27 Reagan's America
27-1 Reagan's Domestic Politics
Comfortably Conservative
Deregulation
Judicial and Administrative Appointments
27-2 America in the 1980s: Polarization of the American Public
Divisions in Wealth
Continued Crisis in the Cities
Culture Wars
AIDS
27-3 Paying for the Reagan Revolution
The 1988 Election
Bush's Domestic Policies
27-4 Foreign Relations Under Reagan-Bush
The End of the Cold War Era
Other Foreign Affairs
28 America in the Information Age
28-1 The New Political Center
The Fall of Bush
The Rise of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, Free Trader
Post-Cold War Foreign Policy
The Republican Surge
Clinton's Recovery
28-2 The Information Revolution
Economic Rebound
The Digital Age
Consolidation and Globalization
28-3 Multiculturalism
28-4 Two Americas
Discontent
Political Polarization
The 2000 Election
Chapter 27 Reagan's America
Throughout the 1980s, Reagan came to symbolize a newly confident America though the upshot of the ‘60s and ‘70s left a residue of political polarization.
Learning Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
27-1 Evaluate the domestic policies of Ronald Reagan as president, including the economic challenges the country faced in the 1980s.
27-2 Describe the divisions and “culture wars” that plagued the nation during the 1980s.
27-3 Discuss the problems Reagan's successor faced in paying for the “Reagan Revolution.”
27-4 Describe the conditions for, and aftermath of, the end of the Cold War.
“Reagan defined the confident America of the 1980s—a stark contrast to the uneasy malaise of 1970s America.”
The growing conservative movement, with its anti-New Deal and -Great Society fiscal policies and its desire to restore what it defined as traditional family values, was given an optimistic face by the actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan.
Born in 1911, Reagan had been a New Deal Democrat and supporter of FDR, but his staunch anticommunism and his sense that the government was growing too large pushed him in a conservative direction beginning in the 1950s and 1960s.
A former actor, Reagan never claimed to be a deep thinker, but he was an astute judge of the public mood and an incredibly personable man, with endless anecdotes and a mannerism that made even his political enemies often smile.
Thus, Reagan combined his conservative beliefs with the ability to bring those ideas to the public in a nonthreatening way.
This allowed him to take advantage of his broad appeal to put conservative theories into practice.
By advocating tax and budget cuts, he wooed economic conservatives, while his Supreme Court appointees usually made decisions that favored social conservatives.
In foreign policy, he adopted strong anticommunist rhetoric and dramatically increased the military budget, even as changes in the Soviet Union diminished the communist threat.
He also sought to reinstitute school prayer in public schools and to ban abortions, smilingly harkening America back to what he saw as its more innocent days.
More than anybody else, Reagan defined the confident America of the 1980s.
Reagan's America
Ronald Wilson Reagan (/ˈrɒnəld ˈwɪlsən ˈreɪɡən/; February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor, who served as the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd Governor of California from 1967 to 1975, following a career as an actor and union leader in Hollywood.
Raised in a poor family in small towns of Northern Illinois, Ronald Reagan graduated from Eureka College
in 1932 and worked as a sports announcer on several regional radio
stations. After moving to Hollywood in 1937, he became an actor and
stared in a few major productions. Reagan was twice elected as President
of the Screen Actors Guild, the labor union for actors, where he worked to root out Communist influence.
Reagan in Kings Row, which gave a brief boost to his career, in 1942. Trailer from the film.
In the 1950s he moved into television and was a motivational speaker at General Electric factories.
Having been a lifelong liberal Democrat, his views changed. He became a conservative and in 1962 switched to the Republican Party. In 1964, Reagan's speech, "A Time for Choosing", in support of Barry Goldwater's floundering presidential campaign, earned him national attention as a new conservative spokesman.
The Nine Most Terrifying Words, :11
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
-
President Reagan Aug. 12, 1986
https://youtu.be/xhYJS80MgYA
Ronald and Nancy Reagan celebrate his gubernatorial victory at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles
Building a network of supporters, he was elected Governor of California in 1966.
As governor, Reagan raised taxes, turned a state budget deficit to a
surplus, challenged the protesters at the University of California,
ordered National Guard troops in during a period of protest movements in 1969, and was re-elected in 1970. He twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nominations in 1968 and 1976; four years later, he easily won the nomination outright, going on to be elected the oldest President, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Entering the presidency in 1981, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics",
advocated tax rate reduction to spur economic growth, control of the
money supply to curb inflation, economic deregulation, and reduction in
government spending.
In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, escalated the War on Drugs, and fought public-sector labor.
Over his two terms, his economic policies saw a reduction of inflation from 12.5% to 4.4%, and an average annual growth of real GDP
of 3.44%; while Reagan did enact cuts in domestic discretionary
spending, increased military spending contributed to increased federal
outlays overall, even after adjustment for inflation.
During his
reelection bid, Reagan campaigned on the notion that it was "Morning in America", winning a landslide in 1984 with the largest electoral college victory in history.
Foreign affairs dominated his second term, including ending of the Cold War, the bombing of Libya, and the Iran–Contra affair.
Publicly describing the Soviet Union as an "evil empire", he transitioned Cold War policy from détente to rollback, by escalating an arms race with the USSR while engaging in talks with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, which culminated in the INF Treaty, shrinking both countries' nuclear arsenals.[1]
During his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate, President Reagan challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"
Months after the end of his term, the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed soon thereafter.
Leaving office in 1989, Reagan held an approval rating of sixty-eight percent, matching those of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later Bill Clinton, as the highest ratings for departing presidents in the modern era.[2]
While having planned an active post-presidency, in 1994 Reagan disclosed his diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease earlier that year, appearing publicly for the last time at the funeral of Richard Nixon; he died ten years later at the age of 93.
An icon among Republicans, he ranks favorably in public and critical opinion of U.S. Presidents, and his tenure constituted a realignment toward conservative policies in the United States.
The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan
Harper Perennial (2009), Edition: 1 Reprint, Paperback, 784 pages
https://www.librarything.com/work/3130523/106525302
The work allows an inside look into the mind of a president which is uncommon enough. Only four presidents have done so: Washington, John Quincy Adams, James K. Polk, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Reagan then easily becomes the second most important president to do so and is one of the most significant presidents ever. It is an invaluable insider's look behind the Oval Office.
The personal Reagan truly emerges: patriotic, humorous, charitable and kind, dedicated to Nancy, health-conscious, politically alert, and interestingly enough, very prone to frequent haircuts. Reagan enjoyed old movies, the company of friends, and his beloved horses and ranch. personal Reagan truly emerges: patriotic, humorous, charitable and kind, dedicated to Nancy, health-conscious, politically alert, and interestingly enough, very prone to frequent haircuts. Reagan enjoyed old movies, the company of friends, and his beloved horses and ranch.
27-1 Reagan's Domestic Politics
Toward the end of his presidency, Jimmy Carter was beleaguered by the stagnating economy, what he called the country's “malaise,” and the Iranian hostage crisis. As an advocate of several of the identity politics movements, Carter also suffered from the mounting white backlash against them. In the 1980 election, Carter struggled to secure his party's nomination, and he emerged from the Democratic Convention severely weakened. He was no match for the charismatic personality of the Republicans’ nominee, Ronald Reagan.
Reagan, previously a movie actor, not only took advantage of his personal charisma during the election but also took notes from previous presidential elections, which saw the South become increasingly aligned with the Republican Party.
The South had been staunchly Democratic since the Civil War (recall that Abraham Lincoln had been the first Republican president), but after a hundred years, starting in the 1960s, the South's political allegiance began to noticeably shift.
Partly this emerged in reaction to the civil rights movement, when Democratic Presidents Kennedy and Johnson advocated civil rights laws, angering many white southerners.
Partly the South's transition to the Republicans emerged from the fact that the region was becoming increasingly wealthy as more and more corporations moved south to avoid paying the higher taxes of the northern states and skip out on having to work with entrenched labor unions.
In what was called the Southern Strategy, Reagan took advantage of the South's political realignment, actively courting southern leaders and making many references to the similarities between his home state of California and the South, combining the two in what has come to be called the Sunbelt.
Reagan handily won the election, and Republican candidates riding his coattails established a Republican majority in the Senate as well.
Dan Joseph, College Students Don't Recognize Reagan, 4:43
http://youtu.be/1EfXxGQNE7Q>
Ronald Reagan Tribute -- Bel Air Presbyterian Church, 4:47
President Ronald Reagan vs Obama's Religious Beliefs-Incredible. 8:42
Sources: Obama June 28, 2006 Washington D.C. Speech. Obama May 9, 2012 abc News Special Report.
Reagan: March 8, 1983. Reagan:
https://youtu.be/5vAXfjqifIY
“In
a recent survey, 60 percent of college professors did not even rank
President Reagan among the top ten Presidents. Begrudgingly, these
educators admitted that Reagan’s Presidency was successful, but they
rate him far lower than most Americans.”
Ronald Reagan knew Star Wars wouldn't work but wanted to provoke a war with the USSR
Gorbachev not Reagan was responsible for ending the Cold War
Neither Ronald Reagan's election nor the contract with America proved the triumph of conservative ideas
The Reagan tax cuts caused massive deficits and the national debt
Patriot's, 745-46
Rankings
Here are the ratios of deficit to GDP for the past five presidents:
Ronald Reagan
1981-88 4.2 %
1982-89 4.2
Average 4.2
George H. W. Bush
1989-92 4.0
1990-93 4.3
Average 4.2
Bill Clinton
1993-2000 0.8
1994-2001 0.1
Average 0.5
George W. Bush
2001-08 2.0
2002-09 3.4
Average 2.7
Barack Obama
2009-12* 9.1
2010-12 8.7
Average 8.9
*fiscal 2012 ends Sept. 30, 2012, so this figure is estimated
Source: Economic Report of the President, February 2012
Reagan was no shrinking violet. He was assertive when needed. Here is one such strident Reagan moment.
During the Republican nomination fight he strode to the fore.
"I'm paying for this microphone," 1:05
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RRI6iSrS1kc
"There you go again, :48
https://youtu.be/Wi9y5-Vo61w
Though not trailing significantly in the polls, Carter knew he was in trouble. Democratic strategists had placed much of their hopes of keeping the White House on the presidential debates, where it was thought the younger, Washington tough Carter might expose Reagan as a doddering inexperienced political newbie.
Yet whenever Carter distorted Reagan's record or tried to portray him as an extremist, the Gipper smiled, cocked his head, and quipped, "Well, there you go again," five words that Reagan credited with winning in the election.
The debates made the incumbent look like a sincere but naïve child arguing with his wise uncle.
On election eve, despite surveys showing Reagan trailing, the Californian came back so strongly that Carter appalled Democratic strategists by conceding the campaign while the polls were still open in California.
Reagan carried the Electoral College 489 to 49, The most stunning and overwhelming loss for an incumbent since the ill-fated Hoover had gone down in 1932.
The Republicans also gained 13 seats in the Senate to win a majority there for the first time in nearly 30 years, and they picked up 33 House seats.
But the desire for change in the nation was far deeper than that.
Among the Democrats who had won election, some 30 to 40 boll weevils from conservative districts supported stronger defense and tax cuts, and they voted for the Reagan proposals consistently.
Many of them eventually switched parties.
These were the Reagan Democrats.
The 1980 presidential campaign between Reagan and incumbent President Jimmy Carter was conducted during domestic concerns and the ongoing Iran hostage crisis.
His campaign stressed some of his fundamental principles: lower taxes to stimulate the economy,[103] less government interference in people's lives,[104] states' rights,[105] and a strong national defense.[106]
Reagan launched his campaign by declaring "I believe in states' rights."
After receiving the Republican nomination, Reagan selected one of his primary opponents, George H.W. Bush, to be his running mate.
His showing in the October televised debate boosted his campaign. Reagan won the election, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral votes to 49 electoral votes for Carter (representing six states and Washington, D.C.).
Reagan received 50.7% of the popular vote while Carter took 41%, and Independent John B. Anderson (a liberal Republican) received 6.7%.[107]
Republicans captured the Senate for the first time since 1952, and gained 34 House seats, but the Democrats retained a majority.
Reagan then had to forge an alliance with his Democratic counterpart: Tip O'Neill.
O'Neill was a leading opponent of the Reagan administration's domestic and defense policies. Following the 1980 election, with the U.S. Senate controlled by Republicans, O'Neill became the leader of the congressional opposition. O'Neill even went as far as calling Ronald Reagan "the most ignorant man who had ever occupied the White House".[5] O'Neill also said that Reagan was "Herbert Hoover with a smile" and "a cheerleader for selfishness." He also said that Reagan's policies meant that his presidency was "one big Christmas party for the rich."
Privately, O'Neill and Reagan were always on cordial terms, or as Reagan himself put it in his memoirs, they were friends "after 6PM". O'Neill in that same memoir when questioned by Reagan regarding a personal attack against the President that made the paper, explained that "before 6PM it's all politics".[6] Reagan once compared O'Neill to the classic arcade game Pac-Man in a speech, saying that he was "a round thing that gobbles up money". He also once joked he had received a valentine card from O'Neill: "I knew it was from Tip, because the heart was bleeding."
O'Neill, however, gave tacit approval to Democratic Congressman Charlie Nesbitt Wilson to implement the Reagan Doctrine in the Soviet-Afghan war. Wilson's position on the appropriations committees, and his close relations with CIA officer Gust Avrakotos, allowed him to steer billions of dollars to the Mujahideen through the CIA and Zia ul-Haq's ISI.[7]
There was some contention about constitutional order of succession, which involved O'Neill, when Reagan was shot in March 1981. Then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig famously said he was "in control here," in response to a question as to who was in charge (with the president under anesthesia and Vice President George Bush traveling), but it was later pointed out that O'Neill was next in line after Bush. Reagan was only under for a few hours, and no formal invocation of the line of succession took place.
Chris Matthews on His New Book Tip and the Gipper, 2:58
Tip and the Gipper
Who is Obama's favorite Republican colleague?
Who is Obama's favorite Republican colleague?
https://youtu.be/meXeTMBRWU0
Reagan Democrats
During the 1980 election a dramatic number of voters in the U.S., disillusioned with the economic 'malaise' of the 1970s and the presidency of Jimmy Carter (even more than, four years earlier, moderate Republican Gerald Ford), supported former California governor (and former Democrat) Ronald Reagan.
Reagan's optimistic tone managed to win over a broad set of voters to an almost unprecedented degree (for a Republican since moderate war hero Eisenhower's victories in 1952 and 1956) across the board, but did not make particular demographic inroads with Democratic voters,[1] with the possible exception of national security voters (a focused but relatively small group, difficult to find decisive empirical support for and identified in 1980 with Democrat Henry 'Scoop' Jackson, a Reagan ally for a brief period after 1980—until his death).
The term Reagan Democrat is sometimes used to describe moderate Democrats who are more conservative than liberal on certain issues like national security and immigration.
The term Reagan Democrat also refers to the vast sway that Reagan held over the House of Representatives during his presidency, even though the house had a Democratic majority during both of his terms.[2]
The term also hearkens back to Richard Nixon's Silent Majority; a concept that Ronald Reagan himself used during his political campaigns in the 1970s.
The work of Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg is a classic study of Reagan Democrats.
Greenberg analyzed white ethnic voters (largely unionized auto workers) in Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit.
The county voted 63 percent for John F. Kennedy in 1960, but 66 percent for Reagan in 1980.
He concluded that "Reagan Democrats" no longer saw the Democratic party as champions of their working class aspirations, but instead saw them as working primarily for the benefit of others: the very poor, feminists, the unemployed, African Americans, Latinos, and other groups.
Possibly, the 2016 election was a failure of the divisive identity politics.
In addition, Reagan Democrats enjoyed gains during the period of economic prosperity that coincided with the Reagan administration following the "malaise" of the Carter administration.
They also supported Reagan's strong stance on national security and opposed the 1980s Democratic Party on such issues as pornography, crime, and high taxes.[2]
Greenberg periodically revisited the voters of Macomb County as a barometer of public opinion until he conducted a 2008 exit poll that found "nearly 60 percent" of Macomb County voters were "'comfortable' with Mr. Obama," drawing the conclusion that Macomb County had "become normal and uninteresting" and "illustrates America's evolving relationship with race."
These working class Democrats no longer followed the traditional racist appeals.
As such, Greenberg stated in an op-ed for the New York Times that, "I’m finished with the Reagan Democrats of Macomb County in suburban Detroit after making a career of spotlighting their middle-class anger and frustrations about race and Democratic politicians."[3]
Obama ultimately won Macomb County by a comfortable 53-45% margin that year, the same margin he won nationally.[4]
Despite the fact that Macomb County voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and many stopped paying attention to the Reagan Democrats, in many ways the Reagan Democrat phenomenon returned in 2016, when Macomb County went for Republican Donald Trump by a margin of over ten percentage points.
In any event, race ceased to be a key factor in presidential elections. points.
Reagan biographer Craig Shirley also wrote extensively about Reagan Democrats.
His 1980 election account "Rendezvous with Destiny" clearly distinguishes the appearance of blue-collar crossovers for Reagan during the 1980 Wisconsin primaries at a Reagan event in Milwaukee's "ethnic Mecca" Serb Hall: "A young Democrat, Robert Ponasik, stood on a chair furiously waving a handmade sign that proclaimed, 'Cross Over for Reagan.'
Of the reaction to Reagan in Serb Hall, Lynn Sherr of ABC reported, 'In judging from the way they showed up at a long-time Democratic meeting hall . . . a large number of blue-collar voters could go for Reagan.'"[6]
Reagan Democrats for Donald Trump - Frank Lutz, 4:22
https://youtu.be/ro6wT2y3Cf4
1980 Carter vs. Reagan Highlights, 8:16
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_9qDRZ6pSRE
https://youtu.be/_9qDRZ6pSRE
The 12 Best Lines from Presidential Debates, 8:59
27.1 Reagan's Domestic Policies
"Reaganomics" and the economy
During Jimmy Carter's last year in office (1980), inflation averaged 12.5%, compared with 4.4% during Reagan's last year in office (1988).[129]During Reagan's administration, the unemployment rate declined from 7.5% to 5.4%, with the rate reaching highs of 10.8% in 1982 and 10.4% in 1983, averaging 7.5% over the eight years, and real GDP growth averaged 3.44% with a high of 8.55% in 1983, while nominal GDP growth averaged 7.4%, and peaked at 12.2% in 1982.[130][131][132]
Reagan's economic recovery better than Obama's? 5:03
Roubini Global Economics Chairman Nouriel Roubini on the impact of government policies on economic growth. Watch Liz Macdonald and Stuart Varney talk about Unemployment Rate and White House on Varney.
https://youtu.be/Mm-JJZ_kSyQ
Reagan gives a televised address from the Oval Office, outlining his plan for Tax Reduction Legislation in July 1981.
He also supported returning the United States to some sort of gold standard, and successfully urged Congress to establish the U.S. Gold Commission to study how one could be implemented.
Citing the economic theories of Arthur Laffer, Reagan promoted the proposed tax cuts as potentially stimulating the economy enough to expand the tax base, offsetting the revenue loss due to reduced rates of taxation, a theory that entered political discussion as the Laffer curve.
Lower Taxes, Higher Revenue, 5:37
Should tax rates be higher? It's the million dollar question! Up? Down? No change? Where in the world should taxes go? In election years, the question of tax rates fills the airwaves. In non-election years, the question of tax rates, again, fills the airwaves. So what's the answer? UCLA Professor of Economics Tim Groseclose explains his research on the topic. Basically, there's a certain point at which higher tax rates actually reduce the amount of revenue the government collects. What's that point? When are tax rates too high? Learn a valuable lesson in economics, and public policy.
https://youtu.be/FqLjyA0hL1s
Reaganomics was the subject of debate with supporters pointing to improvements in certain key economic indicators as evidence of success, and critics pointing to large increases in federal budget deficits and the national debt. His policy of "peace through strength" resulted in a record peacetime defense buildup including a 40% real increase in defense spending between 1981 and 1985.[136]
During Reagan's presidency, federal income tax rates were lowered significantly with the signing of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981[137] which lowered the top marginal tax bracket from 70% to 50% and the lowest bracket from 14% to 11%, however other tax increases passed by Congress and signed by Reagan, ensured that tax revenues over his two terms were 18.2% of GDP as compared to 18.1% over the 40-year period 1970–2010.[138] Then, in 1982 the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982 was signed into law, initiating one of the United States' first public-private partnerships and a major part of the president's job creation program. Reagan's Assistant Secretary of Labor and Chief of Staff, Al Angrisani, was a primary architect of the bill.
Conversely, Congress passed and Reagan signed into law tax increases of some nature in every year from 1981 to 1987 to continue funding such government programs as Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA), Social Security, and the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (DEFRA).[139][140] Despite the fact that TEFRA was the "largest peacetime tax increase in American history",[140][141][142][143] gross domestic product (GDP) growth recovered strongly after the early 1980s recession ended in 1982, and grew during his eight years in office at an annual rate of 7.91% per year, with a high of 12.2% growth in 1981.[144]
Unemployment peaked at 10.8% monthly rate in December 1982—higher than any time since the Great Depression—then dropped during the rest of Reagan's presidency.[145] Sixteen million new jobs were created, while inflation significantly decreased.[146] The Tax Reform Act of 1986, another bipartisan effort championed by Reagan, simplified the tax code by reducing the number of tax brackets to four and slashing a number of tax breaks. The top rate was dropped to 28%, but capital gains taxes were increased on those with the highest incomes from 20% to 28%. The increase of the lowest tax bracket from 11% to 15% was more than offset by expansion of the personal exemption, standard deduction, and earned income tax credit. The net result was the removal of six million poor Americans from the income tax roll and a reduction of income tax liability at all income levels.[147][148]
The net effect of all Reagan-era tax bills was a 1% decrease in government revenues when compared to Treasury Department revenue estimates from the Administration's first post-enactment January budgets.[149] However, federal income tax receipts increased from 1980 to 1989, rising from $308.7 billion to $549 billion[150] or an average annual rate of 8.2% (2.5% attributed to higher Social Security receipts), and federal outlays grew at an annual rate of 7.1%.[151][152]
President
Reagan delivers a special address to Congress on the Program for
Economic Recovery from the U.S. Capitol, April 28, 1981, a few weeks
after surviving an assassination attempt.
These views were exacerbated by the fact that Reagan's economic regimen included freezing the minimum wage at $3.35 an hour, slashing federal assistance to local governments by 60%, cutting the budget for public housing and Section 8 rent subsidies in half, and eliminating the antipoverty Community Development Block Grant program.[156] The widening gap between the rich and poor had already begun during the 1970s before Reagan's economic policies took effect.[157] Along with Reagan's 1981 cut in the top regular tax rate on unearned income, he reduced the maximum capital gains rate to only 20%.[158] Reagan later set tax rates on capital gains at the same level as the rates on ordinary income like salaries and wages, with both topping out at 28%.[159] Reagan is viewed as an antitax hero despite raising taxes eleven times over the course of his presidency, all in the name of fiscal responsibility.[160] According to Paul Krugman, "Over all, the 1982 tax increase undid about a third of the 1981 cut; as a share of GDP, the increase was substantially larger than Mr. Clinton's 1993 tax increase".[161] According to historian and domestic policy adviser Bruce Bartlett, Reagan's tax increases over the course of his presidency took back half of the 1981 tax cut.[162]
Further following his opposition to government intervention, Reagan cut the budgets of non-military[163] programs[164] including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs[163] and the EPA.[165] While he protected entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare,[166] his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls.[167]
The administration's stance toward the Savings and Loan industry contributed to the savings and loan crisis.[168] It is also suggested, by a minority of Reaganomics critics, that the policies partially influenced the stock market crash of 1987,[169] but there is no consensus regarding a single source for the crash.[170] In order to cover newly spawned federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion.[171] Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency.[146]
He reappointed Paul Volcker as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and in 1987 he appointed monetarist Alan Greenspan to succeed him. Reagan ended the price controls on domestic oil which had contributed to energy crises in the early 1970s.[172][173] The price of oil subsequently dropped, and the 1980s did not see the fuel shortages that the 1970s had.[174] Reagan also fulfilled a 1980 campaign promise to repeal the windfall profit tax in 1988, which had previously increased dependence on foreign oil.[175] Some economists, such as Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Robert A. Mundell, argue that Reagan's tax policies invigorated America's economy and contributed to the economic boom of the 1990s.[176] Other economists, such as Nobel Prize winner Robert Solow, argue that Reagan's deficits were a major reason his successor, George H.W. Bush, reneged on a campaign promise and resorted to raising taxes.[176]
During Reagan's presidency, a program was initiated within the U.S. intelligence community to ensure America's economic strength. The program, Project Socrates, developed and demonstrated the means required for the United States to generate and lead the next evolutionary leap in technology acquisition and utilization for a competitive advantage—automated innovation. To ensure that the United States acquired the maximum benefit from automated innovation, Reagan, during his second term, had an executive order drafted to create a new federal agency to implement the Project Socrates results on a nationwide basis. However, Reagan's term came to end before the executive order could be coordinated and signed, and the incoming Bush administration, labeling Project Socrates as "industrial policy", had it terminated.[177][178]
Stagflation, 2:55
How a supply shock can cause prices to rise and the economy to stagnate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTz_tx460EY&feature=share&
amp;list=PLCGtWrfZ32ai9EH4QmRzV4YwuXQKwytz4
https://youtu.be/bTz_tx460EY
The Napkin Sketch That Introduced Supply-Side Economics, 2:50
Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin, discusses how a simple graph drawn on the back of a napkin -- later to be known as the "Laffer Curve" -- became "the basis of supply-side economics" for the late 20th century.
----- Dan Roam urges us to think with our eyes and tackle tough business problems in a whole new way - even if we draw like a second-grader.
He introduces powerful techniques from his "visual thinking" toolbox and demonstrates how people in diverse organizational settings can discover, develop and share their best ideas with a simple drawing on a basic napkin. - The Commonwealth Club of California
Dan Roam is the founder and president of Digital Roam Inc., a consulting firm that helps clients solve complex problems through visual thinking. He's also the author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.
http://youtu.be/5bgxAwBuGJg
Ronald Reagan-Remarks on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike (August 3, 1981), 3:11
President Ronald Reagan speaks about the air traffic controllers strike. He states very clearly that if the striking union workers do not report to work in 48 hours, they will be fired from their jobs. 3:12
https://youtu.be/Dc8brHWFZMY
Remarks and Q & A with reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike, 10:53
President Reagan's remarks and Q & A session with reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike on 8/3/81.
OBAMA vs. REAGAN on GDP GROWTH — NOT EVEN CLOSE
The Worst Steward of the Economy in American History: Comparing Reagan and Obama.
CHANGE: PERCENTAGE OF AMERICANS WORKING LOWEST SINCE REAGAN RECOVERY
More Americans leaving the workforce.
Recovery Reagan vs. Obama
Reagan vs. Obama
Obama vs. Reagan, jobs created or lost
$5 TRILLION in lost taxpayer deficit dollars is quite a sum for what that chart reflects – stagnant job growth. Millions who remain unemployed. Millions more who have dropped out of even trying to find work and are therefor not even being counted in the unemployment figures.
For a bit of contrast check out this comparative chart detailing the Reagan recovery vs the Obama recovery.
One president charged ahead with plans to greatly reduce taxes, lessen regulations, and pushes to increase domestic energy production in the United States. The other president – Barack Obama, called for more taxes, more regulation, and has fought increasing domestic energy production at every opportunity – such as his shutting down of the much-needed Keystone pipeline:”
The original source has more data.
The recession and recovery in perspective: Reagan vs. BushObama
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota has an interesting interactive web page that allows readers to compare economic downturns and recoveries, both on the basis of output and employment.
The results are remarkable. Reagan focused on reducing the burden of government and the economy responded. "BushObama" tried the opposite approach, but spending, bailouts, and intervention have not worked.
The first chart shows economic output.
The employment chart provides an equally stark comparison.
If anything, this second chart is even more revealing since employment has not bounced back from the trough.
But that shouldn’t be too surprising.
The federal government is subsidizing unemployment and penalizing production.
And we already know the so-called stimulus has been a flop.
27-1a Comfortably Conservative
Reagan synthesized the central themes of the conservative movement. These were defined as an almost religious belief in the power of the free market and a commitment to “traditional values,” all under the umbrella of staunch anticommunism. As president, Reagan proposed and had passed three key economic policies, comprising the so-called Reagan Revolution. First, he cut taxes by 25 percent over a three-year period. Reagan argued that tax cuts would produce new investment, which would, in turn, generate an increase in federal revenues. Rather than have taxpayers send money to support the federal government, he argued, revenues would eventually “trickle down” to the lower classes in the form of more jobs. This argument is known as supply-side economics. Second, Reagan made significant cuts in social programs, particularly welfare, food stamps, and unemployment compensation. Strategically, the administration avoided cutting such politically popular programs as Social Security and Medicare. Finally, the administration proposed a massive increase in military spending, equaling $1.2 trillion over a five-year period. Despite using the rhetoric of shrinking the size of the government, Reagan's investment in defense actually caused a tremendous growth in government spending. This, combined with a cut in taxes, led to a dramatic rise in the nation's already growing debt.
Reagan Conservatism, 3:30
Reagan appeals to Democrats as he once was.
Ronald Reagan expertly articulates what Conservatism means. This clip is from his 1966 announcement for Governor of California. Here he is addressing Democrats who may be questioning what their leaders are doing. "Can we possibly believe that anyone can manage our lives better than we can manage them ourselves?"
https://youtu.be/LE3sNY-niiA
27-1b Deregulation
Reagan also advocated limiting government involvement in business. Following this policy, he deregulated several industries from government control, including airlines (which led to strikes by air-traffic controllers) and savings and loan institutions (which led to a mammoth scandal, discussed later in this chapter). He also loosened regulations on air pollution and motor vehicles, actions that allowed corporations to continue polluting and delay installing air bags in cars for several years. He was worried that such regulation would slow economic development.
Stop the Tape! The Reagan Deregulation Model, 5:35
https://youtu.be/6zltxMbQDhw
27-1c Judicial and Administrative Appointments
While Reagan's fiscal policies reflected free-market conservatism, his judicial and administrative appointments appealed to social conservatives. He encouraged conservative positions on issues like abortion, school busing, affirmative action, and prayer in schools. Reagan appointed three conservatives to the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor (1981), Antonin Scalia (1986), and Anthony Kennedy (1988); he also named William Rehnquist (a Nixon appointee) as chief justice. These appointments did not ensure a conservative victory in every case, as some justices supported more liberal positions than others (especially, it turned out, O'Connor), but they were valuable bricks in the conservative fortress.
Antonin Scalia's Comments on Article V Convention of States, 3:19
Mark Levin reads Antonin Scalia's supportive comments of an Article V Convention of States. Read the complete transcript: http://www.conventionofstates.com/jus... Clip courtesy of the Mark Levin Show.
https://youtu.be/k-6EumKU420
27-2 America in the 1980s: Polarization of the American Public
The American public has always been divided by wealth, politics, and religion. But in the 1980s these divisions figured more prominently in American society and in American politics. There were logical reasons for this. Throughout the decade the wealthier amassed increased wealth, and the poor slipped further into trouble. Also during the decade, and perhaps more importantly, the New Right emerged as an organized right-wing lobbying group. Their stress on “family values,” moral issues, and popular culture challenged those who had supported the new direction of social justice advocated in the 1960s and 1970s. Many cite the rise of the New Right as a reaction to the social liberalization and the identity politics of the previous decades, and it seems clear that the rise of conservative ideology in politics (as symbolized by Ronald Reagan) led to a similar transformation in broader society and culture. Throughout the 1980s, conservatives mounted protests against the liberalization of family life, gender roles, and sexuality. They protested the transformation of the literary canon of accepted authors, which had dropped several famous “dead white men” from the roster of significant Western literature in favor of a more inclusive collection, including women and racial minorities. Most sought to make these social and cultural arguments while defending Reagan's vision of free-market capitalism.
Thus, after the violence and hatred of the New Left and radical black nationalism Reagan is blamed for polarization? The polarization occurred during the administrations of LBJ and Carter as well.
27-2a Divisions in Wealth
Reagan's tax cuts and his cuts to social welfare programs affected different groups of Americans differently. The policies clearly favored the wealthy. Their taxes dropped, and they benefited the most from Reagan's business-friendly policies, including deregulation of big industries. The number of American billionaires grew from just one in 1978 to forty-nine in 1987. The number of Americans earning more than $500,000 increased by a factor of ten.
On the other side of the scale, the poor were becoming poorer. The percentage of Americans living below the poverty line increased dramatically during Reagan's first term. More transformative, however, were the effects on the middle class, which during the 1980s began to capture an increasingly smaller percentage of the nation's wealth. During Reagan's years in office, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans earned more than 40 percent of the nation's wealth, a threefold increase over the previous two decades. The bottom 90 percent of earners, meanwhile, earned slightly more than 20 percent of the nation's wealth in the 1980s, nearly a threefold decrease from the 1960s. Reagan's social welfare cuts and the decline of middle-class industrial jobs had taken their toll.
It became increasingly apparent that this inequality was afflicting various racial groups differently. While the black middle class was in fact growing, and while the majority of impoverished Americans were white, the proportion of poor people as a percentage of their race indicated that people of color were vastly overrepresented below the poverty line. The African Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Latinos who had moved to the northern cities after World War II had been hurt by the departure of large manufacturers. These manufacturers had moved either to the South or the West, where labor unions were less powerful or, increasingly during the 1980s, abroad, where businesses could find cheap labor and pay fewer taxes. While 1950s America was characterized by a robust and growing population of middle-class Americans, the 1980s highlighted a reemergence of economic disparities that had been absent since the 1920s.
What Wasn't Said in "Wealth Inequality In America" 2:07
The divisions of wealth are easily misunderstood.
Wealth inequality may be real, but is it unfair? And what does it mean for a society to be unfair? Learn Liberty asked these questions to two professors -- a libertarian (Professor Steve Horwitz), and a Rawlsian philosopher (Professor Jeffrey Reiman) -- in a debate on inequality in America. See the full debate: http://lrnlbty.co/10hObEh The distribution of wealth in America is dramatically lopsided towards the 1% - a point vividly demonstrated in "Wealth Inequality in America," and agreed upon by both professors. For many, there is something intuitively and philosophically unfair about this inequality. "We are the 99%!" is a mantra of Occupy Wall Street's dissatisfaction, and a protest against America's status quo. "Wealth Inequality in America" draws a striking picture, but is that the whole story? Professor Horwitz says that "Wealth Inequality in America" misses a central point: do the poor in our society regularly lift themselves out of poverty? "How easy is it, or how difficult is it, for folks who start off poor, to no longer be poor?" Check out the full debate to hear Professor Reiman's response to Horwitz's arguments about wealth in America: http://lrnlbty.co/10hObEh. Filmed at the 2013 International Students for Liberty Conference. https://www.studentsforliberty.com
https://youtu.be/44LHBViTZI0
Consider how during the Reagan years the inequality gap was closed. 1:44
The Rise of Japan and the American Trade Deficit
These economic problems were compounded by the rise of Japan as an economic power. Partly as a result of a deliberate American policy to build up a major East Asian ally after China became a communist country in 1949, Japan became the world's first fully modernized non-Western country during the second half of the twentieth century. Japan's economic “arrival” became plainly evident during a time when the American economy was showing signs of weakness following the end of the postwar boom. The United States developed a growing trade deficit with Japan, which meant that Japan was now successfully exporting products such as cars, steel, and consumer electronics to the United States, while the Japanese were buying fewer and fewer American goods. As a result, American congressmen began to press for an increase in import tariffs on Japanese goods, but these efforts hardly stemmed the flood. Just as the economic muscle of oil-exporting countries had humbled the United States in the 1970s, the rise of Japan led many Americans to wonder if their nation's days as an economic superpower were numbered.
US trade deficit jumps to its highest level in 6 years, 3:09
The US trade deficit jumps to its highest level in more than six years. The expanding trade gap is driven by the largest increase in imports on record. Latest figures from the Commerce Department show the gap between US imports and exports has pushed the trade deficit to over 51 billion dollars in March. The amount is wider than the 35-billion-dollar deficit the prior month. Economists on Wall Street had forecast a trade deficit of 41 billion dollars, indicating that foreign goods flowed steadily into the U-S. Imports rose seven-point-seven percent to nearly 240 billion dollars. By contrast, overseas demand for U-S goods and services remain modest.
https://youtu.be/8nQQ4DZKa3E
27-2b Continued Crisis in the Cities
These economic crises, combined with the demise of many social welfare programs, led to the continued breakdown of many American cities. While cities had always been portrayed as dangerous places, by the 1980s the growth of the suburbs, the departure of social organizations and industries, and the subsequent decline in tax revenues had solidified that image. Many major cities became symbols of decay, poverty, and racial disparity. Accelerating the decay, a cheaper form of cocaine called “crack” appeared in the mid-1980s. This drug was highly addictive, and its use spread rapidly throughout many inner cities. Meanwhile, inner-city youth seeking identity and security increasingly turned to gangs. Gang violence escalated throughout the decade, leading in some cities to an average of one gang murder per day.
Perhaps due to racism, perhaps due to fear, lawmakers instituted harsh penalties for crimes committed in the inner cities. Possession of small amounts of crack cocaine, for instance, merited a punishment equal to that for owning much larger amounts of cocaine, the more expensive version of the same drug. As these penalties increased, so did the American prison system, which was disproportionately populated by racial minorities from cities. In addition to building prisons, the Reagan administration addressed the growing drug problem with a public relations campaign entitled “Just Say No.” Nancy Reagan, the First Lady, spearheaded the campaign, and she got many celebrities to join in. Critics claimed that the campaign was nothing more than hollow rhetoric that missed the underlying provocations that drove drug use. The causes of the urban crisis are complex and were decades in the making, but politicians seemed both uneager, and unable, to rectify the most central problems.
27-2c Culture Wars
While a transformation in the distribution of wealth led to one significant division in American life, another emerged in the realm of culture. As the New Right had developed at the grassroots throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the movement increased its political leverage and sought to reshape the nation in its idealized image. With leaders like Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell, evangelical Christians made up the bulk of the proponents of the New Right, while conservative radio personalities like Rush Limbaugh fueled the movement and stoked the belief that the United States had become unmoored from its Christian principles. With some success, they protested what they saw as the sexual licentiousness on television, the general permissiveness of American secular society, the emphasis on relativism and pluralism in America's educational system, and the liberties with which the courts had interpreted the privacy clause of the Constitution, especially regarding a woman's right to have an abortion. Although Reagan only tacitly endorsed the New Right, he did make appearances with its leaders, giving the movement mainstream leverage. They made headlines when they fought to have textbooks remove evolutionary theory from their pages, arguing that evolution contradicted a biblical explanation for the origins of the world. They similarly struggled to remove sex education from public schools, as well as works of literature that they perceived to be overly sexual in nature. Because many of these battles were fought at the level of local school boards, the so-called “culture wars” were felt deeply in the heart of America.
During the Reagan years and the culture wars a young man returned to the United States.
Following high school, Barry Soetoro moved to Los Angeles in 1979, where he studied at Occidental College for two years. On February 18, 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for the left-wing position for Occidental's divestment from South Africa. In the summer of 1981, Obama traveled to Muslim majority Jakarta to visit his mother and half-sister Maya, and visited the families of Muslim Occidental College friends in Hyderabad (India) and Karachi (Pakistan) for three weeks. Some then say he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations. He allegedly graduated with a A.B. from Columbia in 1983, and it is documented that he worked at Business International Corporation and the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Cf. Scott, Janny (October 30, 2007). "Obama's Account of New York Years Often Differs from What Others Say". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2008. Obama (1995), pp. 133–140; Mendell (2007), pp. 62–63.
In any event, by his own hand, he described his college years:
"To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy. When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake, we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling conventions. We weren't indifferent or careless or insecure. We were alienated. But this strategy alone couldn't provide the distance I wanted, from Joyce or my past. After all, there were thousands of so-called campus radicals, most of them white and tenured and happily tolerant. No, it remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names." -- Barack Obama
27-2d AIDS
Along with increasing divisions in wealth and the culture wars, a third social crisis emerged in the 1980s, this one deadly. Autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a deadly disease that attacks a person's immune system, the system that powers a person's body to fight other diseases. AIDS is spread through transmission of bodily fluids, most especially by blood or semen. Because it compromises the immune system, it leaves the body vulnerable to other diseases. When undiagnosed or untreated, AIDS is deadly.
27-3 Paying for the Reagan Revolution
Despite Reagan's upbeat image, his “revolution” had immense costs that were borne by his successors.
If this were true then the subsequent presidents must have been frugal; it is not true.
27-3a The 1988 Election
Reagan's vice president, George H. W. Bush, emphasized Reagan-style conservatism as he campaigned for president in 1988. In the campaign, he portrayed Democratic candidate Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis as a big-government liberal who supported high taxes and who was too soft on crime. Bush ran ads describing an African American Massachusetts prison inmate named Willie Horton who, released by Dukakis on a temporary furlough, kidnapped a Maryland couple and raped the woman. Whereas liberals in the 1960s had been able to scare the public with ads playing on fears of nuclear war, Bush turned liberal into a derogatory term that implied a connection between Democratic policies and social disorder.
Elected by a comfortable margin, Bush continued many of Reagan's social and economic policies. In appointing a very conservative justice, Clarence Thomas, to the Supreme Court, Bush increased the conservative majority on the Court. But his economic policies were not as successful. Indeed, in both domestic and international affairs, Bush struggled to manage several of the long-term problems that Reagan's policies had created. He was stuck paying for the Reagan Revolution.
27-3b Bush's Domestic Policies
Bush's first hurdle was cleaning up a savings and loan scandal produced by Reagan's attempt to deregulate that industry.
The S&L Crisis
Unbridled from government oversight, large numbers of savings and loans (S&Ls) emerged to compete with banks as depositories of people's money. But instead of securing that money, S&Ls invested people's deposits in shady real estate deals, bonds of dubious reliability, and other high-risk investments. Some of these high-risk investments were successful: large companies used the money to buy up weaker competitors, using their debt as a tax write-off and downsizing the weaker companies to make them profitable or eliminating them altogether. In the business world, this forced companies to streamline production and remain competitive.
27-4 Foreign Relations Under Reagan-Bush
Meanwhile, both Reagan and Bush supported an active, interventionist foreign policy. This was disastrous for balancing America's budget, but it did help end the Cold War.
27-4a The End of the Cold War Era
When he first entered office, Reagan took a hard line with the Soviet Union, provocatively portraying it as an “evil empire.” His efforts, along with the increasingly obvious economic collapse of the Soviet Union, helped initiate the end of the Cold War.
The Reagan Legacy: The End of the Cold War, 6:36
https://youtu.be/fmtNJdX0Q44
Star Wars
Among the many facets of Reagan's actions, the bluntest was to increase the number of American weapons, reigniting the arms race that had slowed through the 1970s. Reagan revived military programs that Carter had cut. He dismissed overtures from the Soviet leader, Yuri Andropov, to cut back certain missiles if the United States would refrain from deploying intermediate-range missiles of its own in Europe. Reagan also proposed to build new defensive weapons capable of “rendering … nuclear weapons impotent” by zapping them from space. This “Strategic Defense Initiative” or SDI (denigrated by critics as “star wars”) violated the 1972 ABM Treaty, which forbade defensive systems capable of covering either the entire United States or the Soviet Union. Andropov and other Soviet leaders saw SDI as a rejection of arms control overtures in favor of a new quest for global military supremacy.
27-4b Other Foreign Affairs
Tiananmen Square
Meanwhile, in June 1989, several spontaneous prodemocracy rallies in China coalesced in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The Communist Chinese government used force to end the rallies, killing at least several hundred of the student activists. This action strained U.S.-China relations and demonstrated that even as some governments were willing to liberalize their policies in certain arenas, such as economics, they would obstinately oppose any movement toward ceding political power.
As China has grown more powerful the restrictions they place upon their own people may increase.
Fox Business: Duffy & Cruz Internet Plan Prevents Obama Giving It Away, 1:58
Fox Business analyzed Congressman Sean Duffy (R-WI) And Senator Ted Cruz's (R-TX) plan to prevent President Obama from handing over the keys to the Internet to countries like China and Russia (6/10/16).
https://youtu.be/OlEZmMQwGE8
The Persian Gulf War
1986 Bombing of Libya
UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, seen here with Reagan outside 10 Downing Street, London in June 1982, granted the U.S. use of British airbases to launch the Libya attack
The UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher allowed the U.S. Air Force to use Britain's air bases to launch the attack, on the justification that the UK was supporting America's right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.[232] The attack was designed to halt Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism", offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior".[231] The president addressed the nation from the Oval Office after the attacks had commenced, stating, "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office".[232] The attack was condemned by many countries. By a vote of 79 in favor to 28 against with 33 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 41/38 which "condemns the military attack perpetrated against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on April 15, 1986, which constitutes a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law".[233]
Obama vs Reagan "How to handle a terrorist". 2:35
https://youtu.be/FfKGUF9uDxUReagan vs. Obama on Iran
Obama, The Great (Appeaser) from Ronald Reagan, 4:18
Reagan warned us about appeasing the enemy and caving to evil. https://youtu.be/LmZUnqjvEgI
Obama's Message to the Iranian People [Subtitled]
Mar 20, 2009, Obama's special video message for all those celebrating Nowruz, or "New Day."
President Reagan's Address to the Nation on U.S. Air Strike against Libya - 4/14/86, 7:18
President Reagan's Address to the Nation on United States Air Strike against Libya on 4/14/86.
Ronald Reagan Airstrike Libya, 1:58
Address to the Nation on the Air Strike Against Libya
April 14, 1986
Reagan bombs Libya, 3:50
BBC news report of the US air strike against Colonel Gaddafi's outlaw régime.
Operation El Dorado Canyon, 7:46
After years of occasional skirmishes with Libya over Libyan territorial claims to the Gulf of Sidra, and years of vulnerability to Libyan-supported terrorism, especially the Abu Nidal group behind the Rome and Vienna airport attacks of December 27, 1985, the United States contemplated a military attack to send a message about support for international terrorism. In March 1986, the United States, asserting the 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) limit to territorial waters recognized by the international community, sent a carrier task force to the region. Libya responded with aggressive counter-maneuvers on March 24 that led to the destruction of Libyan radar systems and missile attack boats. Less than two weeks later on April 5, a bomb exploded in a West Berlin disco, La Belle, killing two American servicemen and a Turkish woman and wounding 200 others. The United States claimed to have obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany involved in the attack.
After several days of diplomatic talks with European and Arab partners, President of the United States Ronald Reagan ordered the strike on Libya on April 14. Eighteen F-111F strike aircraft of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying from RAF Lakenheath supported by four EF-111A Ravens of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing, from RAF Upper Heyford in England, in conjunction with twenty-seven A-6, A-7, F/A-18 attack aircraft and EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga, USS America and USS Coral Sea on station in the Gulf of Sidra struck five targets at 02:00 on April 15, in the stated objective that their destruction would send a message and reduce Libya's ability to support and train terrorists. Commander TJ Coughlin and his strike group of A-6 Intruders caused considerable damage to the Libyan Navy by sinking 2 Combattante missile boats. Cdr. Coughlin is credited with the sinking of both of these ships.
The United States was denied overflight rights by France, Spain and Italy as well as the use of European continental bases, forcing the Air Force portion of the operation to be flown around France, Spain and through the Straits of Gibraltar, adding 1,300 miles (2,100 km) each way and requiring multiple aerial refuelings. The attack lasted about ten minutes. Several targets were hit and destroyed, but some civilian and diplomatic sites in Tripoli were struck as well, and the French embassy was reportedly only narrowly missed, when a number of bombs missed their intended targets.
Looking Ahead…
When the war in the Persian Gulf ended in 1991, President Bush enjoyed strong support. His approval rating soared to a record-breaking 91 percent. But the weak American economy kept plaguing him, and it led to his losing the White House. A Democrat would assume the presidency in 1992.
Nevertheless, two historic transitions marked the years between 1980 and 1992. First was the American population's general shift rightward—politically, socially, and economically. Appeased by the friendly face of Ronald Reagan, large numbers of Americans lost interest in supporting the broad social welfare programs of the New Deal and the Great Society, favoring smaller government instead. The second historic transition of the era was the end of the Cold War, which terminated the fifty-year struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. With the conclusion of the Cold War, the world became a more open, accessible place, and this development, sometimes called globalization, would be a key part of the world economy that would shape the 1990s.
What else was happening …
1982 PacMan is named Time magazine's Man of the Year.
1986 Tom Cruise stars in Top Gun.
1990 Children's classic My Friend Flicka is pulled from the optional reading lists for fifth- and sixth-graders in Clay County, Florida, because the book reportedly uses objectionable language.
1991 First used in 1979 in connection with the Iran hostage crisis, Tony Orlando and Dawn's 1970s hit “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree” has a resurgence in popularity as the anthem for American families with loved ones overseas during the Gulf War. As a result of the tremendous demand for yellow ribbon to tie around trees, one ribbon maker ships 30 million yards of it in a month.
CHAPTER 28
America in the Information Age
The 1990s have rightly been called “The Information Age,” as computers and the Internet became omnipresent in American life. In addition to helping the American economy recover from the deindustrialization that had been going on since the 1970s, the Internet and World Wide Web granted access to people and places that had long been difficult to acquire. Not everyone was enthralled by the penetration of the Internet, though, and the Information Age carried with it both promise and peril.
Learning Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following.
28-1 Evaluate the presidency of Bill Clinton, discussing some of the major domestic and foreign issues the country faced during those years.
28-2 Discuss the technological revolution that took place during Bill Clinton’s presidency, and describe the social and economic changes that took place as a result of this revolution.
28-3 Discuss the new focus on multiculturalism that grew during the latter part of the twentieth century.
28-4 Explain what makes the description of America as actually “two Americas” an accurate one.
“Clinton’s overriding commitment to conservative economic principles and liberal social principles set the agenda for American politics for the next eight years.”
America since 1992 has been shaped by four forces: (1) the rise of new information technologies, such as personal computers and the Internet, which have powered increased and inexpensive communications throughout America and the world; (2) a commitment to reducing trade restrictions between nations, which, aided by the rise of new information technologies, has made national boundaries seem less significant, a phenomenon labeled “globalization”; (3) a general acceptance of the idea that the United States is a multicultural nation and that racial and ethnic diversity, whether good or bad, is a permanent part of American life; and (4) the perpetuation of the culture wars, as battles over affirmative action, abortion, homosexuality, and gender roles have continued into the new century.
28-1 The New Political Center
The 1992 presidential election illustrated many of the themes that would dominate American politics during the 1990s. Notably, the campaign saw the rise of Bill Clinton, a leader who combined rhetorical appeal with a political centrism that eclectically blended liberal and conservative philosophies and policies, sometimes called “the Third Way.” The Third Way consciously sought to avoid the liberal social and economic politics of the New Left and the social and economic conservatism of the New Right. Indeed, Clinton’s overriding commitment to conservative economic principles and liberal social principles set the agenda for American politics for the next eight years.
28-1a The Fall of Bush
But the initial frontrunner was the current president, George H. W. Bush. Saddled with a worsening economy, Bush’s poll numbers declined throughout 1991. Compounding his problems was a sense of despair that took hold of the nation during 1991 and 1992. Stories of the poor economy and episodes illustrating deep divisions in America dominated the news media, including (1) the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, (2) the culture wars, and (3) the Los Angeles riots.
Clarence Thomas
L.A. Riots Florence and Normandy
Reginald Denney
https://youtu.be/M5UGiTIirKw
The truck driver who was beaten nearly to death during the LA Riots, Denny spoke about how April 29, 1992 still affects him.(Interview from 2002)
28-1b The Rise of Bill Clinton
Despite these problems, Bush seemed a formidable enough candidate that few Democrats wanted to challenge him, especially after his popularity had risen so high in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War. The field of Democrats had few nationally known figures, but, from the beginning, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton emerged as a party favorite. Reflecting a challenge to the Republicans’ Southern Strategy, Clinton was a southerner and polled well in the South, a region Democrats had lost since 1976. He also defined himself as a political moderate; he was in favor of the death penalty and welfare reform, which were typically Republican positions. And he proved remarkably able to weather political scandal. During the New Hampshire primary, he obliquely admitted to accusations of adultery and apologized for his actions. The gamble worked, as voters seemed impressed by his honesty, and Clinton went on to win most Democratic primaries.
28-1c Bill Clinton, Free Trader
One of Clinton’s chief messages, as candidate and president, was that America and the world were rapidly changing, making old ideological divisions obsolete.
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
Legislation signed in 1993 that removed tariff barriers between the United States, Mexico, and Canada
World Trade Organization (WTO)
International agency designed to resolve disputes between trading partners and advocate free trade
Bernie Sanders speaks out against NAFTA 05-09-1991, 1:35
https://youtu.be/49eJYs8aDbs
Clinton’s “Third Way"
The key to Clinton’s promise of innovation was what he called the “Third Way,” a centrist and eclectic blend of policy ideas taken from both liberal and conservative perspectives. He supported programs that were popular with a majority of the voters regardless of who had first proposed the plan. He was a strong advocate of liberal proposals like Head Start, air and water quality regulation, and moderate gun control. But he also supported conservative programs, such as tough anticrime measures, welfare reform, and reducing the federal deficit.
Free Trade
In the most substantial break with traditional Democratic policies, Clinton energetically advocated free-trade agreements that would open foreign markets to American companies and foreign companies to American markets. Many workers and the traditionally Democratic labor unions opposed trade deals, fearing that American companies would move their manufacturing jobs overseas, which is exactly what happened. But Clinton argued that, by lowering costs to consumers, such agreements would aid technological change and result in a net economic plus for the United States—which is also what happened.
28-1d Post-Cold War Foreign Policy
In the post-Cold War world, international diplomacy was trickier than it might have at first appeared. While the demise of the Soviet Union had made the United States the only superpower in the world, it was unclear how Clinton should use American force. Should he walk softly and allow the nations of the world to work out their political problems themselves? If they engaged in civil wars, should he intervene? Or should he just use American power to force the nations of the world to adhere to American demands? He seemed to support UN peacekeeping missions, especially when they were acting on behalf of humanitarian efforts. But when in 1993 U.S. Marines in the East African nation of Somalia came under attack, Clinton withdrew American troops from the UN mission of which they were a part. In the wake of the Vietnam War, he was afraid to commit American troops to other nations’ civil wars. This hesitancy prevented Clinton from intervening in Rwanda, where in 1994 the ethnic Hutu majority butchered 800,000 ethnic Tutsis.
Drone Pilot Had Bin Laden in Sight
Clinton didn't order a Tomahawk.
Michael Scheuer on "Inside 9/11," 4:27
https://youtu.be/CTtoHx-ia8A
Bill Clinton hand-written note to Anwar Al-awlaki
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/04/why_did_president_clinton_send_a_friendly_note_to_al_awlakis_911_mosque.html
28-1e The Republican Surge
Clinton ran into further trouble when he tried to push for certain social policies that brought out the rancorous partisanship of the cultural wars.
Policy Missteps
Upon taking office, Clinton fulfilled a campaign promise to end the U.S. government’s ban on homosexuals’ serving in the military. Civil rights groups applauded, but the measure was unpopular with military leaders and some members of Congress. Clinton quickly backtracked and offered a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy preventing the armed forces from inquiring about the sexual orientation of their members, while restoring their right to remove known homosexuals from service. The strained compromise satisfied neither side.
Clinton suffered his most serious political defeat of the first years of his presidency with his ambitious proposals to change the nation’s health care system. Clinton had made health care a central element of his campaign, responding to the fact that 37 million Americans lacked health insurance and that the policy that developed in postwar America, where Americans received the bulk of their health care from policies subsidized by their employer, had developed when the American economy was strong. Soon after taking office, the administration charged a task force, headed by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, to develop a comprehensive health care plan.
Contract with America
Document released by the Republican Party during the 1994 congressional elections promising to reform government, impose term limits, reduce taxes, increase military spending, and loosen regulations on businesses.
The Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. Written by Newt Gingrich and Richard Armey, and in part using text from former President Ronald Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address, the Contract detailed the actions the Republicans promised to take if they became the majority party in the United States House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Many of the Contract's policy ideas originated at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.[1][2]
The Contract with America was introduced six weeks before the 1994 Congressional election, the first mid-term election of President Bill Clinton's
Administration, and was signed by all but two of the Republican members
of the House and all of the Party's non-incumbent Republican
Congressional candidates.
Proponents say the Contract was
revolutionary in its commitment to offering specific legislation for a
vote, describing in detail the precise plan of the Congressional
Representatives, and broadly nationalizing the Congressional election.
Furthermore, its provisions represented the view of many conservative
Republicans on the issues of shrinking the size of government, promoting
lower taxes and greater entrepreneurial activity, and both tort reform and welfare reform.
Critics of the Contract describe it as a political ploy and election
tool designed to have broad appeal while masking the Republicans' real
agenda and failing to provide real legislation or governance.
The 1994 elections resulted in Republicans gaining 54 House and 9 U.S. Senate seats. When the Republicans gained this majority of seats in the 104th Congress, the Contract was seen as a triumph by party leaders such as Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and the American conservative movement in general.
The
fate of the proposals in the Contract were mixed with some becoming law
while some failed to pass the House or the Senate or were vetoed by
President Clinton.
CNN: 1994, Gingrich's 'Contract with America', 1:50
In 1994, Newt Gingrich led Republicans against the Clinton administration and orchestrated "The Contract With America."
https://youtu.be/fSmVYqCqzkI
Democrat supporting Trump reacts to Gettysburg speech, 3:44
https://youtu.be/cMuOMNJk2Js
28-1f Clinton’s Recovery
Gingrich began 1995 as Speaker of the House, championing his ambitious Contract with America. As promised, he did usher most of the proposals in the Contract with America through the House. But the Senate rejected many of the proposals, and others passed the Senate only to be vetoed by the president. Clinton opposed the tax and spending cuts that were central to the conservative agenda, and he cleverly used his power to undercut popular support for Republicans. Notably, Clinton declared in his 1995 State of the Union address that “the era of big government is over.” He thus seemed to agree with Republicans’ antigovernment philosophy, while vetoing the biggest cuts, declaring certain government functions too vital to shut down.
28-2 The Information Revolution
Throughout his two terms in office, Clinton was aided by a solid economic rebound, largely caused by a revolution in information technology.
28-2a Economic Rebound
The American economy began to recover from its post-Reagan recession in 1992 and had shot upward by the late 1990s. In 1993, the United States’ real annual growth rate in GDP was a healthy 2.7 percent; it ran more than 4 percent per year between 1997 and 1999, a level economists usually associate with high-growth economies in developing countries. Millions of new jobs were created during the 1990s, and the country enjoyed low rates of unemployment and slight inflation. The average price of stocks more than tripled during the decade, too; the composite index of the NASDAQ stock exchange, which listed many new technology company stocks, grew by almost 800 percent.
28-2b The Digital Age
To explain this growth, many economists argued that an “information revolution” had taken place.
The Internet and Information Technologies
The rapid development of new information technologies (IT) such as cellular phones and personal computers led many analysts to explain the sudden economic rise as a result of the unforeseen savings brought on by expedited communications. Central to these gains was the Internet, a vast network of linked computers that allows information to be shared easily and instantly. Although universities and the federal government had developed much of the infrastructure behind the Internet in the 1970s and 1980s, it only emerged as a commercial tool in the mid-1990s, after inexpensive desktop computers became common fixtures in American homes and offices. As millions of Americans started going online, the Internet rapidly transformed into an electronic public square, a place to exchange ideas and sell wares, as well as to be educated and entertained. It helped to democratize the marketplace, as the widespread awareness of one product might lead someone else to invent a complementary product.
28-2c Consolidation and Globalization
The growth of the Internet and the information revolution had two other consequences beyond improving the economy: (1) corporate mergers and (2) increased globalization.
Corporate Consolidation
First, the information revolution stimulated a round of large corporate mergers because business leaders were convinced they should try to integrate media content with its transmission. Thus, companies that produced television, films, or music made efforts to provide their material to consumers through all available media: phone, cable, or fiber-optic lines, over the airwaves, or on movie screens. This view was encouraged by Congress, which deregulated the industry in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
28-3 Multiculturalism
By the 1980s, the transformations brought about by the Immigration Act of 1965 had become increasingly visible in American life, and the number of immigrants from Latin American and Asian nations mushroomed. There were only about half a million immigrants coming to the country each decade in the 1920s and 1930s. By the 1990s there were more than a million immigrants coming to the country each year. The census of 2000 revealed that, for the first time, Hispanics had become the country’s largest minority group (at 13 percent of the total population), displacing African Americans (at about 11 percent), who had composed the largest racial minority group since the nation’s founding. These immigrants also brought with them their many and various religions, such as Islam and Hinduism. By the 2020 census, it is projected that Protestants will, for the first time in American history, constitute less than 50 percent of the American population.
28-4 Two Americas
Although the economy remained good throughout the 1990s, several inexplicably violent events made Americans question the moral integrity of their nation. Was it really on the right track? Clinton made matters worse when he got caught in a highly politicized sex scandal. The result was the impression that, by the turn of the century, “two Americas” had formed, although it was hard to define either side beyond saying that one tended to vote Republican, the other Democratic.
28-4a Discontent
With the economy humming along, few would have predicted that extreme instances of violence would flare up. But that is exactly what happened.
Oklahoma City
In 1995, Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh protested the federal government’s fiery intervention into violent antigovernment sects (those at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas) by blowing up a federal building in Oklahoma City. The blast killed 168 people, most of whom were children attending day care in the building. Authorities immediately captured McVeigh, and his actions provided a window into a widespread network of antigovernment militias that were scattered throughout the nation. These groups thought the federal government had become too big and was infringing too much on Americans’ lives.
Columbine, 2:36
A short version of the ABC News Footage on Columbine Massacre - 4/20/99
https://youtu.be/dyRYmeKHOi4
28-4b Political Polarization
Americans viewed these tragedies with nearly universal disgust, and some interpreted this disgust as a sign that Americans were ready for strong hate-crime legislation. Others saw these events as the result of an overly permissive society that provoked, encouraged, and even glorified violence. These polarized explanations gained further expression in a scandal concerning Bill Clinton’s sexual liaisons.
Lewinsky Episode
In 1998, a House of Representatives special investigator named Kenneth Starr determined that Clinton had inappropriate sexual contact with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. Clinton denied the claim, but when Starr found out that one of Lewinsky’s friends had taped telephone conversations in which Lewinsky described the sexual conduct, Starr called Clinton’s bluff. Starr overextended his reach, however, when he demanded that the House of Representatives impeach the president for committing perjury (Clinton had said under oath that he had not had “sexual relations” with Lewinsky). Clinton’s critics argued that his unethical behavior had degraded and sullied the office of the president. Others, without defending the president’s actions, claimed that he was the victim of a new kind of information age political warfare, his private life exposed to public scrutiny in a way that few public figures could survive.
Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal: Former US President's denial, grand jury, and admittance, 5:34
Bill Clinton's presidency was rocked by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. We revisit the affair that dogged his terms in office. Monica Lewinsky, the onetime White House intern whose 1990s affair with Bill Clinton nearly brought down his presidency, broke a long silence on Tuesday, saying she regretted what happened. Writing in Vanity Fair magazine, the 40-year-old said she was made a "scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position." Ms Lewinsky added, "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened." Report by Ashley Fudge.https://youtu.be/HV7zqaKHY3Y
28-4c The 2000 Election
While Clinton certainly bears responsibility for his actions, the assault against him was prosecuted with particular energy and vigor. As such, it was a symbol of a larger political divide, as Republicans attempted to position themselves as moralistic defenders of pre-1960s order and Democrats sought to portray themselves as capable of maintaining order while acknowledging the social liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s. Clinton’s scandal did not bolster the Democrats’ image, but Kenneth Starr’s investigation, which much of the public considered trite and juvenile, had hurt Republicans.
The Candidates
The George Bush You Forgot, 3:00
George Bush advocates a humble foreign policy and warns Americans of the dangers of nation building.https://youtu.be/F9SOVzMV2bc
The Vote
CNN: Flashback to 2000, U.S. presidential election recount, 2:09
The 2000 Presidential election went all the way to the Supreme Court before Al Gore conceded to George W. Bush.https://youtu.be/JEB9hWYMpA0
The Controversy
NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER | Electronic Voting Controversy | PBS, 4:47
https://youtu.be/lQdmG1Ii6qc
The Popular Vote vs. the Electoral College, 4:53
Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert Tara Ross explains.https://youtu.be/LXnjGD7j2B0
Looking Ahead…
Bush’s election seemed to signify the political doldrums of the 1990s. America had entered a new era of free trade, the economy had rebounded from recession due to the growth and expansion of new information technologies, and most Americans generally accepted America’s increasing racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, although they remained uncertain about the country’s immigration policies. Despite these transitions, politicians seemed bound by affirming economic conservatism and social liberalism (Clinton’s Third Way), and thus partisanship became contested within the boundaries of culture, not economic or social issues. Meanwhile, America’s role in the world seemed limited to just economic and cultural imperialism, and most Americans were unaware that the effects of globalization were creating millions of potential enemies, some of whom were angry and dangerous enough to foment an attack on American soil. It is to globalization and its discontents that we turn now.
What else was happening …
1996 As an April Fool’s joke, Taco Bell runs a full-page ad in newspapers, including the New York Times, claiming that the fast-food chain has just bought the Liberty Bell for $1 million. The joke goes on to say that there are plans to rename it the “Taco Liberty Bell.” For a full day, it is taken as a legitimate news event.
1997 Nevada becomes the first state to pass legislation categorizing Y2K data disasters as “acts of God,” protecting the state from lawsuits that might be brought against it by residents in the year 2000.
1997 Scientists at Roslin Institute in Scotland clone a sheep, Dolly.
1997 Princess Di is killed in a car crash in Paris.
Morning and Mourning in America Contrasted Back to Back, Morning, 1:00, Mourning, 1:01
As Obama hits the campaign trail, 'Mourning in America' ad greets him, recalling the Reagan era.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/09/obama-mourning-in-america-ronald-reagan-morning-in-america.html
1984 presidential campaign
Main article: United States presidential election, 1984
Further information: Electoral history of Ronald Reagan § 1984 Presidential election
1984
presidential electoral votes by state. Reagan (red) won every state
except for Washington, D.C., and Mondale's home state of Minnesota.
Reagan's opponent in the 1984 presidential election was former Vice President Walter Mondale. With questions about Reagan's age, and a weak performance in the first presidential debate, his ability to perform the duties of president for another term was questioned. His apparent confused and forgetful behavior was evident to his supporters; they had previously known him clever and witty. Rumors began to circulate that he had Alzheimer's disease.[210][211] Reagan rebounded in the second debate, and confronted questions about his age, quipping, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience", which generated applause and laughter, even from Mondale himself.[212]
That November, Reagan was re-elected, winning 49 of 50 states.[213] The president's overwhelming victory saw Mondale carry only his home state of Minnesota (by 3,800 votes) and the District of Columbia. Reagan won a record 525 electoral votes, the most of any candidate in United States history,[214] and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%.[213]
Reagan vs. Obama - Social Economics 101, 5:37
27-1a Comfortably Conservative
Reagan and the age issue, 1:19
1984 presidential election
https://youtu.be/fJhCjMfRndk
27-1b Deregulation
Deregulation, 6:09
In
the early 80's President Ronald Reagan encouraged the deregulation of
several government controlled industries. One was the airline industry.
This video looks at the pain associated with deregulation and the
ultimate benefits to the industry.https://youtu.be/WOLnew3cFms
27-1c Judicial and Administrative Appointments
Judiciary
Main articles: Ronald Reagan Supreme Court candidates and Ronald Reagan judicial appointments
During
his 1980 campaign, Reagan pledged that, if given the opportunity, he
would appoint the first female Supreme Court Justice.[272] That opportunity came in his first year in office when he nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Potter Stewart. In his second term, Reagan elevated William Rehnquist to succeed Warren Burger as Chief Justice, and named Antonin Scalia to fill the vacant seat. Reagan nominated conservative jurist Robert Bork to the high court in 1987. Senator Ted Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts, strongly condemned Bork, and great controversy ensued.[273] Bork's nomination was rejected 58–42.[274] Reagan then nominated Douglas Ginsburg, but Ginsburg withdrew his name from consideration after coming under fire for his cannabis use.[275] Anthony Kennedy was eventually confirmed in his place.[276] Along with his three Supreme Court appointments, Reagan appointed 83 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 290 judges to the United States district courts.Reagan also nominated Vaughn R. Walker, who would later be revealed to be the earliest known gay federal judge,[277] to the United States District Court for the Central District of California. However, the nomination stalled in the Senate, and Walker was not confirmed until he was renominated by Reagan's successor, George H. W. Bush.[278]
Early in his tenure, Reagan appointed Clarence M. Pendleton, Jr., of San Diego as the first African American to chair the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Pendleton tried to steer the commission into a conservative direction in line with Reagan's views on social and civil rights policy during his time as tenure from 1981 until his sudden death in 1988. Pendleton soon aroused the ire of many civil rights advocates and feminists when he ridiculed the comparable worth proposal as being "Looney Tunes".[279][280][281]
In 1984, Reagan commuted the 18-year sentence of former Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Gil Dozier, a Democrat from Baton Rouge, to the time served for violations of both the Hobbs and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations acts. On September 23, 1980, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana convicted Dozier of extortion and racketeering when he pushed companies doing business with his department to make campaign contributions on his behalf.[282] Reagan determined that the 18-year sentence was excessive compared to what other political figures in similar circumstances had been receiving.[283][284]
Sandra Day O'Connor on Activist Judges, 3:28
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor criticizes the idea of the "activist" judge, and argues for a wider separation between politics and the judiciary. ----- Sandra Day O'Connor delivers the closing remarks at the 2008 Games for Change Festival. This program was recorded in collaboration with the New School. The festival will explore real-world impact, the latest games and funding strategies. Expert practitioners -- academics, activists, non-profits, funders -- will be called in to examine the impact of current games, evaluations planned and the ongoing work to build the field - Games For Change Sandra Day O'Connor (Retired), Associate Justice, was born in El Paso, Texas, March 26, 1930. She received her B.A. and LL.B. from Stanford University. She served as Deputy County Attorney of San Mateo County, California from 1952-1953 and as a civilian attorney for Quartermaster Market Center, Frankfurt, Germany from 1954-1957. From 1958-1960, she practiced law in Maryvale, Arizona, and served as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona from 1965-1969. She was appointed to the Arizona State Senate in 1969 and was subsequently reelected to two two-year terms. In 1975 she was elected Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979, when she was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. President Reagan nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and she took her seat September 25, 1981. Justice O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006.
https://youtu.be/hEntVPddsMw
27-2 America in the 1980s: Polarization of the American Public
27-2a Divisions in Wealth
The Rise of Japan and the American Trade Deficit
President Reagan's Radio Address on Free and Fair Trade and the Budget Deficit - 5/16/87, 5:28
https://youtu.be/zzs3Z1o66Yk27-2b Continued Crisis in the Cities
Reagan vs. Obama, Gov't is the Problem or Gov't is the Only Solution, 1:00
27-2c Culture Wars
Following
high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979, where he studied at
Occidental College for two years. On February 18, 1981, he made his
first public speech, calling for the left-wing position for Occidental's
divestment from South Africa. In the summer of 1981, Obama traveled to
Muslim majority Jakarta to visit his mother and half-sister Maya, and
visited the families of Muslim Occidental College friends in Hyderabad
(India) and Karachi (Pakistan) for three weeks.
Some
then say he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where
he majored in political science with a specialization in international
relations. He allegedly graduated with a A.B. from Columbia in 1983, and
it is documented that he worked at Business International Corporation
and the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Cf.
Scott, Janny (October 30, 2007). "Obama's Account of New York Years
Often Differs from What Others Say". The New York Times. Retrieved April
13, 2008. Obama (1995), pp. 133–140; Mendell (2007), pp. 62–63.
In any event, by his own hand, he described his college years:
"To
avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The
more politically active black students. The foreign students. The
Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock
performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At
night, in the dorms, we discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon,
Eurocentrism, and patriarchy. When we ground out our cigarettes in the
hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake,
we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling conventions. We weren't
indifferent or careless or insecure. We were alienated. But this
strategy alone couldn't provide the distance I wanted, from Joyce or my
past. After all, there were thousands of so-called campus radicals, most
of them white and tenured and happily tolerant. No, it remained
necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the
black masses, to strike out and name names."
-- Barack Obama
27-2d AIDS27-3 Paying for the Reagan Revolution
The 2012 National Debt Road Trip, 2:48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV-xPS5-GxE
27-3a The 1988 Election
Bush Wins Over Dukakis 1988 ElectionWallDotOrg.flv, 2:31
https://youtu.be/ajW2-Er4bi8
27-3b Bush's Domestic Policies
The S&L Crisis
No New Taxes?
Recession
27-4 Foreign Relations Under Reagan-Bush
Eulogy to Reagan by Thatcher, 6:50
College students reveal what they know about Margaret Thatcher.
http://www.mrctv.org/embed/120761
https://www.youtube.com/embed/c9eQIWKBR-s?rel=0
27-4a The End of the Cold War Era
End of the Cold War
See also: Cold War (1985–91)
Ronald Reagan speaks at the Berlin Wall's Brandenburg Gate, challenging Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!!"
Reagan recognized the change in the direction of the Soviet leadership with Mikhail Gorbachev, and shifted to diplomacy, with a view to encourage the Soviet leader to pursue substantial arms agreements.[250] Reagan's personal mission was to achieve "a world free of nuclear weapons", which he regarded as "totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life on earth and civilization".[251][252][253] He was able to start discussions on nuclear disarmament with General Secretary Gorbachev.[253] Gorbachev and Reagan held four summit conferences between 1985 and 1988: the first in Geneva, Switzerland, the second in Reykjavík, Iceland, the third in Washington, D.C., and the fourth in Moscow.[254] Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, this would lead to reform and the end of Communism.[255]
Speaking at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev to go further, saying "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Gorbachev and Reagan sign the INF Treaty at the White House in 1987
When Reagan visited Moscow for the fourth summit in 1988, he was viewed as a celebrity by the Soviets. A journalist asked the president if he still considered the Soviet Union the evil empire. "No", he replied, "I was talking about another time, another era".[258] At Gorbachev's request, Reagan gave a speech on free markets at the Moscow State University.[259] In his autobiography, An American Life, Reagan expressed his optimism about the new direction that they charted and his warm feelings for Gorbachev.[260] In November 1989, ten months after Reagan left office, the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Cold War was officially declared over at the Malta Summit on December 3, 1989, and two years later, the Soviet Union collapsed.[261]
"Tear Down This Wall"
Ronald Reagan- "Tear Down This Wall," 4:00
https://youtu.be/WjWDrTXMgF8
Star Wars
The President of the United States
KERRY SAYS STAR WARS 'BASED ON ILLUSION'
Kerry attacked Reagan's Star Wars speech--Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security, March 23, 1983--on that basis.
"Evil Empire"
It's Official: 1983 Evil Empire Feared Reagan
President Ronald Reagan - "Evil Empire" Speech, 4:36
https://youtu.be/do0x-Egc6oA
Perestroika
Glasnost and Perestroika, 5:23
The differences between the two terms 'glasnost' and 'perestroika' and the effects of these policies, from Curriculum Bites.
https://youtu.be/S9XtYPy4kM8
The Middle East
Libya bombing
Main article: 1986 Bombing of Libya
UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, seen here with Reagan outside 10 Downing Street, London in June 1982, granted the U.S. use of British airbases to launch the Libya attack
The UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher allowed the U.S. Air Force to use Britain's air bases to launch the attack, on the justification that the UK was supporting America's right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.[232] The attack was designed to halt Gaddafi's "ability to export terrorism", offering him "incentives and reasons to alter his criminal behavior".[231] The president addressed the nation from the Oval Office after the attacks had commenced, stating, "When our citizens are attacked or abused anywhere in the world on the direct orders of hostile regimes, we will respond so long as I'm in this office".[232] The attack was condemned by many countries. By a vote of 79 in favor to 28 against with 33 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 41/38 which "condemns the military attack perpetrated against the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya on April 15, 1986, which constitutes a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and of international law".[233]
Obama vs Reagan "How to handle a terrorist". 2:35
https://youtu.be/FfKGUF9uDxUReagan vs. Obama on Iran
Obama, The Great (Appeaser) from Ronald Reagan, 4:18
Reagan warned us about appeasing the enemy and caving to evil.
Obama's Message to the Iranian People [Subtitled]
Mar 20, 2009, Obama's special video message for all those celebrating Nowruz, or "New Day."
President Reagan's Address to the Nation on U.S. Air Strike against Libya - 4/14/86, 7:18
President Reagan's Address to the Nation on United States Air Strike against Libya on 4/14/86.
Ronald Reagan Airstrike Libya, 1:58
Address to the Nation on the Air Strike Against Libya
April 14, 1986
Reagan bombs Libya, 3:50
BBC news report of the US air strike against Colonel Gaddafi's outlaw régime.
Operation El Dorado Canyon, 7:46
After years of occasional skirmishes with Libya over Libyan territorial claims to the Gulf of Sidra, and years of vulnerability to Libyan-supported terrorism, especially the Abu Nidal group behind the Rome and Vienna airport attacks of December 27, 1985, the United States contemplated a military attack to send a message about support for international terrorism. In March 1986, the United States, asserting the 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) limit to territorial waters recognized by the international community, sent a carrier task force to the region. Libya responded with aggressive counter-maneuvers on March 24 that led to the destruction of Libyan radar systems and missile attack boats. Less than two weeks later on April 5, a bomb exploded in a West Berlin disco, La Belle, killing two American servicemen and a Turkish woman and wounding 200 others. The United States claimed to have obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany involved in the attack.
After several days of diplomatic talks with European and Arab partners, President of the United States Ronald Reagan ordered the strike on Libya on April 14. Eighteen F-111F strike aircraft of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying from RAF Lakenheath supported by four EF-111A Ravens of the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing, from RAF Upper Heyford in England, in conjunction with twenty-seven A-6, A-7, F/A-18 attack aircraft and EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare Aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga, USS America and USS Coral Sea on station in the Gulf of Sidra struck five targets at 02:00 on April 15, in the stated objective that their destruction would send a message and reduce Libya's ability to support and train terrorists. Commander TJ Coughlin and his strike group of A-6 Intruders caused considerable damage to the Libyan Navy by sinking 2 Combattante missile boats. Cdr. Coughlin is credited with the sinking of both of these ships.
The United States was denied overflight rights by France, Spain and Italy as well as the use of European continental bases, forcing the Air Force portion of the operation to be flown around France, Spain and through the Straits of Gibraltar, adding 1,300 miles (2,100 km) each way and requiring multiple aerial refuelings. The attack lasted about ten minutes. Several targets were hit and destroyed, but some civilian and diplomatic sites in Tripoli were struck as well, and the French embassy was reportedly only narrowly missed, when a number of bombs missed their intended targets.
The Iran-Contra Affair
Iran–Contra affair
President Reagan receives the Tower Report in the Cabinet Room of the White House in 1987.
President Reagan professed that he was unaware of the plot's existence. He opened his own investigation and appointed two Republicans and one Democrat (John Tower, Brent Scowcroft and Edmund Muskie, known as the "Tower Commission") to investigate the scandal. The commission could not find direct evidence that Reagan had prior knowledge of the program, but criticized him heavily for his disengagement from managing his staff, making the diversion of funds possible.[242] A separate report by Congress concluded that "If the president did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have".[242] Reagan's popularity declined from 67% to 46% in less than a week, the greatest and quickest decline ever for a president.[243] The scandal resulted in fourteen indictments within Reagan's staff, and eleven convictions.[244]
Many Central Americans criticize Reagan for his support of the Contras, calling him an anti-communist zealot, blinded to human rights abuses, while others say he "saved Central America".[245] Daniel Ortega, Sandinistan and president of Nicaragua, said that he hoped God would forgive Reagan for his "dirty war against Nicaragua".[245]
The Collapse of the Soviet Union
The Deadly Hangover
27-4b Other Foreign Affairs
Tiananmen Square
1989 Raw Video: Man vs. Chinese tank Tiananmen square, 2:55
https://youtu.be/YeFzeNAHEhU
What Happened in Tiananmen Square? 2:07
https://youtu.be/NdhVe2MmPbE
The Persian Gulf War
America in the Information Age
28-1 The New American Center
28-1a The Fall of Bush
Clarence Thomas
Strange Moments in the Clarence Thomas Hearings, 2:05
http://college.cengage.com/history/wadsworth_9781133309888/courseware/media/player.html?video=thomas_hill
Clarence Thomas On Racism, 3:17
https://youtu.be/2rUZIllM5HU
The "Culture Wars" cont.
L.A Riots
Florence and Normandy LA riot beatings, 5:22
https://youtu.be/UymAKaUquzs
28-1b The Rise of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton - The Rise to Power, 5:50
https://youtu.be/JpiZkRe58us
Outside Challengers
A Divided Electorate
28-1c Bill Clinton, Free Trader
Clinton's "Third Way"
Free Trade
Deficit Reduction
Spending Restraint, Part I: Lessons from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, 6:58
https://youtu.be/hJneSSGLnSI
Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both reduced the relative burden of government, largely because they were able to restrain the growth of domestic spending. The mini-documentary from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity uses data from the Historical Tables of the Budget to show how Reagan and Clinton succeeded and compares their record to the fiscal profligacy of the Bush-Obama years.
28-1d Post-Cold War Foreign Policy
THE CLINTON LEGACY ACCORDING TO THE MUSLIM WORLD "DELIVERANCE OF BOSNIA-HERZOGOVENIA AND KOSOVO, AND NEAR-DELIVERANCE, WITHIN 100 METERS, OF PALESTINE FROM OCCUPATION" 6:24
Saudi Arabia’s [Prince] Turki al Faisal addressing Bill Clinton at Clinton Global Initiative shindig, September 25, 2012:
“Muslims will never forget your deliverance of Bosnia-Herzogovenia and Kosovo, and near-deliverance, within 100 meters, of Palestine from occupation.”
Drone Pilot Had Bin Laden in Sight
Clinton didn't order a Tomahawk.
Michael Scheuer on "Inside 9/11," 4:27
https://youtu.be/CTtoHx-ia8A
Bill Clinton hand-written note to Anwar Al-awlaki
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/04/why_did_president_clinton_send_a_friendly_note_to_al_awlakis_911_mosque.html
28-1e The Republican Surge
Policy Missteps
Hillarycare, 1:31
http://college.cengage.com/history/wadsworth_9781133309888/courseware/media/player.html?video=hillary_health
Hermain Cain Educates Clinton on Economics in 1994 HC Town Hall Forum, 8:29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy542UgSelQ
In April 1994, Bill Clinton was stumping for his health-care bill, when Herman Cain debated the president's claim that restauranteurs would bear only a marginal new cost. Herman said that the bill would force Godfather's to fire part of its workforce. Clinton disagreed and said that Cain would only have to raise pizza prices by 2 percent. Insisting that Clinton was incorrect, Cain wouldn't give in. He told Clinton, "I'd had my financial people run the numbers". Clinton then asked Herman to send the numbers to him and he would have his advisers go over them.
The next day Herman Cain did send the numbers to the White House and he also submitted an oped piece to the Wall Street Journal. The Journal published them, and after Clinton's plan collapsed, Newsweek identified Cain as one of its "saboteurs"—a badge of honor, especially among conservatives today. Later Hilary Clinton would say the Clinton administration could not be held responsible for every under-capitalized small business in America.
"I Can't Afford Your Health Plan, Mr. Clinton"
By: Herman Cain
April 15, 1994
Appearing in: The Wall Street Journal, USA Today (among others)
Last week, President Clinton got into a sparring match with Herman Cain, president and CEO of Godfather's Pizza, over the impact on business and jobs on the Clinton health care plan's employer mandate. "Why wouldn't you be able to raise the price of pizza 2%?" the president asked at one point. "I'm a satisfied customer. I'd keep buying from you." On Tuesday, Mr. Cain sent the following letter to the president. The table is based on one that accompanied the letter.
Dear Mr. President,
During your April 7, 1994 town hall telecast from Kansas City, you asked me to send you my calculations of the impact on our business of your health care proposal. I am happy to do so in this letter.
As a reminder, the Godfather's Pizza system has 525 restaurants with over 10,000 employees. Two-thirds of these restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees of our company, whose operating financials are almost identical to our corporate-owned operations of 141 restaurants. Therefore, in order to be as specific as possible in our calculations, I will focus on just our corporate-owned operations with 3,418 employees.
Under your proposed health care plan, the cost to cover all 3,418 employees would be nearly $2.2 million annually. This amount of $2.2 million is a $1.7 million increase in our insurance, which is approximately 3 ½ times our prior-year insurance premiums to cover an 80% employer portion for all participating full-time employees.
You mentioned during the telecast that restaurants with approximately 30% labor need only increase prices 2.5%. This price appears to be arrived at by taking 7.9% times 30%. Quite frankly, we cannot just look at a percent of a percent, but instead we must look at the actual dollars involved. A $1.7 million increase would directly decrease "bottom line" profit. In order to produce the same "bottom line" as we are generating today, a 16% to 20% in "top line" sales would be required due to variable costs such as labor, food costs, operating expenses, marketing and taxes. Thus, it is incorrect to assume we can just add $1.7 million to the "top line" and expect it to flow directly to the "bottom line."
As a system of small businesses, we are concerned about the impact of any price increase for the following reasons:
1. Large price increases will drive customers away. Over 50% of our customers use coupons with their pizza purchases because they are very price conscious. In fact, 25% of all restaurant customers use a coupon with their purchase. (Source: NPD/ CREST)
2. Since it is likely that many of our suppliers of ingredients and materials will also experience increases in costs due to a mandate, they will likely pass some or all of those costs on to us and, thus, it becomes an inflationary "snowball."
3. Although consumers are spending more of their food dollars eating out, it is due to competitive forces which tend to hold prices down. This is evidenced by the cost of eating out rising slower than the cost of eating at home (Source: Consumer Price Index, Bureau of Labor Statistics). I believe price increases "by all competitors" in our industry would change this trend.
To summarize, Godfather's Pizza Inc. employs a large percent (67%) of younger, inexperienced and minimum-educated workers with a very high turnover rate of over 100% annually. This is typical of all quick service restaurants, which account for 47% of all eating place sales. I wish we could cover this group of workers, but the incremental cost under your plan causes a significant negative impact on our "bottom line" which cannot easily be rectified. We would then be put in a position to eliminate jobs which would impact productivity and ultimately profitability, or to increase prices to the point of being at a competitive disadvantage.
Mr. President, I believe your objective of coverage for everyone can be achieved without a mandate, using an alternative approach to health care reform... but this is what the debate is all about. I will not impose on the courtesy you have extended to me to personally review my calculations, but I will be more than happy to share some ideas with you personally on alternate approaches which are more business friendly and public friendly.
Thank you for your very valuable time and attention; I look forward to your response.
Most respectfully,
HERMAN CAIN
THE HIT GODFATHER'S WILL TAKE UNDER CLINTON'S HEALTH CARE PLAN
Annualized from January 1994 data
HOURS
WAGES
975 full-time employees
1,915,742
$18,671,075
1,570 part-time employees who work 10+ hours a week
1,537,983
$8,011,091
720 employees who work less than 10 hours a week
221,125
$1,115,347
153 employees on leave of absence/ other
0
0
3,418 TOTAL EMPLOYEES
$3,674,850
$27,797,513
UNDER CURRENT HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN
593 employees are eligible.
409 participate.
Current cost of plan: $540,758
Potential cost of Clinton Plan (cap of 7.9% of payroll) $2,196,604
Additional cost: $1,655,246
Source: Godfather's Pizza, Inc.
Was Herman Cain Right About Health Care?
By Joshua Green Jan 19 2011
The "Contract with America"
The Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. Written by Newt Gingrich and Richard Armey, and in part using text from former President Ronald Reagan's 1985 State of the Union Address, the Contract detailed the actions the Republicans promised to take if they became the majority party in the United States House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. Many of the Contract's policy ideas originated at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.[1][2]
The Contract with America was introduced six weeks before the 1994 Congressional election, the first mid-term election of President Bill Clinton's Administration, and was signed by all but two of the Republican members of the House and all of the Party's non-incumbent Republican Congressional candidates.
Proponents say the Contract was revolutionary in its commitment to offering specific legislation for a vote, describing in detail the precise plan of the Congressional Representatives, and broadly nationalizing the Congressional election. Furthermore, its provisions represented the view of many conservative Republicans on the issues of shrinking the size of government, promoting lower taxes and greater entrepreneurial activity, and both tort reform and welfare reform. Critics of the Contract describe it as a political ploy and election tool designed to have broad appeal while masking the Republicans' real agenda and failing to provide real legislation or governance.
The 1994 elections resulted in Republicans gaining 54 House and 9 U.S. Senate seats. When the Republicans gained this majority of seats in the 104th Congress, the Contract was seen as a triumph by party leaders such as Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and the American conservative movement in general.
The fate of the proposals in the Contract were mixed with some becoming law while some failed to pass the House or the Senate or were vetoed by President Clinton.
28-1f Clinton's Recovery
Closing Down the Government
The 1996 Election
28-2 The Information Revolution
28-2a Economic Rebound
28-2b The Digital Age
Other Communications
Costs
Benefits
28-2c Consolidation and Globalization
Corporate Consolidation
Globalization
World Without Walls - Stop Motion - Globalization, 3:17
https://youtu.be/As3pWXoq_as
Globalization easily explained (explainity® explainer video), 4:18
Globalization is a topic that is often debated controversally. It concerns all of us, but what exactly is globalization and what is its impact on every single one of us? explainity tackles exactly this question and gives some answers in this short clip.
https://youtu.be/JJ0nFD19eT8
Critics of Globalization
28-3 Multiculturalism
UKIP Multiculturalism has Failed in Europe (Must Watch) 2013, 4:13
http://youtu.be/XxSnhLIoPGg
28-4 Two Americas
28-4a Discontent
Oklahoma City
OKC Bombing - Jayna Davis on O'Reilly Factor, Exposes Middle Eastern Terror Cell, 6:34
https://youtu.be/uRK_6fVJsBw
Columbine
Columbine, 2:36
A short version of the ABC News Footage on Columbine Massacre - 4/20/99https://youtu.be/dyRYmeKHOi4
28-4b Political Polarization
Lewinsky Episode
Secret Sex Tape: Monica Lewinsky, 2013
Secret Sex Tape: Monica Lewinsky Caught On Explicit Recording Telling Bill Clinton, 'I Could Take My Clothes Off…'
A sex tape that Monica Lewinsky recorded for Bill Clinton at the height of their scandalous affair has leaked, during which the former White House intern is heard planning a secret sexual rendezvous with the president and declaring she is “too cute and adorable” to be ignored.
Telling Bill Clinton, ‘I Could Take My Clothes Off…’
Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal: Former US President's denial, grand jury, and admittance, 5:34
Bill Clinton's presidency was rocked by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. We revisit the affair that dogged his terms in office. Monica Lewinsky, the onetime White House intern whose 1990s affair with Bill Clinton nearly brought down his presidency, broke a long silence on Tuesday, saying she regretted what happened. Writing in Vanity Fair magazine, the 40-year-old said she was made a "scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position." Ms Lewinsky added, "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened." Report by Ashley Fudge.https://youtu.be/HV7zqaKHY3Y
Rebuking the Republicans
28-4c The 2000 Election
The Candidates
The George Bush You Forgot, 3:00
George Bush advocates a humble foreign policy and warns Americans of the dangers of nation building.https://youtu.be/F9SOVzMV2bc
The Vote
CNN: Flashback to 2000, U.S. presidential election recount, 2:09
The 2000 Presidential election went all the way to the Supreme Court before Al Gore conceded to George W. Bush.https://youtu.be/JEB9hWYMpA0
The Controversy
NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER | Electronic Voting Controversy | PBS, 4:47
https://youtu.be/lQdmG1Ii6qcThe Popular Vote vs. the Electoral College, 4:53
Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert Tara Ross explains.https://youtu.be/LXnjGD7j2B0
The Emergence of a New Society
The Contemporary Western World 1970-Present
"Tear Down This Wall"
Ronald Reagan- "Tear Down This Wall," 4:00
Revolutions in Eastern Europe
Poland, Lech Walesa, Roman Catholic Church
The U.S. Domestic Scene
Nixon and Watergate
Gerald Ford and Chevy Chase, :35
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mk8R4PoR9II
The Carter Administration
"Crisis of Confidence" Speech July 15, 1979, 2:08
The Reagan Revolution
Ronald Reagan 1984 TV Ad: "Its morning in America again," 1:00
Revisiting the Reagan Revolution -- A Book Release Party Featuring Dr. Steven Hayward, 4:08
The Growth of Terrorism
Terrorism, War, and Bush 43: Crash Course US History #46, 12:46
https://youtu.be/nlsnnhn3VWE9/11
Peace Train by Cat Stevens, w/ Lyrics, 4:14
Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam Calls For The Murder Of Salman Rushdie, 1:38
Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), was the centre of a major controversy, drawing protests from Muslims in several countries. Some of the protests were violent, in which death threats were issued to Rushdie, including a fatwā against him by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, on February 14, 1989.
Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam has tried to get this video (in which he clearly calls for the murder of Salman Rushdie) removed and banned from wherever it has been posted on the internet.
This is Cat Stevens who is famous for the song "Peace Train" and other songs that are amongst the most peaceful and mellow pop songs; thereafter, Yusuf Islam promotes his Islamist version of "peace".
Michael Scheuer on "Inside 9/11," 4:27
27-2c Culture Wars
Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979, where he studied at Occidental College for two years. On February 18, 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for the left-wing position for Occidental's divestment from South Africa. In the summer of 1981, Obama traveled to Muslim majority Jakarta to visit his mother and half-sister Maya, and visited the families of Muslim Occidental College friends in Hyderabad (India) and Karachi (Pakistan) for three weeks.
Some then say he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations. He allegedly graduated with a A.B. from Columbia in 1983, and it is documented that he worked at Business International Corporation and the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Cf. Scott, Janny (October 30, 2007). "Obama's Account of New York Years Often Differs from What Others Say". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2008. Obama (1995), pp. 133–140; Mendell (2007), pp. 62–63.
In any event, by his own hand, he described his college years:
"To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets. We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets. At night, in the dorms, we discussed neocolonialism, Franz Fanon, Eurocentrism, and patriarchy. When we ground out our cigarettes in the hallway carpet or set our stereos so loud that the walls began to shake, we were resisting bourgeois society's stifling conventions. We weren't indifferent or careless or insecure. We were alienated. But this strategy alone couldn't provide the distance I wanted, from Joyce or my past. After all, there were thousands of so-called campus radicals, most of them white and tenured and happily tolerant. No, it remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."
-- Barack Obama
REFERENCES
The best of Ronald Reagan, 10:47
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yVYtIdUcYqY
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Harper Perennial (2009), Edition: 1 Reprint, Paperback, 784 pages
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The work allows an inside look into the mind of a president which is uncommon enough. Only four presidents have done so: Washington, John Quincy Adams, James K. Polk, and Rutherford B. Hayes. Reagan then easily becomes the second most important president to do so and is one of the most significant presidents ever. It is an invaluable insider's look behind the Oval Office.
The personal Reagan truly emerges: patriotic, humorous, charitable and kind, dedicated to Nancy, health-conscious, politically alert, and interestingly enough, very prone to frequent haircuts. Reagan enjoyed old movies, the company of friends, and his beloved horses and ranch. personal Reagan truly emerges: patriotic, humorous, charitable and kind, dedicated to Nancy, health-conscious, politically alert, and interestingly enough, very prone to frequent haircuts. Reagan enjoyed old movies, the company of friends, and his beloved horses and ranch.
|
Penguin (Non-Classics) (2000), Paperback, 592 pages
https://www.librarything.com/work/232174/summary/49184040
Stagflation, 2:55How a supply shock can cause prices to rise and the economy to stagnate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTz_tx460EY&feature=share&list=PLCGtWrfZ32ai9EH4QmRzV4YwuXQKwytz4 Fifteen Cars that Shaped American Culture - Autoline This Week 1626, 25:47 Pick up any car magazines and you'll find lists. Lists for best car, lists for worst MPGs, lists for most collectible and so on. But the one list that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Ingrassia could not find is the subject of his new book "Engines of Change." Mr. Ingrassia looked at our car culture and has come up with a list of vehicles and how they have impacted our entire American society. John McElroy leads a fascinating discussion with Mr. Ingrassia and panelists Todd Lassa from Motor Trend & Drew Winter from WardsAuto.com. http://youtu.be/gAS17BCw2xQ The Napkin Sketch That Introduced Supply-Side Economics, 2:50 Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin, discusses how a simple graph drawn on the back of a napkin -- later to be known as the "Laffer Curve" -- became "the basis of supply-side economics" for the late 20th century. ----- Dan Roam urges us to think with our eyes and tackle tough business problems in a whole new way - even if we draw like a second-grader. He introduces powerful techniques from his "visual thinking" toolbox and demonstrates how people in diverse organizational settings can discover, develop and share their best ideas with a simple drawing on a basic napkin. - The Commonwealth Club of California Dan Roam is the founder and president of Digital Roam Inc., a consulting firm that helps clients solve complex problems through visual thinking. He's also the author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. http://youtu.be/5bgxAwBuGJg Pentagon Papers Whistleblower on Obama and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 9:52 We are joined by a man who played a major role in efforts to end the Vietnam War in the 1970s. In 1971, the then-RAND Corporation analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked to the media what became known as the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000-page classified history outlining the true extent of US involvement in Vietnam. After avoiding a life sentence on espionage charges, Daniel Ellsberg has continued to speak out against US militarism until the present day. http://youtu.be/pTbGEDE3QT4 How The Government Created A Financial Crisis http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2011/05/19/how-the-government-created-a-financial-crisis/ The Financial Crisis and the Bank Deregulation Myth http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/financial-crisis-bank-deregulation-myth The Financial Crisis Explained: Why Complexity Wasn’t the Problem http://www.american.com/archive/2013/august/the-financial-crisis-explained-why-complexity-wasnt-the-problem Learning the Wrong Lessons From the Financial Crisis http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/jr-nyquist/learning-wrong-lessons-from-financial-crisis Ronald Reagan - The Presidential Years Part 1 of 4, 14:07 A Documentary http://youtu.be/7RU6AYlT0FU | |||
The Reagan Revolution: Crash Course US History #43, 14:19
https://youtu.be/2h4DkpFP_awReagan, 4 July 1986
Text of the speech:
My fellow Americans:
In a few moments the celebration will begin here in New York Harbor. It’s going to be quite a show. I was just looking over the preparations and thinking about a saying that we had back in Hollywood about never doing a scene with kids or animals because they’d steal the scene every time. So, you can rest assured I wouldn’t even think about trying to compete with a fireworks display, especially on the Fourth of July.
My remarks tonight will be brief, but it’s worth remembering that all the celebration of this day is rooted in history. It’s recorded that shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia celebrations took place throughout the land, and many of the former Colonists — they were just starting to call themselves Americans — set off cannons and marched in fife and drum parades.
What a contrast with the sober scene that had taken place a short time earlier in Independence Hall. Fifty-six men came forward to sign the parchment. It was noted at the time that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And that was more than rhetoric; each of those men knew the penalty for high treason to the Crown. “We must all hang together,” Benjamin Franklin said, “or, assuredly, we will all hang separately.” And John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in large script so King George could see it without his spectacles. They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition that every man, woman, and child had a right to a future of freedom.
For just a moment, let us listen to the words again: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Last night when we rededicated Miss Liberty and relit her torch, we reflected on all the millions who came here in search of the dream of freedom inaugurated in Independence Hall. We reflected, too, on their courage in coming great distances and settling in a foreign land and then passing on to their children and their children’s children the hope symbolized in this statue here just behind us: the hope that is America. It is a hope that someday every people and every nation of the world will know the blessings of liberty.
And it’s the hope of millions all around the world. In the last few years, I’ve spoken at Westminster to the
mother of Parliaments; at Versailles, where French kings and world leaders have made war and peace. I’ve been to the Vatican in Rome, the Imperial Palace in Japan, and the ancient city of Beijing. I’ve seen the beaches of Normandy and stood again with those boys of Pointe du Hoc, who long ago scaled the heights, and with, at that time, Lisa Zanatta Henn, who was at Omaha Beach for the father she loved, the father who had once dreamed of seeing again the place where he and so many brave others had landed on D-day. But he had died before he could make that trip, and she made it for him. “And, Dad,” she had said, “I’ll always be proud.”
And I’ve seen the successors to these brave men, the young Americans in uniform all over the world, young Americans like you here tonight who man the mighty U.S.S. Kennedy and the Iowa and other ships of the line. I can assure you, you out there who are listening, that these young are like their fathers and their grandfathers, just as willing, just as brave. And we can be just as proud. But our prayer tonight is that the call for their courage will never come. And that it’s important for us, too, to be brave; not so much the bravery of the battlefield, I mean the bravery of brotherhood.
All through our history, our Presidents and leaders have spoken of national unity and warned us that the real obstacle to moving forward the boundaries of freedom, the only permanent danger to the hope that is America, comes from within. It’s easy enough to dismiss this as a kind of familiar exhortation. Yet the truth is that even two of our greatest Founding Fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, once learned this lesson late in life. They’d worked so closely together in Philadelphia for independence. But once that was gained and a government was formed, something called partisan politics began to get in the way. After a bitter and divisive campaign, Jefferson defeated Adams for the Presidency in 1800. And the night before Jefferson’s inauguration, Adams slipped away to Boston, disappointed, brokenhearted, and bitter.
For years their estrangement lasted. But then when both had retired, Jefferson at 68 to Monticello and Adams at 76 to Quincy, they began through their letters to speak again to each other. Letters that discussed almost every conceivable subject: gardening, horseback riding, even sneezing as a cure for hiccups; but other subjects as well: the loss of loved ones, the mystery of grief and sorrow, the importance of religion, and of course the last thoughts, the final hopes of two old men, two great patriarchs, for the country that they had helped to found and loved so deeply. “It carries me back,” Jefferson wrote about correspondence with his cosigner of the Declaration of Independence, “to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right to self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us and yet passing harmless . . . we rowed through the storm with heart and hand . . . .” It was their last gift to us, this lesson in brotherhood, in tolerance for each other, this insight into America’s strength as a nation. And when both died on the same day within hours of each other, that date was July 4th, 50 years exactly after that first gift to us, the Declaration of Independence.
My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith with them and all the great Americans of our past. Believe me, if there’s one impression I carry with me after the privilege of holding for 5\1/2\ years the office held by Adams and Jefferson and Lincoln, it is this: that the things that unite us — America‘s past of which we’re so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country — these things far outweigh what little divides us. And so tonight we reaffirm that Jew and gentile, we are one nation under God; that black and white, we are one nation indivisible; that Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world.
My fellow Americans, we’re known around the world as a confident and a happy people. Tonight there’s much to celebrate and many blessings to be grateful for. So while it’s good to talk about serious things, it’s just as important and just as American to have some fun. Now, let’s have some fun — let the celebration begin!
Note: The President spoke at 9:50 p.m. from the U.S.S. “John F. Kennedy” in New York Harbor. Earlier, on board the ship, he attended a USO show and a reenlistment and promotion ceremony for members of the crew. Following the fireworks display, the President went to the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills, NY, where he stayed overnight.
'Election 1980' single, 2:15
'ELECTION 1980' single was released in late 1980 in time for the presidential election between Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and independent candidate John Anderson. The recording itself is a comedic cut and paste piece that was popular on the nationally syndicated radio program, The Dr. Demento Show
In the recording, the artist, Dickie Goodman, is heard interviewing Reagan, Carter and Anderson on the eve of the election and each of the candidates responds back through recorded lines from the Top 40 hits of that time.
This record is worth noting here as two tracks from Xanadu were used for this single, Magic and Xanadu.
Goodman has made a career out of these types of novelty records, going far back to 1956 as part of 'Buchanan & Goodman' with their first hit, The Flying Saucer Pt. 1 & 2. This first single had space men invading Earth while Goodman asks questions to them and authorities with small excepts of hits from that same year were used for answers.
Goodman continued to issue similar records that comedicly mirrored the times: Mr. Jaws* (for the popular movie), Energy Crisis 74, Watergrate (Nixon and Watergate), Kong (for the 1977 remake), Superfly Meets Shaft, On Campus (1969), Hey E. T.!, Buchanan & Goodman On Trial (1956 single responding to the lawsuits from the their first single) and so on.
Dickie died in 1989 and his son had written his father's biography, King Of Novelty for Libris Books in 2002. 'Election 80' was out-of-print for years until in 1998 when a second CD collection of Goodman's works was released, entitled 'Greatest Fables Vol. 2', which is believed to be still in print.
*For you more anal-retentive fans, especially the ONJ ones, Goodman used a part of the chorus from 'Please Mr. Please' in the original 1974 Mr. Jaws single. Be sure to look for the original version as sequent versions replaced ONJ cut with a different singer.
PS: the Casey Kasem "bit" at the end is NOT part of the single.
XANADU (c) Universal City Studios Inc. ALL OTHER COPYRIGHTS ACKNOWLEDGED
eagan on D-Day
Short version, Ronald Reagan- 40th Anniversary of D-Day
Ronald Reagan Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of D-Day June 6, 1984 Pointe Du Hoc and Omaha Beach, France
Reagan begins his presidential campaign
President Ronald Reagan - Liberty State Park [Pt. 1]
Ronald Reagan kicks off his presidential campaign with a Labor Day speech at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey. Delivered 1 September 1980. Complete transcript and audio mp3 at: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganlibertypark.htm
Ronald Reagan - Liberty State Park [Pt. 2]
Richard Norton Smith on Ronald Reagan
Richard Norton Smith and former Reagan Political Director, Bill Lacy, as they reminisce about Ronald Reagan, our 40th president as his 100th birthday approaches.
Richard Norton Smith, presidential historian and first permanent director of the Dole Institute, will discuss during the series his four presidential picks from the last century to place on Mt. Rushmore.
President Reagan's Remarks to Harley-Davidson Company employees in York, Pennsylvania on May 6, 1987
Reagan Address to Junior High Students, 14 November 1988
President Reagan marked the beginning of American Education Week and spoke to school students in the East Room of the White House. He talked about the foundations of American government, the values of democracy, and the regard for the United States held by other countries. He also answered questions from the students. The event was telecast in several classrooms throughout the country.
The interesting aspect of the broadcast is that the kids are articulate and ask questions about the deficit, Reagan asks them what they are proudest about America, and he appears genuinely interested in their future. He thought we had morning in America.
27 Reagan's America
27-1 Reagan's Domestic Politics
Comfortably Conservative
Deregulation
Judicial and Administrative Appointments
27-2 America in the 1980s: Polarization of the American Public
Divisions in Wealth
Continued Crisis in the Cities
Culture Wars
AIDS
27-3 Paying for the Reagan Revolution
The 1988 Election
Bush's Domestic Policies
27-4 Foreign Relations Under Reagan-Bush
The End of the Cold War Era
Other Foreign Affairs
28 America in the Information Age
28-1 The New Political Center
The Fall of Bush
The Rise of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, Free Trader
Post-Cold War Foreign Policy
The Republican Surge
Clinton's Recovery
28-2 The Information Revolution
Economic Rebound
The Digital Age
Consolidation and Globalization
28-3 Multiculturalism
28-4 Two Americas
Discontent
Political Polarization
The 2000 Election
Lesson Plan
https://billofrightsinstitute.org/educate/educator-resources/lessons-plans/presidents-constitution/johnson-and-reagan/
C-SPAN: President Reagan 1981 Inaugural Address, 20:48
https://youtu.be/hpPt7xGx4Xo
