Post on 24-Dec-2015
Study Guide Identifications Supply side economics/ReaganomicsCarter CorollaryReagan DoctrineOperation CycloneCamp David Accords 1978Feminization of Poverty“New Right”“Religious Right”Sandanistas vs. Contras/“freedom fighters”Renewed Cold war/Evil EmpireMikhail Gorbachev/End of Soviet UnionIran Contra Affair/Boland Amendments/NSC
Study Guide Questions
What was the legacy of the 1960’s?What changes took place concerning identity and women’s roles, or questions of women’s roles?What Characterized the “New Right”?What was the Conservative Social Agenda? What was foreign policy under Reagan?
Legacy of the 1960s Activism
Came to characterize American political life Mass demonstrations - Protest advocacy tool. 1980s - Clamshell alliance
Against a nuclear reactor “Take Back the Night”
Protest sexual assault and violence 1995 Million Man March
Campaign of social reconstruction in black communities
Mass demonstrations - lost power to attract media
Women’s Roles
Ideas of domesticity Reality much different Birth control pill - sexual behavior.
Many women questioned gender based divisions in both public and private sectors.
1970’s-80s activism Distribution of political power Feminization of poverty Women’s self-sufficiency
Group Identity
Increased emphasis on group identity as the basis for social activism grew Cultural differences among Americans should be
affirmed rather than feared, celebrated rather than simply tolerated.
Battles against discrimination and for cultural pride continued African American American Indian Asian Mexican Homosexual Movements
Efforts to Reform American Foreign Policy
Ford & Jimmy Carter Administrations in the mid 1970s Cost of Vietnam – speed decline of U.S. as
super power Salt I & II treaties with Soviet Union
Negotiate strategic arms control & relative peace
Carter promise of commitment to Human Rights Condemned policies that allowed the U.S. to
support right wing monarch and military dictators in the name of anti-communism
Carter’s Reform Efforts
Reform CIA & discourage intervention and covert action abroad Make the CIA act within the law, rather than
above the law Temporary changes
Camp David Accords 1978 terms for peace in the Middle East Negotiations between Israel, Egypt &
Palestine Anwar el-Sadat (Egypt), Prime Minister Menachem
Begin (Israel), Arafat (PLO) Conflict since Israel established in 1948 by
Balfour Declaration following World War II
Panama, Nicaragua, Afghanistan & Iran Under Carter
Negotiated return of Panama Canal Zone to Panama by 2000 following independence movement
or revolt against United States control
1979 Sandanista Movement overthrows dictator and U.S. ally Anastasio Somoza Plea for U.S. support denied by Carter
Afghanistan Under Carter Administration
1979 Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan Carter: "The Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan is the greatest threat to peace since the Second World War".30,000 troops sent to crush Islamic independence movement against Soviet influence and control
Carter argued that soviet presence “posed a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil”
Carter Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
Affirmed right of the military force to protect the interests in the Persian Gulf Halted exports to Soviet Union Canceled U.S. participation in the Moscow
Olympics Supported Afghanistan Resistance against soviet
occupation In May 1985, the seven principal rebel
organizations formed the Seven Party Mujahideen Alliance to coordinate their military operations against the Soviet army.
Operation Cyclone: CIA under Carter & Reagan provided aid
Armed the Afghan Mujahideen 1979 – 1989, 20 billion
Increased military spending
Iran Hostage Crisis
November 4, 1979 Iranian fundamentalists seized the US embassy in Tehran and held 52 American employees hostage for 444 days. Pahlavi Royal family as the shah of Iran in 1953
millions of dollars into the economy and armed military. In 1979 a revolution led by the Islamic leader
Ayatollah Tuhollah Khomenini had overthrown the Shah. Carter allowed the Shah to seek refuge in California retaliated by taking American staff as hostages.
Attempts to return the hostages failed.
Election of 1980
Walter Mondale & Geraldine Ferraro Emphasized growing deficit, raise in taxes,
called attention to the citizens denied prosperity in America
Ronald Reagan and former CIA director and Texas Oil executive H.W. Bush. Choice between a (D) “government of
pessimism, fear and limits” or his own based on “Hope, Confidence and growth.” Reagan began with an inauguration that cost
millions of dollars, Nancy’s wardrobe cost $25,000 Began a show and celebration of wealth and power
that would prevail His election interpreted by supporters as a mandate
for conservatism that had been growing since the Nixon years
Reagan’s Political Objectives
Limit state support for welfare and social servicesExpand state power to enforce law and orderChampioned anti-communismTapped the resentment over rising property taxes & high inflationBacklash against
Anti-war movement counterculture Women’s liberation Urban uprisings Emphasized “family issues”
Opposed sex education, abortion rights, gay liberation Opposed the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
c. Emergence of “New Right”
Backlash against liberalism of 1960s Framed goals in terms of emphasis of “Moral Values” Largest component of movement were evangelical or born again
protestants Opposed re-treat from anti-communist foreign policy & domestic
programs that addressed poverty and equalityReligious right Protestants, fundamentalists, Evangelical churches.
Battled to prevent the IRS from denying tax-exempt status to private Christian colleges that opposed racial integration
Roe Vs. Wade mobilized fundamentalists and evangelical leaders
joined with the Catholic conservatives in opposing abortion.
Conservative Social Agenda
National Conservative Political Action Committee, the Conservative Caucus, the Moral Majority No separation of church & state Defending family values - by opposing abortion and “degenerate” life styles The Male-headed nuclear family needs protection
from moral wrongs of homosexuals and feminists. Education : New ideas such as multiculturalism and
feminism dangerous Movement towards reinterpreting history from a
multicultural non-traditional perspective is under fire.
Reagan Revolution Rejected the activist welfare states legacy of the New Deal Era Rejected Keynesian economics
traditionally favored moderate tax cuts and increases in government spending to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment, by putting money in peoples pockets, greater consumer demand would lead to economic expansion.
Supply-siders or Reaganomics called for simultaneous tax cuts and
reductions in public spending, this would give private entrepreneurs and investors greater incentives to start business, take risks, invest capital and create new wealth and jobs.
Supply Side EconomicsReaganomics
The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 benefited the richest fraction of the
population that derives most of its income from rent, dividends and interest instead of from wages.
The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981 cut social and cultural programs,
hardest hit areas included education, environment, health, housing, urban aid, food stamps, research on synthetic fuels and the arts
Greatly increased the defense budgetAnti organized labor – 13,000 federal employees all members of
the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went who went on strike in 1981, he fired all of them. By 1990 15% of workers belonged to a labor union
Deregulation weakened rules that governed
environmental protection, workplace safety, consumer protection to increase the efficiency and productivity of business.
Large corporations, wall street stock brokerages, investment banking houses, savings and loan industry were allowed to operate with a much freer hand than ever before.
summarized this economic theory: “ A successful economy depends on the proliferation of the rich.” Politically supply-siders look to reward
the most loyal republican constituencies , the affluent and business community.
They reduce the flow of federal dollars to two core democratic constituencies: the recipients and professional providers of health and welfare programs.
George Gilder, conservative author of Wealth and Poverty (1988)
Promise & Reality
Promise to balance the budgetReality National debt tripled from 914 billion (1980) to 2.7 Trillion (1989) Fiscal crisis became a structural problem
Supply side economics ultimately reversed America from being the leading creditor nation in the world to a debtor nation (340 Billion)
Best & Worst Time, Reagan and American popular culture
Popular culture Celebration of wealth, money making and
entrepreneurship Dominated 1980s to present
Greater Inequality Middle class shrinking, poverty rising
Promise of Middle class status Fewer able to improve living standards or
reach the middle class
Reagan’s Promise to Restore World Supremacy
Increased military spendingForeign policy Revival of cold war patriotism Championed U.S. Interventionism
Intervened in Caribbean, Latin and South America Anti-communist Rhetoric centerpiece for
foreign policy Labeled the Soviet Union as the “Evil Empire… the
focus of evil in the modern world” Though soviets dismantling & retreat from arms
race and empire building made cold war framework of international affairs irrelevant by 1980s
Arms Race Nuclear Power
70% of Americans favored nuclear freeze 1982 750,000 people demonstrated, NY
Halt on spending on and deployment of nuclear weapons
1982 Regan announced the SDI initiative Star Wars or the Strategic Defense Initiative
Estimated 27 Billion, spent 17 billion Meaningful arms control undermined Soviet-U.S. relations deteriorated
Foreign Policy & the “Reagan Doctrine”
Reasserted America’s right to intervene anywhere in the world to “roll back” communism by supplying overt and covert aid to “anti-communist resistance movements” Assumed that political instability resulted
from soviet influence
1983 invaded Grenada, Nicaragua, El Salvador
1983 Grenada, Socialist leader assassinated & installed a friendly government.
CIA Covert Action
Aided anticommunist forces in Afghanistan and the Contras in Nicaragua Waged a renewed cold war to support anticommunist governments that “supported democracy” to constrain the soviets sphere of influence. “Freedom Fighters”
El Salvador
Aided a repressive regime (pro-American) 1983 right wing death squads tortured
and assassinated 1,000’s of opposition leaders Bloody Civil war left 54,000 dead
Reagan looked to Nicaragua Sandanista government “posed an
unusual and extraordinary threat to national security”
NicaraguaNicaragua Sandanista Party 1984 Reagan escalated the undeclared war
against the Sandanistas US augmented its military forces in neighboring
Honduras Conducted training exercises throughout the
region Stepped up economic pressure Launched a psychological offensive to discredit
the Sandanistas. Trained and equipped an opposition military
force of Nicaraguans or Contras.
Supported murderous dictatorships in nearby El Salvador and Guatamala
U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua
1909 - 1933 Taft coup on President Zalaya Trans isthmus Canal Nationalization of land
1936 Guardia Nacional – CoupSomoza Regime 1937 – 47, 1950-561962 the FSLN, Liberation Front, Sandanistas Oppose regime of Anastasio somoza Nationalized banking
Somoza Regime 1967-72, 1974-1979
Public Criticism
U. S. backed regimes were clearly implicated in human-rights abuses
Nuns, journalists, humanitarian aid workers included
Brutality and corruption among the contras or so called freedom fighters brought growing public criticism.
American grass roots opposition Sister city projects offered humanitarian & technical
assistance to Nicaraguan communities
1984 Boland Amendments Congress ban on arms sales Forbade government agencies from supporting “directly or
indirectly military or para-military operations” in Nicaragua
Iran-contra affair
Denied funding my congress, Reagan turned to the National Security Council to find
a way to keep the contra war going 1984 – 1986 raised 37 million in aid from foreign countries and
private contributors, largest mercenary army in the hemispheric history
1986 sold arms to Pro-Iranian Islamic Radicals in a secret deal to secure the release of American hostages of Muslim militants Sold arms to Iran to channel profits to the contra forces
circumvented Boland Amendments
Cover – up & American Amnesia
National Security Counciladvisors Robert McFarlane and Admiral John Poindexter
sold weapons and missiles to Iranians using Israel and the go between.
North and Poindexter lied to congress , shredded evidence and refused to keep the president fully informed to guaranteed his “plausible deniability”
convicted as felons, 1992 H.W. Bush granted pardons to 6 key players in
the scandal.
End of the Soviet Union & Collapse of Communism
Mikhail Gorbachev (General Secretary of the communist party in 1985) Policy of Glasnost (openness) & Perestroika
(economic liberalization) 1987 signed a major Arms Treaty that
reduced each nations supply of range missiles
He declared and end to the cold war Soviet sphere of influence and the union itself would cease to exist
Consequences of Reaganomics
National debt tripled to 2.7 Trillion 1989 The fiscal crisis became a structural
problem with profound & long lasting implications for the American economy
Became indebted to foreign nations (340 billion) Post WWII the leading creditor, now the
biggest debtor
Greater Inequality
Average weekly and hourly earnings dropped between 1980-1992Share of Total Net Worth of American Families Richest 1% 31% 1983 – 37% 1989 Next Richest 9% 35% to 31% 1989 Remaining 90% 33% to 32%
Environmental De-regulation
Sagebrush Rebellion Sympathetic to western movement of
citizens who wanted vast federal land holdings in the west transferred to the states for less environmental protection and more rapid economic use Trees – timber companies Expanded offshore oil drilling Expedited exploration for minerals
Greater Inequality
Number of Poor, Rate of Poverty and Poverty Line 1979-92Millions of poor 26.1 to 36.9 million in 1992Rate increased from 11.7% to 15%Poverty Line increased from $7,412 to %14,335
Crisis for Organized Labor
Republican offensive against labor unions (Air Traffic Controllers Organization) Other companies followed suit leading to the
decline of union membership and blue collar jobs Hormel Phelps-Dodge National labor Relations Board and other federal
agencies weakened collective bargaining by their interpretation of labor management relations
Workers accepted a roll back in wages and loss of other benefits to be able to keep their jobs
Job Creation
Low wage jobs were created at a growth rate of 50%Middle wage jobs at 31.7%High wage jobs at 11.9% Deindustrialization and blue collar job
destruction led to loss of standard of living achieved in the 1950s and 1960s
Median Family Income by race
All races combined median income increased by $1,000 between 1980 and 1992Income for Whites increased by $1,600Income for Blacks decreased by $450.00Income for Hispanics decreased by $1000.00
Feminization of Poverty
Experience of poverty became the experience of predominately women and childrenJobs available decreased for women with children & were lower payingTook financial support of a male breadwinner to keep a family out of povertyCourts sided on behalf of fathers in court
Loss of alimony Middle class women pushed into poverty Majority of men defaulted on child support payments Divorced men increased standard of living Divorce women decreased standard of living
Female Headed Households, 1992
13.7 million peopleAccounted for 37% of the nations poorNumber of black women as heads of household increased from 30% in 1970 to 47% in 1980
Gender & Economic Contradictions
Social and economic pressure to fulfill traditional rolesVsThe need for women to work