The Resurgence of Conservatism

1
The Resurgence of Conservatism

• 1980-2000

2
Ronald Reagans Presidency (1981-1989)

• Election of 1980
• Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter
• Republican candidate Ronald Reagan
• in favor of Roosevelts Common Man theory
• New Right led by evangelical Christians
  concerned about social issues
• independent candidate John Anderson
• Reagan won over 51 of the popular vote, Carter
  41, and Anderson 7

3
Reagans Foreign Policies

• Iran Hostage Crisis
• On Reagans Inauguration Day, January 20, 1981,
  the Iranians released the hostages after 444 days
  of captivity
• Invasion of Grenada
• October 1983, Reagan dispatched heavy-fire-power
  invasion force to island of Grenada in the
  Caribbean
• military coup had killed prime minister and
  brought Marxists to power
• demonstrated Reagans determination to dominate
  the Caribbean

4
Reagans Foreign Policies Con t

• Issues in Nicaragua
• Revolution in 1979 disposed of long-time dictator
  of Nicaragua
• Sandinistas anti-American revolutionaries
• Reagan retaliated and accused the Sandinistas of
  turning their country into a forward base for
  Soviet and Cuban military
• US govt supplied the friendly Nicaraguans
  (Contras) with weapons
• Led to the Iran-Contra Affair
• Media found out the money for the weapons to the
  Contras came from secret weapons deal with Iran
• Reagan not implicated
• Teflon President

5
Reagans Domestic Policies

• Reagan vowed to boost American economy by
  (Reaganomics)
• rolling back government regulations
• lowering taxes
• balancing the budget
• promised that lower taxes would increase
  government revenue because it would arouse the
  whole economy
• the combination of tax reduction and increases in
  military spending opened a broad revenue hole
  of 200 billion annual shortages
• in 8 years in office, Reagan added nearly 2
  trillion to the national debt
• Reagan appointed three conservative-minded
  justices to the U.S. Supreme court, namely Sandra
  Day OConner
• Arizona judge sworn in on September 25, 1981
• became the first woman to rise to the high bench

6
George Bushs Presidency

• Election of 1988
• Republican candidate Bush whose platform was
• Reagans tax cuts, strong defense policies,
  toughness on crime, opposition to abortion, and
  economic expansion
• Vice President J. Danforth Quayle, senator from
  Indiana
• Democratic Candidate Michael Dukakis, governor
  of Massachusetts
• Running mate Lloyd Bentsen, Senator of Texas
• Bush won, carrying 40 states

7
Bushs Foreign Policy

• End of the Cold War
• Several regimes collapsed in Europe between 1989
  and 1990 including
• Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and
  Romania
• In December 1989, Berlin Wall torn down
• East and West Germany united and formed
  Democratic nation
• Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev
  started to dissolve the communist govt , giving
  freedom to many
• 1991, Warsaw Pact disbanded
• Bush and Gorbachev proclaimed the end of Cold War
  and birth of New World Order where democracy
  and diplomacy would reign

8
Bushs Foreign Policy Con t

• Dec. 1991, Gorbachev resigned
• USSR dissolved into 15 republics, forming the
  Commonwealth of Independent States
• Russia most powerful, but all renounced communism
  and embraced democracy and free-market economies
• 1993, Bush and Yeltsin signed the START II
  accord, which committed both powers to reduce
  their long-range nuclear arsenals by 2/3 in the
  next 10 years

9
Bushs Foreign Policy Con t

• Beginning of Gulf War
• Jan. 16, 1991 - U.S. and allies began air
  campaign against Iraq
• bombed targets in Iraq and Kuwait
• Iraq responded by firing Scud short-ranged
  ballistic missiles against military and civilian
  targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia. Bush
  convinced these countries not to retaliate
• Commander of allies forces was Gen. Norman
  Schwarzkopf
• strategy to soften Iraqis with relentless
  bombing, then begin war

10
Bushs Foreign Policy Con t

• Saddam Hussein, director of Iraq, threatened to
  wage the mother of all battles
• Iraq had chemical and biological weapons
  including anthrax
• Saddam employed ecological warfare released an
  oil slick into the Persian Gulf to stop
  amphibious assault
• Operation Desert Storm
• began Feb. 23, 1991 and lasted 4 days
  hundred-hour war
• succeeded in driving back Iraqs armies and
  liberated Kuwait
• nonstop media coverage

11
Bushs Foreign Policy Con t

• Results of Persian Gulf War
• Bushs approval rating soared, but was criticized
  for not removing Saddam Hussein from power
• A U.N. observer force took place in Iraq
• few American casualties
• led to U.N. inspections of Iraq and further
  military action against Saddam in 1998 and 2003

12
Bushs Domestic Policies

• Bushs economic policies
• Conservatives wanted Bush to continue Reagan's
  policies but Bush saw that he needed to confront
  a budget deficit, prosperity that only benefited
  the wealthy, and problems from Reagan's cuts in
  govt programs
• called for a kinder, gentler America and
  proposed cuts in military spending
• in his campaign, Bush pledged, Read my lips no
  new taxes, a promise he would come to regret
• Bush agreed to a budget agreement that included
  133 million in new taxes
• violated campaign promise of no new taxes and
  would cost him the 1992 election

13
Bushs Domestic Policies

• Bush and Supreme Court
• Bush made 2 Supreme Court appointments David
  Souter and Clarence Thomas
• Thomas was first African American justice to be
  appointed since the retirement of liberal
  Thurgood Marshall
• However, the Confirmation hearings of Thomas
  were complicated due to an accusation of sexual
  harassment by Anita Hill
• Bush and Congress
• 1990, recession hit.
• By 1992, unemployment rate was 7
• federal budget deficit hit 250 billion
• in battles with Congress, Bush vetoed 35 pieces
  of legislation
• for this reason, his presidency called status
  quo because not much was done

14
Bill Clintons Presidency(1993-2001)

• Election of 1992
• Republican candidate Pres. George Bush
• Democratic candidate Bill Clinton
• campaign theme Its the economy, stupid.
• independent candidate H. Ross Perot
• Clinton won with 370 electoral votes to Bushs
  168 and Perots none

15
Clintons Foreign Policy

• Clinton supported the North American Free Trade
  Agreement (NAFTA)
• created in 1993, free trade zone including
  Mexico, U.S., and Canada
• Effects
• changed his own stand in the 1992 election
• eliminated the opposition of democratic
  protectionists, especially labor leaders afraid
  of losing jobs to Mexicans working for less money
• In 1994, Clinton promoted World Trade
  Organization (WTO) a global free-trade system

16
Clintons Domestic Policy

• Attempted to create Universal Health Care Program
• Passed Family and Medical Leave Act,
  Motor-Voter laws, and Anti-Crime Bills
• Budget
• 1995 House passed legislation to balance federal
  budget by 2002
• Clinton agreed to work with Congress, but lack of
  compromise led to two government shut downs
• Compromise achieved in 1996, led to the first
  budget surplus since the 1950s

17
Clintons Impeachment

• Clintons role in the Whitewater Land Corporation
  prompted federal prosecutor, Kenneth Starr to
  investigate
• Jan. 1998, Clinton blamed for having a sexual
  affair with a young White House intern, Monica
  Lewinsky, and then lied about it when testified
  under oath in a civil law suit.
• Law suit brought by Paula Jones who charged that
  when the president was governor, he had sexually
  harassed her when she was a state employee
• Supreme court permitted case move forward in May
  1997

18
Clintons Impeachment

• Clinton publicly denied any relationships with
  that woman
• after keeping innocence for 8 months, Clinton
  forced to admit an inappropriate relationship
• Sept. 1998, Starr presented a report to House of
  Rep.. Charging Clinton with 11 possible grounds
  for impeachment, all relating to Lewinsky matter
• House Republicans. In December 1998, passed 2
  articles of impeachment against the president
• perjury before a grand jury
• obstruction of justice
• The Senate found Clinton not guilty
• Not removed from office
• 2nd President to be impeached

19
ELECTION OF 2000

• Democrats nominate Al Gore (VP)
• Republicans nominate George W. Bush (son of
  former president George H.W. Bush)
• Green Party nominate Ralph Nader

20
ELECTION OF 2000

• Candidates fought over the moderate and
  independent vote
• Gores focus was working families
• Bushs focus was compassionate conservatives
• Gore received over 500,000 more popular votes
  then Bush
• Victory hinged on Floridas 25 electoral votes

21
ELECTION 2000

• Democrats asked for a manual recount of the
  election punch cards after a partial recount gave
  Bush the lead by 537 votes
• The Florida Supreme Court ordered a recount of
  all the votes
• Bush appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court

22
BUSH v. GORE

• The US Supreme Court overruled them in a split
  5-4 decision
• The Court ruled that the varying standards used
  in Floridas recount violated the 14th
  Amendments Equal Protection Clause
• Gore ended the election by accepting the ruling
• Final elector results Bush 271 to Gore 266
• Closest election since 1876

23
Bushs Domestic Policy Con t

• Bush and the Supreme Court
• Bush made 2 Supreme Court appointments David
  Souter and Clarence Thomas
• Thomas was first African American justice to be
  appointed since the retirement of liberal
  Thurgood Marshall

24
Bushs Domestic Policy Con t

• Thomas was very conservative and his nomination
  was opposed by organized labor, the NAACP, and
  the National Organization for Women (NOW),
  because he was anti-abortion
• Oct. 1991, Anita Hill, law professor a t
  University of Oklahoma, accused Thomas of sexual
  harassment
• after other females colleagues of Thomas said
  they witnessed improper behavior, the Senate
  approved Thomas with a 52-48 vote
• result gender gap developed between the
  political parties, as women resented the
  anti-abortion policies of the Republicans

25
Clintons Foreign Policy

• Conflicts in Bosnia
• ethnic conflict raged through Bosnia
• Washington govt hesitated before committing
  American troops to a NATO peacekeeping contingent
  in late 1995
• abandoned when it became clear that were the only
  force capable of preventing new hostilities

26
Clintons Foreign Policy Con t

• Air strikes in Serbia
• President of Serbia, Milosevic, wants ethnic
  cleansing in Kosovo
• in response, NATO forces led by U.S. launched an
  air war against Serbia
• failed to stop ethnic terror and forced Milosevic
  to accept a NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo