Carter and the Reagan Revolution

• Carter was an unusual figure in the Presidency; Lucky to be elected; eked out a victory over Gerald Ford—people voted against Vietnam, Watergate and Nixon to elect Carter.

• His Christian persona, uncontaminated by Washington (outsider) made him an interesting alternative after Watergate;

• Ostensibly a convicted Christian with ethics, Journalists and policy professionals were mesmerized by his Judeo-Christian attitude.

• His eccentric family provided plentiful material for colorful media stories

• Carter struggled to make respect for human rights central to his foreign policy

• He withdrew American support for the shah of Iran

• He withdrew American support for the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza

• He tried to promote lasting peace in the Middle East. The Camp David Accord between Israel and Egypt (1978) was his most important contribution to world stability.

• He relinquished American control of the Panama Canal.

• Carter’s economic policies were hamstrung by an awkward combination of slow growth and inflation (stagflation).

• The 1979 oil crisis intensified inflation.

• He faced a bruising challenge in the Democratic Party for the 1980 nomination.

• The Carter administration ended in a pair of complex foreign-policy crises.

• Iranian revolutionaries seized 71 American diplomats and embassy staff members in November 1979 and held 52 of them as hostages for 444 days.

• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) poisoned the détente atmosphere.

Ronald Reagan

• Reagan’s victory in 1980 indicated a shift in the Republican Party and the new energy of the Religious Right.

• The Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell, brought the concerns of evangelical Christians into the political arena for the first time since the 1920s.

• The objected to the “permissive society”, the sexual revolution, feminism, and a perceived breakdown of the family

• They aimed to restore religion to a central place in public life.

• Conservative Republicans had gained control of local party branches since the Goldwater fiasco of 1964.

• Reagan’s earlier fame, based on his radio, Hollywood, and television careers, gave Republican conservatives a handsome, relaxed, media-savvy representative.

• Reagan, like Eisenhower, deliberately gave the impression of being less politically capable than he, in fact, was.

• Surviving an assassination attempt soon after his inauguration enhanced his popularity.

• His persona, as much as his policies, helped to ensure Reagan's reelection in 1984, especially when the Democrats pursued controversial policies and candidates.

• The Democrat’s choice of a female vice-presidential candidate backfired.

• Jesse Jackson’s role in the Democratic Party contributed to its disarray.

• Reagan abandoned the bipartisan consensus of recent decades in both domestic and foreign policy.

• He espoused the supply-side revolution in economic policy. Tax cuts, providing entrepreneurial incentives, would increase economic growth and enhance revenue.

• Reagan abandoned the bipartisan consensus of recent decades in both domestic and foreign policy.

• He espoused the supply-side revolution in economic policy. Tax cuts, providing entrepreneurial incentives, would increase economic growth and enhance revenue.

• The Libertarian side of Republicanism gained more than the pro-family and evangelical side, whose policy plans presupposed more government intervention and surveillance.

• Reagan, despite his rhetoric, did little to legislate against abortion or for school prayers.

• He found it difficult to follow through on his promise to diminish the reach of the federal government.

• Rapid military escalation created budget deficits.

• Ragan’s militant Cold War posture strained relations with the Soviet Union and contributed to bitter conflict in Latin America.

• Reagan’s supported the anti-regime contras in Nicaragua’s civil war and the pro-U.S regime in El Salvador.

• The “Star Wars” program prepared to militarize even beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

• Concessions in the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) talks augured the Soviet Union’s internal crisis.

• His “Teflon” image enabled Reagan to weather even the embarrassing Iran-Contra scandal of his second term.