The 1980’s

Ronald Wilson Reagan

• Former actor turned governor of California in 1966

• Very Conservative

• Lost to Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican Primaries

Review

• Carter fails to win re-election done to the Iran Hostage

• At the time, Communism is winning the Cold War: Afghanistan, Nuclear Weapons, and various other victories

• Carter is seen as inept and unable to show strength to the rest of the world

Reaganomics

• The goal is to spur economic growth

• First developed by English economist John Keyner in the 1920’s and 1930’s

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• “To improve the economy, the best thing to do is to increase consumer’s demand for goods.”

Reaganomics

• Give Money:• 1. Directly: Government Aid• 2. Indirectly: Jobs

• Once people have money, they will buy goods; the more goods available, the more people will be interested in buying

Reaganomics• This is the same economic theory that was

used to help the United States to get out of the Great Depression.

Supply Side Economics

• Cut taxes: This will place $ in the hands of businesses and investors

• These people will in turn hire more workers and produce more goods

• Investors must invest, not pocket money!!!

• Reagan cut taxes:• 1981 5%• 1982 5%• 1983 10%

• He also cut the sizes of many government agencies like:Dept of EnergyDept of

TransportationDept of BankingEPA

Some things were left alone

In 5 years, the United States spent 1.5 TRILLION on defense

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) 1983; Massive satellites would shoot down nukes from space

Research for things like AIDS were non-existent because of the stigma of the disease

Reagan Scandal

• Reagan was wildly popular all 8 years of his Presidency

• One scandal continues to follow his legacy: Iran-Contra Scandal

Reagan Scandal

• The country of Nicaragua was run by a communist government

• These people were called Sandinistas

• The United States wanted to overthrow the country

Reagan Scandal

• The United States trained revolutionaries, called Contras to overthrow the Nicaraguan government

• Congress found out that secret missions were being carried out and stopped military and economic aid

• This did not stop the CIA, they diverted money from profits they made by selling arms to Iran

Reagan Scandal• Arms were sold in hopes of

freeing hostages in the Middle East

• This was done under Reagan’s watch because he used to not read documents or take the word of his workers.

• No one will ever know what he knew

• Lt. Oliver North takes the fall for the whole ordeal

Lastly…..• In 1981, Reagan is shot by

an assassin's bullet

• John Hinkley Jr. wished to impress the actress Jodie Foster.

• Jodie never knew the man or ever spoke to him

• The Nation never knew how much disarray the government was during this event.