From Reagan to Obama

1980-2008

New Conservative Era

Ronald Wilson Reagan

Reagan Revolution• “Reaganomics”- supply-side economic theory• Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981- largest tax

cuts in history ($747b over five years)• Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981 cuts spending

on 200 social/cultural programs (education, environment, health, housing)

• Significant increase in defense spending• Massive deficit spending results (debt triples)• Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (1982)-

largest peacetime tax increase in US history

Domestic Policy

• Appoints conservatives to head EPA, OSHA, Consumer Product Safety Commission- weaken or abolish 100s of rules governing workplace safety, consumer protection

• James Watt as Secretary of Interior• Wall Street, Savings & Loans deregulated• Regulations to reduce air pollution eliminated• Justice Department (William B. Reynolds)

1984

• Reagan economic policies lead to worst recession since 1930s (11% unemployment)

• Economy recovers in time for election• “Morning in America” campaign ads• Reagan’s ability as great communicator,

personal popularity, revived economy overwhelm Mondale/Ferraro ticket

• One of largest landslides in American history

Second Term

• By mid 80s US had moved from world’s largest creditor nation to biggest debtor nation

• Celebration of wealth- richest 1% control 31% of nation’s wealth in 1983; 37% by 1989

• “Yuppies” defined by upscale consumerism• “Greed is Good” attitude/deregulation result

in scandal (Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken)• Homelessness reaches epidemic levels (3m)

Foreign Policy

• Revives Cold War patriotism, champions US interventionism in third world

• Soviet Union as “Evil Empire” • Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), “Star Wars”• US invades Grenada, supports repressive

regime in El Salvador, overthrow in Nicaragua• Iran-Contra scandal (Oliver North)• Has four summits with Gorbachev (1985-88)

AIDS

• 1981 doctors begin to see puzzling new disease, mostly in young gay men (rare cancer and pneumonia)

• Perceived as “gay disease” provokes fear, anger, misconceptions (today leading cause of death for women 15-44 worldwide)

• Reagan admin. ignores growing epidemic (exception: Surgeon General C. Everett Koop)

• Upsurge in organization and political involvement in gay community

ACT-UP

As the 1980s End

• Communism is crumbling• Poor got poorer, middle class made slight

gains, richest do significantly better• Downsizing hits white-collar families hard• 1981- 9% of jobs will not lift family of four out

of poverty, by 1992- 18% of jobs• Middle class Latinos and African Americans

make substantial gains

The End of Liberalism?

• By the end of the 1980s, liberalism had become used as a sort of epithet

• Some accomplishments of liberalism: Social Security, Medicare, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Labor laws protecting children, the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, workplace safety laws, environmental laws (Clean Air Act), Women’s right to vote, G.I. Bill, Pell Grants, student loans, Marshall Plan, food safety laws, National Weather Service, CDC, TVA, universal public education

George Herbert Walker Bush

“A Kinder, Gentler Nation”

• Collapse of Communism• Persian Gulf War• The Economy• 1992 Election

November 9, 1989

Bush Administration

• Berlin Wall falls, Cold War ends, USSR and Eastern Bloc begin to crumble

• Dec. 1989 sends troops into Panama to capture Noriega (formerly on CIA payroll)

• Signs Americans With Disabilities Act, July ‘90• Vetoes Family Medical Leave Act • Persian Gulf War begins after Iraq invades

Kuwait, US fears for Saudi Arabia (2-24-91)

Desert Storm

• Iraq invades Kuwait (8-2-90); sanctions fail• US led airstrikes begin 1-16-91; Invasion 2-24• US loses 184 troops, Iraqis nearly 100,000-

mostly from bombing (civilian toll high)• War fails to dislodge Hussein; Kurds (who

supported US) face violent reprisals• Saudi Arabia served as launching pad for US

military, presence continues after war leading to intense anger, calls for revenge against US

• Osama bin Laden, former US ally, begins building Al Qaeda terrorist network

Iraq Driven from Kuwait in 100 Hours

Culture Wars

• Multiculturalism and advances by women in workplace fuel conservative backlash

• The arts, gun control, evolution attacked• Anti-gay backlash leads to Defense of

Marriage Act in 1994 (Mass. Legalizes gay marriage 2004-does not fall into ocean)

• Anti-science backlash targets stem cell research, climate change

1992

• Bush popularity reaches 90% after Gulf War• Economy in recession; National Debt reaches

$4 trillion• By end of 1991 Bush popularity sinks to 51%• Ross Perot wins largest vote of any 3rd party

candidate in US history (19%)• Clinton campaign, “It’s the economy, stupid” and

calls for deficit reduction, a middle class tax cut, and “responsibility”

William Jefferson Clinton

A “New Democrat”

• Free trade agreements (NAFTA, GATT)• Signs Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)• Increases taxes on top 1.2% of earners• Creates AmeriCorps, signs Brady Bill• Welfare Reform Act abolishes AFDC• Economy Booms• Foreign policy: success with North Korea, bombing

in Bosnia, troops to Kosovo• Wins resounding reelection in 1996

Failure on Health Care Reform

Domestic Terrorism

Scandal

Republican Party Overreach

2000

• Gore wins popular vote, projected as winner• Networks switch projections of Florida winner

leaving Electoral College in doubt• Automatic machine recount; Democrats request

hand count in some counties• Supreme Court stops counting (5-4)• Gore concedes to Bush December 12, 2000• Full recount shows Gore with highest number of

votes (Washington Post, November 12, 2001)

George Walker Bush

September 11, 2001

• Hijackers crash two planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into Pentagon, a fourth crashes in field near Pittsburg due to heroic efforts of passengers

• 2,752 die including hundreds of police and firefighters

• America responds (donate blood, assist in rescue efforts, pray, donate millions for relief)

• Support for US pours in from around the world• Osama bin Laden/Al Qaeda chief suspects

Bush at Ground Zero

Afghanistan

• Oct. 7 Operation Enduring Freedom begins as effort to capture bin Laden/overthrow Taliban

• Kabul captured by mid October• Fierce fighting continues through December-

last remnants of Taliban and Al Qaeda routed from cave complex at Tora Bora

• Much of leadership (including bin Laden) escape to tribal areas of Pakistan

• Hamid Karzai becomes Afghan leader, war continues

Patriot Act (Fall 2001)

• Amid post 9/11 unity Bush Administration pushes new legislation through Congress

• Gave federal authorities greater authority to track and intercept communications for law enforcement and intelligence purposes, new curbs on foreign money laundering, broad discretion against suspected foreign terrorists

• Over 1000 Muslims(many US citizens) arrested in largest such round-ups since Palmer Raids (WWI)

Iraq War

• Planning for war begins shortly after 9/11• VP Cheney, Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld see

unfinished business from Gulf War of 1991• Three claims: Sadaam Hussein possessed

biological and chemical weapons, had a direct connection to 9/11, and removing him would lead to a democratic Iraq (many doubters)

• Sec. of State Powell makes US case to UN • February 15, 2003 largest anti-war

demonstrations in world history (500k in NY, 2m London, 1m in Rome)

Powell at UN

• Without UN support US/Britain launch “shock and awe” campaign March 19, 2003

• Troops begin thrust towards Baghdad• Iraqi Army easily overcome; troops tale Mosul,

Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk by early April with relatively light casualties

• Hundreds of “embedded” journalists provide live television coverage of battles

• Invasion turns to occupation, much of nation descends into near anarchy

You-Tube War?

• December 2003 US captures Hussein• Heavily armed, well financed resistance arises• World learns there were no chemical, nuclear,

biological weapons (Early 2004)• Spring 2004 Abu Ghraib torture surfaces• Iraq holds national elections 2005• 2007 troop surge helps stabilize nation• Over 4,000 US deaths; 150,000 Iraqis• Most agree no clear plan was in place for

dealing with post-Hussein Iraq

Abu Ghraib Prison

Cost of War

• Massive Bush tax cuts (1.35Trillion) push federal budget back into deficits

• Bush increases national debt by $4 Trillion• Push to rely on market self regulation rather

than government enforcement • Bush wins close 2004 re-election over Sen. John

Kerrey (Ohio another Florida?)• Same-sex marriage initiatives mobilized

cultural, religious conservatives in 11 states• Hurricane Katrina devastates Gulf Coast • Democrats retake House in 2006

Hurricane Katrina (August 2005)

Dead for Two Days

Barack Hussein Obama

Popular Culture

1982

Political Bands

Grunge

Soundgarden

Nirvana

“Greed is Good” 1980s

Television Changes

1980

Was this the 80s?

Or This?

The American Family of the 1990s

For Consideration:

• What were key Reagan economic policies? How were these a break from the past?

• How did Clinton reorient the Democratic Party? Was he successful?

• How did September 11, 2001 change domestic and foreign policy? How does world see US?

• Does the election of Obama in 2008 mean we now live in a post-racial society?

Terms/Concepts:

• Reaganomics• Iran-Contra• AIDS• Culture Wars• 2000 Election• Patriot Act• Abu Ghraib• Grunge