Chapter 31
Describe the Reagan foreign policy toward the Soviet Union in 1987-88.
A momentous change in leadership in the Soviet Union had much to do with the change in Reagan's approach. The illness and death of Leonid Brezhnev in 1982, followed in rapid succession by the deaths of his aged successors, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, led finally to the selection of Mikhail Gorbachev, a younger and more dynamic Soviet leader. Gorbachev was intent on improving relations with the United States as part of his new policy of perestroika (restructuring the Soviet economy) and glasnost (political openness). Soviet economic performance had been deteriorating steadily, and the war in Afghanistan had become a major liability. Gorbachev needed a breathing spell in the arms race and a reduction in Cold War tensions in order to carry out his sweeping changes at home. A series of summit meetings between Reagan and Gorbachev broke the chill in superpower relations and led in December 1987 to an Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, by which Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to remove and destroy all intermediate- range missiles in Europe. The most important arms-control agreement since SALT I of 1972, the INF treaty raised hopes that an end to the Cold War was finally in sight. During the president's last year in office, the Soviets cooperated with the United States in pressuring Iran and Iraq to end their long war. Most significant of all, Gorbachev moved to end the war in Afghanistan. The first Soviet units pulled out in April 1988, with the final evacuation due to be completed early the next year. By the time Reagan left office in January 1989, he had scored a series of foreign policy triumphs that offset the Iran-Contra fiasco and thus helped redeem his presidency.
Describe Carter's Iranian crisis.
Carter initially had better luck in the Middle East. In 1978, he invited Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin to negotiate a peace treaty under his guidance at Camp David. For thirteen days, Carter met with Sadat and Begin, finally emerging with the Camp David accords. A framework for negotiations rather than an actual peace settlement, the Camp David accords nonetheless paved the way for a 1979 treaty between these principal antagonists in the Arab- Israeli conflict. The treaty provided for the gradual return of the Sinai to Egypt but left the fate of the Palestinians, the Arab inhabitants of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, unsettled. Any sense of progress in the Middle East was quickly offset in 1979 with the outbreak of the Iranian revolution. Under Nixon and Kissinger, the United States had come to depend heavily on the shah for defense of the vital Persian Gulf. Carter continued the close relationship with the shah, despite growing signs of domestic discontent with his leadership. By 1978, Iran was in chaos as the exiled Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini led a fundamentalist Muslim revolt against the shah, who was forced to flee the country. In October 1979, Carter permitted the shah to enter the United States for medical treatment. Irate mobs in Iran denounced the United States, and on November 4, militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took fifty-three Americans prisoner. The prolonged Iranian hostage crisis revealed the extent to which American power had declined in the 1970s. Carter relied first on diplomacy and economic reprisals in a vain attempt to free the hostages. In April 1980, the president authorized a desperate rescue mission that ended in failure when several helicopters broke down in the Iranian desert and an accident cost the lives of eight crewmen. The hostage crisis dragged on through the summer and fall of 1980, a symbol of American weakness that proved to be a powerful political handicap to Carter in the upcoming presidential election.
Explain why Reagan won the presidential election of 1980.
Carter's failure to rescue the hostages in Iran, or to restore the economy, along with Reagan's likability, made the election a landslide. Reagan did well in the Republican strongholds—the West and South—but he even took many traditional Democratic votes among Jews and union members.
Explain why the Ford presidency was unsuccessful.
Gerald Ford doomed his presidency by pardoning Nixon for any and all crimes he might have committed. Ford also soured his relations with the Democratic majority in Congress by allowing disclosure of some of the illegal, covert operations of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Kennedy and Johnson years and by opposing Democratic bills protecting the environment and civil rights.
Explain how Reagan restored U.S. standing and respect in the world.
He built upon this accomplishment by embarking on a major military expansion. Here again he continued efforts begun by Carter, who after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had persuaded Congress to fund a 5 percent increase in defense spending. The Reagan expansion went far beyond Carter's. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger proposed a plan that would more than double defense spending. The emphasis was on new weapons, ranging from the B-1 bomber and the controversial MX nuclear missile to the expan- sion of the navy from 456 to 600 ships. Despite some opposition in Congress, Reagan and Weinberger got most of what they wanted, and by 1985 the defense budget grew to more than $300 billion.
Describe how Reagan hoped to reduce government spending.
He persuaded Congress to cut the income tax by 25% over three years, and to cut spending on various social programs by over $40 billion. deciding not to attack such popular middle-class entitlement programs as Social Security and Medicare, and sparing critical social services for the "truly deserving needy," the so-called safety net, the Republicans concentrated on slashing $41 billion from the budget by cutting heavily into other social services such as food stamps and by reducing public service jobs, student loans, and support for urban mass transit. Reagan used his charm and powers of per- suasion to woo conservative Democrats from the West and South.
Explain why Carter proved to be a failure as president.
Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, won the presidency by campaigning as someone outside the political establishment who would restore decency and morality to government, but he failed as a president because he lacked political vision and was too much of an outsider to make the government work. In 1979 he publicly blamed the American people for a "national malaise" that very much reflected his own lack of substance. He called himself a populist, but that label meant little more than an appeal to the common man, a somewhat ironic appeal, given Carter's personal wealth.
Discuss the foreign policies of Richard Nixon regarding detente.
Nixon and his closest foreign policy advisor, Henry Kissinger, based their approach to international issues on cold, logical assumptions. They saw the Cold War as a traditional superpower rivalry to be managed, not won. They felt that America must make a strategic retreat. They planned to use trade and improved relations with China to neutralize Russia, after which the United States would compete more vigorously with western Europe and Japan. In 1971, Kissinger paved the way for Nixon's visit to China in February 1972, a prelude to America's recognition of Communist China. This visit persuaded the Russians to agree to the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) treaty in Moscow in 1972. There seemed to be a genuine desire on both sides to reduce Cold War tensions.
Detail Nixon's plan to end the Vietnam War.
Nixon followed a three-part plan to get the United States out of Vietnam. He gradually reduced the number of American troops there, while at the same time he intensified American bombing and adopted a hard line at the peace talks. His increased military pressure resulted in the 1970 invasion of Cambodia, which set off renewed antiwar protests, most notably at Kent State University, where four students were killed by the National Guard. However, the peace talks did progress, and in January 1973 they concluded with a disguised American surrender that virtually guaranteed a Communist takeover in South Vietnam. Nixon had extricated the nation from a quagmire at the price of defeat.
Describe the key events in the Watergate Scandal leading to Nixon's resignation.
Nixon had to accept defeat in Vietnam because he was deeply involved in covering up the burglary of the Democratic Committee's office during the presidential campaign of 1972. Although the Watergate burglary was kept out of that campaign, the scandal was becoming a major issue by 1972. When the Senate investigated, it discovered White House tapes that quickly revealed Nixon's involvement in the scandal. Nixon tried in vain to suppress this evidence, but the Supreme Court ruled that he must hand over the tapes, and a House committee voted to recommend impeachment. On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned.
Describe the U.S. energy policy dealing with the energy shortage.
Nixon responded with a series of temporary measures, including pleas to Americans to turn down their thermostats in homes and offices and avoid driving simply for pleasure. When the Arab oil embargo ended in March, after Kissinger negotiated an Israeli pullback in the Sinai, the American public relaxed. Gasoline once again became plentiful, thermostats were raised, and people resumed their love affair with the automobile.
Discuss the domestic policies of Richard Nixon.
Nixon surprisingly adopted many "liberal" policies. For example, he extended affirmative action to women, established a federal office to oversee workplace safety, and signed the Clean Air Act. At the same time, he shifted much of the federal responsibility for social programs and civil rights to the states or the courts. Basically, he wanted to avoid controversies over social issues because his main interest was in foreign affairs.
Explain the causes of the energy crisis.
On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel. The fighting followed decades of tension between Israel and its Arab neighbors, which had grown only worse upon the stunning Israeli victory in the Six Days' War of 1967. In that conflict, the Israelis routed the Arabs, seizing the Golan Heights from Syria, the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan. The Arabs ached for revenge, and in 1973 the Egyptians and Syrians attacked. Catching Israel off guard, they won early battles but eventually lost the initiative and were forced to give up the ground they had recovered. The Israelis would have delivered another devastating defeat to the Arabs if not for the diplomatic intervention of Nixon and Kissinger, who, despite America's previous strong support for Israel, believed a decisive Israeli victory would destabilize the Middle East even more. The American diplomatic triumph, how- ever, was offset by an unforeseen consequence of the October War (also called the Yom Kippur War, as it started on the Jewish holy day). On October 17, the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced a 5 percent cut in oil production, and vowed additional cuts of 5 percent each month until Israel surrendered the lands it had taken in 1967. Three days later, following Nixon's announcement of an emergency aid package for Israel, Saudi Arabia cut off oil shipments to the United States.
Describe Reagan's domestic accomplishments.
Reagan cut down the federal spending by cutting social services (besides Social Security and Medicare). The president proved equally successful in trimming taxes. He initially advocated annual cuts of 10 percent in personal income taxes for three consecutive years. When the Democrats countered with a two-year plan that would reduce taxes by only 15 percent, Reagan compromised with a proposal to cut taxes by 5 percent the first year but insisted on the full 10 percent reduction for the second and third years. In July, both houses passed the tax cut by impressive margins.
Describe the basic tenet of Reagan's foreign policy.
Same as 15
Describe Reagan's Latin American foreign policy.
The Reagan administration quickly reversed this policy. Secretary of State Alexander Haig cut off aid to Nicaragua in the spring of 1981, accusing the Sandinistas of driving out the moderates, welcoming Cuban advisers and Soviet military assistance, and serving as a supply base for leftist guerrillas in nearby El Salvador. The criticism became a self-fulfilling prophecy as Nicaragua became even more dependent on Cuba and the Soviet Union. The United States and Nicaragua were soon on a collision course. In April 1983, declaring that "the national security of all the Americas is at stake in Central America," Reagan asked Congress for the money and authority to oust the Sandinistas. When Congress, fearful of repeating the Vietnam fiasco, refused, Reagan opted for covert action. The CIA began supplying the Contras, exiles fighting against the Sandinistas from bases in Honduras and Costa Rica. The U.S.-backed rebels tried to disrupt the Nicaraguan economy, raiding villages, blowing up oil tanks, and even mining harbors. Then, in 1984, Congress passed the Boland Amendment prohibiting any U.S. agency from spending money in Central America. The withdrawal of U.S. financial backing left the Contras in a precarious position.
Explain the main principles of Reagan's supply-side economics.
The president embraced the concept of supply-side economics as the remedy for the nation's economic ills. Supply- side economists believed that the private sector, if encouraged by tax cuts, would shift its resources from tax shelters to productive investment, leading to an economic boom that would provide enough new income to offset the lost revenue. Although many economists worried that the 30 percent cut in income taxes that Reagan favored would lead to large deficits, the president was confident that his program would both stimulate the economy and reduce the role of government.
Describe Carter's Middle East foreign policy.
in the Mideast, he brokered a peace pact between Israel and Egypt. However, Carter's greatest problem was with Iran, where a radical Muslim revolution ousted the Shah in 1978, after which, in 1979, students seized the United States embassy and kept its personnel hostage for the rest of Carter's term as president. A failed rescue effort reinforced the impression that the Unites States was becoming powerless.
