1. The “Age of Limits” to
the “Age of Reagan”
Luis Reyes
Brian Youn
Cristian Sanchez
A.P. U.S. History, p/3

2. P o lit ic s a n d D ip lo m a c y
A fte r Wa te rg a te

3. Ford Custodianship
 After Watergate-Gerald Ford-next president
 Ford later pardoned Nixon for the scandals, which led to his declining
popularity.
 Ford unable to lesson or maintain inflation, and he face many
obstacles, such as recession in 1974 and 1975, as well as energy crisis.
 Henry Kissinger still the secretary of state and helped with the
development of the treaty in the Middle East where Israel promised to
give back sections of the Sinai to the Egyptians.
 1974-Ford met with Leonid Brezhnev in Siberia for SALT II
 For the presidential election of 1976, Ford lost to Democratic candidate
Jimmy Carter.

4. Human Rights and National Interests
 Jimmy Carter put large importance in the defense of human rights in
foreign countries.
 Due to his efforts, Panama was able to gain control over the Panama
Canal.
 Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem
Besin were invited to attend a conference at Camp David in September of
1978.
 Sadat and Begin went to the White House on March 26, 1979 to sign an
Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty-the Camp David accords.
 Formal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China resumed on
December 15, 1978 due to the efforts of Carter and Deng Xiaoping.
 Carter later met with Brezhnev for SALT II, but this faced much opposition
from American conservatives.

5. The Trials of Jimmy Carter
 During Carter administration-many economic and diplomatic difficulties.
 Congress rejected much of his legislative proposals, especially those of the
tax and welfare systems.
 During this time, unemployment lessened, but inflation rapidly increased.
 G. William Miller and Paul Volcker-leaders of the Federal Reserve Board.
 1979-substantial fuel shortage due to issues in the Middle East.
 Ten days after he went to Camp David, Carter gave a television speech
known as the “malaise” speech.
 Carter then fired multiple officials of his cabinet.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IlRVy7oZ58

6. The Year of the Hostages
 Starting in the 1950s-U.S. gave much support to the Shah of Iran.
 Shah’s authoritarian style of rule led to much opposition from
Iranians by 1979.
 This resulted in a revolution, and the Shah fled Iran in January of
1979.
 By 1979-necessary for U.S. to end support to Iran.
 New leader of Iran: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
 November 4-mob terrorized the American embassy in Teheran and
took hostage the diplomats and military personnel that were in the
embassy.

7. Continue
 These 53 American hostage would only be freed if the Shah
returned to Iran.
 These American were not freed until over a year had past.
 December 27, 1979-Invasion of Soviet Union in
Afghanistan.
 As a result of this, Carter imposed laws that would be an
economic disadvantage for the Soviets, as well as the boycott
of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
 SALT II would also be removed from the future
consideration of the Senate.
 This contributed to Carter’s declining popularity.

8. T h e R is e o f t h e
A me r ic a n R ig h t

9. The Sunbelt
 “Sunbelt”-Kevin Philips (political analyst)-areas of the
Southeast and Southwest, especially California.
1964-California-largest population in the nation.
 Sunbelt received much economic attention.
 Parts of the South and West-opposed to the expansion and
regulations of the government.
 Sagebush Rebellion-opposition to environmental restrictions
and the amount of landownership by the government.
 The Suburbs appealed to many conservatives and to many
people who were looking to live a sable life away from the cities.

10. Religious Politics
 During the 1960s-people believed that religious influence in America
was dwindling.
 There was still a large religious revival that started in the 1970s.
 Church of Scientology and the Unification Church of the Reverend Sun
Myung Moon.
 Unlike before WWII, Christian evangelicals were highly connected to
various forms of mass media and culture.
 Many evangelicals advocated for traditional values and were opposed
to modern movements, such as feminism.
 Jerry Falwell-Moral Majority
 Pat Robertson-Christian Coalition-1990s.
 Controversial issues such as Roe v. Wade united many different faiths in
opposition.

11. New Right
 The New Right was a diverse and powerful movement that occurred in
the 1970’s and 1980’s, which came after the defeat of Republican
candidate Barry Goldwater in the election of 1964; therefore a change
was brought up by conservative communications and fund-raising
organization, which made conservatives much more organized.
Citizens tax revolt, lead by Howard Jarvis, a conservative activist, lead to
the development of Proposition 13.
Reagan became leader of an affluent group of conservatives.
+ President of the Screen Actors Guild.
+ Spokesman for General Motors.
Through the help of a group of wealthy conservatives, Reagan became
Governor of California.
There were many opposing President Carter due to the energy crisis and
the year of the hostages.
Conservative Republicans were winning greater incentive over liberal
Republicans
+ President Ford decision managed to salvage his position for the
Republican Primaries, by dropping his Vice- President Nelson
Rockefeller.

12. The Campaign of the 1980

13. Popular Vote: Popular Vote: Popular Vote:
43,901,812 35,483,820 5,719,722
Electoral Electoral Electoral
Vote: 489 Vote: 49 Vote: -
(Republicans Lost Lost
rule!!)

14. The “Reagan
Revolution”

15. The Presidency of Ronald Reagan
 Reagan success came from:
 A coalition of neo-conservatives, who pushed for maintenance of western
democracy, and a corporate conservatives, who wanted to maintain capitalism,
remained united throughout Reagan’s presidency, which helped Reagan maintain unity
and strengthen the New Right.
 He was a great public image on the television, and he retained a positive and
energetic nature, which made him admired among fellow Americans.
 The “Reaganomics” was an economic system created by the Reagan Administration:
+ It succeeded in getting congressional approval for a $40 Billion budget reduction
in the federal government’s spending.
+ Led to the deregulation of many federal groups and programs including the:
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department
- The Department of Transportation
+ The economy grew substantially.
+ Unemployment fell 8.2% by 1983
+ Inflation fell by 5%
+ The gross national product grew 3.6% in a year

16. The Fiscal Crisis
 Reagan presided over record budget deficit, where the administration
accumulated the largest amount of debt in the history of the United States.
 The tax cuts in 1981 were the largest in American history, which increased
the national deficit.
 Military spending increased the federal budget than its cuts in domestic
spending.
 To answer to the fiscal crisis, there were cuts in the Food Stamp Program,
Medicare, and Medicaid; there was also a reduction in educational programs.
 Though the deficits continued to increase, the administration’s answer to
the fiscal crisis was further cuts in “discretionary” domestic spending, which
included many programs aimed at the poorest Americans.

17. Reagan and the World
 Reagan began to oppose Communism, by assisting different nations
with internal affairs. Examples: Honduras, El Salvador, Grenada, and etc.
 Reagan developed the Strategic Defense Initiative, which were lasers
and satellite that provide an effective against possible missile threats
from any nations (“Star Wars”).
 The Cold War grew in intensity, which called for an end to nuclear
weapons buildup, which resulted in an agreement between the two
superpowers to their expansion on atomic arsenal.
 Crisis in Lebanon increased, and Reagan send American Marines,
where there was a bomb in the barracks in Beirut that killed 241 troops
dead, then troops were withdrawn.

19. Presidential Elections: 1984

20. A m e r ic a n a nd the
W a n in g o f t h e C o ld
Wa r

21. The Fall of the Soviet Union
 Mikhail Gorbachev strived to drastically change Soviet politics by
implementing two initiatives.
-The first was called glasnost(openness): which worked to remove the
repressive function of Soviet life that had existed for more then half a century.
-The second was called perestroika(reform): this worked to rebuild the
unstable Soviet economy by implementing capitalism, private ownership, and
profit motive.
 Gorbachev decided to reduce Soviet influence around the world (mostly in
Europe), as it was unable to maintain it because of its unstable economy and in
1989 many communist states in Europe overthrew the communist governments
or forced it to reform.
- Not all challenges to overthrow communism succeeded as in China
many demonstrators were massacre in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
 The Soviet Union already deteriorating received the final blow when a coup
d'état occurred but failed because of public opposition, and confusion within the
military.
- Many sections of the Soviet Union declared independence, and
Gorbachev resigned so the Soviet Union cease to exist with no power.

22. Reagan and Gorbachev
 Reagan was dubious of Gorbachev at first but as he ascertained
that his genuine intention was to strive for reform within the Soviet
Union.
 Gorbachev and Reagan met in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986
discussed on reducing nuclear arsenals on both sides but, were
unable to reach an agreement because of the SDI program.
 After both Reagan and Gorbachev visited each others capitals
they came to an agreement on eliminating the intermediate-range
nuclear forces (INF) from Europe by signing a treaty.
- This was the most significant arms control agreement of
the nuclear age.

23. The Fading of the Reagan Revolution
 There were many rumors of illegalities, corruption, and ethical lapses in the
Environmental Protection, the CIA, the Department of Defense, the
Department of Labor, the Department of Justice, and the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
 On November 1986 the Reagan Administration took a fatal blow when the
White House admitted that it had sold weapons to the revolutionary
government of Iran in exchange for American POW(prisoners of war)
 Another scandal that followed was that the money gained from the
weapons sold was used to fund contras in Nicaragua.
 The scandals continued for months and the aggressive reports and
publications further exposed the illegal covert activities of the government,
the series of scandals became known as the Iran-contra scandal, and this
politically damaged Reagan for good.

24. Presidential Election of 1988

25. The Bush Presidency
Bush like Reagan worked together with Gorbachev cautiously to help reform the Soviet
Union, and came to many agreements.
Three years after the INF demolishment treaty both sides once again reduced their arms.
The Bush administration had a difficult time as they received a debt and a federal deficit.
 Bush during his campaign promised that he would not make new taxes and that he would
also reduce the deficit, these conflicted with each other as he could not reduce the deficit
without taxes.
 Bush fell under heavy pressure from Congress and the White House and eventually broke
his pledge of “no new taxes” as he significantly increased taxes as a multiyear “budget
package” designed to reduce the deficit.
 The greatest domestic problem facing the Bush administration was a recession caused by
the grandiose amount of debt left by companies and individuals causing them to go bankrupt.
The recession also reached the middle class and put them in constant fear and frustration
because of the many problems like rising cost of health care.

26. The First Gulf War
Through the events that occurred during 1989-1991 the United States was in
the position of being the only true superpower as the Soviet Union and its
malignant influence dissipated along with it.
The Bush administration choose two initiatives as the superpower, one was
to reduce military strength and in focus on domestic affairs and the other was
to use force to defend its regional and economic interests.
 The Bush administration took action in 1989 when it attacked Panama
(Operation Just Cause), and overthrew the current leader Manuel Noriega.
On August 2, 1990 following order from Saddam Hussein, Iraqi forces attacked
and annexed Kuwait (oil-rich neighbor), and occupied it for seven months.
 The Bush administration accepted the responsibilities of leading the
campaign to force Iraq out, and Bush managed to persuade most of the major
nations (Soviet Union, most Arab and Islamic States) to help his cause.

27. Continue…
 On November 29 the United Nations along with
its allies formed 690,000 troops ready to invade
Kuwait if Iraq had not left the country by
January 15 1991; they didn’t and got bombarded
for 6 straight weeks.
 Iraq suffering more than 100,000 casualties
surrendered and accepted the Allies terms
causing the Gulf War to end; America suffered
141 fatalities.

28. The Presidential Election: 1992

29. The End