Ronald Reagan
1981-1989
First election
Republican Ronald Reagan vs. Democrat Jimmy Carter vs. Independent John Anderson
Electoral vote- 489---49---0
States carried- 44-----6----0
Popular vote- 43,903,230----35,480,115-----5,719,850
Percentage- 50.8%----41.0%---6.6%
Condemned federal intervention, favoritism of minorities, and elitism.
Second Election
November 6, 1984
Republican Ronald Reagan vs Democrat Walter Mondale
Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro as his Vice Presidential running mate:
- First woman to be in the running for a major party position.
- Wasn't impactful enough to cover the fact that Mondale himself had been vice president to the Carter administration, which still held embarrassment for the U.S.
Electoral vote- 525-----13
States carried- 49-----1
Popular vote- 54,455,472----37,577,352
Percentage- 58.8%-----40.6%
Mondale won only the District of Columbia and his home state of Minnesota
Reagan focused mostly on foreign policy during his second term.
Concerns Over the National Budget
Budget shift from defense to entitlement programs.
Californians stage "tax revolt" that cut taxes
Congress approves budget cuts
Called for tax cuts of 25% over a period of three years. Supply-side economic advisers assured him this would boost the economy.
Supply-side economics initially led to a deep recession.
Yuppies (young Urban Professionals) emerged.
Controversies
Cold War
He believed that the way to deal with communists was a vast expansion of the U.S. Military
March 1983 Reagan announced his high-technology missile-defense system called Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) aka "Star Wars" ( due to the fact that lasers would be orbiting earth in space)
- Thought of as costly, unworkable and destabilizing
Gorbachev-
- Glasnost- "Openness" - Free speech and political liberty in soviet society
- Perestroika "restructuring"- adoption of free market based on the capitalist west.
- Soviets would cease to deploy Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) (signed December 1987)
Soviet control of Poland forces U.S. To reenact grain embargo
September 1983, Soviets blew up Korean passenger airline
Revolution in Nicaragua. Anti-American revolutionaries deemed "Sandinistas"
- Contra-rebels oppose anti- American government.
Humiliating attack in Lebanon had no affect on the president, earning him the title of the "Teflon" president
Iran-Contra Imbroglio
Iran-Contra Affair:
- Americans held hostage by Muslim extremist groups in Lebanon
- Power of left-wing Sandinista government in Nicaragua
Reagan demanded that military aid be supplied to contra-rebels in Nicaragua, Congress refused.
American Diplomats organized arms sales to Iranians
- Money was diverted to contras
- Reagan insisted that he had no knowledge of the deal, leading to an opinion that the presidents fault is ignorance.
- Reagan is now seen as someone who is lazy, senile, and pays little attention.
Economic Legacy
- Eased regulatory rules
- Pushed major tax reform
- Supply-side economics caused revenue hole of $200 billion annual deficits
- In his 8 years of presidency, he added $2 million dollars to the national debt