The University of Texas at Arlington Instructor: Dr. Allen Repko

HIST 1312: American History: 1865-Present______

THE REAGAN ERA, 1981-1989

#22

I. REAGAN’S CHARACTER & CONVICTIONS

A. HIS QUALITIES OF CHARACTER

B. HIS CORE CONVICTIONS

II. POLICIES & PRIORITIES: THE IDEOLOGICAL CORE OF REAGANISM

A. THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

1. Reasons for Reagan’s economic focus: ______

2. “The Black Book” laid out the fundamental goals of the Reagan presidency:

a. Restore a sense of ______.

b. Convey a sense of ______.

B. THE ROAD TO RECOVERY: “REAGONOMICS 101”:

#1 ______

#2 ______

#3 ______

Believed military strength symbolized the power of a nation. “National defense is not

a threat to peace; it is the guarantee of peace with freedom.”

III. REAGAN’S FOREIGN POLICY: THE LEBANON INTERVENTION AND THE “EVIL EMPIRE”

A. U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN LEBANON WAS THE GREATEST FOREIGN

POLICY DISASTER OF THE REAGAN PRESIDENCY & AMERICA’S

FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH ISLAMIC RADICALISM

1. Two assumptions/goals underlay our policy toward Lebanon and Israel:

a. Contain the Soviet Union; Syria as a client state.

b. Support Israel (U.S. Israeli interests coincided in three ways):

(1) ______

(2) U.S. protection of Israel was ______

(3) Israel a ______

2. Background to U.S. military intervention in Lebanese civil war:

a. April 1981, Syria intervened + conflict resumed between the Palestinian Liberation

Organization (PLO) andIsrael in southern Lebanon. Result: Israel invaded

Lebanon onJune 6, 1982.

(1) Purpose: to drive the PLO back from Israel’s northern border.

(2) As Israel moved north, Syria launched an air strike. Israel destroys Syria’s air

force. Simultaneously Sharon bombards the PLO camps in West Beirut.

b. Reagan then committed the U.S. to participate in an international peacekeeping

force in Lebanon that would achieve these objectives. The Marines arrived in

Lebanon on August 25, 1983.

3. Reagan’s Lebanon policy unraveled for three reasons:

#1 Syria: ______

#2 Hezbolah: ______.

#3 The Marines: had no clearly defined mission.

4. Reagan’s decision to stay and the bombing of October 23:

5. Assessment of Reagan’s Lebanon policy:______

______.

B. CONCERNING THE SOVIET UNION, REAGAN HAD CLEARER GOALS

1. Reagan’s views concerning how to handle the Soviet Union:

a. ______

b. Abhorred communism. Believed “Communist systems were antithetical to the will

of God and the highest aspirations of humanity; believed Soviets couldn’t compete

successfully in any marketplace.”

c. ______

d. ______. Believed in the biblical prophecy of

Armageddon. Since Armageddon was coming, Reagan thought it prudent to protect

people from its consequences.

e. ______

f. Soviet Union = an “evil empire.”

2. Reagan’s goals and tactics:

a. Goals: peace, arms limitations, actual reductions in the size of nuclear arsenals.

World without nuclear weapons, without walls and Iron Curtains.

b. Tactics:

(1) ______. In March 1983 he characterized the Soviet Union as an

“evil empire” and the “focus of evil in the modern world.”

(2) Rejected Carter’s policy of unilateral restraint and accommodation because it

had not worked.

(3) ______.

c. Result:Fall of 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed on modest arms reduction, the

elimination of short range missiles in Europe. This was the first time the twosides

actually agreed to reduce their missiles and strike forces.

IV. AN ASSESSMENT

A. DOMESTIC ACHIEVEMENTS

1. Gross national product almost doubled.

2. Per capita disposable income, highest for whites but higher too for blacks and

Hispanics, had increased from $9,722 to $11,326.

3. The stock market, recovering from the crash of 1987, continued to soar, ushering in the

longest bull market in American history (came to an end with the crash of March/April

1999). The Dow stood at 2235.36 on the day Reagan left office.

4. THE MOST NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE REAGAN YEARS WAS

THE LONG-TERM REDUCTION OF INFLATION.

5. The steady growth of government had had begun during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s

New Deal had continued unabated during Reagan’s presidency.

B. FOREIGN POLICY ACHIEVEMENTS

1. When Reagan left office in January 1989, the world was much different from what it

was when he had moved into the White House eight years earlier:

a. Communism was in retreat worldwide.

b. International terrorism was on the decline.

c. In the Middle East, the Iran-Iraq War had ended, but Palestinian youths were forcing

the Israeli armed forces to act in a brutal manner.

d. And around the world, peace had broken out. “Not in half a century had a president

handed over to his successor a foreign policy in better shape.

2. Reagan’s arms buildup and CIA operations in Afghanistan bankrupted the Soviet

Union.

3/5/03: AFR