Transcript The American Journey A History of the United States Sixth Edition

The American Journey
A History of the United States
Sixth Edition
Chapter
30
The Reagan Revolution
and a Changing World
1981-1992
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
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MAP 30–1 The Election of 1980
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Reagan’s Majority
• common touch
• nostalgia for simpler America
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Anti-Communist
Christian conservatives
wealthy entrepreneurs
opponents of big government
disaffected Dem blue-collar, middle-class
White blue-collar voters were alienated by
affirmative action, school integration
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Reagan’s Majority (cont'd)
• 1984 Reagan won landslide reelection
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
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The New Conservatism
• Anti-New Deal-New Frontier
• Edward Banfield – gov’t no solve
inequality, human character
• Charles Murray -- welfare  dependency,
laziness
• Laissez-faire free market utopians
• new tactics – bypass mass media,
mailings to raise funds, emotional
appeals
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Reaganomics:
Deficits and Deregulation
• based on Economic Recovery and Tax
and Act of 1981
• shifted funding from domestic to military
programs.
• Social programs would have to be at state
or local level
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Reaganomics:
Deficits and Deregulation (cont’d)
• deregulation
• Corporate America attacked environmental
legislation as strangulation by regulation.
Reagan slashed Environmental Protection
Agency budget
• deregulated banking industry
• national economy boomed in short-term
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
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Crisis for Organized Labor
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offensive against labor unions
Union membership declining anyway
Decline in manufacturing jobs
Shift to non-union plants
Mergers
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An Acquisitive Society
• lavish living by wealthy
• fascination with how rich and famous live
• yuppies -- elite consumerism
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Mass Media and Fragmented Culture
• Cable television
• Vast quantities of information more easily
available
• packaged for subdivided marketplace of
specialized consumers
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Poverty amid Prosperity
• The bottom 20% saw tax hike
• Middle-class families saw their security
decrease
• permanent homeless x3
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FIGURE 30–1 Changes in Real Family Income,
1947–1979 and 1980–1990
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Consolidating the Revolution:
George H. W. Bush
• believed Americans wanted gov’t leave
them alone
• His major legislation was bill that shifted
federal priorities from highway building to
mass transit
• lack of leadership left continuing economic
crime, and healthcare problems
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Confronting USSR
• 1980 USSR support civ wars Angola,
Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Afghanistan
• Reagan confront Soviet Union, believed
Soviets bent on world conquest
• escalated nuclear arms race
• Strategic Defense Initiative, also called
Star Wars
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Risky Business:
Foreign Policy Adventures
• Reagan Doctrine – elim Soviet-influenced
gov’ts in Asia, Africa, Lat Am
• secret CIA policy vs. Nicaragua
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Risky Business:
Foreign Policy Adventures (cont'd)
• US war on drugs invade Panama
• Reagan’s intervention in Middle East 
bomb killed 241 Marines in Lebanon
• Iran-Contra Affair ended in scandal of
illegality and unconstitutional actions,
Oliver North lied to Congress
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Embracing Perestroika
• Mikhail Gorbachev -- opened up USSR,
restructured economy
• Intermediate Nuclear Force Agreement
(INF) – entire class of missiles 2B
destroyed, inspect for verification
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Crisis and Democracy in Eastern
Europe
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Berlin Wall opened 1989
New democratic govts in east Euro
1990 Germany reunified
USSR dissolved,Cold War ended
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Why Did the Cold War End?
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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Growth in the Sunbelt
• defense spending, late ‘70s to early ‘90s
fueled growth of Sunbelt
• Sunbelt -- conservative voting habits,
• Reflected economic trends
• Retirees contributed in rise of Sunbelt
• Money drain from Midwest and Northeast
to S, SW
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MAP 30–4 Fast-Growing and Shrinking
Metropolitan Areas, 1990–2000
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
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The Defense Economy
• Underwrote expansion of Amer sci, tech
• Silicon Valley grew with military sales long
before turned to consumer markets
• space component of aerospace industry
dependent on defense economy
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
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MAP 30–5 Religious Geography of the United
States
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Women’s Rights and Public Policy
• Roe v. Wade -- Supreme Court ruled
abortion rights constitutional
• Equal Rights Amendment (failed
ratification)  sharp debates on women’s
rights and abortion
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
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Women’s Rights and Public Policy
(cont'd)
• The shift to service jobs also stimulated an
increase in working women.
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
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AIDS and Gay Activism
• The Stonewall Revolt began the gay rights
movement.
• The AIDS outbreak changed the character
of life in gay communities.
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
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Conclusion
• American sought stability in the 1980s but
the decade witnessed transformations that
redirected American life.
• Many of the changes were connected to
national policy issues.
• The collapse of the Soviet Union ended
the Cold War.
• Prosperity alternated with recession and
shifted the balance between regions.
The American Journey: A History of the United States, Sixth Edition
Goldfield • Abbott • Argersinger • DeJohn Anderson • Barney • Weir • Argersinger
Copyright ©2011, ©2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.