Topic 4 - C2 - The Religious Right

Question 1

Why did Ronald Reagan have victories in 1980 and 1988?

Answer 1

Due to his policies on taxation and the role of gov, and to his opposition of permissiveness and advocacy of traditional family values

Question 2

Phyllis Schlafly and Beverly LaHaye led the Religious Right, Beverly had 500,000 people in CWA who outnumbered NOW, what did they believe in?

Answer 2

• Disliked counter culture, feminism, divorce, mothers going to work, sexual liberation, abortion, drug taking, homosexuality, pornography etc
• Promoted traditional values through organisations, the media and support for conservative politics

Question 3

Who was Jerry Falwell?

Answer 3

Had a long running ‘Old Time Gospel Hour’ broadcasted on 225 TV stations and 300 radio stations during the 1980s. Opposed smoking, drinking and rock n roll - advised that women should follow the bible and submit to their husbands

Question 4

How did Jerry Falwell influence the election?

Answer 4

JF raised millions of dollars for RR’s presidential campaign and Moral Majority registered 2 million voters

Question 5

Who were the Moral Majority?

Answer 5

Moral Majority disbanded in 1989 but other orgs like Christian Coalition emerged in 1989 - had 150,000 members by 1992

Question 6

What brought the Religious Right and the Republicans close?

Answer 6

After tax exemptions for federally segregated schools was going to be ended in 1978. Angered large voting bloc of southern evangelicalists.

Question 7

What beliefs did Ronald Reagan have?

Answer 7

• Rarely attended church but supported the school prayer (SC ruled against it in 1962)
• Opposed darwinism and wanted creationism to be taught in schools

Question 8

When did the Religious Right grow disappointed in Ronald Reagan?

Answer 8

After he failed to endorse the Family Protection Act - would have prohibited abortion, ended the school prayer, enforced single sex in sports at school etc

Question 9

How was Ronald Reagan’s social conservatism reflected?

Answer 9

Enforced nearly 400 conservative judges to the judiciary - at end of GB, ¾ of judiciary was conservative

Question 10

What was the campaign against abortion?

Answer 10

• RR used emotive mailings and slogans
• Used reformed sinners to advertise the cause - former feminists encouraged to speak against feminism
• Enlisted the support of Republicans who sought their votes. Even moderate reps began to oppose abortion.

Question 11

How did George Bush’s stance on abortion change?

Answer 11

GB had been pro choice but changed his stance to please other Republicans and said abortion was murder in his 1988 campaign

Question 12

Who did George Bush appoint to the SC after being told to appoint a judge that was pro life?

Answer 12

David Souter to SC judge who’s abortion views unknown.

Question 13

Why did Reagan disappoint the RR with his SC nomination?

Answer 13

Appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to the SC - upset Religious Right because of her sympathy towards women in need of abortions.

Question 14

When was the Religious Right pleased with the government?

Answer 14

• Reagan persuaded cong to fund chastity clinics where women would be encouraged to avoid sex.
• Webster v Reproductive Services of Missouri (1989) - SC ruled that Missouri could deny women access to public abortion facilities.

Question 15

What case upset the Religious Right the most?

Answer 15

Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992) reaffirmed RVW

Question 16

Which anti gay activists sprung up after the spread of AIDS?

Answer 16

Traditional Values Coalition and Umbrella Voice

Question 17

What did televangelist Pat Robertson do after setting up the 700 club in 1966 (news programme to promote traditional values)?

Answer 17

• Declared himself a rep candidate in 1988. Lost to GB. - – - Publically praying to God for a hurricane to be diverted from Virginia to NYC.

Question 18

What did Pat Robertson establish in 1989?

Answer 18

Established Christian Coalition to lobby against gay rights and pro school prayer

Question 19

What other anti gay activists existed in the 1980s?

Answer 19

• Jerry Falwell
• Televangelist Jim Bakker and Praise the Lord Club
• Concerned Women for America
• Pat Buchanan

Question 20

What anti gay law was passed in 1986?

Answer 20

SC ruled that sodomy was illegal in Georgia. 24 other states and Washington DC had similar laws.

Question 21

Why did RR believe the nation had a drug problem in the 1980s. Why did people called drug taking the ‘American disease’?

Answer 21

• Recreational drugs X3 since the 1970s
• 1987 survey revealed that half of citizens under 45 had smoked cannabis at least once
• 40 million Americans used illegal substances
• 375,000 babies born addicted to cocaine or heroin
• 12,000 drug related deaths annually

Question 22

What did the War on Drugs focus on?

Answer 22

War on drugs focused on eradicating foreign supplies at source by arresting dealers and users. Cocaine and other street drugs became cheaper and more widely available.

Question 23

How did attitudes towards the drug problem grow?

Answer 23

• 1985 barely 1% of America surveyed thought there was a drug problem
• 1989 over 50% saw drugs as a threat to national security

Question 24

How did the drug problem grow?

Answer 24

Crack cocaine widely available - poor ghetto inhabitants could afford it - black Americans and Hispanics could make a fortune selling it

Question 25

What caused attitudes towards drugs to change?

Answer 25

Media coverage of drug use increased - stories of crack addicts staging robberies to fund their addiction were covered and newborn babies with addictions shown

Question 26

Why did the Just Say No campaign take place?

Answer 26

NR criticised for being too extravagant so did charity work. Thought cure for drugs came from the promotion of religious values, harsher school discipline and the strict enforcement of anti drug laws

Question 27

What legislation was passed to prevent and stop the drug problem?

Answer 27

• 1986 federal workplaces had to be drug free - routine testing on workers
• 1988 Drug Free Workplaces Act - declared universities and contractor had to be drug free to get gov money

Question 28

What impact did the Just Say No campaign have?

Answer 28

• 1990 - $10 billion p/a spent on enforcement of drug laws

- 750,000 charged each year for violation of drug laws

Question 29

Why did political divisions grow in the 1980s?

Answer 29

Backlash to the counterculture and 1960s permissiveness and disagreements over the role of fed gov in providing a welfare safety net.

Question 30

What political divisions existed?

Answer 30

• Divisions between reps and dems over traditional moral values and big gov
• Divisions among reps over traditional moral values
• Divisions among dems over big gov

Question 31

What Republican intra party divisions existed?

Answer 31

• GB suffered attacks from within the party for being insufficiently conservative - led to GB’s defeat in 1992
• Buchanan had support from Relig Ri who were disillusioned with Bush’s tax hike and his lack of enthusiasm for social agenda
• GB said he wouldn’t mind having a gay cabinet member

Question 32

What Democratic intra party divisions existed?

Answer 32

• Far less bitter
• Old style democrats wanted the GS but recognised that new dems were more electable
• Bill Clinton - new dem - wanted a balanced fed gov budget and decreased fed gov interventionism

Question 33

What inter party divisions existed?

Answer 33

• Most bitter

- Demonstrated in R’s SC nomination of Robert Bork - reps approved but dems thought he attacked liberal SC decisions

Question 34

Why were democrats and republicans divided over the nomination of Robert Bork to the SC?

Answer 34

Bork defended a connecticut law that would have denied contraceptives to married couples, opposed abortion, claimed women’s rights weren’t in the 14th amendment, criticised racial equality

Question 35

what happened to the Religious Right after 1992?

Answer 35

Religious right lost momentum after 1992 and had little impact but division in America.