Period+6+1980s


 * America in the 1980s . . . ﻿ ** Julie Henry, Jennifer Banks and Erica Lichtman.

The 1980s brought great social, economic, political change as wealth and production increased, leading to the development of stronger industrialized economies. Following the mid-1970s when opposition to the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons were of main focus in the country, Republican ** President Ronald Reagan ** stepped in to office hoping to sway the country’s focus towards other significant issues. Reagan came into office in 1980 with very specific goals. He intended to cut the size of federal government, reduce tax burden, and bring an end to the Soviet Union. With Reagan’s position on the idea that unions were evil, in 1981 the war on labor began. Reagan challenged the firm legal standing labor gained through Democratic president of the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt. As part of Reagan’s ** deregulation and union busting ** plan, he believed that corporate overlords were far more deserving of governments attention than any union. Reagan also wanted to ** cut budgets ** to save money in government. He represented a reduction of $44 billion when he cut part of income security and education, training, employment, and social services.As part of the economy supply and demand increased. Reagan turned his focus to ** supply-side economics ** and promoted an economic policy, otherwise known as Reaganomics , with a goal to increase production. There were four main pillars in his policy: to reduce government spending, to reduce income and capital gains and marginal tax rates , to reduce government regulation, and to control the money supply to reduce inflation. Reagan intended to increase defense spending while lowering tax rates. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 sought to broaden tax base and reduce tax favoritism. Drugs were developing at a high rate in the 1980s, and with such a newly advertised invention many people sought to purchase these drugs. Crack and cocaine were two of the newly developed drugs that became very popular to the people. Although the drugs were very similar, crack was sold at a cheaper price than cocaine. Those with less money would purchase crack, while the wealthy were able to afford cocaine. However, when caught those who were doing crack got into more trouble than cocaine, thus being an unfair development of the drugs. Along with Bush, Reagan launched an enormous campaign against drug use, giving this issue the title of the ** War on Drugs  **. Nancy Reagan provided the “ Just Say No ” anti-drug Campaign, which was funded by tobacco and pharmaceutical companies. The 1980s was a transforming age for all of the economical, social, and political aspects of the country.

This cartoon from 1980 shows the brutal effects of drugs in America during this time period. The discontent of the government was overflowing and they were fighting for regulations. The people were resistant to them taking away their drugs rights. [|War on Drugs Video] *Let the video load and watch from 1:40 to 2:40 to see how the Government's dissaproval of drugs affected many Americans.

"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have." Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address *Read Paragraph 21 and 22 to understand his thinking of the economy. Ronald Reagan's Inauguration Video *(Optional Video of the Inauguration)

This graph shows the budget cuts to only four social programs done by Ronald Reagan. You could only imagine the cuts on smaller programs and their losses.

Throughout the 1980’s the government gained a lot of control over the actions of the American people. President Ronald Reagan began by destroying the legality of federal unions. In 1981 the War on Labor began. Reagan fired 13,000 air traffic controllers who were on strike, destroying their union. He continuously challenged the labor laws created by FDR in the 1930’s. Reagan also took on the War on Drugs. In 1983 DARE (the Drug Abuse Resistance Education) was created as propaganda to flood schools with and strongly discourage drug use. Often times, untrue and unproven health affects were given as evidence. The Government turned to more drastic measures when they illegally sprayed marijuana fields, risking the health and lives of the farmers. Regan implemented multiple laws and restrictions regarding the growing, processing, selling, and consumption of recreational drugs. In addition to this increase in Government interference, Reaganomics included an economic plan consisting of four pillars. This plan included reduced government spending, reduced income and capital gains of marginal tax rates, reduced government regulation in the economy (increased production of goods and services), and more control of the money supply, to reduce inflation. In 1986, Reagan and Congress passed the Tax Reform Act, hoping to broaden tax base and reduce tax favoritism.

__ Understanding Supply Side Economics Vid __ ﻿* Watch this one minute video clip on Supply Side Economics and get a better feel for lower taxes.

__ @http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/focus/pdfs/foc52b.pdf __ __ @http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9252490 __ __ @http://www.ephidrina.org/cannabis/drugswar.html __ __ @http://www.quickoverview.com/issues/supply-side-economics.html ____ @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics ____ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vjOM-T26l4 __