How Successful Were the Religious Right in Meeting their Aims?

Question 1

Campaign Against Abortion- Phyllis Schlafly

Answer 1

Phyllis Schlafly led a campaign against the Roe vs Wade decision, with support of the Catholic church

Question 2

Campaign Against Abortion- NRLC

Answer 2

National Right to Life Committee set up to counter Roe vs Wade- had 11 million supporters by 1980
Messages + slogans focused on rights of the unborn child

Question 3

Campaign Against Abortion- Beverley LaHaye

Answer 3

1979- Beverley LaHaye formed Concerned Women for America. Opposed abortion and no-fault divorce laws as well as ERA
By mid 1980s it had 500,000 members, larger than National Organization of Women (force in women’s movement)

Question 4

Campaign Against Abortion- Politicians + Operation Rescue

Answer 4

Enlisted support of Republican politicians
1987, anti-abotion activists joined Operation Rescue.
Slogan was ‘If you believe abortion is murder, act like its murder’
Initially staged peaceful sit-ins, but became more involved in illegal activities e.g trespassing on clinic property

Question 5

Campaign Against Abortion- Response (Reagan)

Answer 5

1981, appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to Supreme Court, sympathetic towards women needing abortions
Persuaded Congress to outlaw Medicare and Medicaid funded abortions- preferred ‘chastity clinics’

Question 6

Campaign Against Abortion- Response (Bush)

Answer 6

Changed stance in 1988 election- previously pro-choice, declared ‘abortion is murder’

Question 7

Campaign Against Abortion- Response (Bush- Reagan’s Judicial Appointments)

Answer 7

Reagan’s appointments had a holdover/long-term impact- resulted in Supreme Court rulings hindering abortion
Webster vs Reproductive Services of Missouri (1989), ruled states could deny access to public abortion facilities
Only 3 states denied access

Question 8

Campaign Against Abortion- Response (Bush- Reaffirmed Roe vs Wade)

Answer 8

Roe vs Wade reaffirmed by Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood vs Casey (1992), ruling that abortion was constitutional- disappointed Bush administration

Question 9

Campaign Against Abortion- Response (Bush- Judicial Appointments + Legislation)

Answer 9

Justice William Brennan retired from Supreme Court in 1990, hoped Bush would nominate a pro-lifer, but he nominated David Souter, who’s views on abortion were unknown
ERA didn’t become part of US Constitution

Question 10

Campaign Against Homosexuality- Organisations

Answer 10

Concerned Women for America + Moral Majority opposed homosexuality
Anti-homosexuality groups such as the Traditional Values Coalition and Umbrella Voice appeared- supported Reagan in 1980

Question 11

Campaign Against Homosexuality- Pat Robertson

Answer 11

Televangelist Pat Robertson emphasised that the ‘socialist’ feminist agenda encouraged ‘women to leave their husbands, kill [abort] their children, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians’
Declared himself a Republican presidential candidate in 1988

Question 12

Campaign Against Homosexuality- Pat Buchanan

Answer 12

Pat Buchanan, Republican presidential candidate against Bush in 1992, called Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton and VP Al Gore the ‘most pro-gay and pro-lesbian ticket in history

Question 13

Campaign Against Homosexuality- Response (Courts + States)

Answer 13

Had support in courts + at state level
1986, Supreme Court upheld Georgia law criminalising homosexual sex, 24 other states + Washington DC had similar laws against ‘deviant sexual intercourse’

Question 14

Campaign Against Homosexuality- Response (Social)

Answer 14

Many homosexual men remained in the closet- 19885, three quarters of Americans didn’t know any homosexuals
But Religious Right couldn’t control homosexuality and personal freedom

Question 15

The AIDS Crisis- Context

Answer 15

Identified in 1984, but no cure found
Transmitted through sexual activity, contaminated needles, and blood transfusions
Around 5,500 died by 1985, over 46,000 by 1989
Over 80,000 confirmed cases in 1989, possibly 10x more infected

Question 16

The AIDS Crisis- Religious Right

Answer 16

Crisis fuelled opposition to homosexuality, as a higher proportion of gay men contracted the condition
MA associated it with immorality (mainly gay men + drug users)
Some claimed the ‘gay plague’ was God’s punishment for sexual deviancy

Question 17

The AIDS Crisis- Response (Reagan- Activism)

Answer 17

Initially pushed men to remain in the closet, but soon accelerated activism
1987, ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) followed first pride parade in NYC with demonstration demanding equal rights + more research into AIDS

Question 18

The AIDS Crisis- Response (Reagan- Inaction)

Answer 18

Rock Hudson, Reagan’s friend, died of AIDS in October 1985
Reagan asked Surgeon-General, Charles Koop for report on AIDS
Suggested 3 remedies- abstinence, monogamy, and condoms, + sex-ed in schools. Reagan refused to advocate for condoms or speak to Congress for more funding.
Cut to government budget meant cuts to AIDS research

Question 19

The AIDS Crisis- Response (Reagan- US vs Europe)

Answer 19

Reagan’s inaction had support of conservatives, who opposed sex-ed and advocacy of condoms
As a result, HIV infection far greater in US than Western Europe, which promoted ads about safe sex + needle exchanges

Question 20

The AIDS Crisis- Response (Bush- Ryan White)

Answer 20

Teenage haemophiliac who contracted AIDS through blood transfusion
Highly articulate + spokesperson for sufferers- 1990 Congress passed Ryan White Care Act after his death
Granted $220 million to help victims of AIDS

Question 21

The AIDS Crisis- Response (Bush- ACT UP funding)

Answer 21

By 1992, ACT UP got $2 billion from Congress for research- more than spent on cancer, which killed 22 times as many people

Question 22

Campaign Against Drugs- Context (Statistics)

Answer 22

Drug-use tripled since 1970s, 1987 survey, half of under 45s smoked marijuana at least once
40 mil used illegal substances
375,000 babies born addicted to coke or heroin
Around 12,000 drug related deaths annually (fewer than 200,000 alcohol or 300,000 tobacco-related)

Question 23

Campaign Against Drugs- Just Say No (Some of Nancy Reagan’s Key Actions)

Answer 23

Nancy Reagan launched ‘Just Say No’ campaign in 1982
Visited treatment centres around the US, met Board of Directors for National Federation of Parents for a Drug Free Youth
Travelled 250,000 miles and visited 65 cities in 33 states
First official Just Say No to Drugs Week in 1986
October 1988, addressed UN General Assembly, 12,000 clubs had been founded across USA

Question 24

Campaign Against Drugs- Response (Reagan- Legislation)

Answer 24

1986, ordered federal workplaces be ‘drug-free’, called for routine urine testing in ‘sensitive jobs’
Signed National Crusade for a Drug Free America into law

Question 25

Campaign Against Drugs- Response (Reagan- Impact on Youth)

Answer 25

Reduction in illegal drug use by use
Cocaine use by HS students (14-18) dropped from 6.2% in 1986 to 4.3% in 1987

Question 26

Campaign Against Drugs- Response (Reagan- Congress)

Answer 26

1988- Congress passed Drug-Free Workplace Act, declared that universities and contractors that received federal funding must maintain ‘drug-free workplace’
Critics described it as ‘jar wars’

Question 27

Campaign Against Drugs- Response (Bush- Public Opinion)

Answer 27

1985, barely 1% of Americans surveyed saw illicit drugs as a major national problem
1989, over 50% said it was the gravest threat to national security

Question 28

Campaign Against Drugs- Response (Bush- Actions)

Answer 28

Bush promised to make drug abuse his top domestic priority
Appointed a ‘drug tsar’ and gave several billion to the Drug Enforcement Agency- employee drug testing, border patrol, subsidising police in other countries (e.g Columbia)

Question 29

Campaign Against Drugs- Response (Bush- Spending)

Answer 29

By 1990, federal and state spending on enforcing drug laws was over $10 billion per annum
Most spent on law enforcement + imprisonment

Question 30

Campaign Against Drugs- Response (Bush- Enforcement)

Answer 30

Focused on eradicating foreign supplies, halting importation, and arresting dealers
750,000 Americans arrested each year for violating drug laws- money could be better spent on rehabilitation or poverty programmes