Mr. McCormackUS History IIChapter 26 Essentials Study Guide
Although the 1980 election appeared to mark a sudden shift in American politics, the roots of change lay deep in the past. Since at least the 1960s, Americans began to believe that the government had grown too large and lost touch with the needs of average people. Ronald Reagan’s own life demonstrated that evolution. He was originally a Democrat who admired Franklin Roosevelt, but after WWII he favored the Republicans’ policies toward communism. He was an actor and became a spokesman for Barry Goldwater in his failed 1964 presidential campaign. While many Republicans considered that loss a death-blow to conservative ideas, Reagan believed that conservative ideas would prove more popular if explained more effectively.
A new conservative coalition, dubbed the “New Right,” emerged in the 1970s. It consisted of small-government, tax-cutting economic conservatives (the traditional core of the Republican Party), anti-communist, foreign policy hawks, and social conservatives (who wanted to restore traditional American values and Christian morality). Evangelical Christians, represented by the Reverend Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, had previously split between the two major parties (Carter himself was a born-again Baptist), but now swung heavily toward the Republicans. The counter-culture of the 1960s, sexual permissiveness of the 1970s, and legalization of abortion in 1973 inspired this conservative backlash.
Reagan won the 1966 election for California governor and was reelected in 1970. To the surprise of many opponents who couldn’t take him seriously, he was an effective and popular governor who proved ready to accept some compromise. This pragmatism upset some Republicans, but enabled him to scale back some government programs and reduce taxes. Reagan wanted to apply the same principles at the national level, so he challenged Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination in 1976 and nearly won. In spite of some concerns about his age, he ran again in 1980.
Reagan campaigned on reducing federal regulations that stifled business activity, cutting taxes, and building America’s military. Carter’s popularity plunged as a result of the continuing economic malaise (“stagflation”) and apparent weaknesses in foreign policy, typified by the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Even with moderate Republican John Anderson running as an independent, Reagan decisively won the election and helped Republicans take control of the Senate for the first time since the 1950s.
Reagan managed to pass all three of his major proposals, though his popularity dipped at first because of a recession early in his term. Reagan was less successful in convincing the Democratic Congress to cut federal spending, so spending continued to increase overall and the deficits continued to get larger. He continued the theme of “New Federalism” because he wanted the states and local governments to have more responsibility. Reagan also took a very strong stand against the Air Traffic Controller’s Union when its strike disrupted travel. Many doubted that Reagan’s “supply side economics” would work, but some doubters changed their minds when the economy suddenly started growing quickly and inflation fell. Reagan also won a lot of support for his humor and optimism under all conditions, even when an assassin’s bullet nearly took his life in 1981. He was reelected in a landslide in 1984 over former Vice President Walter Mondale and his running mate, Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated by a major party for such a high post.
Reagan took a tough stance against the Soviet Union. He announced plans for a space-based anti-ballistic missile shield known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (or “Star Wars”). Had this shield worked it would have completed changed the Cold War calculus of deterrence and Mutually Assured Destruction. As the Soviets poured more of their limited resources into efforts to keep up with America technologically, many historians credit this initiative with hastening the collapse of the Soviet Union. Relations with the Soviets improved when Mikhail Gorbachev became premier in 1985. He pursued policies of “glasnost” and “perestroika” to open the country politically and economically.
In foreign affairs, Reagan had a strong ally in Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of Britain. There were many foreign policy challenges, however. Terrorists attacked a barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 Americans who were there to serve as peace-keepers. Libya’s Qaddafi sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans in Germany, causing Reagan to retaliate by bombing that country. Americans supported anti-communist dictators (and some rebels) in the Western Hemisphere, and US forces invaded the small island of Granada to prevent a communist take-over of that country.
Americans celebrated several patriotic milestones in the 1980s. American athletes won an enormous number of medals at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles after the Soviets decided to boycott. The Statue of Liberty celebrated its 100th Anniversary and the Constitution celebrated its 200th. America also went through some crises, however. Farmers suffered after falling exports and lower inflation reduced their prices; many could not cover high-rate loans they’d taken out a few years earlier and lost everything. Foreign competition, especially from Japan, seemed to be taking many manufacturing jobs from Americans. Finally, although the economy was improving, the wealthy enjoyed more of a boost than the working class.
There were many clashes over social/cultural issues. Gay rights began to emerge as a major issue and the AIDS epidemic demanded national attention. There was continuing concern about abortion and the breakdown of the American family. Reagan did take action to prevent federal funding for abortion and also appointed Supreme Court justices (including Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy) less supportive it. He also appointed Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice, and nominated Robert Bork only to see his nomination rejected by the Senate. Many view the Senate rejection of Bork as an ugly chapter in the “politics of personal destruction” saga; Democrats opposed his philosophy and opinions but chose to attack him personally to defeat his nomination.
The worst scandal of the Reagan administration concerned aid to the Contras, rebels fighting against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, which was communist. Members of the administration defied Congress with a secret plan to sell weapons to Iran to continue financing the Contras and convince the Iranians to help secure the release of American hostages being held in Lebanon. Marine Colonel Oliver North took the blame for this illegal operation and Reagan denied any prior knowledge of it.
Reagan left office with a high approval rating. This did not immediately carry over to his chosen successor, Vice President George H. W. Bush. Bush, the son of a senator, war hero, and long-time government employee, lacked Reagan’s charisma. Many conservatives also distrusted him because of his earlier pro-choice opinions and opposition to supply-side economics. During the campaign, however, Bush portrayed his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, as weak on crime. Bush also promised to never raise taxes. He won convincingly, though by a smaller margin than Reagan’s 1984 victory, and Democrats still controlled both houses of Congress.
Bush’s major successes came in the realm of foreign affairs. As a former ambassador to China and director of the CIA, he seemed more comfortable with foreign policy. Bush helped to manage the rapid fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Gorbachev had hoped to reform his country while keeping the communists in power, but events overtook him. A group of communists opposed to his reforms launched a coup in 1991, but it quickly failed. The Soviet Unions 15 republics quickly began to pursue independence. Although they remained in a loose alliance known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, the old order was gone. Boris Yeltsin, the president of Russia, became the leading figure in our former enemy and pursued closer relations with the US.
The anti-communist tide failed in China, however, which cracked down on student-led protests in Beijing. Bush’s decision not to criticize the Chinese was unpopular with human rights activists, but after the massacre, the Chinese did slowly start to open its economy. Political and religious freedoms are still lacking, however.
In 1989, the US undertook a quick invasion of Panama to depose Manuel Noriega, its dictator. Noriega had helped cocaine traffickers and ended up in prison. In 1990, when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded oil-rich Kuwait, the US led a UN-sponsored coalition of nations to defeat him. Bush did not choose to remove him from power, however.
The US had clearly become the world’s sole superpower. Bush’s popularity was extremely high for a time, but people began to turn on him. Liberals disliked his nomination of Clarence Thomas, a conservative African-American, to the Supreme Court. Conservatives couldn’t forgive him for agreeing to raise taxes as part of a deficit reduction plan. The economy, battered by rising gas prices and defense cut-backs, entered a recession and unemployment climbed to 7%. Bush would lose his reelection campaign in a three-way race against Democrat Bill Clinton and Independent Ross Perot.