fight back. American public grew tired of Republican conservatism; Gingrich's suggestion of sending children of welfare families to orphanages, and 1995 shut down of Congress due to a lack of a sufficient budget package aided to this public disliking.
  • 1996 Election:Clinton beat Republican Bob Dole.Ross Perot, the third party candidate, again finished third.

Problems Abroad

  • Clinton sent troops toSomalia, but eventually withdrew them.
  • He got involved with conflicts in N. Ireland, but no positive effect.
  • Clinton denounced China's abuses of human rights and threatened to punish China.But, as pres, Clintonfelttrade with Chinatoo important to "waste" over human rights.
  • Clinton committed Am. troops to NATO to keep peace in the former Yugoslavia - 20,000 troops, to return Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in Haiti.
  • He fully supported the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - made free-trade zonesurrounding Mexico, Canada, U.S.
  • Helped to form World Trade Organization, the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
  • 1995: Provided $20 billion to Mexico to help its economy.
  • 1993Clinton presided over reconciliation meeting between Israel's Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Yasir Arafat at White House. Two years later Rabin assassinated, ending hopes for peace inMiddle East.

Sea of Troubles

  • End of the Cold War left U.S. probing for a diplomatic formula to replace anti-Communism, revealing misconduct by the CIA and FBI.
  • Political reporter Joe Klein wrote Primary Colors, mirroring some of Clinton's personal life/womanizing.Clinton ran into trouble with his failed real estate investment in the Whitewater Land Corporation.
  • 1993, White House councilman, Vincent Foster, Jr. apparently committed suicide, perhaps overstressed at having to (possibly immorally) manage Clinton's legal and financial affairs.
  • Clinton began 2nd term, the 1st by a Democratic pres since FDR - there were Republican majorities in both houses of Congress.