The Conservative Era

1
The Conservative Era

• Chapter 30

2
Gerald Ford
3
Fords Presidency

• Domestic Policy
• 1) Pardoning Nixon
• 2) Whip Inflation Now (WIN) fails
• 3) Bicentennial Celebration (1976)

• Foreign Policy
• 1) Fall of Saigon (Vietnam) in 1975
• 2) Genocide in Cambodia (Khmer Rouge)
• 3) Other parts of Asia develop economically and
  resist communism

4
Election of 1976
Ford beat Ronald Reagan (California governor) but
could not compete with Carters reputation as a
political outsider, which helped him after
Watergate
5
Carters Domestic Policy

• Inflation rises to 13, Carters policies do not
  help problem
• Growth slows and unemployment in industries
  occurs (leads to Taxpayers Revolt)
• Three Mile Island (1979) accident with nuclear
  reactor
• Bakke case (reverse discrimination halts civil
  rights progress)

6
Carters Foreign Policy

• Carters Foreign Policy record is mixed
• Human Rights Diplomacy
• Panama Canal Treaty (transfer to Panama)
• Camp David Accords (Israel-Egypt Peace)
• Iran Hostage Crisis (Carter could not free
  hostages considered major failure)
• Soviet Activity SALT II Treaty, Soviet invasion
  of Afghanistan leading to embargo on grain and a
  boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow

7
Carters Foreign Policy
Human Rights Abuses
Camp David Accords
Iran Hostage Crisis
8
Election of 1980
Reagans words of Are you better off now than
you were 4 years ago? and Carters foreign and
domestic problems won him the election Perhaps
more importantly, the House and Senate went
Republican for the first time in half a century,
showing that the Moral Majority was defeating
the New Deal liberalism
9
Reaganomics in the 1980s
Federal Tax Reductions for the wealthy and
trickle-down economics Federal Spending Cuts on
federal programs to make up for the lack of
taxes This Supply-side Economics was meant to
boost private investment in the economy
10
Reagans Domestic Events

• Reduced federal regulations on businesses
  allowing them to invest more (especially savings
  and loans, automobiles)
• Took a tough stand against labor unions (PATCO
  air traffic controllers)
• 1982 Recession (11 unemployment) causes
  deflation (4) and recovers in 1983 but widens
  rich/poor gap
• Appointed conservatives to the court (Sandra Day
  O Connor, Scalia, and Kennedy) and limits to
  affirmative action and Roe v. Wade

11
Foreign Policy under Reagan

• Soviets were Evil Empire and led to SDI,
  Support of contras in Nicaragua and other
  anti-left groups (stopped by Boland Amendment),
  Invasion of Grenada
• Iran-Contra Affair free US hostages and receive
  money in return for military aid money then
  goes to fund the Contras
• Israel invades Lebanon to stop PLO and US sends
  in forces, but the violence causes loss of life
  and peacekeeping attempts fail

12
The Evil Empire Events
Contras in Nicaragua
Palestine Liberation Organization
The SDI and Military
13
Foreign Policy
Iran-Contra Affair
Middle East
14
Election of 1984
Reagan used the return of prosperity and his
widening voter gap of white males (66) to win
the election Mondale and Ferraro (first woman to
run for VP) were easily defeated as liberals
15
Domestic and Foreign Policy in the Second Reagan
Term

• Domestic Policies
• 1) Reagan continued tax cuts and military
  spending, leading to a tripling of national debt
• 2) Tax cuts led to buying of foreign goods,
  trade deficit gets worse
• 3) Gramm Balanced Budget Act provided some cuts
  and less debt, but not enough to stop it

• Foreign Policies
• 1) Gorbachev introduced glasnost (free speech)
  and perestroika (free market)
• 2) INF agreement reduces missiles