80

Grassroots Movement

Began with Barry Goldwater in 1964

Appeals to Protestant morality, individualism, distrust of federal government to solve problems in the country

Former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan elected California governor in 1966

Phyllis Schlafly led conservative women opposing Equal Rights Amendment

Nixon Courts the Right

Trade unions oppose affirmative action - Nixon courts the white working class

1971 - Supreme Court authorizes busing to integrate schools

Nixon's Southern Strategy ends Democratic hold on "Solid South"

Watergate

Hearings broadcast on television - consumes the nation

Nixon resigns in 1974

https://www.pbs.org/video/newshour-look-back-senate-watergate-hearings/

Oil Crisis

Industrial development in post-war allies led to strong world wide economic recovery

1971 - for the first time in 20th century, the US imported more than it exported

1973 - October War with Israel - Arab nations embaro oil - price of gas goes up 4x

Social Contract?

Economic decline breaks down the post-war social contract

Manufacturing jobs declined due to automation and outsourcing

Low wages, anti-union right-to-work laws

Ford Presidency

House minority leader from Michigan - Gerald Ford becomes president after Nixon resigned

Congress tried to curtail power of the executive branch, investigated FBI and CIA

Democrats nominate Georgia governor Jimmy Carter forr president in 1976

Jimmy Carter

Carter called for a government as good as its people

Civil rights leader Andrew Young named UN Ambassador

Human rights foreign policy

Camp David Accord - peace between Israel and Egypt

1977 - treaty to return Panama Canal to Panama

Economy

Stagflation - high inflation along with rising unemployment

Another gas shortage in 1979

End of Detente

Communist revolution in Nicaragua

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Islamic revolution in Iran - led to hostage crisis

The New Right

Reagan ran as a conservative, governed as a pragmatist, worked with Congressional Democrats

"New Right" - free market advocates, militant anti-Communists, fundamental Christians, white Southerners, working class Democrats

Reagan increased military spending, gave tax cuts to the upper classes

Moral Majority founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell

Free Enterprise

"Supply side" economics, tax cuts

Kept majority of welfare state intact - major increases to defense spending

National debt tripled to $2.3 billion

Fired air traffic controllers union

1984 Election

Improved economy led to a landslide victory for Reagan

After the defeat, Democrats began considering moving to the right

Inequality

New economy of finance, insurance, real estate driven by speculation

Popular culture celebrated making money, displaying wealth

West German and Japanese corporations overtook US in steel, cars, electronics

13.5% Americans living in poverty - highest in the developed world

War on Drugs

First Lady Nancy Reagan began "Just Say No" campaign in 1982

Cocaine became a glamor drug for celebrities

Crack cocaine epidemic led to rise of gangs and militarization of police forces

50k in prison for drugs in 1980 - 400k by 1997

Interventions

Reagan funded new bombers, missiles and a larger navy

Strategic Defense Initiative - "Star Wars" - lasers to destroy enemy missiles

Cold War strategy unprepared for growing threat of terrorism

Secretly aided Contras in Nicaragua against Sandinistas

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/from-the-archives-1983-beirut-marine-barracks-bombing/

Iran Contra Scandal

Congress prohibited continued funding of Contras - administration continued to provide weapons and training

White House officials and CIA secretly sell arms to Iran to release American hostages in Lebanon - money went to Contras

Televised hearings revealed violations of law

11 people convicted of perjury - Reagan denied involvement

Thaw in Soviet-American Relations

Iran Contra scandal overshadowed by reduction in Cold War tensions

Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 - tried to revitalized sagging Soviet economy

Gorbachev and Reagan meet four times between 1985-88

By 1987 - nuclear arms agreement, Soviets withdraw troops from Afghanistan, settlement in Angola

Election of 1988

Vice President George H.W. Bush defeats Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis

Dukakis runs as centrist against Jessie Jackson