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- In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan rejuvenated the conservative Republican ideology, with tax cuts, greatly increased defense spending, deregulation, a policy of rolling back communism, a greatly strengthened military and appeals to family values and conservative Judeo-Christian morality.
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- The 1980 Presidential Election: Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory over incumbent President Jimmy Carter signaled the beginning of a new era. His campaign promised a break from the “malaise” of the 1970s and a return to optimism and American exceptionalism.
- “The Government is the Problem”: In his inaugural address, Reagan declared that “In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
- The Air Traffic Controllers Strike (1981): When air traffic controllers went on an illegal strike, Reagan took a firm stand, firing the strikers. His decisive action signaled a new, tougher stance on labor unions and reinforced his commitment to law and order.
- Reaganomics: Reagan’s economic policies, dubbed “Reaganomics,” focused on lower taxes, deregulation, and spending cuts. These measures led to significant economic growth, with GDP increasing by over a third during Reagan’s two terms.
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During the 1980s, conservative politics and Reaganomics held sway as the Berlin Wall crumbled, new computer technologies emerged, AIDS ravaged the United States, especially the gay male...
This set of speeches, interviews, political cartoons, and artifacts allows you to explore the rise of conservatism in these areas, as well as the critiques that were posed by activists and politicians. How was conservatism redefined during the 1980s?
- The Election of Ronald Reagan, 1980
- The Reagan Revolution
- The Battle of The Budget
- Reagan Renews The Cold War
- Troubles Abroad
- Round Two For Reagan
- The Iran-Contra Imbroglio
- Reagan’s Economic Legacy—“Reaganomics”
- The Religious Right
- Conservatism in The Courts
The average American was older than in the sixties and more likely to live in the South or West, the traditional bastions of the “Old Right,” where many harbored suspicions of federal powerThe conservative cause drew strength from the emergence of a “New Right” movement, partly in response to counter-cultural protests of the 1960s—evangelical Christian groups, social issues denouncin...Ronald Reagan sided with the new right on social issues denounced the activist gov’t and failed “social engineering” of the 1960s—both Reagan and Roosevelt championed the “common man”Reagan preached a “populist” political philosophy that condemned federal intervention in local affairs, favoritism of minorities and elitism of arrogant bureaucrats (working-class, middle-class)On Reagan’s Inauguration Day, January 20, 1981, the Iranians released the hostages (444 days)Reagan assembled a conservative cabinet including James Watt who was a product of the “Sagebrush Rebellion,” an anti-Washington movement to protest federal control over resourcesEnvironmentalists pointed to Watt’s schemes to hobble the EPA and he resigned in 1983A major goal of Reagan was to reduce the size of the gov’t by shrinking the federal budget and slashing taxes; by the early 1980s this antigovernment message found a receptive audienceCongress swallowed Reagan’s budget proposals, approving expenditures of $695 million with a projected deficit of $38 billion, which Congress addressed by scalping Great Society programsReagan exercised great power over Congress and the second part of his economic program called for deep tax cuts, amounting to 25 percent reductions over a period of three years (TV address)Thanks to the continued defection of the “boll weevils” from the Democratic camp, Reagan had his way; reforms lowered individual tax rates, reduced estate taxes, and created savings plansReagan’s “supply-side” economic advisers assured him that combination of budgetary discipline and tax reduction would stimulate new investment, boost productivity, foster dramatic economic growth,...As the Soviets carried on war in Afghanistan, Reagan continued to condemn the KremlinReagan believed in negotiating with the Soviets but from a position of strength; by expanding US military capabilities, he could threaten the Soviets with arms race/economy strongerIn March 1983 Reagan announced intention to pursue a missile-defense system called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), popularly known as Star Wars (overall Soviet strategy)SDI emphasized defense rather than offense; doubts constrained funding for SDIIn June 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon seeking to suppress Palestinian fighter basesPresident Reagan was obliged to send American troops to Lebanon in 1983 as part of an international peacekeeping force and after a suicide bomber killed 200 US marines on October 23, 1983, the pres...A leftist revolution deposed the dictator of Nicaragua in 1979 and while Carter tried to ignore anti-American revolutionaries known as “Sandinistas,” Reagan returned fire for fireDiscovering aid sent to El Salvador, Reagan sent military “advisers” to prop up the pro-American gov’t of El Salvador and provided covert aid (invasion force to Grenada)Reagan won the Republican nomination in 1984 for a second White House term and his opponent was Democrat Walter Mondale whose running mate was Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro of New York who was th...Mondale was tainted by his service as vice president under Carter and Reagan won handilyForeign-policy issues dominated Reagan’s news in his second term; the president soon found himself contending for world’s attention with new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev (1985)Gorbachev announced glasnost, or “openness” to introduce free speech and political liberty and perestroika, or “restructuring” to revive the Soviet economy with many free-market practicesThe continuing captivity of American hostages seized by Muslim extremists in Lebanon and the continuing grip on power of the left-wing Sandinista gov’t in Nicaragua seemed unsolvableReagan repeatedly requested Congress provide military aid to contra rebels but Congress refusedIn 1985 American diplomats arranged arms sales to Iranians in return for Iranian aid in obtaining the release of American hostages held by Middle Eastern terrorists (money from the payment for the...News of these secret dealings broke in November 1986 and President Reagan pleaded innocent; criminal indictments were brought against several individuals tarred by the Iran-contra scandalReagan eased many regulatory rules, pushed major tax reform bills through Congress but a balance budget remained out of reach (the combination of tax reduction and huge increases in military spendi...The staggering deficits of the Reagan years assuredly constituted a great economic failure and foreign lenders financed much of the debt (legislation mandating balanced budget, 1986)The deficits contained the welfare state and there was a sharp reversal of a long-term trend toward a more equitable distribution of income and an increasing squeeze on the middle classReligion pervaded American politics in the 1980s; especially conspicuous was a coalition of conservative, evangelical Christians known as the religious right (Moral Majority)Reverend Falwell preached against sexual permissiveness, abortion, feminism, and the gay rights and televangelists reached huge audiences in the 1980s, collected millions and were conservativeMembers of the religious right were sometimes called “movement conservatives,” a term that recalls the left-wing protest movements of the 1960s (response to sixties radicalism)The religious right practiced a form of “identity politics” but declared themselves Christian or pro-life voters; the right had prayer meetings; they mirrored tactics of civil disobedienceThe courts became Reagan’s principle instrument in the “cultural wars” demanded by the religious right; by the time he had left office, Reagan had appointed many sitting judges and he had named thr...Reaganism repudiated two great icons of the liberal political culture—affirmative action/abortionIn 1984 the Court ruled that union rules about job seniority could outweigh affirmative actionIn two cases in 1989 (Ward’s Cove Packing v. Antonia and Martin v. Wilks), the Court made it more difficult to prove that an employer practiced racial discrimination in hiring and made it easier fo...In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan rejuvenated the conservative Republican ideology, with tax cuts, greatly increased defense spending, deregulation, a policy of rolling back communism, a greatly strengthened military and appeals to family values and conservative Judeo-Christian morality.
Ronald Reagan entered the White House in 1981 with strongly conservative values but experience in moderate politics. He appealed to moderates and conservatives anxious about social change and the seeming loss of American power and influence on the world stage.
The Reagan era or the Age of Reagan is a periodization of recent American history used by historians and political observers to emphasize that the conservative "Reagan Revolution" led by President Ronald Reagan in domestic and foreign policy had a lasting impact.
