APUSH Unit 9

• The resurgence of conservatism in America and the crowning achievement of that movement was the election of Ronald Reagan
• This resurgence of conservatism did not happen in a vacuum
• The conservative movement


  • Began with events from the last unit, starting with the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater
  • Gained momentum due to the troubles of the Jimmy Carter presidency (economic turmoil, Iran hostage crisis, energy crisis)
• New Right


  The name given to the conservative movement
• In the 1980 election, Ronald Reagan came to "save the day"
• Ronald Reagan


  • Former actor, very savvy with televised media, came off as likable
  • Embodied the three prongs of attack the New Right had been developing: cold war conservatism, pro-business economics, moral and religious conservatism
• The New Right won a massive victory in the 1980 election, with Reagan winning 489 electoral votes compared to Carter's 49
• The election of Ronald Reagan was seen as a large-scale rejection of the social changes of the previous decades
• Reaganomics


  Reagan's economic policies, also known as supply-side economics
• Reaganomics


  1. Tax cuts

  2. Decreased federal spending

  3. More investment in private sector

  4. Increase in productivity and jobs
• Reaganomics was a fundamental rejection of Keynesian economics
• The Economic Recovery Act of 1981 cut income taxes, corporate income taxes, capital gains taxes, and inheritance taxes
• The wealthy disproportionately benefited from the Reagan-era tax cuts
• While Reagan worked to cut federal spending, he increased military spending significantly
• The federal budget began running large deficits under Reagan
• Deregulation was a key tenet of Reagan's economic policy
• Reagan rolled back many environmental regulations
• Reagan's appointments to the Supreme Court

  • Appointed 4 conservative judges (Sandra Day O'Connor, William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy)
  • Led to scaling back of affirmative action and state-level restrictions of abortions
• The presidency of Ronald Reagan was a watershed moment, representing a fundamental rejection of the liberalism of the 60s and 70s