Term
| Conservative Transformation |
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Definition
| In the 1980s the Republican Party was firmly in control of the government. They looked to scale back the social welfare state. |
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| New Political Age.. Art Porn |
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| Conservation had new support to a backlash of the 1960s and the Vietnam War. Conservatives were pushed to the limit size of the government, reduced the tax burden, and cut back on regulations on business. They said that it would lead to individual initiative, and private enterprise. Some of the early leaders were Milton Freidman, an economist who promoted free play of the market forces, and Jesse Helms, an NC senator who attacked forms of art as pornographic. The Moral Majority was also formed during this time. They were led by Reverend Jerry Falwell of Virginia. This group was worried about what they saw as an eroding society, and raised huge sums of money to support their cause and political candidates. Conservatives led the way by using TV to get their message across, and attacked opponents on a number of issues. |
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Term
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| Ronald Reagan led the conservatives. In 1966 the Governor of California ran against Carter in the 1980 election and had a landslide victory gathering 51% of the popular vote. The Republican also got the control of the Senate. He ran again in 1984 against Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and won easily. Reagan was a very gifted speaker and was very popular. He was the oldest person ever elected and this hurt him at times. He often drifted off at meetings and delegated a lot of power. He also had corruption in his administration. In 1988 his VP George Bush ran for president and he defeated Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts. The Democratic party regained the Senate and controlled both houses. |
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| Reagan introduced supplied side economics, a reduction of taxes to encourage business expansion. This came to be called "Reaganomocis." In October 1981 there was a 5% tax cut, and there was a 10% tax cut in 1982 and 1983. This drove up the national debt. In 1980 it was 914 billion and in 1990 it was 3.1 trillion. Richest Americans benefited the most with their taxes going from 70% to 33%. Reagan also cut back on all regulation groups like the EPA and OSHA. Reagan also believed in massive military spending, which was half a million dollars per minute. To pay for this he looked to make cuts in social programs. Reagan introduced "New Federalism" a program to shift more responsibility to the states. This came close to bankrupting a number of states as federal money was cut from programs were still expected to be carried out. Reagan's social issues promoted prayer in public school and was anti-abortion. |
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| George Bush, Reagan's VP, followed him as president. He continued a number of Reagan's policies. During the election he said, "Read my lips. No new taxes." He went against this pledge to try to bring the debt under control. Bush ran into a number of problems from the Reagan administration. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Savings and Loan Associations caused a number of problems. Congress had to bail out the savings and loans with 250 billion dollars. The lasting legacy of these two presidents was a gap between rich and poor. |
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| This gap between rich and poor led to a huge race riot in 1992 in LA. This riot was also in response to police beating of Rodney King. 51 were killed, 2,000 were injured, and there was 1 billion dollars in damage. |
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| The 1980s and 1990s saw the economy go from boom to bust and back again. |
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| The economy shifted from a manufacturing to a service industry. By the mid- 1980s three fourths of all the workers were in the service industry. The U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s was not investing in U.S. industries. Instead they were speculating about foreign business. The steel and auto industry was the best example of this decline. In 1946 the U.S. provided 60% of world steel and in 1978 it was 16%. Ford lost 2.3 billion dollars in 1991. |
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Term
| Transition of the Workers |
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Definition
| Workers had to transition from production jobs to service jobs. For many this was hard and meant a much lower paying job. Union membership also declined during this era. The country also became more anti-union and President Reagan fired air-traffic controls and replaced all of them when they went on strike. Union had to make concessions to continue to hold jobs. Often the workers took less money and workers were cut back. Farm workers also continued to decrease. Many family farms were replaced by corporate farms during this era. U.S. farms were producing more, but were hit hard by the global economic downturn of the 1980s. |
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| The 1980s and 1990s was a time of boom and bust. Unemployment was anywhere from 5.6% to 10.8%. Inflation was also a common problem during these years. Business bankruptcies also become a problem. Detroit was one of the hardest hit cities with unemployment reaching 19%. The stock market was affected with a crash and in 1987 with a 22.6% fall. This was twice the level of the crash that led to the Great Depression. |
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Term
| Demographic Transformation |
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Definition
| The overall numbers were up in the 1980s and 1990s, but the rate of increase was down. In 1992 25% of the population was either black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. |
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| White families continued to move to the suburbs. The minority groups continued to stay in the cities. These groups of people had the lowest paying jobs and tended to be the poorest of all citizens. |
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| A fifth of the nations population growth was from immigration. 40% were from Asia and another 40% from Latin America. Many were fleeing their homeland. Vietnam, Cuba, and Haiti produced some of the largest number of immigrants. A few different immigration acts were passed to try and control illegal immigration and make an easier process. |
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| The birth rate went up slightly in the late 1980s and 1990s. Family dynamics changed, as divorce rates skyrocketed close to 50%. Single family homes reached a new high point at 25%. |
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| Elderly people made up the fast growing age group in America. Their population tripled. The country rose the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 70. There was also a concern about Social Security and the program had to be changed for it to survive. |
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| College students were more numerous than ever before. Many students focused on business careers and making money. When they graduated from school and became young urban professionals or "yuppies" who devoted themselves upward mobility and material goods. |
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| Communism fell apart in the Soviet Union and the U.S. was the winner of the Cold War. The Middle East also changed and South Africa ended the Apartheid. The U.S. had to adjust to all of these changes. |
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| Reagan wanted the Soviet Union to fall apart and he thought by getting them involved in arms race would destroy the USSR. The U.S. put more missiles in Europe and the budgets for defense skyrocketed in both countries. Reagan then purposed the Strategic Defense Initiative to intercept a Soviet attack. The new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wanted to lessen the tension between the U.S. and USSR. He wanted to start the new policies of perestroika and glasnost. He met with both Reagan and Bush and signed a number of treaties to limit arms. Shortly after, a number of small Soviet republics gained independence and the Soviet Union collapsed. Boris Yeltsin became the leader of Russia and looked to make an even stronger relationship with the United States. In November of 1988 East Germany allowed people to leave the country and shortly after the Berlin Wall was starting to be taken down. By October 1990 Germany was one whole country again. Lech Walesa led the Solidarity movement in Poland and eventually freed them. Some area, like Yugoslavia, saw a lot of racial tension and war broke out, as a result of a breakup. Muslims and Croatians had ethic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
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| In 1978 Israel invaded Lebanon to try to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization. The U.S. sent troops to stop the fighting and an American barracks was bombed, killing 241 servicemen. The U.S. helped to negotiate a peace treaty. In August of 1990 Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded Kuwait. The UN condemned the invasion and imposed sanctions on Iraq. In mid January 1991 a 28 nation alliance struck Iraq in Operation Desert Storm. The forces quickly routed the Iraqis, but Bush was unwilling to go to Iraq and take down Saddam. He retained power and was as strong as ever in a few years. |
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| El Salvador was the first battleground. U.S. poured in tons of money to try to get a pro-U.S. regime in power. Nicaragua was next, and the U.S. supplied Contras with money and weapons, which violated the U.S. neutrality in the region. Congress found out about the secret missions and cut off all aid to Contras. This led to the Iran-Contra affair. In 1987 the National Security Council had launched a plan to free American hostages in the Middle East by selling weapons to Iran and then using that money to aid the Contras. This was against the law and Oliver North, the head of the Security Council, was held responsible. But he only received a very light punishment and no one else was punished. The U.S. also got involved in Grenada and Panama to protect the U.S. interest. |
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| South Africa and My Man Mandela |
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Definition
| South Africa had been ruled by a policy of apartheid for a number of years. The white minority was about 15% and controlled the entire country. The U.S. started talks to try and get change. In 1986 they imposed economic sanctions. A new President F.W. DeKlerk freed Nelson Mandela and started the process towards integration. Mandela became the first black elected to rule South Africa. |
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| I did not have sexual relations with that woman! |
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Definition
| This was a three way race between Republican Bush, Democrat Clinton, and independent Ross Perot. The nation was extremely unhappy with the country. The deficit and health care costs led the way. T.V. again played a large role, as the candidates used this to gain support from the voters. Clinton won and the Democrats gained control of both houses of congress. |
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