Period 9: Modern America

Reagan Administration (1981—1989)

  • Iranian Hostage Crisis undermines Carter’s success with Camp David Accrods

  • with a weak eocnomy, Reagan offers neoconservatism

    • laissez-faire economics and interventionist foreign policies

  • Reagan enters office in midst of arecession → Reaganomics

    • supply side economics = tax cuts + deregulation

    • trickle down eocnomics = wealthy drive economy → lower taxes allow them to spend, hire, invest more → benefits “trickle down” to everyone else

  • income taxes on wealthy cut from 70% to 28%

    • plan to offset increase to deficity → $35 billion cut to social programs

  • recession ends in 1982 → 1980s prosperous for upper and upper-middle classes

  • Reagan sees Iranian Hostage Crisis as evidence of American weakness, meaning we are not winning the Cold War

    • in reality, the USSR is weaking

    • Reagan’s rhetoric scares everyone

    • Reagan massively increases military spending → Soviets panick and also increase military spending → second arms race

  • 1983 Reagan’s “Star Wars” program

    • satellites with lasers to vaporize incoming missiles

  • The Day After premieres on ABC; 100 million people watch

    • small town grapples with the effects of nuclear holocaust

    • scares the public to levels unseen since the Cuban Missile Crisis

  • 1984 Reagan responds to panic by asking Soviets for nuclear arms meeting

    • 1986 Reykjavik Summit results in arms-control trearty

The End of History

  • 1989 political scientist Francis Fukuyama publishes “The End of History”

    • argues that with the collapse of communism on the horizon, Western liberal (capitalist) democracy wins the Cold War

  • POTUS George HW Bush (1898-1993) reaches out to Eastern bloc to ease transition to liberal democracy

    • Bush pushes for US to lead new world order of liberal democracies

  • 1991 Gulf War = first stress test

    • Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein annexes Kuwait

    • Bush rallies international community ot liberate Kuqait, defend sovereignty, and make an example of Iraq

    • ground invasion lasts >100 hours before Saddam withdraws

  • despite successful war and high approval ratings, Bush loses 1992 election to AR Democratic governor Bill Clinton because:

    1. fails to keep promise of no new taxes

    2. Ross Perot splits GOP vote

    3. three terms of one party is enough for the public

    4. generation power shift to Boomers

  • democrats lose House in 1994 midterms

  • New Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) organizes Contract with America, a list of conservative goal:

    1. abortion restrictions

    2. tougher criminal sentences

    3. DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act)

    4. balanced budget