Chapter 31: Facing Limits, 1974-1992

1. Politics of Uncertainty
   1. An Interim Presidency
      1. Soon after taking office in 1974, President Ford pardoned former President Nixon for any crimes he might have committed; the pardon was unpopular and unleashed public and congressional protests.
         1. Showing that Ford’s political honeymoon was indeed short-lived, Democrats opposed Ford’s policies to deal with the economic problems of inflation, recession, and the federal deficit: he wanted to cut spending, raise interest rates, and cut business taxes.
         2. Democrats confronted the president by introducing legislation to create jobs and increase spending for social and educational programs; but, when these programs passed Congress, Ford vetoed them.
         3. The consequence of the pardon, rising inflation and unemployment, and thousands of unused Win buttons was a sharp drop in Ford’s popularity and a political stalemate.
      2. Ford fared only slightly better in his foreign policies.
         1. Continuing Kissinger as secretary of state, Ford continued Nixon’s policies, including Vietnamization, arms limitation, and détente.
         2. When North Vietnamese forces seized Saigon in April 1975, Americans were happy the conflict was no longer an American war.
         3. Kissinger continued his shuttle diplomacy, and, in September 1975, Israel and Egypt signed an agreement whereby Israeli troops withdrew from some occupied areas and Egypt resigned from the anti-Israeli Arab coalition.
   2. The Bicentennial Election and Jimmy Carter
      1. Ford gained the Republican nomination in 1976 and faced a largely unknown Democratic opponent: Jimmy Carter.
         1. In 1976, people were fed up with politics and politicians, and Carter’s lack of experience was a decided political advantage.
         2. Carter presented himself as the nonpolitician candidate who, armed with common sense, honesty, and morality, would heal the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam.
         3. With less than 54 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots, Carter won.
      2. Carter arrived in Washington in January 1977 and stressed that he was an outsider, free of political debts and untouched by the politics of Washington and the lure of special interests and political deals.
         1. Portraying himself as the people’s president, Carter delivered "fireside chats" and had "phone-ins" that gave people a chance to talk with their president.
         2. But not everyone was charmed - some saw trouble behind the folksy image: could Carter play the insiders’ game of political give-and-take?
         3. Another question mark was Carter’s staff and appointees: most of them were Georgia friends, new to the federal government.
         4. Soon, communications between the White House and congressional Democrats almost vanished.
      3. By mid-1977, most of Carter’s proposals were buried in Congress, and some Democrats and political observers were complaining about a lack of presidential wisdom, leadership, and inspiration.
         1. The Lance affair further eroded public trust in Carter’s judgment and leadership and raised questions about the administration’s claims of honesty.
   3. Domestic Priorities
      1. Carter faced two major domestic problems: a sluggish economy and high energy costs due to dependence on foreign sources of oil.
         1. Solving the energy imbalance was the "moral equivalent of war," Carter told the American people, and the only road to economic recovery.
         2. Lobbyists for automobile, gas, and other industries immediately tried to steer Congress away from conservation, regulation, and taxes.
         3. Congress passed only fragments of Carter’s plans.
      2. To stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment, Carter asked for tax reforms, the deregulation of transportation industries, and passage of his energy program.
         1. He tried to use tighter credit and higher interest rates to curb inflation.
         2. These measures failed to satisfy many congressional Democrats, but neither congressional nor presidential programs succeeded and, by 1980, inflation was at 14 percent - the highest rate since 1947.
         3. The stagflation troubling the American economy was largely the product of a changing world economy over which the president had little control.
      3. Many corporations moved overseas or to the South and West, where production costs were lower and governments were willing to provide economic incentives to attract industry.
2. Carter’s Foreign Policy
   1. A Good Neighbor and Human Rights
      1. Latin America seemed to Carter and Secretary of State Vance the best place to sound a new tone in American policy and move away from the Cold War perspective.
         1. Carter believed that Panama and the Panama Canal presented an excellent opportunity to chart a new course for U.S. policy in Latin America.
         2. When Carter took office, negotiations to turn control of the canal over to Panama had been stalled for years, but Carter assigned it a high priority.
         3. Within a year, two treaties were written that returned ownership and control of the canal to Panama by 1999 and guaranteed the neutrality of the canal; the American public, however, was not pleased.
      2. Carter also hoped to promote a policy against human rights abuses, especially in Latin America, where many governments secured their power by ruthlessly suppressing their own people.
         1. Republicans and other conservatives attacked Carter’s human rights policy for destroying a pro-American leader in Nicaragua and allowing a Communist government to be established in Central America.
         2. Conservatives also called for more American support for El Salvador.
         3. But, as the election of 1980 neared, Carter’s program for human rights and economic development in Latin America lay in ruins after he had been forced to break ties with Nicaragua and disregard violence in El Salvador.
   2. The Camp David Accords
      1. In an attempt to generate movement in the Middle East toward a peace settlement between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Carter called for an international peace conference and suggested making concessions to the Palestinians.
         1. Palestinians - Arabs who had been living in Palestine when Israel was formed - demanded the creation of a Palestinian state free of Israeli rule.
         2. Loosely organized by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), they resorted to terrorism, civil disobedience, and political action to undermine Israeli power.
         3. Carter invited Sadat and Begin for talks at Camp David, and, surprisingly, both agreed.
         4. Although the results of earlier talks between Israel and Egypt fell apart, Carter was able to get the two leaders to sign a peace treaty in 1979.
   3. The Collapse of Détente
      1. Although he wanted to increase cooperation and promote détente, Carter irritated the Soviets with his attempts to encourage reform within the Soviet Union and his denunciations of Soviet violations of human rights.
         1. Despite chilly relations, however, the strategic arms limitation discussions continued, and an agreement was reached in July 1979.
         2. When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan that same year, however, Carter reinstated the draft and withdrew the SALT II agreements from the Senate, halted grain shipments to the Soviet Union and announced an American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
      2. The president also announced the Carter Doctrine: any nation that attempted to take control of the Persian Gulf would be repelled by any means necessary, including use of force.
         1. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ended Carter’s ambiguous Soviet policy, and he now called for military superiority and a renewed arms race.
   4. The Iranian Revolution
      1. Islamic fundamentalism was a rising force in Middle East politics, and the Ayatollah Khomeini took over Iran, which had once been favorable to the U.S.
         1. The Islamic revolution in Iran attacked the U.S. as the main source of evil in the world, and Carter ended economic and military aid to Iran.
         2. Amid warnings of angry reprisals if the shah were allowed to enter the U.S. for medical treatment, an angry mob stormed the embassy in Tehran and took staff hostage.
         3. As American frustration and anger grew as the hostage crisis continued, Carter’s popularity rating fell to nearly 30 percent, and he agreed to a military rescue mission that ultimately failed.
         4. The hostages were finally released in 1981 on the same day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the new president.
3. Enter Ronald Reagan - Stage Right
   1. The Moral Majority and the New Right
      1. Reagan’s Republican campaign pulled vital support from the New Right - a loosely knit alliance that combined political and social conservatives.
         1. The New Right’s social agenda promoted the movement’s views of correct family and moral values, condemning abortion, pornography, and homosexuality in particular.
         2. Highly visible among New Right groups were evangelical Christian sects, many of whose ministers were televangelists - preachers who used radio and TV to spread the gospel of the "religious right."
   2. Reaganism
      1. Reagan had a clear and simple vision of the type of America he wanted and an unusual ability to convey that image to the American public.
         1. Reagan’s chief of staff, James A. Baker, wanted no repetition of Carter’s failure with Congress and was determined to cultivate both Republican and Democratic support for Reagan’s economic policies.
         2. The administration’s economic formula to restore the economy was deceptively simple: increase military spending and reduce taxes and government restrictions, allowing American business to rediscover economic growth.
         3. When the recession ended in 1983, most Americans paid little attention to the economic debate and sought to make the most of renewed prosperity.
         4. Democrats, however, attacked Reaganomics for catering to the rich and ignoring the poor.
   3. The Power of Money
      1. Reagan’s support for American business and opposition to government restrictions placed an emphasis on success, profits, and individual gain.
         1. On Black Monday in 1987, the stock market suffered its largest single decline in American history, but the Federal Reserve acted quickly to lower interest rates and pump money into the economy.
         2. The nation’s savings and loan system began edging toward collapse along with the fading of the financial boom in the late 1980s.
   4. Reagan’s Second Term
      1. President Reagan won an overwhelming victory in 1984, taking 59 percent of the popular vote and carrying every state except opponent Mondale’s Minnesota.
      2. In late 1985, Congress passed the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, which established the maximum debt level and ordered across-the-board cuts if the budget failed to match the level set; Congress and the White House found ways to circumvent it.
4. Asserting World Power
   1. Cold War Renewed
      1. At the center of Reagan’s world view was his hostility toward the Soviet Union - he called it the "evil empire."
         1. America’s grand role was to act as global peacekeeper and the defender of global freedom against the expansion of Communism.
         2. With almost no dissent, Congress funded Reagan’s military budget, agreeing to raise the overall defense budget.
   2. The Middle East
      1. Stretching from North Africa to Afghanistan, the Middle East presented a complex series of problems that, except for Afghanistan, resisted being explained as Communist aggression.
         1. Iran and Iraq had gone to war in 1980, making the Persian Gulf part of the battlefield; this threatened American oil supplies that were shipped through the gulf.
   3. Central America and the Caribbean
      1. Things seemed more black-and-white in Central America and the Caribbean, since any hint of Communist influence there justified American action.
         1. The administration ordered American forces to invade Grenada in 1983, and the administration basked in the light of public approval.
         2. Reagan also provided billions in monetary and military support for the El Salvadoran government and the Contra "freedom fighters" in Nicaragua.
         3. Many, however, feared that Central America would become another Vietnam and were upset about covert American funding for the Contras.
   4. Reagan and Gorbachev
      1. While initially making no effort to improve relations with the Soviet superpower, Reagan eventually invited the new Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, to the United States for a summit meeting.
         1. Soviet-American negotiations on arms limitations continued with new optimism, and the two leaders signed the INF treaty in 1987.
         2. To many it seemed as if the Cold War was over and a new era of international relations was unfolding.
5. In Reagan’s Shadow
   1. Bush Assumes Office
      1. To motivate voters during the 1988 campaign, both sides relied on television and negative campaigning.
      2. Benefiting also from falling unemployment and inflation and improved relations with the Soviet Union, Bush won election easily.
   2. Bush and a New International Order
      1. The Communist world from Nicaragua to China was being torn apart by political and economic changes.
         1. Within the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of glasnost and perestroika were producing political and religious freedom, reducing censorship and repression, and starting the privatization of business and the development of a capitalist economy.
         2. The Bush administration cautiously voiced support for Gorbachev’s efforts, and in December 1989, Bush met with Gorbachev, who declared that the Cold War was over, while Bush emphasized their working toward "a lasting peace."
         3. Later, Gorbachev visited Washington and signed agreements to improve trade and reduce chemical weapons and the size of conventional and nuclear arsenals.
      2. The collapse of the Soviet Union both simplified and complicated U.S. foreign and military policies.
         1. Bush recognized the independent republics and Yeltsin as the spokesman for the Russian Republic and for the Commonwealth.
         2. Yeltsin, however, could barely provide stability for Russia, let alone end the civil wars that had broken out throughout the Commonwealth.
         3. Yeltsin used military force to remove his political opponents within Russia; by then, Bill Clinton was president, and he continued to back Yeltsin.
      3. Even before the Soviet Union collapsed, Communism was in retreat throughout Eastern Europe.
         1. In 1989, workers in Berlin tore down the Berlin Wall and the Communist governments of several Eastern European countries fell with it.
         2. Similar movements were taking place in the People’s Republic of China, in Central America, and in South Africa.
         3. Bush proudly boasted that American efforts in both El Salvador and Nicaragua helped to produce more democratic governments.
   3. Protecting American Interests Abroad
      1. Despite the ending of the Cold war, Bush resisted any reductions in America’s global responsibilities and any sizable cuts in the military budget, since the world still needed the economic and military strength of the United States.
         1. Operation Just Cause took American forces to Panama to capture General Noriega, who was found guilty of drug-related charges and sent to prison.
         2. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein claimed that his nation needed to annex Kuwait to protect its security, and this worried the world that Hussein wanted to control the vast oil fields surrounding the Persian Gulf.
         3. Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm liberated Kuwait and rallied strong American support.
         4. By the summer of 1991, the U.S. could claim victory in two wars, the Gulf War and the Cold War, and was clearly the diplomatic and military leader of the world.
   4. A Kinder, Gentler Nation at Home?
      1. As president, Bush faced more constraints than Reagan had, and consumers blamed him for increasing unemployment, falling wages, and inflation.
      2. By the end of his first year in office, advisers could point to social and environmental initiatives such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Clean Air Act.
      3. Political gridlock overwhelmed tax cut deliberations between the president and Congress.
      4. Bush seemed increasingly vulnerable as the 1992 presidential election approached.