Nation of Nations 3/e Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, and Stoff
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THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE

This chapter brings us to the present--and yet it is linked in innumerable ways to all those that come before it. The trends discussed so far--the rise of the United States as an industrial nation and as an international power, the growth of a consumer-driven economy, the debate over the meaning of equality and freedom, the role of government in regulating the economy and maintaining the welfare of its citizens--all these issues remain central to the nation at the end of the twentieth century. More narrowly, this chapter reveals a reaction to the events of the Vietnam Era and the Age of Limits (Chapters 31 and 32). Ronald Reagan was one of the most visible leaders of the reaction: he wanted to rein in the programs of the Great Society and recommit the United States to an interventionist foreign policy. Further, he and his advisers believed that less government, not more, would reverse the economic slide that weakened the nation in the 1970s. Conservatives generally objected to the liberal bias they saw in the Courts, the media, and the schools. These became areas of conflict that Bill Clinton inherited after his victory in 1992.

OVERVIEW

In the 1970s the majority of Americans turned away from the reform movements associated with the 1960s. What currents of social perfectionism that did exist were concentrated in evangelical religious movements, conservative groups, and self-help therapies. Most people were content to vent their frustrations through more traditional channels or to turn their backs on the larger public arena. "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping," one popular T-shirt stated. In San Diego, shoppers headed for Horton Mall, the subject of the chapter introduction, which in many ways epitomized the temper of the 1980s.

The Conservative Rebellion

Inspiring the conservative call for a return to fundamentals was a revival of evangelical religion. Despite significant divisions within evangelical ranks, most opposed the liberal rulings of the Supreme Court on pornography, criminal rights, and, above all, abortion. To get their message across, traditionally minded religious leaders often adopted sophisticated media technologies. Catholics and Jews experienced their own movements for conservative renewal. Most religious traditionalists found the mass media, especially network television, too preoccupied with sex and violence. Many found in M*A*S*H and other sitcoms a liberal bias and an attack on traditional values. Parent groups objected to television's impact on children, while feminists and minorities found it treated them unfairly. Yet it was skill in mastering television that gave Ronald Reagan a decisive edge in his debates with Jimmy Carter during the 1980 presidential campaign.

Prime Time with Ronald Reagan

As president, Reagan used his formidable media skills to communicate his message to the nation. He declared his intention to reduce federal spending, federal regulation, and inflation. At the same time he was determined that the United would stand tall again through an aggressive anti-Soviet foreign policy and a sharp increase in defense spending.

Reagan quickly set the public agenda. He dramatized his opposition to labor by breaking a strike by air traffic controllers. His Secretary of Interior James Watt and EPA Director Anne Gorsuch set out to dismantle or undermine environmental regulations. And the cornerstone of the Reagan revolution was a significant tax cut under the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. But for several years tight money policies designed to reduce inflation put the economy into recession. The combination of tax cuts, high unemployment, and cuts in government social programs led to a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. At the same time the Defense Department conducted a substantial build-up in all categories of weapons, led by the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The results were mixed, the economy recovered while the government compiled a massive debt.

Second Term Blues

Increasingly, however, Reagan encountered problems that did not yield easy solutions. In foreign policy, efforts to stabilize Lebanon were jolted by a terrorist attack on a Marine barracks and the withdrawal of American forces. A rescue operation on the island of Grenada and the bombing of Libya were public relations successes, though hardly a solution to unrest in the Caribbean and terrorism in the Middle East. In Central America, Reagan's support for right-wing terrorists in El Salvador proved unpopular and his efforts to topple the Sandinista government in Nicaragua met repeated resistance from Congress.

By 1985 the Reaganites were frustrated on two fronts: terrorists still held American hostages in Lebanon and the Sandinistas had survived the attacks of American-supported Contra rebels. Officials in the National Security Council began to implement a scheme, first to secretly trade arms to Iranian moderates for release of hostages, and then to use the secret profits from those arms sales to raise money for the Contras. Selling arms to Iran contradicted Reagan's firm public pledges never to deal with terrorists. Aid to the Contras violated the explicit prohibitions of the Boland Amendment, passed by Congress in 1984. But the actions went undetected, since they were carried out in great secrecy from Congress, from responsible executive agencies, and, possibly, even from the president himself. When the activities of Robert McFarlane, John Poindexter, and Oliver North became known, Congress investigated what was popularly called "Irangate." While the public seemed relatively uninterested in the scandal, the concept of secret government pursuing illegal policies raised profound Constitutional questions.

Reagan retrieved much of his popularity through a series of dramatic meetings in Iceland and Moscow with the new and charismatic Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. The two eventually agreed to a treaty that reduced intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

An End to the Cold War

George Bush much preferred to lead in foreign than in domestic affairs. At first that strengthened his presidency, as world events dominated the headlines. Most startling was the rapid break-up of the Soviet bloc. In Eastern Europe, nation after nation threw off Communist rule. Events seemed to race out of control. By 1991 the Soviet Union disbanded into a loose confederation of states and Gorbachev yielded power in Russia to Boris Yeltsin.

President Bush's response was a cautious one. He supported the changes, but made no major commitments. A more threatening crisis arose when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent his troops to conquer oil-rich Kuwait. Bush responded forcefully. He organized America's allies into a coalition that saddled Iraq with a tight economic boycott. Bush finally used a UN resolution as authority to launch operation Desert Storm in January 1991. Massive air raids devastated Saddam's forces and prepared the way for a smashing invasion. Still, the war ended with Saddam Hussein in power, though much weakened.

Popular acclaim from Desert Storm seemed to assure Bush reelection in 1992. But his popularity quickly eroded as the economy soured and the president failed to respond effectively to domestic issues. He outraged environmentalists by opposing the proposals of the "Earth Summit" that met in 1992 in Rio de Janiero. The appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court raised troublesome issues about the administration's sensitivity to women.

More trouble came with the economy in recession. Growing budget deficits raised questions about the Republican party's financial strategies. In an effort to ease a budget crisis in 1990 Bush agreed to tax increases. Conservative Republicans felt betrayed by a president who in 1988 had loudly promised, "No new taxes." And in 1991 a violent riot ripped Los Angeles, calling attention to the problems of decayed urban areas that had gone largely unaddressed during the Reagan-Bush years. Even worse for Bush, middle-class voters were hurt by a recession that refused to end. By 1992 voters had turned angry. Some of the anger buoyed the campaign of a Texas maverick, Ross Perot. But many more "Reagan Democrats" returned to the fold to vote for candidate Bill Clinton as a moderate who nonetheless promised activism and change.

The Clinton Presidency

The election of Bill Clinton brought to the White House a president who hoped to revive the activist traditions of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson.. However, from the outset, his initiatives were obscured by controversies over appointments, the issue of homosexuals in the armed services, and allegations about his personal history. Foreign developments, in particular, forced the president’s attention away his domestic agenda. Clinton committed troops to deal with famine and anarchy in Somalia, political disorder in Haiti, and warfare following from the break-up of Yugoslavia. At the same time, he strove to negotiate a lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis in the Middle East. While such events prevented him from focusing on domestic issues, Clinton did manage to pass an economic recovery measures to stimulate investment and repair the nation’s decaying infrastructure, a deficit reduction package, and the North American Free Trade Agreement. These accomplishments too were shrouded by the defeat of his most ambitious project, comprehensive health care reform.

The failure health care reform led many Americans to conclude that the government had become hopelessly gridlocked. Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich capitalized upon the issue in the 1994 elections. Vowing to complete the work Ronald Reagan began, they offered a "Contract with America" which promised a balanced budget amendment, tax cuts, term limits, anti-crime measures, and welfare reform. When Republicans won control of Congress, the House quickly passed every measure except term limits. In the Senate, however, it became clear that tax cuts would require scaling back Medicare expenditures. Moderate Republicans found the proposed easing of environmental protections equally disturbing. Public concern about these issues grew when the Republicans refused to compromise with the President over the budget and twice shut down government. Clinton took advantage of their set backs and fashioned a reelection campaign around his own proposals for a balanced budget, welfare reform, and other issues Republicans once called their own. A lackluster opponent in Bob Dole and a robust economy helped him to win a second term.

A Nation of Nations in the Twenty-First Century

If anything, America society was more diverse at the end of the twentieth century than ever before. Social and political stability thus hinged, as in the past, on giving all groups access to the mainstream of American life.

That access was complicated because immigration continued to alter the face of the nation. Hispanic and Asian immigrants constituted the largest groups of newcomers. Under the reforms of the Immigration Act of 1965, Asians had surpassed Hispanics by the 1980s, in supplying the largest number of legal immigrants, who concentrated heavily in California, Hawaii, and New York City. To deal with a flood of illegal aliens, largely from Central America and Mexico, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Friction with older groups sometimes resulted in violence. The issues of race prejudice and minority poverty still troubled the nation.

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