Reagan and HW Bush Presidencies

the New Right

made up of neo-conservatives, Protestants, fundamentalists, and evangelicals.

Reagan’s campaign speeches

an optimistic vision of a rejuvenated America, his opposition to domestic social spending, high taxes, support for a stronger national defense, economic growth, and increased personal consumption.

California

while Reagan was campaigning, this state saw a taxpayer revolt sweeping through politics and provided a model for Reagan’s attack on “tax-and-spend” policy-making at the federal level. The situation was ironic because this tax revolt happened in response to tax increases put in place when Reagan was the state’s governor

priorities of Reagan and his aides

cutting federal taxes, reorienting the national government’s relationship to economic matters, and boosting national security capabilities.

initial response to Reaganomics

worst economic downturn since great depression. His approval ratings went way down.

later response to Reaganomics

rebound, see economic growth (never during Carter), inflation drops

critics of Reaganomics

trickle down is unfair, Swiss cheese, failed to match tax cuts to budget cuts (deficit),

new prosperity from Reaganomics

# African Americans making a solid middle class income went up, more Americans and minorities started going to college.

conservative

the type of judges Reagan appointed during his presidency

Sandra Day O’Connor

appointed by Reagan, she was the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court

Geraldine Ferraro

she was the first woman to run for president or vice president on a major party ticket with Walter Mondale.

conservatives and Reagan’s second term

felt Reagan’s next term would bring economic growth because conservatives would bring economic prosperity through the curtailment of governmental power and support for traditional socio-cultural values.

neoconservative members of the New Right

anticommunist liberals of the 50s and 60s, televangelists, and fundamentalists.

supply side economics

Reagan's economic policy that would implement tax cuts for the wealthy in hopes that their future investments would "trickle down" into the pockets of the lower class.

air traffic controller strike

Reagan stopped this by firing all involved in walking off their jobs and replacing them with military personnel.

The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act

stated that the federal government must have a balanced budget by 1991.

The Family Support Act

would require states to inaugurate work training programs and move people off of welfare.

the SDI

the Strategic Defense Initiative in which Reagan chose many well-respected scientists to research and develop a satellite defense system that would shoot nuclear missiles out of the sky.

The Iran-Contra Scandal

was when Reagan sold arms to Islamic militants to release hostages. He took the money and gave it to Contras in Nicaragua.

glasnost

freedom of expression, first time since beginning of soviet union, people can voice opposition and not face death or being sent to Siberia.

perestroika

economic restructuring, meant citizens could now own private property again instead of government owning everything

ineffectual

many people believed Carter was an ____________ president and they argued that life was just as bad when he arrived to when he left office

neo-conservatives

hardcore anticommunist liberals of 50s and 60s and televangelists and fundamentalists

anticommunist liberals

democrats that left because the Democratic party had changed, no focus on foreign policy, only social activism

religion

the marriage between this and conservativism was formed during the 1980s

televangelists

evangelicals with TV shows that were popular in the 80s and spoke to very big audiences and preach to. They used their platform to campaign for Republican campaign and Reagan owes his campaign to them.

abortion and Roe v. Wade

pushed religious groups to mobilize; redefinition of relationship between political and religious action

Jerry Falwell

popular televangelist; raised a lot of money for the conservative movement and Reagan and campaigned for the president in the 80s. Reagan owes his presidency to him.

Reagan Revolution

funny, likable, charming, witty man. credit to actor background, and even Democrats couldn’t hate him.

trickle-down theory

nickname for supply side economics; instituting massive tax cuts for wealthy and corporations; take money and invest in businesses/banks → creates more jobs → average Americans take up jobs and earn money to buy more stuff to boost economy; money trickles down to lower socio-economic groups

Reaganomics

tax cuts, budget cuts (to welfare programs), increase in military spending

deregulation of businesses and banks

led by Republicans, this was when the strict guidelines and rules since the New Deal were loosened up, more freedom of choice

1981 assassination attempt

John Hinckley Jr. shot Reagan because John believed he was in love with actress Jodie Foster and convinced himself he would impress Jodie by killing the president.

air traffic controller strike

Reagan fired everyone who went on strike and replaced them with military personnel. These endangered the safety of Americans, so Reagan was applauded for this

budget deficit

increased under Reaganomics (didn’t match tax cuts with budget cuts and increasing military spending; cut welfare programs but increased military spending)

widened

the wealth gap _________: a small population with most of the money, a larger population with little money.

conservative courts

the Supreme Court under Reagan; there were two vacancies

Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy

conservative judges Reagan put in the Supreme Court, and there decisions rolled back on abortion and civil rights

HW Bush

running partner of Reagan for his second term

Walter Mondale

Democratic challenger for Reagan’s second term

1984 election

Democrats underestimated how well liked Reagan was, so he won in a huge landslide against Mondale

Black Monday

October 19, 1987; the largest drop in stock market since the Great Depression

the Challenger Explosion

January 1986 -- NASA was trying to re-popularize space exploration, so they held a contest where an average citizen could win and go up to space. A teacher won and trained with them. On live TV, the spacecraft launched from the site and shortly after exploded, killing all on board.

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act

established that federal government must have balanced budget by 1991

Family Support Act

required states to provide work-training programs to people on welfare; goal: get people off welfare and get a job

Sandra Day O’Connor

very first female Supreme Court Justice

spending war

Reagan engaged the USSR in this so they would eventually bankrupt themselves; accomplished through the SDI

Strategic Defense Initiative

research program where Reagan wanted scientists to see if we could use satellites in space to launch missiles - tech was not available at the time, so this was used to get the USSR to spend money to develop the impossible.

Star Wars

nickname for the SDI because American people didn’t love that a lot of money was dumped into a program towards something unattainable and thought it was a joke

Reagan Doctrine

the United States will intervene with communist threats anywhere in the world, including Lebanon, Grenada, and Nicaragua

Iran Contra Scandal

Reagan administration sold arms to Islamic militants/terrorists to release hostages and for money; bad look-- took the money and gave to the contras in Nicaragua

contras

new group in Nicaragua trying to oust the Sandinistas

Teflon Reagan

Reagan never took any of the heat for government mistakes, so he was nicknamed this

Oliver North

National Security Council member who took full blame/punishment for the Iran Contra Scandal -- Reagan got no punishment because he claimed he had no recollection talking with North or others about the deal.

Mikhail Gorbachev

last leader of the USSR

glasnost and perestroika

communism’s collapse is due to these two Soviet policies because Russians kept pushing for more freedoms, bringing an end to the Cold War and the USSR

December 1987

US and USSR sign a limitation agreement on the number of intermediate range missiles

satellite nations

in 1988, these started to declare their independence from the Soviet Union, holding free elections and going towards democratic government. The fall of the once big empire begins.

Supply Side Economics

Reagan’s economic policy that would implement tax cuts for the wealthy in hopes their future investments would “trickle down” into the pockets of the lower class

air traffic controllers

a strike amongst this group led Reagan to fire all involved in walking off their jobs and replace them with military personnel

spending war

Reagan wanted to engage the USSR in this in order to bankrupt them

perestroika

Soviet policy that literally meant “restructuring” -- restructured the Soviet economy and allowed for the reintroduction of private property

California

Reagan was elected the governor of this state prior to becoming US president

George HW Bush

Reagan’s VP and future president

Sandra Day O’Connor

the first female Supreme Court justice; appointed by Reagan

Sandinistas

Reagan opposed this group’s control in Nicaragua due to their Marxist government and support received from Cuba

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act

this stated that the federal government must have a balanced budget by 1991

Roe v. Wade

this government decision led to the increased involvement of the “Religious Right”

Oliver North

member of the National Security Council who took the fall for the Iran-Contra Scandal

Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia

Reagan appointed a number of conservative justices to the Supreme Court including these two men

Strategic Defense Initiative

Reagan chose many well-respected scientists to research and develop a satellite defense system that would shoot nuclear missiles out of the sky

Geraldine Ferraro

the first woman to appear on a major party’s presidential ticket; VP running mate of Walter Mondale

glasnost

Soviet policy that literally meant “openness” -- allowed for more personal freedom in the USSR

Afghanistan

the USSR’s Vietnam

New Right

this political group included conservative businessmen, neo-conservatives, fundamentalists, and evangelical Christians

Iran

Reagan’s administration illegally sold weapons to Islamic militants in this nation in exchange for money and hostages

Family Support Act

requires states to inaugurate work training programs and move people off of welfare

contras

Reagan’s administration would give money obtained from arms sales to Islamic militants to this group in Nicaragua

budget deficit

due to Reagan’s increased military spending, this increased dramatically throughout his presidency

Gorbachev

the last leader of the USSR

Star Wars

critic’s name for Reagan’s “impossible” SDI

election of 1988

George Herbert Walker Bush runs for himself against Michael Dukakis, the Democratic challenger

associated

Bush always wanted to be ____________ with the popular and well liked Ronald Reagan

negative campaign

like attack ads, Dukakis and Bush used this and turned a lot of Americans off through their negativity

Read My Lips, No New Taxes

Bush’s biggest mistake and the campaign slogan for his huge promise. He was promising not to raise taxes, but because he eventually did and broke his promise, there was no way he’d win reelection

Democrats

controlled Congress during Bush’s presidency, so he was butting heads with them a lot

slows

economic growth at the end of Reagan’s presidency ______, and the budget deficit increases. Bush raised taxes, but there was no success

foreign policy

Bush’s strong suit; would have to be his ticket to win reelection. People couldn’t get over his disjointed domestic policy

official collapse of the Soviet Union

the crumble that began during Reagan’s presidency leads to this

bankrupt

USSR can no longer aid Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia because they were ____________ and can no longer control satellite nations through military and economic aid.

power vacuum

Satellite countries quickly collapse away from communism creating his in Europe after having been controlled for so long and not anymore creates chaos. Now bad people come in and try to take power. Eastern European countries still very unstable.

China

the last big communist nation

Tiananmen Square

China wants to make sure they keep their people under their thumb, and here, many college age Chinese students began Democratic protests and the Chinese government didn’t want people to assume they’d have a future like Poland or Hungary. They would not tolerate any Democratic nonsense and rolled in tanks and slaughtered Democratic protesters (only one picture in existence of the massacre)

Berlin Wall

in 1989, this officially falls, reuniting East and West Germany

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

become independent in 1990 and things and collapsing all around the Soviet Union

Russia again

Gorbachev was removed from power and the USSR officially collapsed in 1991; they were ________________ with a new government formed

Boris Yeltsin

the first president of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia)

START I and START II

in order to establish solid relationship between the US and Russia, Bush signs two treaties with Yeltsin. the first continues SALT, drastically reduced the number of nuclear missiles both nations could possess; the second reduced the number even further, also promised American economic aid to Russia, who was not recovering from bankruptcy of Afghanistan and spending war

Central America

fall of USSR weakened leftist insurgencies here because the USSR tried to aid any communist government anywhere in the world, but now, with the powerhouse gone, these communist governments elsewhere were left with no support.

Operation Just Cause

The US takes advantage of the weaken leftists in Central America and Bush initiates this, which focused on Panama, who was facing communist threats, and removed the person in power with communist leaning and put a pro-American in power