I.
II.
III.
IV.
Unit V-The 1980’s
Ronald Wilson Reagan (1981-1989) Republican-California
a. Born-Tampico, Illinois-Actor??
b. Political Career-President of Screen Actors Guild, Governor of California (1967-1975)
c. Health Problems, Jellybeans, and Vacations?
d. Election of 1980 vs. Jimmy Carter (D), John Anderson (I)
e. Teflon President, Executive Style President, ABC (Anything But Carter) Movement
First Term of Ronald Reagan
a. Ultimate Republican (Reaganomics)
i. Lower taxes-25% in his 1st 3 Years (3 Phases)
1. July 29, 1981-Lowers Taxes by $750 Billion
2. July 18, 1984-Deficit Reduction Act-Raises taxes by $50 Billion, cut spending by
$30 Billion
ii. Decrease Federal Regulation-Television, Radio, Banking, Stock Market, etc.
iii. Cut Social Programs-Food Stamps & CETA-Competitive Employees and Training Act
iv. Increase Defense Spending-1983, 20% of Nation’s Production
b. End of the Iran Hostage Crisis (January 20, 1981)
c. Military Buildup & Strategic Defense Initiative-$26 Billion in 1st 5 Years (Star Wars)
d. Air Traffic Controllers Strike (August 5, 1981)- 11,359 fired!!
e. Sandra Day O’Connor appointed to the Supreme Court-September 25, 1981
f. US States fail to pass Equal Rights Amendment-June 30, 1982
g. Dr. Robert Gallo finds HIV Virus causes AIDS-April 23, 1984
h. Terrorism Around the World
i. Lebanon
1. April 18, 1983-car bombing of US Embassy-16 US Dead
2. October 23, 1983-truck bombing of Marine Barracks-241 Dead
3. February 7, 1984-Marines ordered out of Lebanon
ii. Achille Lauro-October 7, 1985-1 Dead, Mediterranean Sea
iii. West Berlin Bombing-April 5, 1986-1 Dead, 50 wounded
iv. Pan Am Flight 103-December 21, 1988-269 Killed-Lockerbie Scotland
i. Dealings with USSR-“The Evil Empire”
i. Reagan Doctrine (1985)
ii. South Korean Airlines KAL 007-September 1, 1983
iii. Grenada Invasion-October 25, 1983-Operation Urgent Fury-overthrow by pro-Marxists?
iv. Nuclear Weapons to Germany/England-1984
v. Soviets Boycott 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles
1984 Election-Defeated Walter Mondale (525-13)-Worst Defeat Ever!!!
Second Term of Ronald Reagan
a. Dealings with USSR-End of the Cold War-Mikhail Gorbachev-Glasnost and Perestroika
i. Geneva-November 19-21, 1985
ii. Reykjavik (1986)
iii. Berlin-1986-“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down this wall!”
iv. INF Treaty-Washington (1987)-Removal of Intermediate missiles from Europe!
v. USSR withdrawal from Afghanistan-April 14, 1988
b. Domestic Actions + Economic Problems
i. Gramm-Rudman Bill-Dec. 12, 1985-End Budget deficit by 1991- to be $155 Billion in 1988
ii. Challenger Explodes 74 seconds after liftoff-June 28, 1986-7 Dead
iii. Tax Reform Act-October 22, 1986-Lowers taxes for everyone, top went from 50% to 29%
iv. Immigration Reform Act-November 6, 1986-prohibits employers from hiring illegal aliens
v. Savings and Loan Scandal-January-June 1987
vi. Stock Market Crash-October 19, 1987-Black Monday-stocks fell by 509 points-$1 Trillion
vii. Anti-Drug Abuse Act-Nov. 18, 1988-Death penalty for drug murders, $10,000 fine for poss..
viii. Deficits and National Debt-why didn’t it work?
c. Iran-Contra Affair
i. Contra
1. Sandanista Govt. overthrows Somoza Govt.
2. Reagan Supports Contras (Somoza’s Former Army/Police)
3. Boland Amendment-December 12, 1983
4. Nicaragua has become a “Communist Totalitarian State”-March 1, 1985
5. Lt. Col. Oliver North + NSA Admiral John Poindexter
ii. Iran
1. American hostages held by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon-November 4, 1986
2. White House sells 526 Anti-tank missiles to Iran through Israel
3. Israel sent $30 Million to Contras
4. Fallout of Iran-Contra
d. Evaluation of the Reagan Presidency
V.
VI.
George Herbert Walker Bush (1989-1993) Republican-Texas
a. Born Milton, Massachusetts-WWII, Yale, Oilman
b. Wimp Factor and “Read my Lips, No New Taxes!”
George H. W. Bush Foreign Policy
i. China-Tiananmen Square-June 3, 1989-no military sales + no loans to China-later broken?
ii. Freedoms in Poland-Solidarity-Lech Walesa, 1989
iii. The rest of Eastern Europe-Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, etc
iv. Fall of the Berlin Wall-November 9, 1989-biggest street party in world history-Helmut Kohl
v. USSR-Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin
1. Conventional Forces in Europe (1990)
2. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I)-limits nukes to 8000
vi. Commonwealth of Independent States-Breakup of USSR-Boris Yeltsin-December 25, 1991
vii. Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II (START II)-January 3, 1993-limits nukes to 3000
viii. End of the Cold War-February 1, 1992
ix. Panama-Manuel Noriega-Operation Just Cause-December 20, 1989-13,000 US Troops
x. Persian Gulf War-(January 17-February 27, 1991)
1. Iraq invades Kuwait-August 2, 1990
2. Operation Desert Shield-Until January 15, 1991
3. Operation Desert Storm-(January 17, 1991)-General Norman Schwarzkopf
xi. Somalia-Operation Restore Hope-28,000 troops to help starvation
b. Domestic Policy
i. Exxon Valdez Oil Spill-March 24, 1989-730 miles of coastline, 240,000 barrels of oil
ii. Americans with Disabilities Act-July 26, 1990
iii. Bush raises taxes by $140 Billion-November 5, 1990-reduces federal budget by $492 Billion
iv. Clean Air Act of 1990-November 15, 1990-limits the amount of pollutants in air-CFC’s
v. Recession of 1990-Causes???-$4 Trillion National Debt
vi. Rodney King Beating-April 29, 1992-Riots in Los Angeles-30 Dead, 1000’s injured
vii. Planned Parenthood v. Casey-July 29, 1992-reaffirms state’s right to regulate abortions
viii. NAFTA passed-December 17, 1992-world’s largest free trading bloc-US, Mexico, Canada