1.5

Question 1

How many electoral college votes did Reagan get to win the election

Answer 1

He won the 1980 presidential election with 489 electoral college votes - compared to Carter’s 49

Question 2

What was ‘big government’

Answer 2

Reagan used ‘big government’ to mean too much federal interference on all levels: in state and local government, in business and in people’s lives
He promised a policy of New Federalism to reduce interference

Question 3

How was the Republican government of the 1980s similar to the Republican government of 1920

Answer 3

The reduction of ‘big government’ was a stripping away of interventions made by liberal governments - it was a return to laissez-faire
Both anti-union - Reagan responded to workers strikes badly
Allowed for the creation of big business corporations
Both believed in significant tax reductions
New industries flourished, while mining and farming suffered
Both created economies where the wealth was concentrated at the top
Both encouraged financial speculation and had stock market crashes - 1929 Wall Street Crash, 1987 crash
Both believed in ‘rugged individualism’

Question 4

What strike happened in 1981 and how did Reagan respond to it

Answer 4

13000 air traffic controllers went on strike

Reagan said their strike was illegal and threatened to fire the strikers if they didn’t go back to work within 48 hours
They didn’t, and he sacked them, despite protests that it would be dangerous to replace that many experienced people all at once

Question 5

What were Reagan’s beliefs, how did they impact the presidency and what opposition did he receive

Answer 5

He was a committed Christian - he believed in traditional values, opposed homosexuality and abortion and most forms of birth control
He spoke out against abortion, gave jobs in the White House to members of the religious right, and tried to pass a law severely restricting access to abortion

However, a combination of opposition in Congress and concern about the acceptability of the laws suggested to him by the religious right, meant that his government was not as conservative as many of the religious right who had supported him would have hoped

Question 6

What immediate action did Reagan take

Answer 6

In the three days following his inauguration,
he sacked many White House staff members
put a federal government hiring freeze in place
told all departments there was a freeze on office furnishing and equipment, and that they had to cut their travel expenses by 15%
used a series of executive orders to set up new advisory groups, reporting directly to him, on how to cut down ‘big government’

Question 7

What is supply-side theory

Answer 7

Argues that the economy isn’t driven by consumer demand but by keeping up production and encouraging saving and investment

Suggests restraints on production (gov regulation, high taxes, strong unions) should be removed

Argued that the better-off would benefit and these benefits would ‘trickle down’ to even the very poorest

Question 8

What were the four parts of Reagan’s Program for Economic Recovery

Answer 8

Cutting the federal deficit
Personal and business tax reductions
Deregulation
Planned control of the money supply

Question 9

Explain how cutting the federal deficit works and what was a negative to it

Answer 9

It was accompanied by a budget bill and a proposal for cuts on domestic spending. The budget bill aimed to reduce the federal deficit from 22% of the GNP in 1981 to 19% in 1986

However, the plan being put together so hastily meant that it had a significant number of errors and a footnote that admitted that the plan included ‘as yet unidentified’ cuts of $74 billion, to be decided later

Question 10

Explain how personal and business tax reductions work

Answer 10

It was accompanied by the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981

Question 11

Explain how deregulation works

Answer 11

Removing federal control in industry, state and local government

Question 12

Explain how planned control of the money supply works

Answer 12

Aims to keep inflation down while expanding the economy

Question 13

How was the legislation passed and what problems did Reagan face

Answer 13

The Senate passed the budget and it was sent to the House and after some revision, was passed and became law in August as the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981 (ORA)

The tax bill created a fight over control of the House
In the end, a reshaped bill was passed and became law in August, as the Economic Recovery Tax Act 1981 (ERTA)

Question 14

What were Reagan’s economic legislation and other economic measures

Answer 14

1981 - Executive order setting up the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board

1981 - Executive order setting up the President’s Commission on Housing

1981 - Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA)

1981 - Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (ORA)

1982 - Tax Equity and Financial Responsibility Act (TEFRA)

1986 - Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

1986 - Tax Reform Act

Question 15

What did the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board do

Answer 15

Set up with economics experts from outside the government advising directly to the president

Question 16

What did the President’s Commission on Housing do

Answer 16

Set up to investigate all aspects of housing, including how it should be financed, but mainly to find ways of saving money on federal low-cost housing schemes

Question 18

What did the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (ORA) do

Answer 18

Proposes a variety of tax cuts that will take $35 billion out of federal spending; the initial bill presented by the White House had proposed $45 billion-worth of cuts

Question 19

What did the Tax Equity and Financial Responsibility Act (TEFRA) do

Answer 19

Made changes to the budget in response to the economic situation, tightening up tax rules, especially for businesses; it also temporarily raises taxes on cigarettes and the telephone service

Question 20

What did the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) do

Answer 20

Revises the budget in many minor ways to save the federal government money and to move costs to state or private bodies: the most significant change shifts the responsibility for many healthcare payments from the federal government to the employer

Question 21

What did the Tax Reform Act do

Answer 21

Revises the tax codes, reducing the number of tax brackets; is supposed to close a lot of tax evasion loopholes and ease the pressure on poorer families

Question 22

What was the result of the attempted assassination on Reagan

Answer 22

Reagan was hit in the chest by a bullet ricochet by John Hinckley Jr
He was driven to hospital and insisted on walking into the building unaided
He was heard apologising to Nancy saying that he ‘forgot to duck’
This cheerful demeanour and his quick recovery impressed many people and changed people’s minds on him being old and fragile, since he was the oldest person to be elected president at 69

Question 23

What successes did Reagan’s policies have on inflation and unemployment

Answer 23

Inflation dropped to 6.2% in 1982 and by 1996 spent
most of its time under 5%
Unemployment started to drop in 1983

Question 24

What failures did Reagan’s policies have on inflation and unemployment

Answer 24

Money supply restrictions led to a sharp rise in interest
rates
Unemployment rates went from 7.1% to 9.6%
More people were working part-time or temporary work
Unemployable were not included in figures but accounted
for 34.5% of the population by 1988

Question 25

What successes did Reagan’s policies have on personal wealth

Answer 25

Tax cuts made many people richer
Tax cuts helped the revival of the economy
The number of millionaires doubled from the late
1970s to the late 1980s
The number of billionaires increased
Real disposable personal income increased
Federal income taxes paid by the rich rose from 18.1% - 26.1%
Taxes paid by the bottom 50% fell from 7.5% to 6.4%

Question 26

What failures did Reagan’s policies have on personal wealth

Answer 26

Some argue that only the rich benefitted
Others argue that tax cuts benefitted the poor (trickle down theory)
Wages stagnated which increased economic inequality

Question 27

What successes did Reagan’s economic policies have on productivity

Answer 27

Productivity increased in 1983

Overall an increase from 1980

Question 28

What failures did Reagan’s economic policies have on productivity

Answer 28

Productivity decreased in 1982

Constant fluctuations

Question 29

What successes did Reagan’s economic policies have on encouraging people to save and invest

Answer 29

Increase after 1982
Rapid recovery from crash
Number of people affected far less than in 1930

Question 30

What failures did Reagan’s economic policies have on encouraging people to save and invest

Answer 30

Deregulation led to increased competition which led to an
unsafe financial environment, resulting in the stock market crash of 1987
Rapid recovery could be due to experience rather than
policies

Question 31

What failures did Reagan’s economic policies have on reducing the deficit

Answer 31

Deficit increased from $59 billion in 1980 to $208 billion in
1983
USA became a significant borrower for the first time (a result of tax cuts)
Cuts to federal departments and welfare were resisted or toned down
Reagan increased defence spending and reduced federal spending

Question 32

How well did George H.W. Bush continue Reagan’s policies

Answer 32

Not the best

The policies were less popular as their long-term effects and limitations became clear

Additionally the democrats were back in control of both houses of Congress, making life harder for his administration

He was often forced to back down on promises, e.g. he raised taxes despite promising in his campaign that he would never do that

Question 33

Why did Bill Clinton not swing back to old Democratic policies once he became president

Answer 33

This was because, while Reagan’s economic policies had produced problems, most voters strongly supported low taxes - a return to high taxation was not on the cards

Question 34

What was Clinton’s campaign focused on and how did he still satisfy the older Democrats

Answer 34

Economy-focused campaign; low inflation, high employment, a reduced deficit and no tariffs to regulate business and trade

He increased welfare and medical care and ‘invested in people’ to satisfy the older Democrats

Question 35

How did Reagan reduce ‘big government’ in the short term

Answer 35

In his 1982 State of the Union address, he said the administration had:

Cut federal regulations almost in half, removing 23000 pages from the Federal Register
Helped to bring down the cost of petrol and heating fuel by deregulation
Created a federal strike force to combat government fraud and waste that had saved $2 billion in six months
Replaced federal agencies with private sector ones and federal employees with volunteers

Question 36

What deregulation legislation did Reagan introduce in 1981

Answer 36

January - Executive order to deregulate oil and fuel prices passed by the Carter administration
January - Executive order to stop wage and price regulation
March - Executive order sets up the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency
April - Executive order setting up the Presidential Advisory Committee on Federalism
July - Deregulation of controls on fuel prices

Question 37

What deregulation legislation did Reagan introduce from 1982-83

Answer 37

September 1982 - Bus Regulatory Reform Act deregulates bus services
October 1982 - Garn St Germain Depository Institution Act deregulates Savings and Loan institutions (building societies), allowing them to invest in many more ventures, including property speculation
February 1983 - Deregulation of natural gas supplies

Question 38

What deregulation legislation did Reagan introduce from 1984-88

Answer 38

March 1984 - Shipping Act loosens regulations on US and foreign shipping
October 1984 - Cable Communications Act deregulates cable communications
October 1986 - Surface Freight Forwarder Deregulation Act allows greater freedom for people working with various trucking companies to ‘bundle’ part loads to be carried by one of them
August 1988 - Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act allows the president more rights in making trade treaties to benefit the USA

Question 39

Explain the Savings and Loan collapse

Answer 39

S&Ls were run by people used to making safe investments
Due to deregulation, they began to compete with banks and were forced to make more risky investments, and failed
The federal government passed the Competitive Equality in Banking Act in 1987, providing money to cover the money lost by closed S&Ls, but it wasn’t enough
By 1988, S&Ls had lost $10 billion
In 1989, the property market collapsed, making the situation even more difficult
In 1989, Bush had to sign the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) which bailed out some failing organisations, closed others and set up news federal regulators - all at the cost of $150 billion

Question 40

What were the effects of deregulation policies on trade

Answer 40

The balance of the world trade shifted against the USA, as the buying power of the dollar weakened
This meant that foreign imports became cheaper, so imports of foreign goods rose - American companies lost business
The textile industry was badly affected - between 1980-85, about 250 textile plants closed and over 300000 workers lost their jobs
Japanese companies began, in the late 1970s, to increase their sales of cars in the USA due to the attractiveness of them using less fuel

Question 41

How did foreign countries start to make a move in America after the deregulation

Answer 41

American companies were being bought by foreign companies - in 1987, one finance magazine said Britain was getting the colonies back by buying them
Japanese companies were also investing in American ones, typically in places federal government and US businesses weren’t investing, e.g. South Carolina and Ohio - in 1987, there were around 3 million Americans working for Japanese companies

Question 43

Overall, what were the successes of Reagan’s deregulation

Answer 43

Lower prices due to increased competition initially
High interest rates on savings
More choice due to increased foreign imports
Increased trade and investment from foreign countries
Few regulations passed

Question 44

Overall, what were the failures of Reagan’s deregulation

Answer 44

Rise in conglomerates
Services are cut to maximise profit
Increase in risky investments to keep up with banks
Bush forced to pass FIRREA in 1989
Foreign imports become cheaper
Foreign profits were not invested in America
Congress blocked deregulation of environmental issues
Local governments unwilling to take over
Previously federally funded agencies collapsed
Prices increase in the long-term

Question 45

What did supporters of Reagan argue about the rise of foreign imports

Answer 45

They argued that it was a good thing, as it gave customers more choice
They also argued that it made the USA an attractive place for other countries to trade with and invest in
They pointed out the levels of Japanese investment in the USA, saying it was bringing money into the country; ignoring the fact that many Japanese re-invested their profits, made in the USA, in Japan

Question 47

What did the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA) do

Answer 47

cut marginal income tax by 23% over 3 years and linked the tax bands to inflation,
highest income tax band fell from 70% to 50%,
lowest fell from 14% to 11%,
allowed working taxpayers to set up untaxed IRAs,
Business tax rates were reduced

Question 48

Between 1981 and 1996, how was the situation of the poor affected

Answer 48

The situation of the poorest American families worsened considerably

Question 49

What was the effect of Reagan’s policies on workfare

Answer 49

The administration wanted to change ‘welfare’ to ‘workfare’, by requiring at least one working parent before it paid out family benefit, for example

Despite government promises of childcare, many single parents found childcare impossible to find, making it impossible for them to find work

OBRA tightened up previous legislation that provided work projects tied to benefits for welfare claimants - allowed states to make working on state projects a requirement for welfare payments
By January 1987, there were 42 states running work programmes

Question 50

What was the effect of Reagan’s policies on social housing

Answer 50

Reagan’s administration slashed federal funding for building low-cost homes

• In 1979, there were almost 2.4 million low-income homes available to families that applied for them.
• By 1985, there were 3.7 million families who qualified for a low income home, but could not move into one as there were none available

In 1978, the federal government spend $32.2 billion on low-cost housing projects
By 1988, it was spending just $9.2 billion

Question 51

What was the effect of Reagan’s policies on homelessness

Answer 51

In 1984, federal funding available to the homeless was $300 million; in 1988, it was $1.6 billion
In 1987, Congress pushed through a bill giving some federal help to projects for the homeless
1987 McKinney Act set up the Federal Emergency Management Food and Shelter Program to be run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
FEMA set up a federal housing project for transitional housing with special emphasis on the elderly, disabled, veterans, families with children and Native Americans
It also gave emergency medical care to the homeless and provided education for homeless children and job training that favoured homeless veterans

Question 52

What were Reagan’s welfare measures

Answer 52

1982 Job Training Partnership Act
1983 Social Security Reform Nill
1987 McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act
1988 Family Support Act

Question 53

What did the 1982 Job Training Partnership Act do

Answer 53

Shifts job training from federal hands to state and private schemes and removes any need for the trainees to have their incomes made up to the minimum wage

Question 54

What did the 1983 Social Security Reform Bill do

Answer 54

Delays the linking of payments to inflation from July to December
Raises the amount the government takes from wages to cover the benefit
Sets up a study of running the Social Security Agency as a privately run agency
Makes part of benefit payments taxable
Changes the earnings test for eligibility
Retirement credits are now not fully payable until 1967 (rather than 1965)

Question 55

What did the 1987 McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act do

Answer 55

Sets up the Federal Emergency Management Food and Shelter Program to be run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Question 56

What did the 1988 Family Support Act do

Answer 56

A family is only to be eligible for benefits if at least one parent is working for at least 16 hours a week
Single parents are expected to finish education and undergo job training, the state to provide childcare

Question 57

What was the impact of Reagan’s policies on living wind working conditions

Answer 57

Working families not on welfare benefitted from lower taxes, but were hit hard from the changes to family credit regulations. They were also hit by rising interest rates that pushed up housing costs, mortgage costs and rent
- between 1980 and 1987, the average mortgage debt increased by 30% and the rate of foreclosure quadrupled

Many workers had less leisure time and longer work hours due to the removal of many federal regulations on working conditions
- in 1973, workers had on average 26 hours of leisure time a week; by 1987, it was 16 hours
This was worsened by Reagan’s stress on productivity which businesses emphasised too
- many mothers were persuaded into part-time or temporary contract work

Younger people suffered from a two-tier wage structure that emerged in many businesses, where they would come into a job and be paid less and have less benefits for doing the same job as their elders

Question 58

What was the impact of Reagan’s policies on minorities

Answer 58

Reagan was unwilling to extend civil rights legislation or push for affirmative action

• in the first 6 months of Reagan’s presidency, the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department filed 5 racial discrimination law suits, whereas in the first 6 months of Nixon’s presidency, they filed 24
• in 1982, ‘The Crisis’ (the magazine of the NAACP) pointed out that the Reagan administrations inaction was harming all minority groups; pointed to his abandonment of busing students into schools was harmful to black and Hispanic Americans
• the administration withdrew 40% of its funding for bilingual education, saying that it was the interests of children from minority groups to use English as soon as possible
• the ‘planned shrinkage’ of inner cities that had begun under Carter continued and was made worse by the cuts to federal spending on low-cost housing

Question 59

What was the impact of Reagan’s policies on women and gay rights

Answer 59

He appointed Sandra Day to the Supreme Court
However, he didn’t support the Equal Rights Act and spoke out against abortion - although he was persuaded to not introduce anti-abortion legislation

Was accused of ignoring the AIDS epidemic until his friend, actor Rock Hudson, died of it
However, he addressed meetings on the epidemic, and the administration provided funding for AIDS research from 1982
- Many Republicans and conservative Reagan supporters opposed gay rights and might have opposed the administration if it was too ‘gay friendly’

Question 60

What was the impact of Reagan’s policies on African Americans and the civil rights movement

Answer 60

Well-educated, middle-class black Americans could get ahead, especially women - they filled two minority ‘quotas’ for cynical businesses
However, they often felt under pressure as they were seen as the ‘quota’ hire, not someone hired for their abilities
Additionally undereducated Young, poor black men often went under

The civil rights movement was in a bad situation, fighting to retain rights e.g. affirmative action appointments, that conservatives were campaigning to remove

Young black Americans turned increasingly to violent rap music as their anthem, instead of the civil rights anthem ‘We Shall Overcome’

Question 61

Who was Bari-Ellen Roberts

Answer 61

A high-achieving black American women that was head hunted by Texaco in 1993, but was met with racial discrimination as she wasn’t able to rise in the company whilst less qualified people were, in one case she was told to train a less qualified white man that had been promoted to be her boss

In 1994, Roberts and 5 other co-workers took Texaco to court for discrimination - the case dragged on
In 1996, the New York Times was sent an audio tape or three Texaco executives discussing the case in crude and racist terms
Civil Rights leaders threatened a nationwide boycott of Texaco petrol stations
Texaco agreed on a $176 million pay£out and improved hiring and promotion practices

Question 62

How did Reagan’s policies affect big and small businesses

Answer 62

Big businesses profited from reduced federal regulation over wages, working hours and working conditions - deregulation meant they could buy up or merge with other businesses

In 1983, in a radio broadcast during small business week, Reagan said his administration was helping small businesses with tax breaks, such as allowing them to pay personal, not corporate, tax
He admitted small businesses went under in the 1981-82 recession, but said over 500000 new small businesses had been set up in each of those years

He avoided the issue of the rising interest rates on long-term loans that many small businesses held: a key reason why many of them went under

Question 63

How did Reagan’s policies affect farmers

Answer 63

Farming was badly affected by high interest rates and federal non-intervention
In the 1970s, farmers were encouraged to expand and grow wheat as the USA supplied wheat to the USSR, however in 1979 they stopped exporting wheat to them in protest of the USSR invading Afghanistan
At the same time, interest rates rose as the money supply was tightened and in 1983, there was a bad drought - this led to many farms failing and being bought out
- in 1980, 17% of farmers were getting 60% of the subsidy fund
The National Save the Family Farm Coalition was set up in 1986 by farmers
Iowa was hit particularly hard - in 1983, there were about 500 farms sold every month
Farmers were committing suicide at four times the rate of any other workers, and there were cases of farmers shooting the lenders who called in loans

Question 64

What did the National Save the Family Farm Coalition, set up in 1986, do

Answer 64

Organised demonstrations and campaigns to highlight the plight of small family farms, using tactics such as traffic-slowing tractorcades in cities

Question 65

How did people support the farmers

Answer 65

In 1984, two Hollywood movies about the farm crisis ‘Country’ and ‘The River’ sparked widespread support for the farmers
The stars of the films testified to Congress about what they had seen whilst researching and filming

Advice hotlines we’re set up to help farmers understand their debts and work out how to restructure them
In 1985, a Farm Aid concert was held to raise money to help the farmers and raised millions of dollars

Question 66

How did Reagan’s policies impact production

Answer 66

Older manufacturing industries, like the car and textile industries, were doing badly against foreign imports and exports dropped with the change in the value of the dollar
- the Reagan administration would not impose tariffs on foreign imports
- in Baltimore and Cleveland, over 20% of the population was living below the poverty line
It also had an effect on the industries that supplied the raw materials

Newer industries were doing well, like the computer industry and service industries were expanding, e.g. estate agencies and coffee shop chains
Reagan administration’s increase on spending meant that the defence industry, and the services that supplied a growing military, did well

Question 67

What was the bi-coastal boom

Answer 67

Industries that did well in the 1980s created more employment - people were eager to move to these areas of the country - This resulted in a population shift from the North and East to the South and West

Families that could afford to make this move, e.g. from Chicago to San Diego, fulled a growth of the suburbs in these areas
People in these places were consistently more likely to vote for Reagan, and after him, Bush

The policies of the Reagan administration had worked for them

• in 1987, California and the states on the East coast had 5.6% unemployment, compared to 7.8% in the rest of the country
• these areas had almost 75% of all new businesses and about 60% of new jobs

Question 68

How was the presidency revitalised

Answer 68

Reagan promised to bring change, and began by doing so
- his first few years set an image that people retained of him
This was because many Americans didn’t trust the government after Nixon and Watergate, Ford’s pardon of Nixon and Carter’s awkward management
- he started with an approval rating of 68 compared to Carter’s 28 before the election

Question 69

What was Reagan’s involvement with legislation

Answer 69

Some legislation that he wanted to introduce, urged on by the religious right, was blocked by Congress, e.g. laws to cut back on busing children from poorer areas to integrated schools
He was also advised against some legislation, and was flexible with policy and listened to advice
- he believed, along with the religious right, that daily prayer should be introduced into schools, but he was advised it would never get past Congress, so he didn’t bring a bill on it

Question 70

What was Bush’s involvement with legislation

Answer 70

Bush was less pragmatic and flexible
He was a poor communicator and was less able to charm the public or Congress, or present them with a clear vision of his policies

He had less support in Congress
- in his first term, he had 45 Republicans in the Senate (Reagan had 54) and 175 Republicans in the House of Representatives (Reagan had 189)

Promised to continue Reagan’s most popular policies, keeping taxes low and defence spending up, but had to give into the demands of Congress and raise taxes

Question 71

What was Clinton’s involvement with legislation

Answer 71

Struggled to get legislation passed after his first big healthcare legislation package failed
Increased presidential involvement in legislation did not last long

Question 72

Explain the Iran-Contra affair

Answer 72

In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair was uncovered
White House officials had supplied arms to Iran in order to free several US hostages
The officials used the money from the arms sales to Iran to support Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who were fighting the existing government
All this was done without the agreement of Congress and against policies of neutrality in the Iran-Iraq war and of not supplying the weapons laid down by Congress

Question 73

What was the impact of the Iran-Contra affair on Reagan and his administration’s public image

Answer 73

Reagan lied to Congress and the public by saying that these things had not been done, and then that he hadn’t known about it
Officials invoked destroyed documents and other evidence in an attempted cover-up
Reagan’s involvement damaged the presidency, however he did better than Nixon as he was more popular at the start so people made excuses for him, e.g. he had an operation when he gave the orders, he could have been confused, and they felt he was doing it to save the hostages

Question 74

What was the ‘New Right’ thinking

Answer 74

In Reagan’s first term, he United a significant number of politicians, Republican and Democrat, under a conservative coalition banner
They objected to the increase of ‘lazy’ and ‘welfare dependent’ poor; the rising number of strikes and demonstrations; the increasing lack of ‘law and order’; the support given by the government to issues such as gay rights, women’s liberation, affirmative action and abortion

There was a split in support for these ideas in general terms and accepting Reagan’s more extreme policies
- polls showed that people thought the welfare system was being exploited, but also thought the poor needed more help

Congress and the states managed to block a lot of legislation suggested by the Reagan administration on ‘social’ issues and on ‘big government’ hangovers of control, e.g. moving funding for road building from federal to state control

Question 75

Were Republican politicians revitalised?

Answer 75

It could be argued that the Reagan administration didn’t change Republican politics enough

Many political analysts claim the problem with the Republican Party was that the Republicans saw their victories as a sensible swing to their way of thinking, rather than (as it often was) a temporary reaction to Democrat mistakes, so they didn’t feel the need to change their thinking

Question 76

Were Democratic politicians revitalised?

Answer 76

They were a divided party and were even split about candidates
- Jessie Jackson, a civil rights activist and Baptist minister, ran to be chosen as their presidential candidate in 1984; he wasn’t chosen and their candidate lost. Jackson ran again in 1988, lost again and the Democratic candidate who beat him lost heavily to Bush

After their defeat in 1984, they formed the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) to revitalise the party
The ‘old’ liberal order of Kennedy and Johnson was tarnished
A ‘New Democrat’ ideology was born - this new ideology accepted the need for low taxes and low federal intervention
They said they would abolish welfare and provide support
Clinton campaigned this promise in 1992, and offered a ‘New Covenant’ to the people

Question 77

What were some other changes to the political environment

Answer 77

Reagan brought business back into government
- candidates with funding could buy more air-time on television and could run more appealing campaigns that would give them a competitive edge that had nothing to do with their political ideas or skills

The Christian right became more outspoken and involved in political issues under Reagan
It’s view was that it had given Reagan support and brought in a lot of votes, and thus expected government legislation on issues such as abortion
However Reagan was careful to make it clear he was expressing a personal opinion when he spoke of his views that coincided with the Christian right, and was advised against any actual legislation

Question 78

What were the levels of public interest and involvement

Answer 78

The first televised presidential debate in 1960 drew 70 million viewers - television ownership grew after this, but viewing figures for the debates dropped
However, the Reagan-Carter debates generated 80.6 million viewers
But then in the 1996 debates, only 36.3 million tuned in

Therefore Reagan was a popular president, and made the presidency look as if it was a proper political role again