Lesson 22: The Eighties and the Nineties

In 1980, President Carter ran for reelection, but was defeated by the Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan, a former actor and governor of California. In addition, the Republicans gained control of the Senate for the first time since 1952. During Reagan's presidency, inflation was largely held in check, but unemployment remained high. Increased military spending, coupled with American involvement in Lebanon and Latin America, lessened Reagan's popularity. Reagan's first term was dominated by efforts to carry out his economic program. "Reaganomics," as the program was called by the media, consisted of reductions in federal programs, reduced restrictions on business activities, increased defense spending, and substantial tax cuts for individuals and businesses. The policy's goal was to give money back to big businesses to create jobs, which would in turn give money to Americans who would spend it, thereby creating more jobs. The administration called this "trickle-down economics" and the hope was that economic growth would make its way to the whole of American society. The administration's economic policies had mixed results. Unemployment rose initially, but declined by 1988. Inflation gradually fell over the decade, in large part because of Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker's decision to raise interest rates sharply. Tax cuts, defense spending, and other economic factors led to a massive federal deficit by the end of the decade. In the election of 1984, President Reagan won against Democratic candidate Walter Mondale and his vice presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro was the first woman to be nominated for vice president. For most of Ronald Reagan’s first term as president, he was successful at moving his legislative initiatives through Congress. During his second term, however, the Democratic Party gradually gained control of Congress. This, combined with the president’s sinking popularity resulting from mounting criticism over the Iran-Contra Affair, made his legislation increasingly difficult to pass. In Reagan's first term, the U.S. moved away from the policy of détente that had characterized its relations with communist countries, particularly the Soviet Union, for the past decade. As part of this shift in policy, Reagan began a build-up of the military and nuclear arms. During the 1980s, government foreign policy focused on fighting Communist influences. The U.S. supported anti-communist groups, or anti-Marxist regimes, in Latin America, the Caribbean, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Reagan administration intensified American support for the Contras, a guerrilla group fighting the Marxist Sandinistas, who had taken over the government of Nicaragua after overthrowing the U.S.-supported dictator Anastasio Somoza. In the Middle East, U.S. troops became involved in fighting in Lebanon, and as tensions mounted, there were numerous kidnappings of Americans and other westerners.

Iran-Contra Affair In November of 1986, word leaked that the U.S. government had sold arms to Iran, which was then engaged in a bitter war with Iraq. Iran had influence over the militant groups holding American hostages in Lebanon. The American government hoped that the secretly sold weapons would coax Iran in helping with the release of the hostages. The profits from these weapon sales, about $30 million, were then diverted to help the Contras in Nicaragua. This scandal became known as the Iran-Contra Affair. The investigation into the affair continued through the end of Reagan’s presidency and into his successor’s. Although no evidence surfaced that President Reagan was aware of the diversion of funds to the Contras, people involved in the scandal testified that he had approved of the weapons for the hostages swap. Because Congress had passed Acts prohibiting both the sale of weapons to Iran and funding the Contras in Nicaragua, revelations about Iran-Contra triggered a very serious problem for the administration. A Space Shuttle Launch Another event marring President Reagan’s second term was the Challenger disaster. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into its flight, killing all aboard. The shuttle held seven astronauts, including the first civilian, a teacher, to be sent into space. Following this incident, shuttle missions were halted for three years while experts investigated and modified shuttle safety protocol. In 1988, Vice President George H. W. Bush won the presidential election and took office in January 1989. Bush believed that the United States should change its policy towards the Soviet Union, making it an ally, which in turn would end the Cold War. If peace occurred, taxpayers would be relieved of the burden of financing such a large military. President Bush carefully eased Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev towards a more democratic style of government. One of the most important events marking the beginning of Bush’s presidential career occurred in November 1989 when the Berlin Wall - which had separated West Berlin from Communist East Berlin since 1961 - was torn down.

The Nineties The early 1990s were a turbulent time in world events. Soon after the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed economically. As a result, communist governments throughout Central and Eastern Europe also collapsed. After the collapse, Russia remained under the leadership of elected President Boris Yeltsin. For the most part, President Bush focused on foreign affairs, largely ignoring domestic matters or new legislation. The main reason for this was the mounting tension in the Middle East, which drew all of the President’s attention.

Operation Desert Storm In August 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein launched an attack on a neighboring country, Kuwait. Though one of the smallest of the Middle Eastern countries, Kuwait held 10 percent of the world’s oil supply, making it an extremely attractive target. President Bush led a broad alliance in an attempt to force Hussein to withdraw. In part, this was to protect the defenseless nation, but it was also an effort to deter future Iraqi hostilities against other Middle Eastern countries with large oil reserves. Despite attempts by numerous world leaders, both within and apart from the United Nations, diplomacy did not resolve anything. Saudi Arabia, another neighbor to Iraq and home of 25 percent of the world’s oil supply, allowed the U.S. to establish a military presence on its soil. The military presence established a guard against an Iraqi attack. It also provided a Middle Eastern base of operations should events escalate. President Bush directed the U.N. allied coalition which was joined by most other Arab countries and the USSR, a long-standing ally of Iraq. When Saddam Hussein failed to withdraw his troops by the January 15, 1991 deadline, the response was quick. On January 17, the United States led a multinational invasion of Kuwait, called Operation Desert Storm. After the initial Allied bombing, Iraq responded by launching missile attacks on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, two major cities in Israel - a country which has traditionally been an ally of the United States, but had rocky relations with many Middle Eastern states. These attacks were an attempt to fracture the delicate balance of the coalition. President Bush managed to hold the Allied forces together. The battle involved both air and ground troops, with over 500,000 Americans deployed at the height of the war. The Allied forces suffered fairly low losses — 175 dead and 550 wounded. Iraq’s casualties were much higher, with over 100,000 dead and over 300,000 wounded. The Gulf War was over in six weeks. On February 27, Allied forces entered Kuwait City and President Bush declared Kuwait liberated. On February 28, a cease-fire was called by President Bush, and on April 11, the U.N. Security Council called for a formal cease-fire, officially ending the Gulf War. Following the war, Bush’s popularity levels were at an all time high of about 90 percent; however, as the 1992 election grew closer, his popularity fell as Americans became increasingly frustrated at his lack of initiative on domestic issues, namely the economy. The economy suffered in the early 1990s as America went through a recession that took a hard toll on workers and families and was perceived as the president's failure to acknowledge the problem or offer solutions. Bush was also hurt when he broke his campaign promise of “Read my lips: No new taxes!” The Democratic Party chose Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton - a "New Democrat" who was more moderate than past Democratic nominees - as its candidate to challenge the incumbent president. The 1992 presidential race was complicated by the decision of Ross Perot, a Texas business executive and billionaire, to enter the race as an independent. Perot advocated balancing the budget and opposed free trade initiatives like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Capitalizing on widespread economic dissatisfaction, Perot ultimately garnered 19% of the popular vote, the most for a third-party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Bill Clinton's campaign focused on the economy, and he bested both Perot and Bush to become the first Democratic president in twelve years.

The Clinton Years William Jefferson Clinton was sworn into office January, 1993 along with Vice President Al Gore. True to his campaign promises, Clinton focused on economic reform as a main goal of his administration. He also appointed more women and minorities to high government posts than any previous administration. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton held an active role in the administration as she led the campaign for health care reform. In his first two years, Clinton experienced a number of legislative successes, including passing the ban on assault weapons and the final approval for NAFTA. Like several presidents before him, however, Clinton failed in his efforts to pass a bill providing health insurance for all Americans. Dissatisfaction with Clinton's performance, along with long-term shifts in party allegiances, resulted in the momentous midterm election of 1994. In that election, Congressman Newt Gingrich led the Republican Party to a sweeping victory, taking control of both houses of Congress for the first time in forty years. Gingrich became Speaker of the House, and Bob Dole, a longtime Republican senator from Kansas, became Senate Majority Leader. After 1994, Clinton and Congress were often at odds in budget planning. In 1996, the divisions were so deep that the federal government had two partial shutdowns before a budget compromise was reached. Despite these difficulties, Clinton’s various economic reforms and budget plans wiped out the record-high federal deficit inherited from the Reagan administration and even created a surplus during his presidency. Unfortunately, Clinton’s presidency was interspersed with crises, both beyond the President’s control and of his own making. The first major incident of his term occurred in 1993, when a bomb went off underneath the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six people and injuring over 1000. Terrorism continued to take its toll. In April 1995, a car bomb exploded outside a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing over 168 people. At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA, a pipe bomb exploded in an outdoor park. In 1996, Ted Kaczynski, the “Unabomber,” who had been sending bombs through the mail for almost 20 years, was caught. Each of these added to the public's growing discomfort about security. Terrorism continued to grow over the decade as a threat. During his second term, Clinton’s presidency was marred by scandal. Questions arose regarding the First Couple’s actions in the Whitewater Development Corporation in various real estate deals in Arkansas during Clinton’s governorship. Another scandal arose when Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, filed a sexual harassment suit against Clinton. This case continued until 1999 when a settlement was reached. During the case, a deposition was taken in which the president testified that he had never had sexual relations with a former White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. Unaware of Clinton's testimony, Monica Lewinsky confided in her presumed friend, Linda Tripp, about her relationship with Clinton, and Tripp illegally recorded their telephone conversations. Tripp turned the tapes over to the independent counsel investigating Clinton, Kenneth Starr, and made clear her intent to aid the Republican prosecution of Clinton. This, combined with physical evidence pointing towards an extramarital affair with Lewinsky, made it increasingly difficult for the president to maintain his innocence. Clinton eventually changed his sworn testimony, admitting to having had an “inappropriate relationship” with Lewinsky, who later testified to the Grand Jury that she had had a relationship with Clinton. The House of Representatives beganimpeachment proceedings based on the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Although neither of those charges are considered "impeachable" under the Constitution's Articles of Impeachment, and the fact that Clinton was not convicted of either charge in other courts, he was successfully brought to trial by the Senate, which means that he was impeached. As a backlash of this scandal, many Republican House members who had fervently fought for Clinton's removal lost their seats, and Newt Gingrich, who had been Speaker of the House, resigned amid rumors of his own extramarital affair. In March 1999, President Clinton, along with NATO allies, was forced to intervene in Kosovo, a Yugoslav province. For several years prior, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic had used the Serbian army to exterminate and drive out ethnic Albanian citizens from the province. The U.S. and Britain led an intensive bombing campaign of Serbian forces. By June, the Yugoslavian government pulled out its troops and agreed to let a 50,000 multinational peacekeeping troops come into the province. This was a big success for U.S. foreign policy. A big domestic success of the Clinton presidency was his efforts to help Native Americans. On August 6, 1998, President Clinton signed the Executive Order on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. The goals were to improve overall academic performance and reduce the dropout rate among Native American students. Another goal was to bridge the Digital Divide, which is the growing technological gap between impoverished and richer school districts. As a result, the Internet and computers have made their way into the educational life of many Native Americans living on reservations. In 1999, President Clinton made history as the first President since Franklin Roosevelt to visit an Indian Reservation, touring the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Sioux in South Dakota. He also visited the Navajo Nation in April 2000.

A New Millennium: 2000 The 2000 presidential election was one of the most interesting in American history. The race, between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush, son of former President Bush, was very close. The candidacy of Green Party nominee Ralph Nader further complicated the election. Nader has made a career of being a tireless crusader for consumer's rights, and he ran on the Green Party platform of social democracy. Many believe that Nader's votes would have gone to Gore had Nader not been on the ballot. Though he received only a fraction of the number of votes garnered by Ross Perot, Nader's 2.7% of the total may have changed the result of the extremely close election. On election night, the major-party candidates’ leads switched back and forth. First, the networks called the election for Gore, but then named Bush the winner. Gore even called to concede the race. It was determined, however, that the outcome was still unclear as the race was too close in the state of Florida, which had become the swing vote. Even after all the votes were in, the results were contentious. Because the race was so close – Gore had slightly more popular votes, but Bush had more electoral votes (271 of the 270 needed to win a presidency) - every aspect of the Florida vote was scrutinized. Amid allegations of voting irregularities, Gore pushed heavily for a recount, while Bush fought just as hard to let the votes stand. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that Florida had reached the deadline to certify their votes and that no further recounts would take place. This ruling essentially named George W. Bush president. Some independent studies of the results of the election have cast doubt on whether Bush would have won if all the votes in Florida had been recounted. One fact is for sure: the margin of victory in Florida was so tiny (just 537 votes) and the number of irregularities so numerous that the election could easily have turned out differently than it did. The controversy spurred states across the country to examine their voting procedures out of worry that such problems could be repeated.