Chapter Study Outline

  • I. The Carter interregnum
    • A. Policy stalemate
      • 1. The Carter style
      • 2. Liberal successes
      • 3. Energy policy
        • a. The energy bill
        • b. Fuel shortage
      • 4. The Panama Canal treaty
    • B. The Camp David Accords
      • 1. Provisions
      • 2. Effect
    • C. Mounting troubles
      • 1. The economy
      • 2. SALT II
      • 3. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
    • D. Iran
      • 1. Background to the problem
      • 2. Hostages taken
      • 3. Carter unable to gain their release
  • II. The Reagan revolution
    • A. 1980 prelude—Reagan’s contrast to Carter
    • B. The making of a president
      • 1. Reagan as actor and Democrat
      • 2. Conservative transformation
      • 3. California governor
      • 4. Demographic factors favoring Reagan
        • a. Population aging
        • b. Growth of sunbelt
      • 5. Rise of new fundamentalism
        • a. Increased popularity
        • b. The Moral Majority’s political agenda
        • c. Religious right rejects Carter
      • 6. The rise of anti-feminism
    • C. The election of 1980
      • 1. Results
      • 2. Voter apathy
  • III. Reagan’s first term
    • A. Reaganomics
      • 1. Background to “supply-side“ economics
      • 2. Tax cuts passed by Congress
      • 3. Deficit increased
    • B. Reagan’s domestic performance
      • 1. Budget cuts
        • a. Social programs cut
        • b. Deepening recession
        • c. New tax bill passed by Congress
      • 2. Charges of scandal and corruption
      • 3. Reagan’s anti-liberalism
        • a. Reagan’s stance on labor
        • b. Reagan’s stance on women
        • c. Reagan’s stance on civil rights
    • C. Reagan’s foreign policy
      • 1. The defense buildup
        • a. Soviets as the evil empire
        • b. Strategic Defense Initiative
        • c. Soviet crackdown on Polish Solidarity
      • 2. The Americas
        • a. El Salvador
        • b. Nicaragua
      • 3. The Middle East
        • a. Reasons for tensions
        • b. America’s position
        • c. Tragedy in Lebanon
      • 4. Grenada
  • IV. Reagan’s second term
    • A. The election of 1984
      • 1. Republicans
      • 2. Democrats
      • 3. Election results
    • B. Tax reform
    • C. The Iran-Contra affair
      • 1. Background
      • 2. Tower Commission
      • 3. Effects
    • D. Central America
      • 1. Nicaragua
      • 2. El Salvador
    • E. Debt and the stock market plunge
    • F. The poor, the homeless, and the victims of AIDS
    • G. A historic treaty
      • 1. Agreement to eliminate intermediate-range missiles
      • 2. Gorbachev reorients Soviet policy
    • H. The Reagan legacy
    • I. The election of 1988
      • 1. Michael Dukakis
      • 2. George H. W. Bush
      • 3. The campaign
      • 4. Election results
  • V. The George H. W. Bush administration
    • A. Tone of the Bush administration
    • B. The national debt
    • C. The drug problem
    • D. The end of the cold war
      • 1. Crackdown on democracy movement in China
      • 2. Gorbachev repudiates Brezhnev Doctrine
      • 3. East European Communist regimes quickly collapse
      • 4. Germany reunifies
      • 5. Failed Communist coup in the Soviet Union
      • 6. The breakup of the USSR
    • E. Panama
      • 1. The problem of Manuel Noriega
      • 2. Invasion of Panama and capture of Noriega
    • F. The Gulf War
      • 1. Background
      • 2. Actions by United Nations and United States
      • 3. Operation Desert Shield
      • 4. Operation Desert Storm
      • 5. Aftermath of war