General 20th Century History Flashcards
Nixon’s New Federalism
Offered federal “block grants” to the states to spend as they saw fit, rather than for specific purposes dictated by Washington
Nixon’s Family Assistance
Plan
Would have replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) by having the federal government guarantee a
minimum income for all Americans; failed to pass Congress
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
The Court overturned an admissions program of the University of California at Davis, a public university, which set aside 16 of 100 places in the entering medical school class for minority students.
Title IX (1972)
Banned gender
discrimination in higher education
Equal Credit Opportunity Act
Required that married women be given access to credit in their own name
Neoconservatives
A group of intellectuals who
charged that the 1960s had produced a decline in moral standards and respect for authority
Moral Majority
Jerry Falwell, 1970, war against sin, pro-life, pro-family, pro-America
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
- Originally proposed during the 1920s by Alice Paul and the Woman’s Party
- Called for “equality of rights under the law” that could not be abridged “on account of sex”
- Congress approved the ERA and sent it to the
states for ratification in 1972
Argument against ERA
- freedom for women still resided in the divinely appointed roles of wife and mother
- free enterprise was the real liberator of women, not equality to men
- mobilized by conservative women like Phyllis Schlafly
Proposition 13 (1978)
Banned further increases in property taxes in California at the expense of schools, libraries, and other public services
Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign
- brought together the many strands of 1970s conservatism
- capitalized on “white backlash”
- condemned welfare “cheats,” school busing, and affirmative action
- reversed the Republican party’s long-standing support for the Equal Rights Amendment and condemned moral permissiveness
The Reagan Revolution
Reagan’s victory in 1980 brought to
power a diverse coalition of old and new conservatives: Sunbelt suburbanites
and urban working-class ethnics; antigovernment crusaders and advocates of a
more aggressive foreign policy; libertarians who believed in freeing the individual
from restraint and the Christian Right, which sought to restore what they
considered traditional moral values to American life.
Reagan’s Economic Bill of Rights
Economic freedom for Reagan meant curtailing the power of unions, dismantling regulations, and radically reducing taxes.
Tax Reform Act (1986)
Reduced income tax on wealthiest Americans to 28%.
Reagan and the Welfare State
Reagan left intact core elements of
the welfare state, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, which many
conservatives wished to curtail significantly or repeal.
