Reagan

1. The Conservative Movement
Builds
 Entitlement programs provide guaranteed benefits to
specific groups
 High cost of programs, stories of fraud upset taxpayers
 Many skeptic of civil rights rulings like busing over
long distances

2. The New Right
 New Right - collection
of grass-roots groups
promoting single issues
 Affirmative action -
special consideration for
women, minorities
 many say it’s reverse
discrimination,
favoring one group over
others

3. The Conservative Coalition
 Business, religious, other groups form conservative
coalition
 Conservative periodicals, think tanks discuss, develop
policies
 Goals are small government, family values, patriotism,
business

4. The Moral
Majority
 1970s religious revival
uses TV, radio; strong
among fundamentalists
 Jerry Falwell’s Moral
Majority - Christians for
traditional morals
Jerry Falwell of the
Moral Majority

5. Conservative Victories in 1984
and 1988
 The Reagan Coalition
 Reagan forges large coalition of diverse groups
 business people, Southerners, Westerners, Reagan
Democrats

6. Conservative Policies Under
Reagan and Bush
 Presidents Reagan and Bush pursue a conservative
agenda that includes tax cuts, budget cuts, and
increased defense spending.

7. Early Years
 Reagan, a former movie star, was twice elected
governor of California.
 Election of 1980 – Reagan won a landslide victory over
Pres. Jimmy Carter (Dem). He had a total of 489
electoral votes to 49 for Carter.

8. Reagan’s Landslide over Carter in the Election of 1980

9. Reagan’s Qualifications
 Ronald Reagan wins 1980 Republican nomination
 George H. W. Bush is running mate
 Reagan served 2 terms as governor of California

10. The 1980 Presidential Election
 Reagan runs on conservative issues, weak economy,
Iran crisis
 Called Great Communicator: can simplify issues, give
clear answers
 Gets 51% popular vote, 44 states in electoral race,
Senate majority

11. “Reaganomics” Takes Over
 Reaganomics - Reagan’s Economic Policies
 Reagan encourages private investment by cutting
federal government
 Reagan institutes budget cuts, tax cuts, increased
defense spending
 Maintains entitlement programs that benefit middle
class
 Cuts programs that benefit poor, urban population

12. Reaganomics included cuts programs that benefit poor, urban population

13. Tax Cuts
 Supply-side economics holds
that lower taxes result in:
 investment, greater
productivity, more supply,
lower prices
 Congress decreases taxes by
25% over 3 years

14. Increased Defense Spending
 Defense Department budget
almost doubles; offsets cuts in
social programs
 Reagan asks scientists for
Strategic Defense Initiative
 anti-missile defense system

15. The National Debt Climbs
 Spending outstrips revenues;
new 1982 taxes do not balance
budget
 National debt almost doubles
by end of Reagan’s first term

16. Deregulating the Economy
 Reagan reduces government by
deregulation - less industry regulation
 increases competition, results in lower
prices
 Cuts budget of Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
 fights pollution, conserves natural
resources
 Interior Department permits more oil
drilling, lumbering, coal mining
 sells millions of acres of public lands

17. Recession and Recovery
 July 1981 - November 1982, worst recession since Great
Depression
 Early 1983 consumer spending fuels economic upturn:
 more consumer confidence, decrease in inflation,
unemployment
 1987, market crashes, then recovers, continues up

19. The 1984 Presidential Election
 Democrat Walter Mondale chooses Geraldine Ferraro
as running mate
 first woman on major party’s presidential ticket
 Reagan, Bush win by landslide

20. Election of
1984
 During the campaign,
Reagan stressed the
nation’s econ. growth,
the decline in
unemployment, and
the low inflation rate.

21. Economics Plan
 Congress approved his plan to cut taxes while reducing
welfare and unemployment programs.
 Despite spending cuts, the fed. gov’t still spent more $
than it collected. Budget deficit for 1983 was almost
$200 billion.
 The lowering of tax rates combined with a thriving
economy helped reduce the fed. Deficit to 148 billion.
 A change was made in the Social Security Act raising
the retirement age above 65.

22. Defense
 Reagan
supported the
Strategic Defense
Initiative (SDI), a
research program
designed to
develop a space-
based missile
defense system.
Press called the
program “Star
Wars”.

23. Defense Spending
 Despite opposition, Reagan was able to get Congress to
pass his costly defense program. The plan called for a
large build-up of missiles, bombers, and other
weapons that the Pres. Insisted were needed to meet
any threat from the Soviet Union.

24. Foreign Affairs
 U.S. and U.S.S.R. held talks to reduce nuclear arms,
but failed to reach an agreement. Reagan then sent
missiles to U.S. allies in W. Eur., raising the tensions
between the Americans and Soviets.
Ronald Reagan speaking in
front of the Brandenburg
Gate and the Berlin Wall on
June 12, 1987.

25. Foreign Affairs
 Several meetings were held
with new Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev. U.S.
and Soviets agreed to
educational, scientific, and
cultural exchanges. Reagan
and Gorbachev signed a
treaty to eliminate certain
ground-launched nuclear
missiles.
Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald
Reagan

26. Supreme Court Appointments
 Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor first woman
justice of the nation’s highest court.
Ronald Reagan and
Sandra Day O’Connor

27. Terrorist Attack
 Reagan sent several U.S. Marine Corp. units to
Lebanon to try to reduce the level of fighting b/w
troops of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Org.
(PLO). A suicide truck bomber destroyed a Marine
headquarters bldg. killing 214 Americans.

28. A smoke cloud rises
from the rubble of
the bombed barracks
at Beirut
International
Airport.

29. Terrorist Attack
 Terrorists bombed a German nightclub, killing a U.S.
serviceman and injuring others. U.S. said agents from
Libya were involved. Reagan ordered air strikes
against military and terrorist bases in the Libyan cities
of Tripoli and Benghazi.
1986 terrorists bombed a
German nightclub,
killing a U.S. serviceman

30. Fighting Communism
 In the early 1980s, Cuba and the Soviet Union – 2
Communist nations –
 Were giving war materials to the gov’t of Nicaragua and
rebels in El Salvador.
 The U.S. responded by sending advisers and arms to
the rebels in Nicaragua and the gov’t of El Salvador.

31. Middle East
 Iran laid mines in the Persian Gulf to disrupt shipping
and fired on American ships and helicopters.
 Pres. ordered military responses and cut of trade with
Iran
 A warplane from Iraq fired two missiles that struck an
American warship patrolling the Persian Gulf.
 37 crew members were killed.
 The Iraqis said the attack was a mistake.

32. Photo of the USS Stark after being hit by Iraqi warplanes in the Persian Gulf

33. Drugs and Alcohol
 First Lady Nancy Reagan
took a special interest in
supporting activities that
called attention to the
problems of drug and
alcohol abuse among young
people.
 The program was called “Just
say no”.

34. Iran-Contra Affair
 Reagan administration secretly
sold weapons to Iran
 Used the profits to help
Nicaraguan rebels.
 It was illegal in U.S. to sell arms
to nations that supported
terrorism.
 The illegal deal was known as
the “Iran-Contra Affair”.
 Led to criticism of Reagan by
Congress but no proof of his
actual involvement.

35. The Iran-Contra Scandal
 1983, terrorists loyal to Iran take Americans hostage in
Lebanon
 Reagan says no negotiating with terrorists; sells arms
for hostages
 Staff divert some profits to Contras; violate Boland
Amendment
 1987, Congressional committees hold joint TV
hearings
 1988, several staffers indicted; 1992, Bush pardons
Reagan officials