Transcript Carter and Reagan Baby

Carter and Reagan Baby
Like Sands through the hour
glass, so are the days of our lives
Recap
• Solid politician from Grand Rapids, MI
• Pardoned President Nixon
• WIN – Whip Inflation Now
• Indecisive on economic matters
• Helsinki Accords
• Mayaguez
The Peanut Farmer
• Born in Plains, Georgia in 1924
• 1st President born in a hospital
• Grew up in a house with no electricity and
running water
• Graduated top ten percent of his class at
Annapolis in 1947
• Elected governor of GA in 1970.
• Elected president in 1976
Presidents and their brothers
• Jimmy Carter
Billy Carter
Foreign Policy
• 1977 – US agrees to give Panama Canal
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to Panama Dec 31, 1999.
1979 – Salt II with USSR, limits
production of nukes each can produce
1978 – Camp David Accords
Israel gives back land taken from Egypt,
Jordan and Palestinians from 1974 war
Egypt vows never to attack Israel. Egypt
opens diplomatic relations with Israel
Afghanistan
• Soviets invade Afghanistan to squash a muslin•
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led rebellion
Invasion upset Carter. Violates human rights
Carter cut all grain exports to USSR
US boycotted summer games held in Moscow
Carter and Reagan support the Muhajadin
Muhajadin – Freedom fighters who fight against
the USSR
Economic Crisis
• US wastes lots of energy. 2.5 times that of
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Japan
Wasted energy means we need a high supply
OPEC – Org. of Petroleum Exporting Countries
1979 OPEC – lowers oil supply to US
No oil hurts ability to buy, sell and transport
goods.
High energy prices increases inflation, makes
everything more expensive
Domestic Policy
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Confronted energy crisis
Asked Americans to turn down thermo.
Created the Dept. of Energy
Nat. Energy Act – tax on gas-guzzling
cars, removed price-controls on heating
oil and gas, tax credits for alt. Fuels
Cont…
• Shift from manufacturing economy to
service industry (phones, accounting)
• Fewer jobs for unprofessional folks
• Japan, Taiwan, Korea start making things
cheaply. US business moves there
• Rust Belt – Detroit to Pittsburg steel mills
go empty. Still are.
Iran
• The Shah (king) of Iran has ruled since CIA
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helped install him in the 1950’s
A corrupt dictator, but US likes him and he hates
commies
Muslim Cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini, leads an
overthrow of Shah
Puts in a new gov based on the Quran
Takes US embassy and Americans hostage
Doesn’t release hostages for 444 days
Oil Links and Information
• U.S. Stocks of oil
• Oil Company Profits
• What’s so bad about profit?
• Lobbying
• Causes of rising prices?
• Solutions?
Ronald Reagan
Conservative Backlash
Background
• Born in Tampico, IL on Feb 6, 1911
• Son of democratic parents; father was
head of local WPA activities during the
Roosevelt Era.
• Active in sports and drama during high
school years.
• Broadcaster, Hollywood actor, Knute
Rockne—All American was his big hit.
Politics
• Reagan voted for FDR 4 times.
• Aligned himself with Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt,
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and other anti-communist democrats.
Served on the board of the Screen Actors Guild.
Reported communist activities in Hollywood
during this time.
Voted for Eisenhower and supported Nixon due
to the leftward trend of the Democratic Party.
Elections
• Reagan became the standard bearer for
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conservative republicans after Goldwater lost the
1964 election.
Became governor of California in 1966.
Worked with democrats on property taxes,
education funding, welfare reform.
Challenged Gerald Ford for the Republican
nomination in 1976, but narrowly lost.
Reagan destroys Carter and Walter Mondale in
1980 and 1984.
New Right
• Rise of the “New Right” conservatives
1. Spoke up about cultural, social, and moral
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issues
Fought gov regulation, gun control
Opposed abortion, ERA, affirmative action
Conservative Coalition – intellectuals who
rallied around Christian ideals
Moral Majority – silent group of US peeps who
know what’s right, but quiet
Domestic Policy
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Cut taxes 25% on all income levels
Reduced domestic spending, but offset by huge
increases in defense spending
Reaganomics – wealthy have more money to
invest in things = supply side economics
Also referred to as “trickle down economics”
Later, passed Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act
closing loopholes in the tax code.
“Reagan Recession” due to high interest rates resulted
in an economic boom starting in 1983.
Deficit spending begins.
Military + Economy
• Increased military spending
• SDI – Strategic Defense Initiative = “Star
Wars” – missile defense system
• Economy rebounds – but national debt
looms
• Cut income, increase spending.
• Debt $900b (80) to $4 trillion (92). Oops
More economy
• Trade balance – US imported more than
exported
• Deregulated airline businesses, fired
nursing home health inspectors
• Savings and Loans scandals – made risky
investments, failed, tax payers bail out
investors
• Charles Keating – lost a 2.6b S&L. Paid
off senators in campaign contributions to
keep them quiet
End of Cold War
• Mikhail Gorbachev – USSR leader in 1985
• INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces)
treaty – cuts back nuke missiles
• MG – Glasnost – thawing of relations
within and outside USSR
• Perestroika – Gov/Econ restructure
• USSR gets more capitalistic – communism
is ending
• August 1991 – revolution in Russia.
Eastern Europe
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Poland and Germany
Poland bolts from USSR control in 1989
Berlin Wall falls in Germany Nov. 1989
One by one they fall like Dominoes
China – Tiananmen Square – Chinese
students stage pro democracy rally.
• Lose. China still communist