The Conservative Tide

1. The Conservative Tide • Ch. 25

2. A Conservative Movement EmergesSec. 1

3. American conservatism had been gaining support since Barry Goldwater’s run for the presidency in 1964. • Many people were questioning the power of the federal government

4. Many Americans resented the cost of entitlementprograms. • These are programs that guaranteed benefits to particular groups. • By 1980, one out of every three households was receiving benefits from government programs. • Americans were unhappy paying taxes to support these benefits.

5. Some people also became frustrated with the government’s civil right’s policies. • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was meant to end racial discrimination. • But over the years, some court decisions extended the act. • Some people opposed laws that increased minority opportunities in employment or education.

6. During the 1970’s, right wing, grass-roots groups emerged to support single issues. • Together, these groups were known as the New Right. • Among the causes they supported were opposition to abortion & school busing, blocking the Equal Rights Amendment, & supporting school prayer

7. Many in the New Right were critical of affirmative action. • This was the policy that required employers to give special consideration to women, African Americans, and other minority groups. • The New Right called this reverse discrimination, discrimination against white people and specifically white men.

8. Right-wing groups tended to vote for the same candidates. These voters formed the conservative coalition. • This was an alliance of some intellectuals, business interests, & unhappy middle-class voters.

9. Members of the conservative coalition shared some basic positions. • They opposed big government, entitlement programs, & many civil rights programs. • They also believed in a return to traditional moral standards.

10. Religious groups, especially Christian fundamentalists, played an important role in the conservative coalition. • Some of these groups were guided by television preachers. • Some of them banded together by television preachers. • Some of them banded together & formed the Moral Majority. It was founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell.

11. The Moral Majority • Interpreted the Bible literally. • Believed in absolute standards of right and wrong. • Criticized a decline in national morality. • Wanted to bring back what they saw as traditional American values.

12. The conservatives found a strong presidential candidate in Ronald Reagan. • Reagan won the 1980 nomination and chose George Bush as his running mate.

13. Reagan had been a movie actor & a spokesman for General Motors • He won political fame with a speech for Barry Goldwater during the 1964 presidential campaign. • In 1966, Reagan was elected governor of California. • He was reelected in 1970.

14. In the 1980 election, Reagan ran on a number of issues…. • Supreme Court decisions on abortion, the teaching of evolution, and prayer in public schools all upset conservative voters. • Reagan also had a strong anticommunist policy

15. Reagan was an extremely effective candidate. • High inflation and the Iranian hostage crisis also helped Reagan. • Reagan easily won the 1980 election. • The election also gave Republicans control of the Senate.

16. 1980 Presidential Election

17. Conservative Policies Under Reagan and Bush • Sec. 2

18. Reaganomics • Reagan tried to reduce the size & power of the federal government. • He wanted to make deep cuts in government spending on social programs. • He convinced Congress to lower taxes. • This approach is called Reaganomics

19. Reaganomics depended on supply-side economics . • This theory said that cutting taxes would motivate people to work, save, and invest. • More investment would create more jobs. • More workers would mean more taxpayers, which would cause government revenues to increase.

20. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) • Reagan also increased military spending. • Between 1981 & 1984, the Defense Department budget almost doubled. • In 1983, Reagan asked the country’s scientists to develop a defense system that would keep Americans safe from enemy missiles. • This system became known as the SDI

21. The economy grew. Interest rates & Inflation rates dropped. • Government revenues, however didn’t increase as much as Reagan had hoped. • So, the federal government ran up huge budgetdeficits. • During the Reagan & Bush years, the size of the government debt more than doubled.

22. FIRST WOMAN APPOINTED SUPREME COURT JUSTICE!!!!! • Reagan nominated Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, & Sandra Day O’Connor to fill seats in the Supreme Court left by retiring judges. • O’Connor was the 1st woman appointed to the Court. • Reagan also nominated Justice William Rehnquist to the position of chief justice

23. President George Bush later made the Court more conservative when he nominated David H. Souter to replace the retiring justice William Brennan. • He also nominated Clarence Thomas to take the place of Thurgood Marshall. • In many decisions, the Court moved away from the more liberal rulings of the previous 40 years. • The Court restricted a woman’s right to an abortion, put limits on civil rights laws, & narrowed the rights of arrested persons.

24. Clarence Thomas

25. Reagan tried to reduce the power of the federal government through deregulation • Reagan removed price controls on oil & gas. • He deregulated the airline industry & ended government regulation of the savings & loan industry.

26. Reagan also reduced environmental regulation. • He cut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). • He ignored requests from Canada to reduce acid rain. • Reagan appointed opponents of environmental regulation to oversee the environment.

28. James Watt, Reagan’s secretary of the interior took many actions that were questioned by environmentalists. • He sold millions of acres of public lands to private developers, allowed drilling for oil & gas in the continental shelf, & encouraged timber cutting in national forests.

29. Conservative Victories in 1984 & 1988!!! • By 1984, Reagan had the support of conservative voters who approved of his polices. • These voters helped Reagan win the 1984 election

30. Reagan defeated Democrat Walter Mondale • Mondale chose Representative Geraldine Ferraro of N.Y. as his running mate. • Ferraro became the first woman on a major party’s presidential ticket.

31. In 1988, Vice-President George Bush ran for the presidency. • He won the Republican nomination. • The Democrats nominated Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.

32. George Bush won the election with 53% of the popular vote & 426 electoral votes.

33. 1988 Election

34. Social Concerns in the 1980’s • Sec. 3

35. A scary health issue that arose in the 1980’s was AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) • The disease is caused by a virus that destroys the immune system that protects people from illness. • Most of the victims of AIDS were either homosexual men or intravenous drug users who shared needles. • Many people also contracted AIDS through contaminated blood transfusions.

36. AIDS began spreading throughout the world possibly as early as the 1960’s • It quickly became an epidemic in the U.S. & threatened much of the public blood supply.

37. Another issue that concerned Americans was abortion. • In the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court said women had the right to have an abortion. • Opponents of legalized abortion described themselves as “pro-life”. • Supporters of legalized abortion called themselves “pro-choice”.

38. Battles over abortion rights often competed for attention w/concerns over rising drug abuse • The Reagan administration declared a war on drugs. • Reagan supported laws to catch drug users & dealers.

39. Education remained an important issue. • In 1983, a report entitled “A Nation at Risk” criticized the nation’s schools. • The report showed that American students’ test scores lagged behind those of students in other nations. • Many people agreed that the nation’s schools were not doing a good job, but they did not agree on solutions.

40. The nation’s cities were also in crisis. • Many poor & homeless people lived in cities. • Budget cuts had eliminated earlier federal programs to aid the cities. • Welfare payments to the poor had not kept up with rising prices.

41. The Equal Rights Struggle • Women continued to try to improve their lives. • Women’s groups were unable to get the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratified. • But more women were elected to Congress.

42. By 1992, nearly 58% of all women had entered the work force. • But women still earned only 76 cents for every dollar a man earned. • New divorce laws & social conditions increased the # of single women heading a household. • Many of these women lived in poverty.

43. Women’s organizations & unions called for payequity. • This was an idea to make sure that women would earn the same pay as men doing the same work. • Under the pay equity system, jobs would be rated according to the skills & responsibilities they required. • Employers would set pay rates to reflect each job’s requirements. • Women also called for benefits to help working mothers.

44. Members of many minority groups achieved greater political power during the 1980’s. • Hundreds of communities had elected African Americans to serve in public offices. • In 1990, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the 1st African-American governor in the U.S.

45. The Reverend Jesse Jackson ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 & in 1988.

46. The income gap, however, between white Americans & African Americans was larger in 1988 than it was in 1968. • In addition, Supreme Court rulings further limited affirmative action.

47. Latinos became the fastest growing minority group during the 1980’s. • Like African Americans, Latinos gained political power during the 1980’s

48. In 1988, President Reagan appointed Lauro Cavazos Secretary of Education.

49. In 1990, President Bush named Dr. Antonia CoelloNovello, to the post of Surgeon General

50. Native Americans faced cuts in federal aid. • Some opened casinos on their reservations to earn $. • Asian Americans made economic advances but did not gain much political power.