HIST 1312 1st Edition Lecture 19 Outline of Last Lecture I Nixon s Personal Life a Young Life b Political Career II Nixon and the Balance of Power a Vietnamization b Modifying the Cold War III Nixon and Politics a Pragmatic Conservatism b An Embattled President The Watergate Scandal IV About the 1970s Outline of Current Lecture I James Earl Carter a Elections b Presidency and Foreign Affairs II Ronald Reagan a Reagan s Life b The Presidency III Reagan s Actions a Domestically b Foreign Policy Current Lecture Carter and Reagan I James Earl Carter a Elections These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Pardoning Nixon ruined Ford s chance of getting reelected when he ran against Carter Carter was 30 points ahead in the election but he made a mistake when he does an interview with Playboy magazine telling Playboy that he lusted after women o Women don t like this and poll ratings dropped Regardless of his error he won the presidency in 1977 b Presidency and Foreign Affairs Carter liked to appear squeaky clean and was very politically isolated Carter arranges the Camp David Accords 1979 o The Prime minister of Israel and the President Of Egypt go to White House to sign agreements of recognition Iranians took Americans hostage o Carter didn t do much about it even though America as a whole wanted to get the hostages out o In the summer of 1980 Carter was running against Reagan for presidency This rescue mission would determine how the election turned out o Carter created a rescue mission with 8 helicopters going under the Iranian radar arrive at the US embassy to pick up the hostages The rotators of the helicopter bring up dust from the desert and 3 helicopters go down This left only the minimum 5 necessary to bring the hostages back If they lost one more then they couldn t bring all of the hostages back Carter cancelled the mission and ended up losing the election II Ronald Reagan a Reagan s Life Born and raised in Illinois along the Rock River Lifeguard during high school and college saved 77 lives o Causes him to have a hero complex Father was an alcoholic o Came home when he was young to his dad passed out in the snow outside in the middle of the afternoon He carried him inside and put him to bed He included this story in his autobiography to show his reliance on himself Went to Eureka College to study economics He graduated 1942 and wanted to be a sportscaster on the radio o Went to Chicago to try and get a job but they told him that he needed more experience o Went to Davenport Iowa and got on WHO a radio station then moves to Des Moines Iowa as a sportscaster Got a movie contract when he did a screen test for Warner Brothers and moved out to Hollywood o Played in Newt Rockne All American as Gipp From then on known as The Gipper Married Jane Wyman in 1940 In Calvary reserves when WW2 began o 1942 became captain in the army but stayed in Hollywood to make army training films due to bad eyesight Divorced Jane in 1947 and remarried in 1952 to Nancy Davis Movie star career began failing so he moved to television When his show was taken off of the air he endorsed Barry Goldwater in 1964 for president getting him into politics Even though Goldwater lost Reagan was noticed by some wealthy businessmen who wanted to run him for governor of CA o 1966 Reagan ran against Pat Brown for the governor of California and won Governor for 8 years Ran for president in 1976 but lost the nomination to Ford but when he ran again in 1980 he won b The Presidency Began presidency in 1981 when he was 70 years old He was a Democrat until he was 51 when he switched to the Republican party o He stated I didn t leave the Democratic party the democratic party left me He was successful as a communicator and educator o Reagan was known as The great communicator Had fundamental truths 1 Communism is evil 2 Religious values are good 3 Political freedom good Was trying to restore faith in democracy and in the presidency o Had a competent white house staff James Baker is Chief of staff o Reagan was highly intelligent and a hard worker He brought congressmen to the white house to get their votes In 1981 he had an assassination attempt on his life shot in chest but he survived In 1984 Reagan was reelected for president in a landslide against Walter Mondale II Reagan s Actions a Domestically In 1981 Reagan made a 25 tax cut to stimulate the economy which was suffering from stagflation high unemployment high inflation o There was 7 10 unemployment and inflation was at 13 o This cut worked for the most part It created 20 million new jobs Unemployment rate went down to 4 8 and inflation ended Deregulation of wall street and the phone company along with corporate takeovers Increased military spending by 74 o This also stimulated the economy 1983 Star Wars was created a Strategic Defense Initiative SDI which cost 30 billion dollars o This challenged the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction MAD Both countries having enough atomic bombs to wipe out each other completely o Would be able to knock out the opposing missiles with lazar guides from space b Foreign Policy 1983 The US and French put troops at the airport in Beirut Lebanon A terrorist drove through the airport went to the barracks and blew up the building killing 300 people o The US troops pulled out but eventually some navy seal troops went back in to kill terrorists in retribution 1987 Muammar Gaddafi bombed a discotheque in Berlin killing Americans Reagan planned an attack in Libya to take out Gaddafi by bombing the palace but he isn t killed 1985 there became problems with the Soviet Union This is considered the height of the Cold War o Within 3 years three leaders of the Soviet Union die Leonid Brezhnev in 82 Yuri Andropov in 83 then Konstantin Chernenko in 1985 Reagan thinks how can I get anything done with the Soviet Union they keep dying on me o Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of Soviet Union in 1985 Him and Reagan met in Geneva Switzerland to talk about the Cold War They agreed in principle to reduce nuclear arms by 50 They got along well Gorbachev thought Reagan was a very genuine person o In 1986 they met in Iceland to talk about reducing the weapons more to the point of getting rid of them all together The problem was that the Soviet Union outnumbered the US so if all weapons were gone then they could march through Europe taking whatever