Republican Dominance and Its Opposition Flashcards
What was unemployment?
8 million
How much did unemployment jump in April 1980?
Almost a full percentage - 825,000 workers in the streets
What was inflation in 1979?
13%
What was inflation in 1980?
12%
What did people have to do to maintain their living standards?
Work harder and harder
What did cost of borrowing money increase to?
20%
What did spiralling interest do?
Hurt everyone - house mortgages etc.
What was the state of wages?
Hourly compensation for American workers at its lowest in almost two decades
What was the federal budget deficit at in 1980?
$80 million
What was the national debt?
$1 trillion
What did Reagan cut?
Welfare spending - arbiter of small government
Why was small government popular?
Watergate scandal hangover - no trust in big government
What economic theories did Reagan use?
Supply-side economics and trick down economics
What did Reagan believe?
The USA was not productive due to high levels of tax - so taxes were cut and productivity increased.
Where were the cuts?
Government spending, income and capital gains taxes, business regulations and expansion of money supply
Who led the Programme for Economic Growth?
David Stockman
What did investments lead to?
New factories and products and therefore more workers
What created a demand for goods?
Workers having more personal income
How much was public spending cut by?
$35 billion
What declined?
The misery index
What happened to GDP?
Increased to the second best in recent history
What did Reagan lower?
Interest rates - wall street boom with investments
What % of its workforce did the Office Surface Mining lose between 1981 and 1982?
40%
What was the growth in real GNP?
11%
What happened to the deficit?
Highest deficit - which continued into Bush who continued Reaganomics
What happened to economic divides?
Jump from the levels of Carter and continued to be high
What happens to the hourly wage for workers?
Declines significantly
What was unemployment at the beginning of Reagan’s administration?
7.5%
What programmes were cut?
Medicare and Medicaid, AFDC and food stamps
How many families received help under AFDC before Regan?
3.7 million
How many families received food stamps?
20 million
How many Medicaid recipients were there?
21.6 million
What did the Omnibus Reconciliation cut food stamps and AFDC by between 1982 and 1985?
13%
How much were child nutrition programmes cut by?
28%
What % of the population were considered poor by 82?
15% - up from 11.7%
How much was the HUD budget cut by?
57% between 81-87
How much did social spending fall?
Average fall rate of 1.5% annually
What was AFDC dependent on?
Community service - 42 out of 50 states followed the lead - welfare had to be worked for
What ensured this approach was permanent?
1988 Family Support Act
How was the federal budget financed?
Borrowed money
What became stagnated?
Middle class
What caused the federal budget to increase?
Greater army spending
What was the federal debt in 1980?
$914 billion
What was the federal debt by 1989?
$2.7 trillion
How much did Defence spending rise by?
From $171 billion to $242 billion
How much of GDP was defence spending?
23.5%
What tried to reduce the debt?
1991 Gramm-Rudman Act - only scratched the surface
What did Bush promise?
No new taxes
How much was income tax raised?
28% to 31%
How many new jobs did Reagan create?
20 million
What was inflation in 1984?
4%
What did Cocaine usage drop to by 1987?
4.3% - from 6.2% in 1987 - drop of a third
What programme did Nancy create?
Just Say No Campaign in 1982 - major social issues in the USA
How many cities and states did Nancy visit?
33 states and 65 cities - over 250,000 miles travelled
What % of high school leavers said they used marijuana daily in 1978 and 1987?
1978: 10%
1987: 3%
What did Reagan address the National Legislative Session of the PTA in 1982 on?
Drug Abuse - National Conference for Drug Free Youth
Who did Nancy address in 1988?
UNGA on the issue of drug abuse
How many Just Say No clubs had been formed by 1988?
12,000
What did Reagan pass in 1986?
National Crusade for a Drug Free America bill
What happened in April 1985?
Nancy invited wives of world leaders to attend the First Ladies Conference on Drug Abuse
Who supported Reagan in 1980?
Traditional Values Coalition and Umbrella Voice
What was upheld in 1986?
Georgian law that criminalised sodomy - 24 other states had laws against “deviant sexual intercourse”
What did Pat Robertson set up in 1966?
700 Club - promoted traditional values
What was set up in 1989?
Christian Coalition - lobbied against gay rights and abortion
What did Pat Robertson do?
Pray for a hurricane to be diverted from Virginia to New York
What did Pat Buchanan say in 1992?
Bill Clinton and Al Gore constituted the most pro-gay and pro-lesbian ticket in history
What did Jim Bakker form?
The PTL Club
What was Bakker convicted of in 1988?
Large scale fraud and conspiracy
What sowed more seeds of fear for LGBTQ+ people than the Religious Right?
AIDs
Who led the campaign against Roe v Wade?
Schlafly
What was created?
National Right to Life Committee - 11 million supporters by 1980
When did the ERA gain support in both houses?
1972
Who was a protestant in opposition to abortion?
Beverly La Haye - Concerned Women for America - opposed no fault divorce as well
What happened mid 1980s?
CWA had 500,000 members and was bigger than NOW
What did Reagan persuade Congress to fund?
Chastity clinics
What was Reagan’s view on abortion?
Anti-abortion
What % of evangelicals were registered to vote?
55% - national average was 72%
What did Reagan do?
Reaganised 3/4 of the federal judiciary
How many conservative SCOTUS appointments did Reagan make?
4 - Sandra Day O’Connor
William Rehnquist
Antonin Scalia
Anthony Kennedy
Why was Reagan disappointed with SCOTUS?
School Prayer and Roe v Wade
Why did vote for voluntary school prayer defeated?
Didn’t receive the 2/3 vote
What was the issue with Sandra Day O’Connor for the conservatives?
Pro-abortion
Who was rejected by the Senate?
Bork
How many liberal senators were unelected after Reagan?
12
What Amendment was promised by Reagan?
Human Life Amendment
How many evangelicals were registered in 5 years?
8.5 million
What caused the expansion of channels?
Reagan Deregulation - increased personal choice
How many homes had cable in 1990?
90%
What did TV contribute to?
The fragmentation of US
What did TV viewing figures rise to and from?
9% to 26%
How much money was spent on laying cables between 1984 and 1992?
$15 billion
How many viewers did MTV have in 1982?
23 million
What was significant about Thriller?
First to have a movie feel
What were the drawbacks of TV
Black artists were rarely shown and women were objectified in videos
Example of an objectifying video?
Hot for Teacher Van Halen
What music was popular with young white men?
Heavy Metal
Who dominated youth culture in the 1980s?
Van Halen and Dokken
What were dominant themes in music?
Men being victimised by femme fetales
What happened in 1985?
PMRC pressured MTC to cease its promotion of metal
How many of the bestsellers were metal?
11/50
What was controversial about Madonna?
Three main controversies:
Sexual, use of religious images and issues of female empowerment
What became the first music video to be banned?
Justify My Love in 1990 - became the highest selling video of all time
When did Rap emerge?
1979
Who was rap popular with?
Poor black males - revealed a generational and class divide.
What did Madonna use?
Controversy to get sales - had all her albums go platinum
Who was rap unpopular with?
Buppies
What happened in 1988?
Music industries accepted a voluntary rating system - several highly publicised suicides.
What was Black Metal seen as?
Satanic and promoted ritual abuse
What was released in 1981?
IBM releases the IBM 5150 personal computer - used for ordinary people
How much did the IBM 5150 originally cost?
$1600
What did the updated model cost?
$4000
What did the iBM 5150 allow?
Connection to family television
When did Apple enter the PC game?
1992
What supplemented floppy disks?
Hard drives - increased computer memory
What were PCs used for?
Write and store data and play games
Example of an early game?
Ship of Doom
What was released in 1977?
Atari 2600
What was the breakthrough game?
Space Invaders in 1980
What came after Space Invaders?
Pac-Man
Who dominated games consoles?
Atari and Mattel
When did Nintendo become a major player?
1985
When was the SNES released?
1990 - originally cost $199
What did the remote allow?
Channel Surfing
When was Apple’s first ad?
1984
What did VCRs allow?
vVewers to rent feature films from video stores and to play games
When were VCRs invented?
1960
When did VCRs become popular?
1980s
What made VCRs cheap?
Mass Production
What did the SCOTUS rule?
Recording shows for home use was not a violation of copyright law
How many households owned a VCR in 1990?
3/4
What was the first CD?
Phillips CD100 - 1982
How much did the CD initially cost?
$1000 - market dominated by cassettes
What was the benefit of CDs?
Better sound quality
How many CD sales in 1984?
$103.4 million
What was the first CD to sell one million copies?
Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits in 1985
What revolutionised where and when people could listen to music?
Walkman
How many Walkmans had been sold by 1989?
50 million
When was AIDS first identified?
1981
When did intervention for AIDS start?
1985
How many deaths in 1985?
5,600 - including Rock Hudson
Why did people start to care about AIDS after Rock Hudson?
He wasn’t known to be anything but straight
What did Reagan say in 1987?
AIDS was public enemy number one
What was the response to his response?
500,000 people protesting in NYC
How many deaths in 1989?
46,344 - 82,764 cases
What was the drug?
AZT
How much was a years supply of AZT?
$10,000
What did some victims turn to?
Illegal drugs
What was there towards victims?
Victim blaming - “gay men shouldn’t be having sex”, “drug addicts did it to themselves”
What happened to Ryan White?
Got AIDS from a blood transfusion - banned from school - attacked by the religious right
What does Liz Taylor do?
Get treatments and get acknowledgement of AIDS and remove the stigma
What does the Surgeon General do?
Rebels against the government and distributes a pamphlet on how to have safe sex.
What did Reagan preach about?
Abstinence
Who did Liz partner with?
Dr Mathilde Krim - created AMFAR to stop AIDS from going back in the closet
What did Reagan want?
Routine testing - wanted to make it one of the diseases that would prevent people from immigrating into the US
What did some patients start doing?
Treating themselves - Gorilla clinics
What was a success?
Food and Drug Agency to relax the drug testing.
What was the Ryan White Bill in 1990?
$4 billion over the course of 5 years for AIDS research - essential answer to dealing with the disease.
How many friends did people lose in 18 months?
20
What was the peak in homosexuals?
40 thousand in 1992
What was AIDS called?
The Gay Plague
What was ACT UP?
Lead by Larry Kramer - radical protests - big event in Washington
What does ACT UP try to do?
Storm National institute of Health- want to be experts on AIDS and spread awareness - able to move to Dr Fauci and he saw that they were right
When was CNN set up?
1980 by Ted Turner
Who was appointed as Head of the Federal Communications Commission?
Mark Fowler
What act was passed in 1984?
The Cable Communications Policy Act
What did the Cable Communications Policy Act do?
Favourable regulatory framework for expansion
How many channels in 1980?
28
How many channels in 1989?
79
What was the first music video shown?
Video Killed the Radio Star
When were the MTV Video Awards launched?
1984
When were the MTV Movie Awards launched?
1992
What was launched in 1992?
The Real World
How much were the rights to Thriller sold for?
$200,000
What were the most popular TV Shows?
Dynasty and Dallas
What dealt with the topic of nuclear holocaust?
The Day After by Edward Meyer - 1983
What did The Day After do?
Encoruaged Reagan to support the Strategic Defence initiative
What was significant about the Cosby Show?
Middle class life of a Black American doctor and his family - mirrored the family shows of the 1950s
What attracted political criticism?
Murphy Brown - single mother - undermined family values and given that single motherhood was acceptable
What dilm was Meryl Streep in?
Silkwood - about a worker in a nuclear plant who gets radiation poisoning
What film was Cruise in?
Rain Man - dealing with autism
What fil covered apartheid?
Cry Freedom
What did Mississippi Burning cover?
Murder of white and black activists during Freedom Summer
What did Boyz in the Hood cover?
Race riots
What did New Jack City cover?
Drug taking and drug gangs in NYC
What film was significant in 1992?
Malcolm X - black director - Spike Lee
What film focussed on disability in 1989?
My Left Foot - true story of Christy Brown
What was Kiss of the Spider Woman about?
Gay man incarcerated in Latin-American jail
When was the first woman appointed to the SCOTUS?
1981 - Sandra Day O’Connor
Who is the first woman in space in 1983?
Sally Ride
When was the Challenger Explosion?
1986
Who was a VP candidate in 1984?
Geraldine Ferraro
What happened to female share in professional jobs?
Increased from 44% in 1972 to 49% in 1985
How many graduates were women?
50%
What was the year of the woman?
1992 - EMILY’s list
How many births took place outside of marriage?
27%
How many marriages ended in divorce?
40%
What proportion of the workplace were women by 1990?
50% - rise from 38% in 1970
How many lawyers were women?
40% - 8% in 1970
How much were women earning?
77% of male wages even by 2002
What % of black Americans were middle class by 1980?
33%
What % of those receiving Aid to Families were black?
43%
What % of people receiving food stamps were black?
35.1%
What did Reagan do in 1983?
Designated the third monday of Jan to MLK
What was the black caucus?
Group of black congressmen - 20-25 members
Who was elected mayor in 1981 for Atlanta?
Andrew Young
Who was Harold Washington?
Mayor of Chicago in 1983
What % of the Chicago electors were black?
40%
How did Washington win?
Moderate policies that crossed the racial divide
How many voters did the NAACP, National Urban League and PUSH register?
100,000
What was the turnout of inner city black americans?
80%
What also helped Washington win?
The split of the white vote between the incumbent and Daley’s son
Who was Jesse Jackson?
Ran for the 1984 and 1988 Democratic nomination
What organisation did Jackson form?
Rainbow Coalition
Why was Jackson unsuccessful in 1984?
Failed to get the support of some prominent black leaders like Andrew Young
What % of the vote did Jackson receive?
21%
Who is Clarence Thomas?
SCOTUS Judge - controversial - against affirmative action
How many black owned businesses were there in 1992?
621,000
Who became popular in 1986?
Oprah - show shown in 140 countries
When did Oprah feature on the cover of Time?
1988
Who was the quarterback of the Eagles?
Randell Cunningham
Who played for the Lakers?
Magic Johnson
What % of the players in the NFL were black?
80% by 1998
What % of the players in the NBA were black?
60%
What % of the players in the MLB were black?
25%
Who won 4 gold medals in 1984 in the olympics?
Carl Lewis
How many medals did black track and field athletes win in 1984?
40/49
What did Denzel Washington win an Oscar for?
Glory - first black regiment in the US Civil War
Who was very popular?
Michael Jackson
How many grammy awards did Thriller win?
12
What happened in 1982?
Vincent Chin was clubbed to death by two white car workers in Detroit - they thought he was Japanese
What happened in 1984?
Bernard Goetz shoots four black teenagers who were threatening - trial in 1987 - 90% of whites supported the verdict of him only getting eight months
What was the Rodney King case in 1991?
King was stopped by white police and was brutally neaten - police were acquitted
What was the aftermath of the acquittal?
Riots - 54 killed, 2,400 injured, 17,000 arrested. 10,000 business destroyed - Korean Americans
