Period 9: 1980-Present

9.2 Reagan and Conservatism

Ronald Reagan and the Election of 1980

  • Attacked Democrats for expanding gov’t and undermining U.S. prestige abroad

  • Nearly 91% of the electoral vote

  • Republicans gained more seats in the House + had a majority in the Senate

The Reagan Revolution

  • Survived assassination attempt with humor and charm → more popular

  • Aimed to: lower taxes, reduce gov’t spending on welfare, & build up US armed forces

Reaganomics

  • Supply-side economics: tax cuts + government spending → increase investment, which would increase production, jobs, and prosperity

    • Contrasted Keynesian economics + critics referred to it as “trickle-down economics”

  • Economic Recovery Act of 1981: 25% decrease in personal income tax over 3 years

  • Conservative S. Democrats + Republicans cut more than $40 billion from domestic programs

    • Increased military spending + no cuts in Medicare & Social Security

  • Reduced federal regulation on business + industry

    • e.g.) Reduced regulations on auto emissions + safety

  • Tough stand against unions; decertified PATCO

    • Many businesses hired striker replacements → decline in union membership

  • 1982 recession reduced inflation & the economy rebounded by 1983

    • Widened income gap b/t rich and poor

Social issues

  • Appointed conservative justices to Supreme Court

  • Scaled back affirmative action + limited Roe v. Wade

Budget and Trade Deficits

  • Tax cuts + increased military spending → larger federal deficits & national debt nearly tripled

  • Tax cuts seemed to increase consumption & the U.S. became a debtor nation in 1985

  • Congress passed several bills to increase taxes, which reduced deficit

Impact of President Reagan

  • Reduced economic restrictions, placed more money into the hands of investors, & reduced growth of New Deal/Great Society welfare state

  • Reaganomics made people focus on what gov’t programs to cut and by how much

President George H.W. Bush

  • Won 1988 election, but Democratic majorities in the House + Senate

  • $133 billion in new taxes (e.g. top income tax rate increased)

  • 1990 recession & prosperity under Reagan began to end as unemployment increased

  • Americans with Disabilities Act: prohibited discrimination against citizens with mental and physical disabilities

  • Budget issues + declining gov’t trust → difficult to carry on Reagan’s cut on federal programs

Political Polarization

  • Overall growing partisan divide

  • Democrats typically controlled the House + Senate from WW2-1980s

    • Southern conservatives → Republicans gave the edge to Republicans (esp. in electoral college)

  • District of Columbia v. Heller: 2nd amendment provides an individual the right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia

  • More women in the labor force → lack pay equity + face gender discrimination (led to #MeToo movement)

  • Emergence of Black Lives Matter movement in 2013 to reform police training + arrest procedures

  • Clinton implemented “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to end LGBTQ+ discrimination in the military

    • 2015: Gay marriage became legal

9.3 The End of the Cold War

Foreign Policy During the Reagan Years

  • Began his presidency with building up the military → more flexible foreign policy by his 2nd term

Renewing the Cold War

  • Strategic Defense Initiative: high-tech system of lasers + particle beams to destroy enemy missiles before reaching U.S. territory — “Star Wars”

  • Reagan supported “friendly” right-wing dictators to keep out communism

    • Supported Nicaragua against a Marxist regime & provided financial aid to El Salvador

    • Settled a coup for a pro-Cuban regime in Grenada — reestablished a pro-U.S. gov’t

  • Iran-Contra Affair: Reagan sold antitank & antiaircraft missiles to Iran to free Americans held hostage in Iran

Lebanon, Israel, and the PLO

  • Israel invaded S. Lebanon to stop PLO fighters from raiding Israel

    • U.S. sent peacekeeping troops

    • Arab squad bombed U.S. embassy in Beirut & drove a bomb-filled truck into U.S. Marines barracks

Improved U.S.-Soviet Relations

  • Gorbachev changed USSR’s communist political + economic system (2 major reforms)

    • Wanted to end arms race; Reagan challenged him “tear down this wall”

  • 3 summit meetings b/t US and USSR: INF agreement (remove + destroy all intermediate-range missiles)

George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War

Persian Gulf War

  • Built a coalition of UN members to pressure Iraq’s dictator to withdraw from Kuwait

  • Desert Storm: 500k+ Americans & military units from other nations defeated the Iraqi army and ended the conflict

The Collapse of Soviet Communism and the Soviet Union

  • Students + workers protested for freedom in China’s Tiananmen Square → Chinese gov’t crushed the protest with tanks & killed hundreds

  • Communist party fell from power through E. Europe → Berlin Wall torn down in 1989

    • Germany was reunited

  • 1991: USSR broke into 15 separate countries

  • Start I: reduce # of nuclear warheads for each side

  • Start II: reduce # of nuclear weapons for each side

Aftermath of the Cold War in Europe

  • EU was established w/ 15 countries in 2002 → grew to 27 in 2007

  • Putin strained relations w/ the US due to conflict with NATO

  • War in ex-Yugoslavia: dictator suppressed protest independence movements

    • Thousands were killed in an “ethnic cleansing”

9.4 A Changing Economy

  • Bill Clinton won 1992 election: focused on economic issues (jobs, education, and health care)

Clinton’s Focus on the Economy

  • Brady Bill: background checks + 5 day waiting period for the purchase of handguns

    • NRA: mobilized its supporters to overturn the bill & defeat politicians who supported it

  • Anti-Crime Bill: $30 billion for more police protection and crime-prevention programs

    • Banned the sale of most assault rifles

  • Reduced federal deficit: spending cuts and tax increases + strong economic growth

  • Congress + Clinton implemented legislation that cut taxes on estates and capital gains and gave tax credits for families with children and for higher education expenses

  • 1999: impeached for lying under oath + abuse of power

Technology and a Changing Economy

  • Major tech (e.g. Internet, computers, etc) + medical innovations (e.g. DNA testing)

  • Low inflation + unemployment rates

  • Globalization: NAFTA (free-trade zone with Canada + Mexico), IMF + World Bank (supervised economic policies of poorer nations w/ debt)

  • G8: world’s largest industrial powers; controlled 2/3 of the world’s wealth

Income and Wealth

  • Concentration of wealth represents inequalities as the top 20% had the majority of America’s wealth

9.5 Migration and Immigration in the 1990s and 2000s

Changing Immigration Policies

  • Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965: gave preference to potential immigrants w/ relatives in the USA & with occupations deemed critical by the Department of Labor

    • High # of Hispanic + Asian immigrants

  • Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986: fair entry process for immigrants, but failed to stop people in search of work from entering the USA without authorization

  • Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996: strengthened U.S. immigration laws & limited immigration

  • DACA (2012): protected undocumented young people brought to the US as children; allowed them to continue education + apply for work permits

Influence of the American South and West

  • Sun Belt was booming: friendly business environment of small government, low taxes, weak labor unions, and low-wage economies

  • Gained more seats in the HOR + more electoral votes

  • Country + western music became more popular

    • Conservative attitudes toward gender issues, and opposition to regulations on gun ownership spread

  • Fastest-growing regions of the United States in the 1990s

American Society in 2000

  • Falling birth rate + increase in life expectancy → aging population

  • Growth of single parent families