US Presidents For Dummies

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US Presidents For Dummies Page 38

by Marcus Stadelmann


  SALT II: Carter and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev signed SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) in 1979. The treaty imposed ceilings on strategic weapons for both countries. The Senate never ratified SALT II. Carter withdrew it from consideration when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.

  The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to maintain a communist government in power. Carter reacted strongly, withdrawing SALT II from the Senate, boycotting the Olympics held in Moscow, and prohibiting the sale of grain to the Soviet Union. The Soviets stayed in Afghanistan until 1988, when troops were recalled.

  The Carter Doctrine: The Carter Doctrine stated that the United States would use military force to prevent the Soviet Union from expanding further into the Middle East.

  Facing U.S. hostages in Iran

  In 1979, the Shah of Iran, the major U.S. ally in the Middle East, was toppled by a Muslim fundamentalist regime headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Carter refused to help the U.S. ally.

  After the fall of the Shah of Iran, relations between the new Muslim fundamentalist regime and the United States deteriorated. When the Shah was diagnosed with cancer, the United States allowed him into the country for medical treatment. Iran was outraged. They wanted the Shah extradited so that he could be put on trial, but Carter refused.

  On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran, the capital of Iran — a clear violation of international law. After Carter protested, the Iranian government released all the women and minorities they had seized but continued to keep 53 white men hostage. Carter tried to negotiate the hostages’ release, but he failed.

  In April 1980, Carter authorized a military special forces unit to go in and get the hostages out. The attempt failed when a sandstorm caused two choppers to collide, killing eight servicemen.

  Carter was blamed for the failure of the rescue attempt. The ongoing hostage crisis contributed greatly to his defeat in his 1980 reelection bid. Republican Ronald Reagan, while campaigning for the presidency, openly threatened Iran with a military strike unless the hostages were released. Iran released the hostages on January 20, 1981 — the day Reagan was inaugurated.

  Handling problems at home

  Most of Carter’s domestic problems centered on the issue of energy. In 1979, OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) increased oil prices dramatically. This led to inflation. By 1980, loan interest rates hit 20 percent. Most people were unable to finance homes and cars. Carter took the blame for the high interest rates.

  On the bright side, Carter managed to pass legislation that encouraged the development of alternative energy in an effort to decrease dependence on foreign oil. Unfortunately, these programs were dismantled by his successors.

  With the 1980 election approaching, Carter seemed vulnerable. Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts launched a bid for the presidency. He and Carter battled it out for most of the spring of 1980. Kennedy refused to concede and took the fight to the convention, splitting the Democratic Party. Carter prevailed in the end, but the fight with Kennedy took a heavy toll, as Carter was forced to accept Kennedy’s liberal platform.

  The Republicans nominated Ronald Reagan, the former governor of California, on the first ballot. His vice-presidential nominee was George Bush, the former head of the CIA and former Texas congressman. The Republican ticket was formidable, indeed.

  Losing his reelection bid

  In 1980, Carter was forced to campaign on a liberal platform. He also had a lot of political baggage hanging over him, especially the hostages still held by Iran. Reagan, on the other hand, campaigned on an agenda of making the United States great again. Carter hoped that he would have an advantage in the debates. However, Reagan, who was a former actor, excelled at the debates and bested Carter.

  When the election results came in, Carter had lost in a landslide, winning just 41 percent of the vote to Reagan’s 51 percent. In addition, the Democrats lost control of the Senate for the first time since the 1950s.

  Carter left office in January 1981, with his presidency considered a failure. He himself was considered a weak, ineffective president.

  Retiring but not retreating

  After leaving office, Carter proceeded to restore his reputation. He founded the Carter Center at Emory University to study democracy and human rights. Carter became an even more vocal advocate of human rights throughout the world.

  Carter has traveled extensively, monitoring elections in many countries, and has served as a special peace emissary on more than one occasion. As a peace emissary, he traveled to North Korea and Haiti in 1994.

  Carter and his wife Rosalynn also participate in Habitat for Humanity, where they don’t just raise money but actually help build low-income housing with their own hands.

  In 1999, President Clinton awarded Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their humanitarian service. Today, Jimmy Carter is one of the most respected individuals not just in the United States but in the world. What a way to restore one’s reputation.

  Chapter 23

  A Starring Role for Ronald Reagan

  In This Chapter

  Taking up careers in acting and politics

  Becoming president

  Establishing a stronger foreign policy

  Handling the Iran-Contra scandal

  Retiring popular

  R onald Reagan is one of the most beloved presidents in U.S. history. While academics rank him low on the presidential scale, the public adores him and ranks him in the top ten of all presidents (see Chapter 2). He was able to communicate in a unique way with the U.S. public: He reassured the country and instilled a new patriotism. He truly deserves the title bestowed upon him by the media: “The Great Communicator.”

  As president, Reagan restored U.S. pride and prestige in the world. He not only contained communism but also liberated communist countries. Trying to match his increase in U.S. defense spending crippled the Soviet economy and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the same time, he left office with the largest budget deficit in U.S. history and the cloud of the Iran-Contra scandal hanging over him.

  For his foreign policy successes, Reagan deserves to be listed in my top ten of U.S. presidents. Had his economic policies worked, he could have broken into the top five.

  President Reagan gave the United States many firsts: He was the oldest president at age 69 to be elected to office, and he was the first president to have been divorced.

  Dreaming of Hollywood

  Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois in 1911. His father was a traveling shoe salesman who moved the family to Dixon, Illinois, when Reagan was 9 years old. Reagan considers Dixon his hometown. His father was an alcoholic — he had the “Irish disease,” as Reagan put it — and the family was barely able to make ends meet.

  In high school, Reagan played football and was the student council president. Reagan developed his theatrical and political interests at Eureka College, which he attended from 1928 to 1932. He starred in plays and organized a strike against the college president in response to curriculum cutbacks. Reagan forced the resignation of the college president.

  After graduating with a degree in economics, Reagan wanted to act, but no acting jobs were available in the Midwest. He became a sportscaster instead, signing on with radio station WHO in Des Moines, Iowa.

  In 1937, Reagan traveled to California to report on the Chicago Cubs’s spring training camp. While he was there, a friend of his arranged a screen test with the Warner Brothers movie studio. Warner Brothers signed him to a seven-year contract, and over the next 25 years, Reagan made more than 50 movies.

  Reagan met actress Jane Wyman in 1938. They got married in 1940. The marriage failed, and they were divorced by 1948. During World War II, Reagan enlisted in the army. He made training films for the military, but he never saw any action.

  Reagan’s Early Career

  Reagan started hi
s political career in 1947 when he became president of the Screen Actors Guild, a union representing actors and actresses. Reagan was a lifelong Democrat, but, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, he was called to Washington to testify on communist involvement in the film industry. He took a strong anti-communist stance and started moving to the right.

  Actress Nancy Davis contacted Reagan because her name appeared by mistake on a list of communist sympathizers in Hollywood. Reagan, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, took care of the problem for Nancy and also fell in love with her. They were married in 1952.

  In 1954, Reagan turned to television. He hosted a half-hour television show, General Electric Theater, and traveled around the country giving speeches on behalf of General Electric. In his speeches, Reagan tackled many political issues, such as tax cuts and the superiority of the free enterprise system — wherein the government does not interfere in the economy.

  After campaigning and voting for Republicans Eisenhower and Nixon, Reagan officially changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 1962.

  Reagan’s big political break occurred in 1964. The Republican nominee for president, Barry Goldwater, was doing poorly in the polls and having problems raising money. Reagan gave an impassioned speech on Goldwater’s behalf, blasting big government and praising individual initiative. The televised speech raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Goldwater and turned Reagan into a national conservative icon.

  Governing California

  In 1966, a group of businesspeople asked Reagan to run for governor of California. He accepted and ran a tough campaign, appealing to Republicans and to Democrats who belonged to labor unions. (He used the same technique when he ran for the presidency in 1980.) Reagan beat the incumbent Pat Brown, who had beaten Nixon back in 1962, by almost a million votes.

  Reagan’s terms as governor of California foreshadowed his presidency. To combat a budget deficit, Reagan cut spending. He initiated a 10 percent budget cut in all state agencies.

  Reagan became known for being tough on protesters, especially the counterculture movement that grew up at many universities in the 1960s. This stance pleased many voters. Reagan easily won reelection in 1970.

  During his second term, Reagan’s major accomplishment was welfare reform in California. To combat welfare fraud, Reagan cut more than 300,000 people from the welfare rolls. In 1974, everybody expected Reagan to run for and easily win a third term. But he had his sights set on the White House.

  Challenging Ford in 1976

  In 1975, Reagan announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. President Ford had been in office for just a year, and he was experiencing many problems (see Chapter 22). The conservative wing of the Republican Party backed Reagan.

  Not doing well in the early primaries, Reagan accused Ford of not being conservative enough. This strategy worked, especially in the South and West. In the end, Ford won the nomination by a slim, 57-vote margin.

  Winning the presidency in 1980

  After losing by a narrow margin in 1976, Reagan ran for the Republican nomination again in 1980. He was the clear frontrunner for the nomination until George Bush entered the race and won several primaries.

  At the Republican convention, Reagan won the nomination and planned to name former president Gerald Ford as his vice-president. Ford, however, wanted to have a co-presidency, where he could be involved in decision making. Reagan opted for George Bush instead. He didn’t want the media or the public to think that he needed help from a former president.

  Reagan faced incumbent president Jimmy Carter in the general election. Reagan focused on Carter’s weaknesses and called for a restoration of U.S. power, major rearmament, and, especially, a smaller government with less regulation and a major tax cut.

  The Reagan Democrats — white, male, working class voters — paired with support from corporations across the country, contributed to Reagan’s a landslide victory. He got 489 electoral votes and 51 percent of the popular vote, and the mandate he was looking for to bring about major changes.

  President Ronald Wilson Reagan (1981–1989)

  Ronald Reagan, shown in Figure 23-1, entered the White House intending to bring about major changes in economic and social policy. He believed in less government regulation of the economy, and lower taxes for both businesses and individuals. Reagan opposed the welfare state and wanted to cut welfare benefits. He also intended to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices who would help promote his conservative social agenda.

  Figure 23-1: Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States.

  Courtesy of the Library of Congress

  Surviving an assassination attempt

  Before Reagan was able to get started on his agenda, an assassin’s bullet almost killed him. Reagan survived the assassination attempt, although his press secretary, James Brady, was crippled for life.

  On March 30, 1981, Reagan delivered a speech at a hotel in Washington. He was shot by a crazed assassin, John Hinckley, while waiting outside the hotel. Doctors found that the bullet had hit the president’s left lung and lodged itself just an inch from his heart. On his way to the operating table, Reagan cracked several jokes, which turned him into a hero with most U.S. citizens. Reagan returned to work only 12 days later, having achieved almost mythical status.

  After the assassination attempt, Congress felt that it had to go along with Reagan’s policies because the public stood behind him. Who could oppose a president who survived being shot?

  Stimulating the economy

  When Reagan took office in 1981, the economy was in bad shape. By 1982, unemployment had hit 11 percent, the budget deficit had increased, and interest rates were still high. Reagan pushed many reforms through Congress in his first term (1981 to 1984) to help the economy. These reforms included

  Major tax cuts of up to 30 percent and increases in tax write-offs for U.S. citizens and U.S. businesses with the Economic Recovery Act of 1981. (See the “Supply-side economics” sidebar in this section for more on this theory.)

  Major cut backs in social spending. Reagan cut spending on programs such as job training, college loans, and medical programs.

  Reductions in regulations for the economy. For example, Reagan pushed to deregulate the savings-and-loan industry which resulted in the savings- and-loan crises of the late 1980s.

  Reductions in environmental standards. Reagan believed that stringent environmental and pollution standards imposed unnecessary costs on U.S. businesses. So the standards were lowered or eliminated.

  Massive increases in defense spending. Reagan doubled the defense budget to almost $300 billion.

  Reagan’s economic programs, though controversial in nature, worked fairly well. By 1983, the economy had recovered, and by 1984, it was booming. Reagan left the most popular welfare programs untouched, actually increasing Social Security and Medicare spending. Reagan’s policies created 20 million new jobs during his eight years in office. Unemployment had sunk to 5.5 percent by 1988, and inflation virtually disappeared. Things looked good in America. However, Reagan’s policies also had negative side effects.

  Supply-side economics

  Reagan believed in the economic theory of supply-side economics. The idea behind supply-side economics is simple: The government initiates major tax cuts for U.S. businesses and the public, and the businesses use the tax savings to invest in the economy, leading to new technologies and more jobs. At the same time, the government implements major spending cuts to balance the budget and curb inflation.

  The formerly unemployed can now buy goods, which helps stimulate the economy. They can also pay taxes, replacing the revenues lost in the initial tax cut.

  The theory is sound on paper. However, businesses didn’t use the tax cuts as intended. They didn’t invest their tax savings, no new high-paying jobs were created, and no new tax revenue filled the government’s coffers. In addition, Congress refused to cut spending, resulting in a major bu
dget deficit.

  Increasing the national debt

  With tax cuts reducing government income, Reagan had to borrow heavily to finance his increase in expenditures. By the time he left office, the national debt had reached a record $3 trillion. The government needed to set aside almost 15 percent of the annual budget just to make the interest payments.

  The government was competing with private businesses for loans, so interest rates shot up. This increase encouraged foreigners to buy dollars and put them into U.S. banks to take advantage of the high interest rates. The value of the dollar appreciated, making foreign goods cheaper and U.S. exports more expensive, resulting in a massive trade deficit. The government was forced to intervene: It devalued the dollar, or reduced the value of the dollar in relation to foreign currencies, in 1986 to correct the trade deficit.

  Breaking a strike

  In August 1981, the union representing air traffic controllers, PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) went on strike, effectively shutting down the country’s major airports.

 

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