AP UNITED STATES HISTORY



AP UNITED STATES HISTORY

Modern Presidencies

GERALD FORD’S PRESIDENCY

I. Foreign Policy

a. Among the major accomplishments of the Ford Administration was the signing of an agreement with the Soviet Union in an attempt to continue détente.

b. At their Helsinki meeting in 1975, Ford and Breshnev gave official recognition to the political boundaries between Western and Eastern Europe.

c. Fall of Saigon in 1975

II. Domestic Policy

a. Before Nixon chose him to replace Vice President Agnew in 1973, Ford had served in Congress for years as a representative from Michigan. He had been the minority leader of the House. Ford was likeable but his ability to be president was questioned by many in the media.

b. What action did President Ford take that brought a quick end to his “honeymoon” with Congress and the American people?

i. Pardoned Nixon

c. Investigating the CIA—the democratic controlled Congress was looking for more abuses in the executive branch

i. Continued throughout Ford’s presidency

ii. Who did Ford appoint to reform the agency? George H. W. Bush

III. Economy

a. Inflation continued to rise throughout Ford’s presidency

b. One of the major contributing factors to the rising inflation of the Ford Administration in the 1970s was dependence on foreign supplies of oil.

JIMMY CARTER’S PRESIDENCY (1977—1981)

Background: The informal style of Jimmy Carter signaled an effort to end the imperial presidency. On his inaugural day, he walked down Penn. Ave. to the White House instead of riding in the presidential limousine. Public images of the president carrying his own luggage may have impressed average Americans, but veteran members of Congress, however, always viewed Carter as an outsider, who depended too much on his politically inexperienced advisors from Georgia. Even Carter’s keen intelligence and dedication to duty may have been partly a liability in causing him to pay close attention to all the details of government operations.

I. Economic Problems

a. Most problems were pre-existing when Carter became president—all of the following describe the troubled economy during the 1970s:

i. American leadership in heavy industry, especially in automotive manufacturing, suffered from management and labor inefficiencies

ii. American industry suffered from foreign competition of products that were often higher quality

iii. Hardest hit were the older industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest

iv. Political, economic, and environmental crises undermined the American faith in limitless growth and technological solutions.

b. By the end of the Carter administration, the economy was plagued by all of the following economic conditions:

i. Inflation running at over 10%

ii. Interest rates at near 20%

iii. A major fuel shortage

iv. The continuing effects of federal deficits

c. During the 1970s, popular support for social welfare measures began to fade.

II. Foreign Policy

a. The hallmark of Carter’s foreign policy was HUMAN RIGHTS, which he preached with Wilsonian fervor to the world’s dictators.

b. Significant features of the early years of Carter’s administration included:

i. Human Rights

1. Using economic pressure to promote human rights in other countries

2. championing oppressed black minorities in Rhodesia and South Africa

ii. Signing a treaty to return the Canal Zone to Panama

1. Cyrus Vance, Carter’s secretary of State, supported the Panama Canal treaties to reduce anti-American feelings in Latin America

c. Egypt and Israel

i. President Carter’s diplomatic efforts in relieving the tensions between Egypt and Israel resulted in a formal treaty between Egypt and Israel.

ii. Camp David Accords 1978

1. Egypt—Anwar Sadat

iii. Egypt became the first Arab nation to recognize Israel

d. SALT II—

i. The SALT II arms agreement met with opposition from conservatives in the Senate because of lingering and fundamental mistrust of the USSR.

ii. Never ratified because Cold War Tensions in Afghanistan

1. Soviets invaded in 1979

2. US protested by boycotting Moscow Olympics in 1980

e. Problems with IRAN

i. From the 1950s until the 1970s, the USA’s policy toward Iran emphasized political and military support of the Shah.

ii. In November 1979, Iranian militants took over the USA’s embassy in Tehran and held hostage embassy personnel for more than a year.

1. They were provoked because the USA allowed the exiled ex-Shah of Iran to enter the USA

III. Domestic Policy (Carter supported all of the following)

a. Government funding for public-works jobs

b. Expansion of domestic energy production

c. Tax cuts for Americans

d. Making human rights the “guiding principle” of his policies

RONALD REAGAN’S PRESIDENCY

I. Domestic Policy

A. The Reagan Coalition of the early 1980s included:

a. Wealthy Americans who opposed anti-business government regulations

b. Neo-conservative intellectuals who opposed destructive radicalism

c. Populist right-wingers who opposed centralized governmental power

d. A new “right” with strong moral and religious values (moral majority led by Jerry Falwell)

B. The conservative populists of the Southeast and Southwest that rose to prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s supported all of the following:

a. opposition to the growth of the federal government

b. resentment of the proliferating environmental laws

c. support of the virtues of the rugged individual

d. government becoming more financially, socially, and politically conservative

C. Traits of Ronald Reagan (During his years as president, Reagan exhibited all of the following traits:)

a. Vigorous and resilient person who bounced back quickly from disease and injury

b. An excellent public speaker who was a master of television

c. An overall leader who decided general policy, but stayed out of the day-to-day operations of govt

d. Simple patriotism that restored overall pride in America’s government

***He was not thought of as being a well-informed administrator who knew his policies and programs in great detail.***

D. Reagan’s stance on issues

a. Opposed abortion

b. Supported “family values”

c. Supported prayer in school

d. Conservative fiscal policy

e. He was NOT for the protection of civil liberties

I. Economic Policy

a. “Reaganomics” or “supply-side” economics, operated from the assumption that the woes of the American economy were largely the result of excessive taxation.

i. Encourage, through tax cuts, private sector investment creating new jobs and promoting growth (most tax relief went to upper income taxpayers)

ii. This is in contrast to democratic theory of increased government spending to boost consumer income and demand

iii. Federal tax reduction—reminded many of FDR’s 100 days b/c whatever Reagan asked for—he got

b. President Reagan sought to achieve deficit reduction by lowering “discretionary” spending for food stamps and federal subsidies for low-income housing.

c. President Reagan’s two terms in office reduced restrictions on a free-market economy and left more money in the hands of investors and higher income Americans

d. Deregulation—feds reduced regulations on business and industry

e. In 1982, the nation suffered the worst recession since the 1930s. Banks failed and unemployment reached 11%. At the same time however, the recession along with a fall in oil prices reduced the double digit inflation of the late 70s to less than 4%. As the policies of Reaganomics took hold, the economy rebounded and beginning in 1983 entered a long period of recovery.

i. One of the quotes from Reagan during his campaign against Carter was: “ A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose your job. A recovery is when President Carter loses his.”

ii. This recovery period widened the gap between the rich and poor and gave rise to a new term (yuppie—young urban professionals—Wall Street)

f. Social Issues:

i. Appointed the first woman to Supreme Court (Sandra Day O’Conner)—had 3 other appointments as well

1. this conservative Supreme Court scaled back affirmative action

2. limited Roe v. Wade (allowed states to make limitations)

II. Foreign Policy (3 priorities—Middle East, Latin America, and USSR)

a. Reagan started his presidency determined to restore the military might and superpower prestige of the U.S. and to intensify the Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. He called the Soviet Communists “the evil empire” and “the focus of evil in the modern world”

b. During his 2nd term, however, Reagan proved flexible enough in his foreign policy to respond to significant changes in the Soviet Union and its satellites in Eastern Europe.

c. Third World Countries

i. The Reagan doctrine of American activism in the Third World was particularly exercised in Nicaragua and Grenada ( a coup had been led to establish a pro-Cuban regime).

1. In October 1983, President Reagan ordered the marines to invade the island in order to prevent the establishment of a strategic Communist military base in the Americas. Succeeded very quickly!!!

ii. Controversy

1. The Iran-Contra scandal seriously damaged the Reagan administration’s reputation when it was revealed that the USA used money from the sale of arms to Iran to aid the Contras in Nicaragua

d. The costly and highly criticized Reagan program known as Strategic Defense Initiative proposed to create a defensive missile system in space to shield the USA

e. Both the USA and the USSR had a sharp military build up and signed a new arms control treaty

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