To what extent were Presidency and US Politics revitalised?

Public attitude at the start of Reagan’s presidency

• Reagan became president after Nixon and Watergate, Ford’s pardon of Nixon and Carter’s awkward management of the presidency

• Reagan’s first few years set the image that people retained of him

Bush

• Bush did not get re-elected for a second term

  • This was despite having a higher average approval rating than Regan (61 to 52)

  • However, Reagan has started with an approval rating of 68 compared to Carter's 28 before the election

• Bush was less pragmatic and flexible

  • He was a poor communicator and less able to charm the public or Congress, or present them with a clear vision of his policies

• He had less support in Congress

  • In his first term, he had 45 Republicans in the Senate (Reagan had 54 in his first term) and 175 Republicans in the House of Representatives (Reagan had 89)

• He promised to continue Reagan's most popular policies, keeping taxes low and defence spending up, but had to give in to the demands of Congress and raised taxes

Clinton

• Bill Clinton had an average approval rating of 55

• He struggled to get legislation passed after his first big healthcare legislation package failed

Presidential involvement in legislation

• Reagan's initial success with Congress was not repeated

  • Some of the legislation he wanted to introduce, urged on by the religious right, was blocked by Congress

  • e.g. laws to cut back on busing children from poorer areas to integrated schools

• Reagan was advised against some legislation

  • e.g. he believed, along with the religious right, that daily prayer should be introduced in schools

  • He was advised it would never get past Congress, so he didn't bring a bill on it

Public image and the Iran-Contra affair 1986

• America supplied arms to Iran to free US hostages

• Used the money from arms sales to support Contra rebels in Nicaragua fighting the existing government

• Done without the agreement of Congress and against policies of neutrality

• Reagan lied - said these things had not been done and then that he hadn’t known about it

• Officials involved destroyed documents and other evidence in an attempted cover-up

• Approval rating fell from 67% to 46%

Republican control

• Control of Congress shifted to and fro, bringing in more political competition

• By 1988, the Democrats had a majority in the House and the Senate, although they lost this in the 1996 elections and the Republicans gained control of both

New Right thinking

• Rejected New Deal assumptions about how involved in society and liberal government should be

• United Republican and Democrat politicians under a conservative banner → enabled him to push through his early legislation

• Split in the public mind and in reactions of politicians - polls showed people thought the welfare system was being exploited but also thought the poor needed more help

• Congress blocked a lot of legislation suggested by Reagan on social issues and on ‘big government’ handover of control e.g. moving funding for road building from state to federal control

Democrat struggle during Reagan’s presidency

• Party was internally divided

• Political approaches seen as outdated

• Jesse Jackson, a civil rights activist and Baptist minister, ran to be chosen as their presidential candidate in 1984. He wasn’t chosen and their candidate lost. The same happened in 1988

Revitalised Democrats

• Formed the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) after their defeat in 1984

• ‘New Democrat’ ideology promoted by the Chairman of the Council in 1990 - Bill Clinton

• Accepted the need for low taxes and low federal intervention

• Stressed need to provide social welfare - abolishing welfare and providing support

• Clinton campaigned on this promise in 1992, offering a ‘New Covenant’

Business in government

• Sponsorship in sport

• Influence in politics through huge campaign contributions

• Candidates with funding bought more air-time on TV, ran slicker, more appealing campaigns, giving them a competitive edge

1984 LA Olympics

• Organised without spending taxpayers’ money

• Used exisiting venues

• Los Angeles Olympic Organising Committee (LAOOC) made a profit of $215 million - more than any other Olympics before or since

• Coca Cola, Samsung and McDonald’s became ‘official’ sponsors of the event, gaining in advertising and concession sales at the sites

Christian right

• More outspoken and involved in political issues e.g. abortion, teen pregnancy, what should be taught in schools

• Expected government legislation on these issues

• Reagan outspoken in his views but advised against actual legislation - made it clear he was expressing personal opinion

Public interest and involvement

• Viewers of televised presidential debates

  • 1960 - 70 million

  • 1970s - 60 million

  • Reagan-Carter debates - 80.6 million

  • 1984 - 67.5 million

  • 1988 - 65.1 million

  • 1992 - 69.9 million

  • 1996 - 36.3 million

Election turnout in 1986

35%