History 156 18: The Reagan Revolution?

1. History 156 18: The Reagan Revolution? Born down in a dead man's townThe first kick I took was when I hit the groundYou end up like a dog that's been beat too muchTill you spend half your life just covering upGot in a little hometown jamSo they put a rifle in my handSent me off to a foreign landTo go and kill the yellow manCome back home to the refineryHiring man says "Son if it was up to me"Went down to see my V.A. manHe said "Son, don't you understand"I had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet CongThey're still there, he's all goneHe had a woman he loved in SaigonI got a picture of him in her arms nowDown in the shadow of the penitentiaryOut by the gas fires of the refineryI'm ten years burning down the roadNowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go “Born in the USA,” Bruce Springsteen (1984)

2. Reagan is upstaged by a chimpanzee in a distinctly silly 1951 B-movie comedy, suggesting his acting career may have seen better days

3. Reagan as the host of the GE Theater TV program and the corporation’s public spokesman—his articulation of the generally conservative GE view furthered his transformation from a New Deal liberal Democrat to a Goldwater conservative Republican

4. Reagan’s official painting as the new governor of California in 1967

5. The more things change... Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 Ronald Reagan in 1980 Twenty years before, the Nixon-Kennedy debates highlighted the emerging need for successful political candidates to look and sound good on TV—just like actors. The ultimate realization of this trend was the election of a president who actually was a professional actor.

6. Contrasting personalities and ideologies: The pessimistic stern discipline of Carter versus the undemanding sunny optimism of Reagan

7. Roe v. Wade (1973) • A 7-2 majority ruling struck down state laws that completely prohibited women’s access to abortion • Majority opinion argued this violated a woman’s right to privacy in making this decision in consultation with her doctor • Justice Harry Blackmun, writing for the majority, laid out these guidelines: • First Trimester: States had no compelling reason to interfere with woman’s decision • Second Trimester: States could establish some limits on access to abortion • Third Trimester: States could prohibit abortion except in cases where the mother’s life was threatened

8. The Politics of Abortion • Abortion rights becomes a central issue for the conservative coalition • Social Conservatives • Religious Right, attack for moral reasons and dislike of feminist movement • Political (small-government) Conservatives • Actually decreases government interference in individual lives, so should have supported • Argued it was a case of “judicial activism” that by-passed the democratic process

9. Reaganomics • Rejects Keynesianism in favor of supply side theory: Cut taxes on the rich who will invest more and spur the economy so the wealth will “trickle down” to lower classes • Across the board 25% tax cuts in 1981, though especially benefited the wealthy • Pay $4000 in taxes, save $1000 • Pay $400,000 in taxes, save $100,000 • Also supposed to be large cuts in state welfare system • Cut smaller welfare programs primarily benefiting the very poor like Aid For Dependent Children, Food Stamps, Head Start, school lunches • Did NOT take on the truly expensive middle-class “entitlement programs”: Social Security and Medicare

10. The 1983 Recovery • Reaganomics certainly deserves some credit, as did increase investment • Two other factors equally or more important: • The Decline of OPEC: In 1983, the cartel began to fall apart and world oil prices dropped significantly for the first time since 1973

11. The fracturing of the OPEC cartel in 1983 leads to sharp declines in world oil prices, giving a major boost to the oil-fueled American economy

12. The 1983 Recovery • Reaganomics certainly deserves some credit, as did increase investment • Two other factors equally or more important: • The Decline of OPEC: In 1983, the cartel began to fall apart and world oil prices dropped significantly for the first time since 1973 • Military Keynesianism

13. Reagan’s massive increase in military spending, 1981-1986 (in 2003 $) • Military Keynesianism: • Reagan’s military spending is the largest ever in peace time • Just as with WWII, this huge infusion of federal dollars helps to jump-start the economy and take the US out of the 1970s recession

14. Reagan meets with the dynamic new reform-minded Soviet Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Reykjavik, Iceland, 1986

15. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, an early sign of the disintegration of the old Soviet Empire and the eventual collapse of the USSR in 1991

16. A Reagan Revolution? • Helped end Cold War • Cut federal taxes • But on the other hand: • Increased size of government and government spending • Did not achieve the social conservative revolution

17. Despite his attempts to look coolly liberal on late-night talk shows, Bill Clinton will be a moderate-to-conservative president

18. The inauguration of President Bush, January 2001

19. 2002 political cartoon

20. Questions?

21. Your Final Attendance Quiz: Ronald Reagan: • Once starred in a movie with a chimpanzee named Bonzo • Claimed to have helped film the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp during WWII, although he in fact spent the entire war in California • Often followed the scheduling and political advice of his wife who based her advice on the recommendations of an astrologer • All of the above