the republican resurgence, 1980-1992

THE REPUBLICAN RESURGENCE, 1980-1992

America: Past and PresentChapter 32

Reagan in Power• Roosevelt coalition continues to splinter• Republican party picks up pieces

The Reagan Victory• Carter’s negatives

• Iranian hostage crisis• economic ills

• Reagan’s positives win the election• warm telegenic personality• optimistic message• draws Jewish, working class vote

• Republicans win majority in the Senate

Cutting Spending and Taxes

• Reagan’s premise: cut spending to encourage private investment

• Reagan cuts over three years• federal spending by more than $40 billion• social services included in cuts • taxes cut by 25%

Limiting the Role of Government

• Environmental regulations relaxed• Attempted cuts in Social Security• Neglect of interest-group opponents

• labor hurt in air traffic control firings• lack of support for civil rights legislation• women ignored in judicial appointments

Reaganomics• Reagan’s reductions in spending and

taxes prompt conflicting expectations• Supply-side economists expect

economic growth• Reagan’s critics expect massive

deficits, economic stagnation

Recession and Recovery

• 1981-1982--unemployment hits 10%• 1983--economic recovery

• rise in consumer spending • prices remain level• worldwide decline in energy prices

The Growing Deficit

• Basis for the Reagan prosperity includes• massive deficit spending • massive inflows of foreign investment

• 1983--federal budget deficit $200 billion• Spending caps on defense, services• 1985--U.S. becomes a debtor nation

U.S. Budget Deficits, 1980-1997

The Rich Grow Richer• Gains of Reaganomics

• inflation reduced to 4%• employment grows after 1982• growth in service sector jobs

• Losses of Reaganomics• high-paying manufacturing jobs decline• increasing social inequality

• wealthy benefit• poor left in poverty• middle class hurt

Share of Aggregate Household Income by Quintiles, 1975-1995

Reagan Affirmed• Perception of improving economy• 1984 election

• Reagan trounces Walter Mondale• Republicans lose seats in Congress

Reagan and the World• Reagan determined to restore

America's international position• Steep increase in military spending• Aggressive foreign policy

Challenging the "Evil Empire"

• Reagan: Soviet Union the "focus of evil in the modern world"

• Unfavorable deals on arms reductions• U.S. response to Russian refusal

• deployment of cruise missiles in Europe• development of anti-missile system

• Russians build up nuclear arsenal

Turmoil in the Middle East

• 1982--Israeli invasion of Lebanon• International response

• U.S., France send troops to maintain order • PLO evacuates Beirut

• 1984--200 U.S. Marines killed in terrorist bombing

• U.S. evacuation of Lebanon

Trouble Spots in the Middle East

Confrontation in Central America

• Intervention against Latin American leftist insurgents

• Covert subversion of Sandinistas • October, 1983--invasion of Grenada

Trouble Spots in Central America and the

Caribbean

Trading Arms for Hostages

• Advanced weapons sold to Iran for influence in freeing American hostages

• November, 1986--Iran-Contra scandal• profit from Iran arms sales to Contras• funding violates Congressional prohibition• Reagan escapes impeachment

Reagan the Peacemaker

• 1985--Mikhail Gorbachev assumes power in Russia

• 1985-88--Reagan-Gorbachev summits• 1987--destroy intermediate range missiles• 1988--Afghanistan evacuated

• Foreign policy triumphs restore Reagan’s popularity

Social Dilemmas• AIDS epidemic • Drug abuse

The AIDS Epidemic• 1981--AIDS first detected

• apparent confinement to homosexual men results in early public inaction

• spread to drug users, recipients of blood transfusions prompts panic

• Reagan Administration’s response• fund research• little funding for education, prevention• 1987--appointment of AIDS commissioner

The AIDS Epidemic (2)• 1996--500,000 infected

• majority homosexuals, drug users• 15% heterosexual, non-drug abusers

• 1996--AIDS death rate begins dropping • new drugs• safer sexual practices

The War on Drugs• Mid-1980's--crack cocaine introduced

• addiction spread through all classes• exploding crime rate

• Reagan attempts interdiction of supply• Bush, Clinton continue Reagan policy• At the end of the century there seemed

to be no end to the war on drugs

Passing the Torch to Bush

• Republicans hope for major political realignment

• Factors reinforcing trend• 1980s economic boom• promise of the end of the Cold War

The Changing Palace Guard

• 1985--Donald Regan chief of staff• Second-term victories

• tax reform package• appointment of conservatives

• Changes in the Supreme Court• Senate blocks Bork appointment to Court• Bush appointments help turn the Court

more to the right

The Election of 1988• Republican George Bush• Democrat Michael Dukakis• Bush television ads attack Dukakis as

soft on crime, unpatriotic• Bush wins White House• Republicans lose seats in Congress

Bush’s Domestic Agenda

• Problems of 1989• savings and loan industry facing collapse• ballooning federal deficit

• Bush’s deficit reduction• raise taxes• cut military expenditures

• Economic recession increases deficit

The End of the Cold War

• June, 1989--Tiananmen Square• November, 1989--Berlin Wall torn down• 1991-1992--U.S.S.R. dissolved,

Communist Party outlawed in Russian Republic

• Cautious response by Bush

The End of the Cold War

Waging Peace• 1989--U.S. invasion of Panama • August, 1990--Iraq occupies Kuwait • January, 1991--Operation Desert Storm• Outcome of Desert Storm

• February 24--Iraqi force collapses• Bush’s approval hits 90%

Republican Economic Woes

• 1990 budget deal violated Bush’s “no new taxes” pledge

• Also failed to reduce budget deficits• Economic recession prolonged