2. LEARNING GOAL
CRN BENCHMARK: 14.11.4 P- Explain the rise of the
Conservative Republican movement and evaluate the arguments
about key Constitutional issues it has prompted:
judicial activism
executive power
new federalism
the contest between national security and civil liberties
4. THE TRIUMPH OF CONSERVATISM
President Jimmy Carter's
administration appeared to be
stumped and faltering when it
was unable to control the
rampant inflation or handle
foreign affairs.
It also refused to remove
hampering regulatory controls
from major industries such as
airlines.
5.
6. ENTER: TEDDY
KENNEDY
Late in 1979, Edward
Kennedy ("Ted") declared his
candidacy for the Democratic
nomination for the election
of 1980.
His popularity sputtered and
died when the suspicious
1969 accident in which a
young female passenger
drowned arose.
7. NEW GROUPS EMERGE
New Conservatism New Interest Groups
As the Democrats ducked
out, the Republicans,
realizing that the average
American was older and
more mature than during the
stormy sixties and was
therefore more likely to favor
the right, chose conservative
and former actor Ronald
Reagan, signaling the return
of conservatism.
New groups that later
spearheaded the "new right"
movement included Moral
Majority and other
conservative Christian
groups.
8. THE ELECTION OF RONALD REAGAN,
1980
Ronald Reagan backed a political philosophy that condemned
federal intervention in local affairs, favoritism for minorities, and
the elitism of arrogant bureaucrats.
He drew on the ideas of the "neoconservatives"-supporting free-
market capitalism, questioning liberal welfare programs and
affirmative-action policies, and calling for reassertion of traditional
values of individualism and the centrality of family.
Ronald Reagan won the election of 1980, beating Democratic
president Jimmy Carter.
Electoral vote 489 49
9.
10. THE REAGAN VICTORY
Carter‘s negatives
Iranian hostage crisis
economic ills
Reagan‘s positives win the election
warm telegenic personality
optimistic message
draws Jewish, working class vote
Republicans win majority in the Senate
Coming Home. After more than a
year in capitivity in Iran, these
hostages were released on the very
day of Ronald Reagan‘s presidential
11. THE REGAN REVOLUTION
The Iranian's released the
hostages on Reagan's
Inauguration Day, January
20, 1981, after 444 days of
captivity.
Reagan assembled a
conservative cabinet when
he took office.
Much to the dismay of
environmentalists, James
Watt became the secretary of
the interior.
12. JAMES WATT- SEC. OF THE INTERIOR
1981-1983- FROM TIME MAGAZINE‘S: 10 WORST CABINET
MEMBERS
You can say this for Watt: he was a quote machine.
The Reagan appointee once infamously bifurcated the American people
into "liberals and Americans," made another regrettable quip featuring "a
black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple," and seemed to invoke religion as
justification for his policies.
In a job that requires balancing the protection of natural resources with
harnessing the commercial potential of federal land, Watt was viewed by
many as favoring development over preservation.
Among the acts environmentalists decried: leasing massive tracts of land to
coal-mining companies (the amount quintipled during his tenure) and
opening up large swaths of the outer continental shelf to offshore oil drillers.
Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1858691_1858
13.
14. The Triumph of the Right, 1980. Republican conservatives scored a
double victory in 1980, winning control of both the White House and the
Senate. Aided by conservative Democratic ―boll weeviles‖, they also
dominated the House of Representatives, and a new era of conservatism
dawned in the nation‘s capital.
15. REDUCING GOVERNMENT
A major goal of Reagan was to
reduce the size of the
government by shrinking the
federal budget and cutting
taxes.
He proposed a new federal
budget that called for cuts of $35
billion, mostly in social programs
like food stamps and federally-
funded job-training centers.
16. ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
On March 6, 1981, Reagan was shot.
While leaving a speaking engagement at
the Washington Hilton Hotel in
Washington, D.C., Reagan and three
others were shot and wounded by John
Hinckley, Jr.
Reagan suffered a punctured lung and
heavy internal bleeding, but prompt
medical attention allowed him to recover
quickly.
12 days later, Reagan recovered and
returned to work.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of
insanity and remains confined to a
psychiatric facility.
17.
18. THE BATTLE OF THE BUDGET
With the combination of budgetary
discipline and tax reduction, the "supply-
side" economics would stimulate new
investment, boost productivity, promote
dramatic economic growth, and reduce the
federal deficit.
Supply-Side Economics: argues that
economic growth can be most
effectively created by lowering barriers
for people to produce (supply) goods
and services, such as lowering income
tax and capital gains tax rates, and by
allowing greater flexibility by reducing
regulation. According to supply-side
economics, consumers will then benefit
from a greater supply of goods and
services at lower prices
The second part of Reagan's
economic program called for
tremendous tax cuts,
amounting to 25% across-
the-board reductions over a
period of 3 years.
In August 1981, Congress
approved a set of tax reforms
that lowered individual tax
rates, reduced federal estate
taxes, and created new tax-
free saving plans for small
investors.
19.
20. THE RECESSION OF 1982
The economy slipped into its deepest
recession since the 1930s as
unemployment rose and banks closed.
The anti-inflationary polices that caused the
recession of 1982 had actually been
initiated by the Federal Reserve Board in
1979, during Carter's presidency.
For the first time in the 20th century, income
gaps widened between the rich and the
poor.
Some economists located the sources of
the economic upturn in the massive military
expenditures.
Reagan gave the Pentagon nearly $2 trillion
in the 1980s. He plunged the government
into major deficit that made the New Deal
look cheap.
21. REAGAN RENEWS THE COLD WAR
Reagan's strategy for dealing with the Soviet Union was simple: by
enormously expanding U.S. military capabilities, he could threaten the
Soviets with an expensive new round in the arms race.
The American economy could better bear this new financial burden than
could the Soviet system. In March 1983, Reagan announced his intention
to pursue a high-technology missile-defense system called the Strategic
Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars.
The plan called for orbiting battle satellites in space that could fire laser
beams to vaporize intercontinental missile on liftoff.
In 1983, a Korean passenger airliner was shot down when it flew into
Soviet airspace.
By the end of 1983, all arms-control negotiations were broken, and the
Cold War was intensified.
22.
23.
24. Star Wars Fantasies.
President Reagan‘s
Strategic Defense
Initiative [popularly
known as Star Wars]
evoked extravagant
hopes for an
impermeable defense
shield, but its daunting
physical and
engineering
requirements also
occasioned much
ridicule in the scientific
community.
25. TROUBLES ABROAD
In June 1982, Israel invaded
Lebanon, seeking to destroy
the guerrilla bases from
which Palestinian fighters
attacked Israel.
Reagan sent peacekeeping
troops, but after a suicide
bomber killed 200 marines,
he withdrew the force.
26.
27. CARRIBEAN TROUBLES
In 1979, Reagan sent "military advisors"
to El Salvador to prop up the pro-
American government.
In October 1983, he dispatched a
heavy-fire-power invasion force to the
island of Grenada, where a military
coup had killed the prime minister and
brought Marxists to power.
Overrunning the island and ousting the
insurgents, American troops
demonstrated Reagan's determination
to assert the dominance of the United
States in the Caribbean.
28.
29. ROUND TWO FOR REAGAN
Ronald Reagan overwhelmingly won the election of 1984, beating
Democrat Walter Mondale and his female vice presidential nominee,
Geraldine Ferraro.
Foreign policy issues dominated Reagan's second term.
Mikhail Gorbachev became the chairman of the Soviet Communist party in
March 1985.
Committed to radical reforms in the Soviet Union, he announced two
policies, Glasnost and Perestroika, aimed at ventilating the Soviet society
by introducing free speech and a measure of liberty, and reviving the Soviet
economy by adopting many of the free-market practices, respectively.
The two policies required the Soviet Union to reduce the size of its military
and concentrate aid on the citizens.
This necessitated an end to the Cold War.
In December 1985, Reagan and Gorbachev signed the IFN treaty, banning
all intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. The two leaders
capped their friendship in May 1988 at a final summit in Moscow.
30. GORBACHEV‘S REVOLUTION
GLASNOST PERESTROIKA
―Openness‖
Aimed to introduce free
speech and political liberty to
the Soviet Union
―Restructuring‖
Soviets would move toward
adopting free-market
economies similar to those in
the West
East Meets West. President
Reagan greets Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev at a summit
meeting in Moscow in May
1988
31. FURTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Also, Reagan
supported Corazon
Aquino‘s ousting of Filipino
dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.
He also ordered a lightning
raid on Libya, in 1986, in
retaliation for Libya‘s state-
sponsored terrorist attacks,
and began escorting oil
tankers through the Persian
Gulf during the Iran—Iraq
War.
32. OPERATION EL DORADO CANYON
On April 5, 1986, a bomb exploded in a discotheque in Berlin frequented by
United States service personnel. Of the 200 injured, 63 were American
soldiers; one soldier and one civilian were killed.
On the late evening of 15 April and early morning of 16 April 1986, under the
code name El Dorado Canyon, the United States launched a series of military
air strikes against ground targets inside Libya.
It is the purpose behind the mission…a mission fully consistent with Article 51
of the U.N. Charter
Gadaffi ordering an attack on Americans ―to cause maximum and
indiscriminate casualties.‖ Another communications source, an intercepted
Libyan message outlined the attack being planned in West Berlin
The actual combat commenced at 0200 (local Libyan time), lasted less than
12 minutes, and dropped 60 tons of munitions. Resistance outside the
immediate area of attack was nonexistent, and Libyan air defense aircraft
never launched.
33.
34. THE IRAN-CONTRA IMBROGLIO
Two foreign policy problems arose to Reagan: the continuing
captivity of a number of American hostages seized by Muslim
extremist groups in battered Lebanon; and the continuing grip on
power of the left-wing Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Money from the payment for arms to the Iranians was secretly
diverted to the contras, who fought the Sandinista government,
although it violated a congressional ban on military aid to the
Nicaraguan rebels.
In November 1986, news of the secret dealings broke and ignited a
firestorm of controversy.
Reagan claimed he had no idea of the illicit activities.
Criminal indictments were brought against Oliver North, Admiral
John Poindexter, and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.
The Iran-contra affair cast a shadow over the Reagan record in
foreign policy, tending to obscure the president's achievements in
establishing a new relationship with the Soviets.
35.
36.
37. REAGAN'S ECONOMIC LEGACY
Ronald Reagan had taken office
vowing to stimulate the American
economy by rolling back government
regulations, lowering taxes, and
balancing the budget.
Supply-side economic theory had
promised that lower taxes would
actually increase government revenue
because they would stimulate the
economy as a whole.
The combination of tax reduction and
huge increases in military spending
caused $200 billion in annual
deficits.
The large deficits of the Reagan years
assuredly constituted a great
economic failure.
38. REAGANOMICS
Reaganomics had four
simple principles: Lower
marginal tax rates, less
regulation, restrained
government spending,
noninflationary monetary
policy.
Though Reagan did not
achieve all of his goals, he
made good progress
Reagan‘s deregulation included
industries like railroads, banking,
and airlines. Government
spending was cut, though cuts
were primarily levied at social
programs like education and
welfare.
Deregulation is still a hotly
contested issue among
economists and politicians alike.
Some see benefits to Reagan‘s
path and advocate for privatizing
other industries, while others
believe that Reaganomics
removed safeguards from
industries which increased
corporate greed.
39. By appearing to make new social
spending both practically and
politically impossible for the
foreseeable future, though, the
economic deficits served their
purpose.
• They achieved Reagan's highest
political objective: the
containment of the welfare state.
• In the early 1990s, median
household income actually
declined.
40. LIMITING THE ROLE OF
GOVERNMENT
Environmental regulations relaxed
Attempted cuts in Social Security
Neglect of interest-group opponents
labor hurt in air traffic control firings
lack of support for civil rights legislation
women ignored in judicial appointments
41. THE RICH GROW RICHER
Gains of Reaganomics
inflation reduced to 4%
employment grows after 1982
growth in service sector jobs
Losses of Reaganomics
high-paying manufacturing jobs decline
increasing social inequality
wealthy benefit
poor left in poverty
middle class hurt
43. THE AIDS EPIDEMIC
1981--AIDS first detected
apparent confinement to homosexual men results in early
public inaction
spread to drug users, recipients of blood transfusions
prompts panic
Reagan Administration‘s response
fund research
little funding for education, prevention
1987--appointment of AIDS commissioner
44. THE AIDS EPIDEMIC (2)
1996--500,000 infected
majority homosexuals, drug users
15% heterosexual, non-drug abusers
1996--AIDS death rate begins dropping
new drugs
safer sexual practices
45. THE WAR ON DRUGS
Mid-1980's--crack cocaine introduced
addiction spread through all classes
exploding crime rate
Reagan attempts interdiction of supply
Bush, Clinton continue Reagan policy
At the end of the century there seemed to be no end to the war
on drugs
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51. THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
In 1979, Reverend Jerry
Falwell founded a political
organization called the Moral
Majority.
He preached with great
success against sexual
permissiveness, abortion,
feminism, and the spread of
gay rights.
Collecting millions of dollars
and members, the
organization became an
aggressive political advocate
of conservative causes.
52. The Moral Majority.
Television evangelist
and religious leader the
Reverand Jerry Falwell
mobilized his national
Moral Majority
organization in support
of Ronald Reagan‘s
presidential campaign in
1980 and a conservative
agenda.
53. SANDRA DAY O‘CONNOR
The Supreme Court had
become Reagan's principal
instrument in the "cultural
wars."
By the time he had left office,
Reagan had appointed 3
conservative-minded
judges, including Sandra
Day O'Connor, (September
21, 1981 – January 31, 2006)
the first women to become a
Supreme Court Justice.
54. The Justice Is a
Lady, 1981.
Herblock hails
Sandra Day
O‘Connor‘s
appointment to the
Supreme Court.
55. CONSERVATISM IN THE COURTS
Reaganism rejected two icons of the liberal political culture: affirmative
action and abortion.
Affirmative Action - In two cases in 1989 (Ward's Cove Packing v.
Antonia and Martin v. Wilks), the Court made it more difficult to prove
that an employer practiced racial discrimination in hiring.
Abortion - In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Court had prohibited states from
making laws that interfered with a woman's right to an abortion during the
early months of pregnancy.
In Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989), the Supreme Court
approved a Missouri law that imposed certain restrictions on abortion,
signaling that a state could legislate in an area in which Roe had
previously forbidden them to legislate.
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), the Court ruled that states
could restrict access to abortion as long they did not place an "undue
burden" on the woman.
56. REFERENDUM ON REAGANSIM IN 1988
Corruption in the government gave Democrats political
opportunities. Signs of economic trouble seemed to open more
political opportunities for Democrats as the "twin towers" of
deficits-the federal budget deficit and international trade deficit-
continued to mount.
On "Black Monday," October 19, 1987, the stock market
plunged 508 points-the largest one-day decline in history.
57. REAGAN AND THE COLD WAR
Reagan's role in bringing about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
peaceful end of the Cold War remains exaggerated, manipulated and
misunderstood.
To many of his conservative admirers, the challenge to Gorbachev in
Berlin epitomized the toughness that made Reagan great: by
refusing to compromise his core principles, he defeated communism
and won the Cold War.
Truth: is that Reagan was more adaptable, politically shrewd and
open to compromise than either his champions or his critics prefer to
admit. He may have called the Soviet Union an "evil empire," but he
was not above negotiating with it.
While others saw the enmity between the superpowers as
immutable, he insisted that change was possible. And though today
he is revered by foreign policy hawks, Reagan's greatest successes
were achieved not through the use of force but by persuasion,
dialogue and diplomacy.
61. Launching the "Peaceful Revolution" of 1989
From: Leipzig, Germany
"We had planned everything. We were prepared
for everything. But not for candles and prayers."
Horst Sindermann, former GDR official
Source: The Events in Fall 1989, Nikolaikirche Leipzig
What really brought down the
Wall…
ABOVE: A news photo from the Montagsdemonstration of October 9, 1989.
62. THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
If Gorbachev took down the Wall,"
Reagan told an aide after returning
from Berlin, "he'd win the Nobel
Prize."
Reagan was right. (In 1990,
Gorbachev not only won the Nobel
but was named TIME's Man of the
Decade.)
Neither Gorbachev nor Reagan
was directly responsible for the fall
of the Wall; rather, it collapsed from
its own weight.
Allowing democracy to spread
through Eastern Europe in 1989
was Gorbachev's greatest
accomplishment
63. SUMMARIZER
Create a diagram to explore to effects of ―Reaganomics‖
Include:
Definition of Reaganomics
Short-Term Effects
Long-Term Effects
65. THE ELECTION OF 1988
The Republicans nominated George
Bush for the election of 1988.
Black candidate Jesse Jackson, a
rousing speech-maker who hoped to
forge a "rainbow collation" of minorities
and the disadvantaged, campaigned
energetically, but the Democrats chose
Michael Dukakis.
Despite Reagan's recent problems in
office, George Bush won the election.
Dan Quayle served as the 44th Vice
President of the United States, serving
with President George H. W. Bush
(1989–1993). He served as a U.S.
Representative and U.S. Senator from
the state of Indiana.
66.
67. QUAYLISMS
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.‖
"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a
mother and child.‖
"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is
being very wasteful. How true that is.‖
"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice
president, and that one word is 'to be prepared.'‖
"The future will be better tomorrow.‖
"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our
children.‖
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities
in our air and water that are doing it."
68. WHO IS GEORGE H.W. BUSH?
After receiving an education at
Yale and serving in World War II,
George Bush had gained a
fortune in the oil business in
Texas.
He left the business, though, to
serve in public service.
He served as a congressman
and then held various posts in
several Republican
administrations, including
ambassador to China,
ambassador to the United
Nations, director of the CIA, and
vice president.
69. THE EXPLOSION OF CHINA
In 1989, thousands of
prodemocracy demonstrators
protested in Tiananmen
Square in China.
In June of that year, China's
autocratic rulers grew angry and
brutally crushed the movement.
Tanks and machine gunners
killed hundreds of
protestors. World opinion
condemned the bloody
suppression of the
prodemocracy demonstrators.
70. COMMUNISM TOPPLES
In early 1989, the Solidarity
movement in Poland
toppled the communist
regime. Communist
regimes also collapsed in
Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
East Germany, and
Romania.
In December 1989, the
Berlin Wall came down, and
the two Germanies were
reunited in October 1990.
The end of Communism in
Europe was partly the result
of the ‗glasnost‘ and
‗perestroika‘ reforms which
Gorbachev had introduced to
the USSR from 1985
onwards
The Eastern European states
realized that Gorbachev had
scrapped the Brezhnev
Doctrine: they could do as
they pleased
Poland was the 1st to seize
its opportunity
71. Fallen Idol. Romanians toppled this statue of
Vladimir Lenin in 1990, symbolically marking the
collapse of the Marxian dream that had agitated
the world for more than a century.
72. THE BREZHNEV DOCTRINE
the policy meant that limited independence of communist parties was allowed.
However, no country would be allowed to leave the Warsaw Pact, disturb a
nation's communist party's monopoly on power, or in any way compromise the
cohesiveness of the Eastern bloc.
Implicit in this doctrine was that the leadership of the Soviet Union reserved,
for itself, the right to define "socialism" and "capitalism".
Following the announcement of the Brezhnev Doctrine, numerous treaties
were signed between the Soviet Union and its satellite states to reassert these
points and to further ensure inter-state cooperation.
The principles of the doctrine were so broad that the Soviets even used it to
justify their military intervention in the non-Warsaw Pact nation of Afghanistan
in 1979.
The Brezhnev Doctrine stayed in effect until it was finally ended with the
Soviet non-invasion of Poland during the 1980-1981 crisis and later refusal of
Mikhail Gorbachev to use military force when Poland held free elections in
1989 and Solidarity defeated the Communist Party
73. THE SOVIET UNION FALLS
In August 1991, a military coup attempted to preserve the
communist system by trying to dislodge Gorbachev from
power. With support of Boris Yelstin, the president of the Russian
Republic (one of the several republics that composed the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR), Gorbachev foiled the
plotters.
In December 1991, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president.
He had become a leader without a country as the Soviet Union
dissolved into its component parts, 15 republics loosely
confederated in the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS), with Russia the most powerful state and Yelstin the
dominant leader.
The demise of the Soviet Union finished the Cold War.
74.
75.
76. TERROR IN FORMER SOVIET
LANDS Throughout the former Soviet Union,
waves of nationalistic fervor and long-
suppressed ethnic and racial hatreds
were exposed.
In 1991, the Chechnyan minority tried
to declare its independence from
Russia.
Boris Yelstin was forced to send in
Russian troops.
Ethnic warfare in other communist
countries took place as vicious "ethnic
cleaning" campaigns against minorities
arose.
Western Europe was now threatened
by the social and economic weakness
of the former communist lands.
77. A REVERSE OF FORTUNE
Now that the Soviet Union had
dissolved and there was no
longer a Cold War, America's
economy suffered.
During the Cold War, the U.S.
economy had been dependent
upon defense spending.
Bush raised taxes as a way to
reduce the national budget
deficit.
Bush refused many times but
was making no progress with a
Senate and House that was
controlled by Democrats.
Bush eventually agreed to a
compromise with
Congressional Democrats to
raise several taxes as part of a
1990 budget agreement.
78. DEMOCRACY SPREADS
In 1990, the white regime in
South Africa freed African
leader Nelson Mandela, who
had served 27 years in prison
for conspiring for overthrow the
government.
Four years later, he was elected
as South Africa's president.
In 1990, free elections removed
the leftist Sandinistas in
Nicaragua from power.
In 1992, peace came to El
Salvador.
79. KEY TERMS: APARTHEID
Laws in South Africa that physically
separated different races into different
geographic areas.
system of racial segregation enforced
through legislation by the National Party
(NP) governments, who were the ruling
party from 1948 to 1994, of South Africa,
under which the rights of the majority black
inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed
and white supremacy and Afrikaner minority
rule was maintained.
n 1990 President Frederik
Willem de Klerk began
negotiations to end
apartheid, culminating in
multi-racial democratic
elections in 1994, which
were won by the African
National Congress under
Nelson Mandela.
80. ISRAELI ANALOGIES
Critics of Israeli policy say that "a system of control" in the Israeli-
occupied West Bank, including Jewish-only settlements, separate
roads for Israeli and Palestinian citizens, military checkpoints,
discriminatory marriage law, the West Bank barrier, use of
Palestinians as cheap labour, Palestinian West Bank enclaves,
inequities in infrastructure, legal rights, and access to land and
resources between Palestinians and Israeli residents in the
Israeli-occupied territories resembles some aspects of the South
African apartheid regime
81. THE PERSIAN GULF CRISIS
On August 2, 1990, Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein
invaded Kuwait, seeking oil.
The United Nations Security
Council condemned the
invasion and on August 3,
demanded the immediate
withdrawal of Iraq's troops.
After Hussein refused to
comply by the mandatory date
of January 15, 1991, the
United States spearheaded a
massive international military
deployment, sending 539,000
troops to the Persian Gulf
region.
82. FIGHTING "OPERATION DESERT
STORM" On January 16, 1991, the U.S.
and the U.N. launched a 37-day
air war against Iraq.
Allied commander, American
general Norman Schwarzkopf,
planned to soften the Iraqis with
relentless bombing and then
send in waves of ground troops
and armor.
On February 23, the land war,
"Operation Desert Storm,"
began.
Lasting only 4 days, Saddam
Hussein was forced to sign a
cease-fire on February 27.
The war had failed to dislodge
Saddam Hussein from power
83.
84. The Highway of Death. The allied coalition
wreaked gruesome destruction on Iraqi
forces, fleeing back to Iraq after their defeat
in Kuwait in 1991.
85.
86. BUSH ON THE HOME FRONT
President Bush signed the
Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA) in 1990, prohibiting
discrimination against citizens
with physical or mental
disabilities.
In 1992, he signed a major
water projects bill that
reformed the distribution of
subsidized federal water in the
West.
In 1990, Bush's Department of
Education challenged the
legality of college scholarships
targeted for racial minorities.
87. President George H.W. Bush
Signs the Americans with
Disabilities Act on the South
Lawn of the White House,
July 26th, 1990.
88. CLARENCE THOMAS & SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
In 1991, Bush proposed
Clarence Thomas (a Black
man) to fill in the vacant seat
left by retiring Thurgood
Marshall (the first Black
Supreme Court justice), but
this choice was opposed by
the NAACP since Thomas
was a conservative and by
the National Organization for
Women (NOW), since
Thomas was supposedly
pro-life.
89. SEX, LIES AND POLITICS
In early October 1991, Anita
Hill charged Thomas with
sexual harassment, and even
though Thomas was still
selected to be on the Court,
Hill‘s case publicized sexual
harassment and tightened
tolerance of it (Oregon‘s
Senator Robert Packwood
had to step down in 1995
after a case of sexual
harassment).
90.
91. BUSH AND THE ECONOMY
In 1992, the economy stalled, and Bush was forced to break an
explicit campaign promise (―Read my lips, no new taxes‖) and add
$133 billion worth of new taxes to try to curb the $250 billion
annual budget.
When it was revealed that many House members had written bad
checks from a private House ―bank,‖ public confidence lessened
even more.
By 1992, the unemployment rate had exceeded 7%,
and the federal budget deficit continued to grow.
92. SUMMARIZER
Why did President Reagan and President Bush think it was
important to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court?
What factors caused the end of the Cold War?
