Reagan revision
Key topics:
• Political scene when Reagan came to power
• Reaganomics
• To what extent was Big Government reduced?
• Social Change
• To what extent had politics been revitalised?
, Political scene when Regan came to power
• Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980 at a time when many Americans fe
deep discontent over the state of America's economy, society, and politics. Th
was a nationwide sense of malaise that America’s best days were in the past.
• Economy
• -The 1970s were a difficult time in the United States. Economy, which had
enjoyed its greatest and longest period of sustained prosperity, began to decli
from 1972.
• -Real wages stopped climbing, corporate profits and stock values tanked, and
unemployment and inflation soared.
• -Ordinary Americans faced rising unemployment, falling wages, and higher pri
• Loss of Vietnam War
• - Vietnam War finally ended in 1975 with the defeat of the USA and South
Vietnam. 15 years of conflict and more than 57,000 American lives lost for
nothing.
, Reaganomics
• Reagan believed too much money was spent on welfare policies which he felt made people
dependent on economic handouts.
• He felt people should pay less tax to support what he felt was an over-grown federal governm
• However, he was happy to spend on defence as part of the Cold War. This created massive
deficits in combination with tax cuts.
• Most changes disproportionately benefited the wealthy.
• Reagan pushed through both his budget and tax bill at his first meeting with Congress instead
breaking these into smaller bills across a number of years.
• This gave him legitimacy to make changes straight away. However, without the proper
preparation, there were significant gaps and mistakes. Overall though it was seen as a massiv
success:
• Federal budget to be cut from 22% of GNP to 19% by 1986. Not all cuts were in the document with $74
to be decided on later.
• Deregulation of business and industry
• Personal and business tax reductions
• Control of money supply to limit inflation.
Key topics:
• Political scene when Reagan came to power
• Reaganomics
• To what extent was Big Government reduced?
• Social Change
• To what extent had politics been revitalised?
, Political scene when Regan came to power
• Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1980 at a time when many Americans fe
deep discontent over the state of America's economy, society, and politics. Th
was a nationwide sense of malaise that America’s best days were in the past.
• Economy
• -The 1970s were a difficult time in the United States. Economy, which had
enjoyed its greatest and longest period of sustained prosperity, began to decli
from 1972.
• -Real wages stopped climbing, corporate profits and stock values tanked, and
unemployment and inflation soared.
• -Ordinary Americans faced rising unemployment, falling wages, and higher pri
• Loss of Vietnam War
• - Vietnam War finally ended in 1975 with the defeat of the USA and South
Vietnam. 15 years of conflict and more than 57,000 American lives lost for
nothing.
, Reaganomics
• Reagan believed too much money was spent on welfare policies which he felt made people
dependent on economic handouts.
• He felt people should pay less tax to support what he felt was an over-grown federal governm
• However, he was happy to spend on defence as part of the Cold War. This created massive
deficits in combination with tax cuts.
• Most changes disproportionately benefited the wealthy.
• Reagan pushed through both his budget and tax bill at his first meeting with Congress instead
breaking these into smaller bills across a number of years.
• This gave him legitimacy to make changes straight away. However, without the proper
preparation, there were significant gaps and mistakes. Overall though it was seen as a massiv
success:
• Federal budget to be cut from 22% of GNP to 19% by 1986. Not all cuts were in the document with $74
to be decided on later.
• Deregulation of business and industry
• Personal and business tax reductions
• Control of money supply to limit inflation.
