Chapter 30: Facing Limits, 1976-1992 397
CHAPTER 30
Facing Limits, 1976-1992
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After you read and analyze this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Analyze the choices Carter made in an effort to improve the American economy.
2. Compare Carter’s expectations with the outcomes of his foreign policy and explain how his choices reflected the new view of America’s role in world affairs.
3. Describe what expectations influenced Americans who chose to vote for Reagan and how his social and domestic policies both reflected and altered those expectations.
4. Outline the implications of the end of the Cold War for U.S. foreign policy.
5. Discuss the expectations surrounding the introduction of issues of morality and values into American politics.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. The Carter Presidency
A. New Directions in Foreign Policy
1. Latin America seemed to Carter and Secretary of State Vance the best place to sound a new tone in American policy and move away from the Cold War perspective.
a) Carter believed that Panama and the Panama Canal presented an excellent opportunity to chart a new course for U.S. policy in Latin America.
b) When Carter took office, negotiations to turn control of the canal over to Panama had been stalled for years, but Carter assigned it a high priority.
c) Within a year, two treaties were written that returned ownership and control of the canal to Panama by 1999 and guaranteed the neutrality of the canal; the American public, however, was not pleased.
2. Carter also hoped to promote a policy against human rights abuses, especially in Latin America, where many governments secured their power by ruthlessly suppressing their own people.
a) Republicans and other conservatives attacked Carter’s human rights policy for destroying a pro-American leader in Nicaragua and allowing a Communist government to be established in Central America.
b) Conservatives also called for more American support for El Salvador.
c) But, as the election of 1980 neared, Carter’s program for human rights and economic development in Latin America lay in ruins after he had been forced to break ties with Nicaragua and disregard violence in El Salvador.
B. Middle Eastern Crises
1. In an attempt to generate movement in the Middle East toward a peace settlement between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Carter called for an international peace conference and suggested making concessions to the Palestinians.
a) Palestinians—Arabs who had been living in Palestine when Israel was formed—demanded the creation of a Palestinian state free of Israeli rule.
b) Loosely organized by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), they resorted to terrorism, civil disobedience, and political action to undermine Israeli power.
c) Carter invited Sadat and Begin for talks at Camp David, and, surprisingly, both agreed.
d) Although the results of earlier talks between Israel and Egypt fell apart, Carter was able to get the two leaders to sign a peace treaty in 1979.
2. Islamic fundamentalism was a rising force in Middle East politics, and the Ayatollah Khomeini took over Iran, which had once been favorable to the United States.
a) When the Shah of Iran was overthrown, most Americans were first introduced to a “new” world movement, Islamic Fundamentalism.
b) Emphasizing the use of terrorism, some argue that “their objective is nothing less than the total destruction of the West” and there can be “no peaceful coexistence.”
c) Others respond that the extremists within the Islamic Fundamentalist movement are a small minority and that the movement is neither anti-democratic nor anti-Western.
d) Amid warnings of angry reprisals if the shah was allowed to enter the United States for medical treatment, an angry mob stormed the embassy in Tehran and took the staff hostage.
e) American frustration and anger grew as the hostage crisis continued and Carter’s popularity rating fell to nearly 30 percent. He eventually agreed to a military rescue mission that ultimately failed.
f) The hostages were finally released in 1981 on the same day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the new president.
C. Domestic Priorities
1. Carter faced two major domestic problems: a sluggish economy and high energy costs due to dependence on foreign sources of oil.
a) Solving the energy imbalance was the “moral equivalent of war,” Carter told the American people, and the only road to economic recovery.
b) Lobbyists for automobile, gas, and other industries immediately tried to steer Congress away from conservation, regulation, and taxes.
c) Congress passed only fragments of Carter’s plans.
2. To stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment, Carter asked for tax reforms, the deregulation of transportation industries, and passage of his energy program.
a) He tried to use tighter credit and higher interest rates to curb inflation.
b) These measures failed to satisfy many congressional Democrats, but neither congressional nor presidential programs succeeded and, by 1980, inflation was at 14 percent—the highest rate since 1947.
c) The stagflation troubling the American economy was largely the product of a changing world economy over which the president had little control.
3. Many corporations moved overseas or to the South and West, where production costs were lower and governments were willing to provide economic incentives to attract industry.
II. A Society in Transition
A. Economic Slowdown
1. The problems with the economy varied, but many were the product of globalization.
2. Aggravating the situation were the high oil prices set by OPEC.
3. Many corporations rid themselves of less profitable manufacturing operations and invested more heavily in service industries.
a) At the same time, many companies shifted their production sites to locales where operating costs were lower and closed less-productive plants.
b) A so-called Rust Belt formed in the Northeast out of what had been the vibrant industrial center of the United States.
c) As the higher-paying manufacturing jobs declined, the number of service jobs increased.
(1) Service jobs paid about one-third less and used more part-time help.
B. Social Divisions
1. Hispanic and African American leaders pointed to the lack of legislation and funding for housing, job training, and other social programs.
2. Another concern worrying liberals and minorities was the growing campaign against affirmative action.
a) In the 1978 Bakke case, the Supreme Court ruled that Bakke should be admitted to medical school since the school had accepted less-qualified black students.
3. In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment was proposed, but it was still three votes short of ratification in 1982.
a) Instrumental in defeating the amendment were over 130 conservative organizations that blamed the philosophy behind the ERA for destroying American values and the family.
4. In 1973, in a 5 to 2 decision, the Supreme Court invalidated a Texas law that prevented abortions in Roe v. Wade.
a) Justice Harry Blackmun, writing for the majority, held that the “right to privacy” gave women the freedom to choose to have an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.
b) A “Right to Life” campaign emerged to oppose abortion rights on legal and moral grounds and easily merged with the conservative critique of American society and liberalism.
C. New Immigrants
1. As American society became less tolerant and government less supportive of social programs, a new wave of immigrants from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean arrived.
a) Legally allowed to enter the United States by the Immigration Act of 1965, Asians by 1990 represented only 3 percent of the American population, but their numbers were growing fast—doubling during the 1980s.
b) The success of Asian Americans has caused them to be classified as a “model minority,” but this stereotype ignores many other Asian Americans.
c) Many Koreans and other Asian American store owners, especially in the inner city, say that their success has increased hostility among Latinos and African Americans, as demonstrated during the Los Angeles riot in 1992.
d) Adding to the overall rate of poverty and hostility faced by Latinos is the issue of illegal immigration, primarily from Mexico.
e) The Immigration Reform and Control Act outlawed the hiring of illegal aliens and strengthened controls to prevent illegal entry into the United States but actually did little to reduce the number of Mexicans entering the country.
III. Resurgent Conservatism
A. The New Right
1. Reagan’s Republican campaign pulled vital support from the New Right—a loosely knit alliance that combined political and social conservatives.
a) The New Right’s social agenda promoted the movement’s views of correct family and moral values, condemning abortion, pornography, and homosexuality in particular.
b) Highly visible among New Right groups were evangelical Christian sects, many of whose ministers were televangelists—preachers who used radio and TV to spread the gospel of the “religious right.”
B. Reaganism
1. Reagan had a clear and simple vision of the type of America he wanted and an unusual ability to convey that image to the American public.
a) Reagan’s chief of staff, James A. Baker, wanted no repetition of Carter’s failure with Congress and was determined to cultivate both Republican and Democratic support for Reagan’s economic policies.
b) The administration’s economic formula to restore the economy was deceptively simple: increase military spending and reduce taxes and government restrictions, allowing American business to rediscover economic growth.
c) When the recession ended in 1983, most Americans paid little attention to the economic debate and sought to make the most of renewed prosperity.
d) Democrats, however, attacked Reaganomics for catering to the rich and ignoring the poor.
2. Advances in miniaturization, satellite transmissions, VCRs, and computers touched almost every American life and produced new avenues of wealth.
a) Some called the 1980s the “Me Decade,” in which acquiring money and state-of-the-art, high-tech gadgetry mattered very much and led to self-satisfaction.
3. Not everyone applauded the new economy.
4. By the end of Reagan’s second term, the economy began to slow and expose important weaknesses.
C. A Second Term
1. The recession ended just in time for Reagan’s second quest for the presidency.
2. President Reagan won an overwhelming victory in 1984, taking 59 percent of the popular vote and carrying every state except opponent Mondale’s Minnesota.
3. In late 1985, Congress passed the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, which established the maximum debt level and ordered across-the-board cuts if the budget failed to match the level set; Congress and the White House found ways to circumvent it.
IV. Asserting World Power
A. Cold War Renewed
1. At the center of Reagan’s world view was his hostility toward the Soviet Union—he called it the “evil empire.”
a) America’s grand role was to act as global peacekeeper and the defender of global freedom against the expansion of communism.
b) With almost no dissent, Congress funded Reagan’s military budget, agreeing to raise the overall defense budget.
2. Things seemed more black-and-white in Central America and the Caribbean, since any hint of Communist influence there justified American action.
a) The administration ordered American forces to invade Grenada in 1983, and the administration basked in the light of public approval.
b) Reagan also provided billions in monetary and military support for the El Salvadoran government and the Contra “freedom fighters” in Nicaragua.
c) Many, however, feared that Central America would become another Vietnam and were upset about covert American funding for the Contras.
B. Terrorism
1. One of the most difficult problems complicating American policy was how to deal with terrorism directed against the United States.
2. The rise in terrorism was largely a product of the struggle between Israel and the PLO.
C. Reagan and Gorbachev
1. While initially making no effort to improve relations with the Soviet superpower, Reagan eventually invited the new Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, to the United States for a summit meeting.
a) Soviet-American negotiations on arms limitations continued with new optimism, and the two leaders signed the INF treaty in 1987.
b) To many, it seemed as if the Cold War was over and a new era of international relations was unfolding.
V. In Reagan’s Shadow
A. Bush Assumes Office
1. To motivate voters during the 1988 campaign, both sides relied on television and negative campaigning.
2. Benefiting also from falling unemployment and inflation and improved relations with the Soviet Union, Bush won election easily.
B. Bush and a New International Order
1. Communism was in retreat throughout Eastern Europe by 1989.
a) In 1989, workers in Berlin tore down the Berlin Wall, and the Communist governments of several Eastern European countries fell with it.
b) Similar movements were taking place in the People’s Republic of China, in Central America, and in South Africa.
c) Bush proudly boasted that American efforts in both El Salvador and Nicaragua helped to produce more democratic governments.
2. The collapse of the Soviet Union both simplified and complicated U.S. foreign and military policies.
a) Bush recognized the independent republics and Yeltsin as the spokesman for the Russian Republic and for the Commonwealth.
b) Yeltsin, however, could barely provide stability for Russia, let alone end the civil wars that had broken out throughout the Commonwealth.
c) Yeltsin used military force to remove his political opponents within Russia; by then, Bill Clinton was president, and he continued to back Yeltsin.
C. Protecting American Interests Abroad
1. Despite the ending of the Cold War, Bush resisted any reductions in America’s global responsibilities and any sizable cuts in the military budget, since the world still needed the economic and military strength of the United States.
a) Operation Just Cause took American forces to Panama to capture General Noriega, who was found guilty of drug-related charges and sent to prison.
b) In Iraq, Saddam Hussein claimed that his nation needed to annex Kuwait to protect its security, and this worried the world that Hussein wanted to control the vast oil fields surrounding the Persian Gulf.
c) Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm liberated Kuwait and rallied strong American support.
d) By the summer of 1991, the United States could claim victory in two wars, the Gulf War and the Cold War, and was clearly the diplomatic and military leader of the world.
D. A Kinder, Gentler Nation
1. As president, Bush faced more constraints than Reagan had, and consumers blamed him for increasing unemployment, falling wages, and inflation.