Carter and the Reagan Revolution
• Carter was an unusual figure in the
Presidency; Lucky to be elected; eked out a
victory over Gerald Ford—people voted
against Vietnam, Watergate and Nixon to elect
Carter.
• His Christian persona, uncontaminated by
Washington (outsider) made him an interesting
alternative after Watergate;
• Ostensibly a convicted Christian with ethics,
Journalists and policy professionals were
mesmerized by his Judeo-Christian attitude.
• His eccentric family provided plentiful
material for colorful media stories
• Carter struggled to make respect for
human rights central to his foreign policy
• He withdrew American support for the
shah of Iran
• He withdrew American support for the
Nicaraguan dictator Somoza
• He tried to promote lasting peace in the
Middle East. The Camp David Accord
between Israel and Egypt (1978) was his
most important contribution to world
stability.
• He relinquished American control of the
Panama Canal.
• Carter’s economic policies were
hamstrung by an awkward combination
of slow growth and inflation (stagflation).
• The 1979 oil crisis intensified inflation.
• He faced a bruising challenge in the
Democratic Party for the 1980
nomination.
• The Carter administration ended in a
pair of complex foreign-policy crises.
• Iranian revolutionaries seized 71
American diplomats and embassy staff
members in November 1979 and held 52
of them as hostages for 444 days.
• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979)
poisoned the détente atmosphere.
Ronald Reagan
• Reagan’s victory in 1980 indicated a shift
in the Republican Party and the new
energy of the Religious Right.
• The Moral Majority, led by Jerry
Falwell, brought the concerns of
evangelical Christians into the political
arena for the first time since the 1920s.
• The objected to the “permissive society”,
the sexual revolution, feminism, and a
perceived breakdown of the family
• They aimed to restore religion to a
central place in public life.
• Conservative Republicans had gained
control of local party branches since the
Goldwater fiasco of 1964.
• Reagan’s earlier fame, based on his
radio, Hollywood, and television careers,
gave Republican conservatives a
handsome, relaxed, media-savvy
representative.
• Reagan, like Eisenhower, deliberately
gave the impression of being less
politically capable than he, in fact, was.
• Surviving an assassination attempt soon
after his inauguration enhanced his
popularity.
• His persona, as much as his policies,
helped to ensure Reagan's reelection in
1984, especially when the Democrats
pursued controversial policies and
candidates.
• The Democrat’s choice of a female vicepresidential candidate backfired.
• Jesse Jackson’s role in the Democratic
Party contributed to its disarray.
• Reagan abandoned the bipartisan
consensus of recent decades in both
domestic and foreign policy.
• He espoused the supply-side revolution in
economic policy. Tax cuts, providing
entrepreneurial incentives, would increase
economic growth and enhance revenue.
• Reagan abandoned the bipartisan
consensus of recent decades in both
domestic and foreign policy.
• He espoused the supply-side revolution in
economic policy. Tax cuts, providing
entrepreneurial incentives, would
increase economic growth and enhance
revenue.
• The Libertarian side of Republicanism
gained more than the pro-family and
evangelical side, whose policy plans
presupposed more government
intervention and surveillance.
• Reagan, despite his rhetoric, did little to
legislate against abortion or for school
prayers.
• He found it difficult to follow through on
his promise to diminish the reach of the
federal government.
• Rapid military escalation created budget
deficits.
• Ragan’s militant Cold War posture
strained relations with the Soviet Union
and contributed to bitter conflict in Latin
America.
• Reagan’s supported the anti-regime contras
in Nicaragua’s civil war and the pro-U.S
regime in El Salvador.
• The “Star Wars” program prepared to
militarize even beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
• Concessions in the START (Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty) talks augured the Soviet
Union’s internal crisis.
• His “Teflon” image enabled Reagan to
weather even the embarrassing Iran-Contra
scandal of his second term.