Carter and the Reagan Revolution

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Carter and the Reagan Revolution
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• Carter was an unusual figure in the Presidency
  Lucky to be elected eked out a victory over
  Gerald Fordpeople voted against Vietnam,
  Watergate and Nixon to elect Carter.
• His Christian persona, uncontaminated by
  Washington (outsider) made him an interesting
  alternative after Watergate
• Ostensibly a convicted Christian with ethics,
  Journalists and policy professionals were
  mesmerized by his Judeo-Christian attitude.

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• His eccentric family provided plentiful material
  for colorful media stories
• Carter struggled to make respect for human rights
  central to his foreign policy
• He withdrew American support for the shah of Iran
• He withdrew American support for the Nicaraguan
  dictator Somoza

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• He tried to promote lasting peace in the Middle
  East. The Camp David Accord between Israel and
  Egypt (1978) was his most important contribution
  to world stability.
• He relinquished American control of the Panama
  Canal.

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• Carters economic policies were hamstrung by an
  awkward combination of slow growth and inflation
  (stagflation).
• The 1979 oil crisis intensified inflation.
• He faced a bruising challenge in the Democratic
  Party for the 1980 nomination.

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• The Carter administration ended in a pair of
  complex foreign-policy crises.
• Iranian revolutionaries seized 71 American
  diplomats and embassy staff members in November
  1979 and held 52 of them as hostages for 444
  days.
• The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979)
  poisoned the détente atmosphere.

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Ronald Reagan

• Reagans victory in 1980 indicated a shift in the
  Republican Party and the new energy of the
  Religious Right.

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• The Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell, brought
  the concerns of evangelical Christians into the
  political arena for the first time since the
  1920s.
• The objected to the permissive society, the
  sexual revolution, feminism, and a perceived
  breakdown of the family
• They aimed to restore religion to a central place
  in public life.

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• Conservative Republicans had gained control of
  local party branches since the Goldwater fiasco
  of 1964.
• Reagans earlier fame, based on his radio,
  Hollywood, and television careers, gave
  Republican conservatives a handsome, relaxed,
  media-savvy representative.

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• Reagan, like Eisenhower, deliberately gave the
  impression of being less politically capable than
  he, in fact, was.
• Surviving an assassination attempt soon after his
  inauguration enhanced his popularity.
• His persona, as much as his policies, helped to
  ensure Reagan's reelection in 1984, especially
  when the Democrats pursued controversial policies
  and candidates.

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• The Democrats choice of a female
  vice-presidential candidate backfired.
• Jesse Jacksons role in the Democratic Party
  contributed to its disarray.
• Reagan abandoned the bipartisan consensus of
  recent decades in both domestic and foreign
  policy.
• He espoused the supply-side revolution in
  economic policy. Tax cuts, providing
  entrepreneurial incentives, would increase
  economic growth and enhance revenue.

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• Reagan abandoned the bipartisan consensus of
  recent decades in both domestic and foreign
  policy.
• He espoused the supply-side revolution in
  economic policy. Tax cuts, providing
  entrepreneurial incentives, would increase
  economic growth and enhance revenue.

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• The Libertarian side of Republicanism gained more
  than the pro-family and evangelical side, whose
  policy plans presupposed more government
  intervention and surveillance.
• Reagan, despite his rhetoric, did little to
  legislate against abortion or for school prayers.
• He found it difficult to follow through on his
  promise to diminish the reach of the federal
  government.

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• Rapid military escalation created budget
  deficits.
• Ragans militant Cold War posture strained
  relations with the Soviet Union and contributed
  to bitter conflict in Latin America.

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• Reagans supported the anti-regime contras in
  Nicaraguas civil war and the pro-U.S regime in
  El Salvador.
• The Star Wars program prepared to militarize
  even beyond Earths atmosphere.
• Concessions in the START (Strategic Arms
  Reduction Treaty) talks augured the Soviet
  Unions internal crisis.
• His Teflon image enabled Reagan to weather even
  the embarrassing Iran-Contra scandal of his
  second term.