Walter Cronkite

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Walter CronkiteAnd thats the way it is
https//www.youtube.com/watch?vq3eFl9pcxsM
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The Conservative Resurgence Introduction
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During the late Twentieth Century, the
differences between the two Major parties grew
more pronounced

• Liberal VS. Conservative
• Democratic party Republican Party
• Big government Shrink government
• Increase Taxes Reduce Taxes (esp. at top)
• Increase Programs/govt spending Decrease
  programs/ govt spending
• Less military spending More military spending
• Cooperate with UN more Cooperate with UN less
• Environmental regulation Less Environmental
  regulation
• Traditional values less important Traditional
  values more important
• Nationalization of industry/welfare
  Privatization of Industry/Health Care (eg.)
• Pro Gun Control anti- gun control
• pro-public education add vouchers/defund
  public education
• pro-choice prolife

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NEW RIGHT By the late 1970s, Middle and Working
class Americans, especially in the South had
grown tired of Liberal programs and trends, such
as

• Busing (Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of
  Ed.)
• Affirmative Action (Regents of Univ. of
  California v. Bakke)
• No established prayer in schools (Engel v.
  Vitale)
• Unfunded federal mandates
• Degeneration of youth (counterculture Roe v.
  Wade)
• The American Conservative movement included both
  religious conservatives and fiscal (economic)
  conservatives1970s saw shift in south from
  Democratic to Republican

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Moral Majority

• Founder Jerry Falwell (1979)
• Religious organization for political change (or a
  political organization working to fulfill
  religious goals?)
• Supported Traditional and Mainstream American
  values.

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Ronald Reagan 1981-1989

• B Movie Actor (and Governor of California)
• Old Man (oldest president ever)
• Stood for lower taxes, traditional American
  values, and military preparedness (especially
  vs. USSR, which he called The Evil Empire)
• Conservative Resurgence coupled with bad economic
  times in the late 70s, helped Reagan win the 1980
  Prseidential election.
• Government is not the solution, government is
  the problem.

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Reagonomics

• Supply-Side (trickle-down) economics
• Cut taxes (and thus domestic/social spending) so
  that the private sector would invest more,
  leading to increased production, jobs, and
  prosperity.
• Cutting taxes to the rich was seen as especially
  useful (why?).
• Economic Recovery Act Cut overall federal taxes
  by 25 28 for the wealthiest Americans.
• Also reduced government regulation of industry
• Note that the spending savings was greatly
  offset by dramatic increase in military spending

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Results of Reaganomics

• Economy sputtered from 1981-82, but greatly
  improved by 1983.
• Rich got richer (yuppies), but the number of poor
  increased, and the middle class standard of
  living remained stagnant or slightly decreased.
• The return of American prosperity, even if not
  fully shared by all Americans, earned Reagan a
  landslide victory in his 1984 re-election bid
• Budget deficits (and therefore the national debt)
  increased dramatically between 1981 and 1986but
  that would be dealt with later, by Bush Sr.

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The End of the Cold War
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Reagan Built Up the Military

• Reagan significantly increased military spending
  in the Cold War, both nuclear and conventional
  arms increased.
• Increased military spending from 100 billion to
  300 billion per year during his presidency.
• Believed (correctly) that the USSR could not
  compete with this type of spending

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SDI

• Strategic Defense Initiative meant to create a
  system of anti-missile defenses to protect the
  United States. This was something the USSR could
  definitely not pursue, economicallymay have ben
  the last straw for them.

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Fought Communism

• Supported the Contras anti-communist rebels in
  Nicaragua (funded by 1986 sales of arms to Iran
  Iran-Contra Affair Scandaloops)
• Removed a leftist dictator from power in Grenada
• Supported a right-wing government in El Salvador
  against leftest rebels
• Continued to aid
  Afghanistani anti-Soviet rebels.

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Why Change in the Soviet Union

• Huge economic problems in the USSR
• Their war in Afghanistan had drained their
  economy
• Gorbachev (to power in 1985) Perestroika and
  Glasnot (economic reform and openness)

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Gorbachev and Reagan

• Met four times between 1985 and 1989 to discuss
  arms reduction, Soviet pull-out of Afghanistan
  and diplomatic cooperationThe two men turned out
  to be friends.

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Berlin Wall Fell in 1989

• Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wallEast Germans
  were at last allowed into West Berlin.
• Bush Sr. President by this time

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The Soviet Union Broke Up in 1991, and the Cold
War Was Officially Over
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Sandra Day OConnor

• 1986
• First female appointed to the Supreme Court.
  Moderate Conservative Supreme Court Judge
• Her appointment, along with three others, was
  meant to make the court much less liberal-minded

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Social Security AIDs Reform Act

• Beginning of the AIDs epidemic first appeared in
  1981 (See Rent)
• The president remained mostly silent on the issue
  of the AIDS epidemic.
• Bush 1 will promote funding for research on the
  disease

• As the number of elderly grew, the Social
  Security System began to pay out more than it
  took in.
• 1983, Reagan Signed the Act, raising the minimum
  retirement age from 65 to 67 and increasing
  payroll taxes to cover the payments.
• Social Security remains a difficult issue.

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George H. W. Bush (Sr.) 1989-1993

• Most famous for his foreign policy work and his
  patient diplomacy, building multinational
  coalitions against international bad guys like
  Saddam Hussein.
• Of his foreign policy work he is most famous for
  the Persian Gulf war or Operation Desert Storm
  in 1991.

• Read my LipsNO NEW TAXES!Bush would be forced
  to go back on this campaign pledge to start
  paying off the national debtcombined with 1990
  economic recession gt one term president

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War on Drugs

• During the Bush Administration, the US War on
  Drugs expanded, especially in Latin America.
• Included a December, 1989 invasion of Panama to
  arrest Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega

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William (Bill) Clinton 1993-2001 Domestic
Policy

• Gun Control The Brady Bill Assault Weapons Ban
• Comprehensive gun control laws. The first,
  named for a Reagans aide hurt during the
  assassination attempt, required background
  checks on gun purchasers. The second banned
  the production and sale of some semi-automatic
  firearms to civilians.
• Healthcare
• Clinton would have passed a law that guaranteed
  medical care for all Americans, but it was
  defeated in Congress.
• NAFTA
• North American Free Trade Agreement brought down
  all barriers to trade in North America(US,
  Canada, Mexico))
• Note Scandals in the Clinton White House led to
  a Republican Congressional victory in 1994

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Clinton Foreign Policy

• 1994 (Haiti) US sent troops to Haiti to put the
  democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand
  Aristide back into power after he was overthrown
  by a military dictatorship.
• 1994 (Middle East Peace) Encouraged peace treaty
  between Jordan and Israel and return of home rule
  to Palestinians in the Gaza strip
• 1995 (Bosnia) American troops sent (with NATO
  forces) to stop ethnic cleansing and secure peace
  during a civil war between Serbs, Muslims and
  Croats in what used to be Yugoslavia.
• 1995 Reestablished diplomatic relations with
  Vietnam

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George W. Bush (2001 2009)

• Inaugurated in January, 2001, after a close and
  controversial 2000 Election
• Faced with new realities after the attacks on
  9/11, Bush was left with the task of
  strengthening US National Security against the
  Axis of Evil
• Patriot Act and Department of Homeland Security
  (2001)
• War in Afghanistan and 2nd Iraqi War
• (2001-present) (2003-present)
• Current Economic Downturn (Severe Rececession
  began later in Bushs second term, probably
  costing Republicans the Presidency in 2008 .