{"id":6940,"date":"2022-04-29T21:43:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T21:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=6940"},"modified":"2022-07-25T19:12:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-25T19:12:49","slug":"reagans-second-term","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/reagans-second-term\/","title":{"raw":"Reagan's Second Term","rendered":"Reagan&#8217;s Second Term"},"content":{"raw":"<section id=\"fs-idm65073856\" data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Explain Reagan's conservative policies<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"371\"]<img class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203430\/CNX_History_31_01_Cowboy.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows Ronald Reagan signing legislation while seated outdoors at a rustic table. He is dressed in blue jeans, a denim jacket, and cowboy boots, and he strokes the head of a large black dog seated beside him. In front of Reagan, the press takes photographs.\" width=\"371\" height=\"251\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. President Ronald Reagan signs economic reform legislation at his ranch in California. Note the blue jeans, denim jacket, and cowboy boots he wears.[\/caption]\r\n<h2>The \u201cReagan Recession\u201d<\/h2>\r\nThe new administration appeared to be flying high in the fall of 1981, but developments challenged the rosy economic forecasts emanating from the White House.\r\n<h3>Failed Efforts to Reduce Government Spending<\/h3>\r\nAs Reagan ratcheted up tension with the Soviet Union, Congress approved his request for $1.2 trillion in new military spending. In addition to this, although he had long warned about the dangers of big government, he created a new cabinet-level agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the number of federal employees increased during his time in office. He allocated a smaller share of the federal budget to anti-poverty programs like Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, rent subsidies, job training programs, and Medicaid, but Social Security and Medicare entitlements, from which his supporters benefited, were left largely untouched except for an increase in payroll taxes to pay for them. Indeed, in 1983, Reagan agreed to a compromise with the Democrats in Congress on a $165 billion injection of funds to save Social Security, which included this payroll tax increase.\r\n\r\nThe combination of lower taxes and higher defense budgets caused the national debt to balloon. By the end of Reagan\u2019s first term it equaled 53 percent of GDP, as opposed to 33 percent in 1981. The increase was staggering, especially for an administration that had promised to curb spending. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker continued his policy from the Carter years of combating inflation by maintaining high interest rates, which surpassed 20 percent in June 1981. The Fed\u2019s action increased the cost of borrowing money and stifled economic activity.\r\n<h3>Increasing Unemployment and Decreased Social Welfare Spending<\/h3>\r\nAs a result, the United States experienced a severe economic recession in 1981 and 1982. Unemployment rose to nearly 11 percent, the highest figure since the Great Depression. Reductions in social welfare spending heightened the impact of the recession on ordinary people. Congress had followed Reagan\u2019s lead by reducing funding for food stamps and Aid to Families with Dependent Children and removed a half million people from the Supplemental Social Security program for the physically disabled. The cuts exacted an especially harsh toll on low-income communities of color. The head of the NAACP declared that the administration\u2019s budget cuts had rekindled \u201cwar, pestilence, famine, and death.\u201d[footnote]Margaret Bush Wilson, quoted in Troy, Morning in America, 93.[\/footnote] Reagan also received bipartisan rebuke in 1981 after proposing cuts to social security benefits for early retirees. The Senate voted unanimously to condemn the plan, and Democrats framed it as a heartless attack on the elderly. Confronted with recession and harsh public criticism, a chastened White House worked with Democratic House Speaker Tip O\u2019Neill in 1982 on a bill that restored $98 billion of the previous year\u2019s tax cuts. Despite compromising with the administration on taxes, Democrats railed against the so-called Reagan Recession, arguing that the president\u2019s economic policies favored the most fortunate Americans. This appeal, which Democrats termed the \u201cfairness issue,\u201d helped them win twenty-six House seats in the autumn congressional races.[footnote]Ibid., 110.[\/footnote] The New Right appeared to be in trouble.\r\n<h2>Reagan Bounces Back<\/h2>\r\n\u200b\u200bReagan nimbly adjusted to the political setbacks of 1982. Following the rejection of his social security proposals, Reagan appointed a bipartisan panel to consider changes to the program. In early 1983, the commission recommended a onetime delay in cost-of-living increases, a new requirement that government employees pay into the system, and a gradual increase in the retirement age from sixty-five to sixty-seven. The commission also proposed raising state and federal payroll taxes, with the new revenue poured into a trust fund that would transform social security from a pay-as-you-go system to one with significant reserves. Congress quickly passed the recommendations into law, allowing Reagan to take credit for strengthening a program cherished by most Americans.\r\n\r\nThe president also benefited from an economic rebound. Real disposable income rose 2.5 percent in 1983 and 5.8 percent the following year. Unemployment dropped to 7.5 percent in 1984. Meanwhile, the \u201charsh medicine\u201d of high interest rates helped reduce inflation to 3.5 percent.[footnote]Patterson, Restless Giant, 162. Many people used the term harsh medicine to describe Volcker\u2019s action on interest rates; see Art Pine, \u201cLetting Harsh Medicine Work,\u201d Washington Post, October 14, 1979, G1[\/footnote] While campaigning for reelection in 1984, Reagan pointed to the improving economy as evidence that it was \u201cmorning again in America.\u201d[footnote]Patterson, Restless Giant, 189.[\/footnote] His personal popularity soared. Most conservatives ignored the debt increase and tax hikes of the previous two years and rallied around the president.\r\n<h2>Democratic Disagreements<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_5045\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"595\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/08\/07161551\/Candidates_Walter_Mondale_and_Geraldine_Ferraro_campaigning_at_Ft._Lauderdale_4-27-84..jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-5045 \" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/08\/07161551\/Candidates_Walter_Mondale_and_Geraldine_Ferraro_campaigning_at_Ft._Lauderdale_4-27-84..jpg\" alt=\"Mondale in front of a microphone waving and smiling, with Ferraro on his side.\" width=\"595\" height=\"363\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. Walter Mondale and his running mate, vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro campaigning in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe Democratic Party, on other hand, stood at an ideological crossroads in 1984. The favorite to win the party\u2019s nomination was Walter Mondale, a staunch ally of organized labor and the civil rights movement as a senator during the 1960s and 1970s. He later served as Jimmy Carter\u2019s vice president. Mondale\u2019s chief rivals were civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and Colorado senator Gary Hart, one of the young Democrats elected to Congress in 1974 following Nixon\u2019s downfall. Hart and other \u201cWatergate babies\u201d still identified themselves as liberals but rejected their party\u2019s faith in activist government and embraced market-based approaches to policy issues. In so doing, they conceded significant political ground to supply-siders and conservative opponents of the welfare state.\r\n<h3>Ideological Tension Within the Democratic Party<\/h3>\r\nMany Democrats, however, were not prepared to abandon their New Deal heritage, and so the ideological tension within the party played out in the 1984 primary campaign. Jackson offered a largely progressive program but won only two states. Hart\u2019s platform\u2014economically moderate but socially liberal\u2014inverted the political formula of Mondale\u2019s New Deal-style liberalism. Throughout the primaries, Hart contrasted his \u201cnew ideas\u201d with Mondale\u2019s \u201cold-fashioned\u201d politics. Mondale eventually secured his party\u2019s nomination but suffered a crushing defeat in the general election. Reagan captured forty-nine of fifty states, winning 58.8 percent of the popular vote.\r\n\r\nNeoliberalism is another significant economic term, often\u00a0used to describe the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism. Although \u201cliberal\u201d is routinely used in American political discourse to refer to the views of the progressive Left, liberal has a much-longer history and also refers to 19th-century ideas of free-market capitalism as a means of remaking society away from the hold of monarchy and the aristocracy (more economic power held by the people and not the ruling classes). In other words,\u00a0neoliberalism\u00a0means little government regulation of the economy and low or no corporate taxes.\u00a0Neoliberalism is often linked with conservative politicians like Reagan in the United States. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to associate neoliberalism with conservative Republicans since many Democrat policies are also neoliberal, as seen in President Clinton\u2019s 1994 signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Political Terminology Recap<\/h3>\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1291636476491077118\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" aria-label=\"Political terms\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>The Democratic Leadership Council<\/h3>\r\nMondale\u2019s loss seemed to confirm that the new breed of moderate Democrats better understood the mood of the American people. The future of the party belonged to post\u2013New Deal liberals like Hart and to the constituency that supported him in the primaries: upwardly mobile, White professionals and suburbanites. In February 1985, a group of centrists formed the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) as a vehicle for distancing the party from organized labor and Keynesian economics while cultivating the business community. Jesse Jackson dismissed the DLC as \u201cDemocrats for the Leisure Class,\u201d but the organization included many of the party\u2019s future leaders, including Arkansas governor Bill Clinton.[footnote]Patterson, Restless Giant, 190-191.[\/footnote] The formation of the DLC illustrated the degree to which the New Right had transformed American politics: New Democrats looked a lot like old Republicans.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/db250305-c2fb-4c91-8f38-651d3982bad7\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2>Reagan's Second Term<\/h2>\r\nReagan entered his second term with a much stronger mandate than in 1981, but the Grand Old Party (GOP) makeover of Washington, D.C., stalled. The Democrats regained control of the Senate in 1986, and Democratic opposition prevented Reagan from eliminating means-tested social welfare programs, although Congress failed to increase benefit levels for welfare programs or raise the minimum wage, decreasing the real value of those benefits.\r\n\r\nDemocrats and Republicans occasionally fashioned legislative compromises, as with the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The bill lowered the top corporate tax rate from 46 percent to 34 percent and reduced the highest marginal income tax rate from 50 percent to 28 percent, while also simplifying the tax code and eliminating numerous loopholes.\u00a0The steep cuts to the corporate and individual rates certainly benefited wealthy individuals, but the legislation made virtually no net change to federal revenues. In 1986, Reagan also signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act. American policymakers hoped to do two things: deal with the millions of undocumented immigrants already in the United States while simultaneously choking off future unsanctioned migration. The former goal was achieved (nearly three million undocumented workers received legal status) but the latter proved elusive.\r\n\r\nOne of Reagan\u2019s most far-reaching victories occurred through judicial appointments. He named 368 district and federal appeals court judges during his two terms.\u00a0Observers noted that almost all of the appointees were White men. (Seven were African American, fifteen were Latino, and two were Asian American.) Reagan also appointed three Supreme Court justices: Sandra Day O\u2019Connor, who to the dismay of the religious right turned out to be a moderate; Anthony Kennedy, a solidly conservative Catholic who occasionally sided with the court\u2019s liberal wing; and archconservative Antonin Scalia. The New Right\u2019s transformation of the judiciary had limits. In 1987, Reagan nominated Robert Bork to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Bork, a federal judge and former Yale University law professor, was a staunch conservative. He had opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, affirmative action, and the\u00a0<em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>\u00a0decision. After acrimonious confirmation hearings, the Senate rejected Bork\u2019s nomination by a vote of 58\u201342.\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\r\nThe largest of the presidential libraries, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reaganfoundation.org\/ronald-reagan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ronald Reagan Presidential Library<\/a> contains Reagan\u2019s most important speeches as well as pictures and artifacts related to Ronald and Nancy Reagan.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Yuppies<\/h3>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp40584896\">The Reagan years were a complicated era of social, economic, and political change, with many trends operating simultaneously and sometimes at cross-purposes. While many suffered, others prospered. The 1970s had been the era of the hippie, and <em data-effect=\"italics\">Newsweek<\/em> magazine declared 1984 to be the \u201cyear of the <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">Yuppie<\/span>.\u201d <strong>Yuppies<\/strong>, whose name derived from \u201c(y)oung, (u)rban (p)rofessionals,\u201d were akin to hippies in being young people whose interests, values, and lifestyle influenced American culture, economy, and politics, just as the hippies\u2019 credo had done in the late 1960s and 1970s. Unlike hippies, however, yuppies were materialistic and obsessed with image, comfort, and economic prosperity. Although liberal on some social issues, economically they were conservative. Ironically, some yuppies were former hippies or yippies, like Jerry Rubin, who gave up his crusade against \u201cthe establishment\u201d to become a businessman.<\/p>\r\nRead more about <a href=\"https:\/\/jason-manning.weebly.com\/yuppie-culture.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">yuppie culture<\/a> and then use the table of contents to access other information about the culture of the 1980s.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><section id=\"fs-idp286794336\" class=\"summary\" data-depth=\"1\">\r\n<div data-type=\"title\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>Neoliberalism:\u00a0<\/strong>an economic term often\u00a0used to describe the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism. Supporters of neoliberalism advocate for little government regulation of the economy and low or no corporate taxes.\r\n\r\n<strong>Yuppies:<\/strong>\u00a0a nickname for upwardly mobile young urban professionals from the early 1980s. By the late 1980s, the term yuppie developed a negative connotation.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section>","rendered":"<section id=\"fs-idm65073856\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Explain Reagan&#8217;s conservative policies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 381px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203430\/CNX_History_31_01_Cowboy.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows Ronald Reagan signing legislation while seated outdoors at a rustic table. He is dressed in blue jeans, a denim jacket, and cowboy boots, and he strokes the head of a large black dog seated beside him. In front of Reagan, the press takes photographs.\" width=\"371\" height=\"251\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. President Ronald Reagan signs economic reform legislation at his ranch in California. Note the blue jeans, denim jacket, and cowboy boots he wears.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>The \u201cReagan Recession\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>The new administration appeared to be flying high in the fall of 1981, but developments challenged the rosy economic forecasts emanating from the White House.<\/p>\n<h3>Failed Efforts to Reduce Government Spending<\/h3>\n<p>As Reagan ratcheted up tension with the Soviet Union, Congress approved his request for $1.2 trillion in new military spending. In addition to this, although he had long warned about the dangers of big government, he created a new cabinet-level agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the number of federal employees increased during his time in office. He allocated a smaller share of the federal budget to anti-poverty programs like Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, rent subsidies, job training programs, and Medicaid, but Social Security and Medicare entitlements, from which his supporters benefited, were left largely untouched except for an increase in payroll taxes to pay for them. Indeed, in 1983, Reagan agreed to a compromise with the Democrats in Congress on a $165 billion injection of funds to save Social Security, which included this payroll tax increase.<\/p>\n<p>The combination of lower taxes and higher defense budgets caused the national debt to balloon. By the end of Reagan\u2019s first term it equaled 53 percent of GDP, as opposed to 33 percent in 1981. The increase was staggering, especially for an administration that had promised to curb spending. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker continued his policy from the Carter years of combating inflation by maintaining high interest rates, which surpassed 20 percent in June 1981. The Fed\u2019s action increased the cost of borrowing money and stifled economic activity.<\/p>\n<h3>Increasing Unemployment and Decreased Social Welfare Spending<\/h3>\n<p>As a result, the United States experienced a severe economic recession in 1981 and 1982. Unemployment rose to nearly 11 percent, the highest figure since the Great Depression. Reductions in social welfare spending heightened the impact of the recession on ordinary people. Congress had followed Reagan\u2019s lead by reducing funding for food stamps and Aid to Families with Dependent Children and removed a half million people from the Supplemental Social Security program for the physically disabled. The cuts exacted an especially harsh toll on low-income communities of color. The head of the NAACP declared that the administration\u2019s budget cuts had rekindled \u201cwar, pestilence, famine, and death.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Margaret Bush Wilson, quoted in Troy, Morning in America, 93.\" id=\"return-footnote-6940-1\" href=\"#footnote-6940-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a> Reagan also received bipartisan rebuke in 1981 after proposing cuts to social security benefits for early retirees. The Senate voted unanimously to condemn the plan, and Democrats framed it as a heartless attack on the elderly. Confronted with recession and harsh public criticism, a chastened White House worked with Democratic House Speaker Tip O\u2019Neill in 1982 on a bill that restored $98 billion of the previous year\u2019s tax cuts. Despite compromising with the administration on taxes, Democrats railed against the so-called Reagan Recession, arguing that the president\u2019s economic policies favored the most fortunate Americans. This appeal, which Democrats termed the \u201cfairness issue,\u201d helped them win twenty-six House seats in the autumn congressional races.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Ibid., 110.\" id=\"return-footnote-6940-2\" href=\"#footnote-6940-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a> The New Right appeared to be in trouble.<\/p>\n<h2>Reagan Bounces Back<\/h2>\n<p>\u200b\u200bReagan nimbly adjusted to the political setbacks of 1982. Following the rejection of his social security proposals, Reagan appointed a bipartisan panel to consider changes to the program. In early 1983, the commission recommended a onetime delay in cost-of-living increases, a new requirement that government employees pay into the system, and a gradual increase in the retirement age from sixty-five to sixty-seven. The commission also proposed raising state and federal payroll taxes, with the new revenue poured into a trust fund that would transform social security from a pay-as-you-go system to one with significant reserves. Congress quickly passed the recommendations into law, allowing Reagan to take credit for strengthening a program cherished by most Americans.<\/p>\n<p>The president also benefited from an economic rebound. Real disposable income rose 2.5 percent in 1983 and 5.8 percent the following year. Unemployment dropped to 7.5 percent in 1984. Meanwhile, the \u201charsh medicine\u201d of high interest rates helped reduce inflation to 3.5 percent.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Patterson, Restless Giant, 162. Many people used the term harsh medicine to describe Volcker\u2019s action on interest rates; see Art Pine, \u201cLetting Harsh Medicine Work,\u201d Washington Post, October 14, 1979, G1\" id=\"return-footnote-6940-3\" href=\"#footnote-6940-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a> While campaigning for reelection in 1984, Reagan pointed to the improving economy as evidence that it was \u201cmorning again in America.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Patterson, Restless Giant, 189.\" id=\"return-footnote-6940-4\" href=\"#footnote-6940-4\" aria-label=\"Footnote 4\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[4]<\/sup><\/a> His personal popularity soared. Most conservatives ignored the debt increase and tax hikes of the previous two years and rallied around the president.<\/p>\n<h2>Democratic Disagreements<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_5045\" style=\"width: 605px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/08\/07161551\/Candidates_Walter_Mondale_and_Geraldine_Ferraro_campaigning_at_Ft._Lauderdale_4-27-84..jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5045\" class=\"wp-image-5045\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/08\/07161551\/Candidates_Walter_Mondale_and_Geraldine_Ferraro_campaigning_at_Ft._Lauderdale_4-27-84..jpg\" alt=\"Mondale in front of a microphone waving and smiling, with Ferraro on his side.\" width=\"595\" height=\"363\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5045\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. Walter Mondale and his running mate, vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro campaigning in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Democratic Party, on other hand, stood at an ideological crossroads in 1984. The favorite to win the party\u2019s nomination was Walter Mondale, a staunch ally of organized labor and the civil rights movement as a senator during the 1960s and 1970s. He later served as Jimmy Carter\u2019s vice president. Mondale\u2019s chief rivals were civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and Colorado senator Gary Hart, one of the young Democrats elected to Congress in 1974 following Nixon\u2019s downfall. Hart and other \u201cWatergate babies\u201d still identified themselves as liberals but rejected their party\u2019s faith in activist government and embraced market-based approaches to policy issues. In so doing, they conceded significant political ground to supply-siders and conservative opponents of the welfare state.<\/p>\n<h3>Ideological Tension Within the Democratic Party<\/h3>\n<p>Many Democrats, however, were not prepared to abandon their New Deal heritage, and so the ideological tension within the party played out in the 1984 primary campaign. Jackson offered a largely progressive program but won only two states. Hart\u2019s platform\u2014economically moderate but socially liberal\u2014inverted the political formula of Mondale\u2019s New Deal-style liberalism. Throughout the primaries, Hart contrasted his \u201cnew ideas\u201d with Mondale\u2019s \u201cold-fashioned\u201d politics. Mondale eventually secured his party\u2019s nomination but suffered a crushing defeat in the general election. Reagan captured forty-nine of fifty states, winning 58.8 percent of the popular vote.<\/p>\n<p>Neoliberalism is another significant economic term, often\u00a0used to describe the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism. Although \u201cliberal\u201d is routinely used in American political discourse to refer to the views of the progressive Left, liberal has a much-longer history and also refers to 19th-century ideas of free-market capitalism as a means of remaking society away from the hold of monarchy and the aristocracy (more economic power held by the people and not the ruling classes). In other words,\u00a0neoliberalism\u00a0means little government regulation of the economy and low or no corporate taxes.\u00a0Neoliberalism is often linked with conservative politicians like Reagan in the United States. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to associate neoliberalism with conservative Republicans since many Democrat policies are also neoliberal, as seen in President Clinton\u2019s 1994 signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Political Terminology Recap<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1291636476491077118\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" aria-label=\"Political terms\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>The Democratic Leadership Council<\/h3>\n<p>Mondale\u2019s loss seemed to confirm that the new breed of moderate Democrats better understood the mood of the American people. The future of the party belonged to post\u2013New Deal liberals like Hart and to the constituency that supported him in the primaries: upwardly mobile, White professionals and suburbanites. In February 1985, a group of centrists formed the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) as a vehicle for distancing the party from organized labor and Keynesian economics while cultivating the business community. Jesse Jackson dismissed the DLC as \u201cDemocrats for the Leisure Class,\u201d but the organization included many of the party\u2019s future leaders, including Arkansas governor Bill Clinton.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Patterson, Restless Giant, 190-191.\" id=\"return-footnote-6940-5\" href=\"#footnote-6940-5\" aria-label=\"Footnote 5\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[5]<\/sup><\/a> The formation of the DLC illustrated the degree to which the New Right had transformed American politics: New Democrats looked a lot like old Republicans.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_db250305-c2fb-4c91-8f38-651d3982bad7\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/db250305-c2fb-4c91-8f38-651d3982bad7?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_db250305-c2fb-4c91-8f38-651d3982bad7\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Reagan&#8217;s Second Term<\/h2>\n<p>Reagan entered his second term with a much stronger mandate than in 1981, but the Grand Old Party (GOP) makeover of Washington, D.C., stalled. The Democrats regained control of the Senate in 1986, and Democratic opposition prevented Reagan from eliminating means-tested social welfare programs, although Congress failed to increase benefit levels for welfare programs or raise the minimum wage, decreasing the real value of those benefits.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats and Republicans occasionally fashioned legislative compromises, as with the Tax Reform Act of 1986. The bill lowered the top corporate tax rate from 46 percent to 34 percent and reduced the highest marginal income tax rate from 50 percent to 28 percent, while also simplifying the tax code and eliminating numerous loopholes.\u00a0The steep cuts to the corporate and individual rates certainly benefited wealthy individuals, but the legislation made virtually no net change to federal revenues. In 1986, Reagan also signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act. American policymakers hoped to do two things: deal with the millions of undocumented immigrants already in the United States while simultaneously choking off future unsanctioned migration. The former goal was achieved (nearly three million undocumented workers received legal status) but the latter proved elusive.<\/p>\n<p>One of Reagan\u2019s most far-reaching victories occurred through judicial appointments. He named 368 district and federal appeals court judges during his two terms.\u00a0Observers noted that almost all of the appointees were White men. (Seven were African American, fifteen were Latino, and two were Asian American.) Reagan also appointed three Supreme Court justices: Sandra Day O\u2019Connor, who to the dismay of the religious right turned out to be a moderate; Anthony Kennedy, a solidly conservative Catholic who occasionally sided with the court\u2019s liberal wing; and archconservative Antonin Scalia. The New Right\u2019s transformation of the judiciary had limits. In 1987, Reagan nominated Robert Bork to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Bork, a federal judge and former Yale University law professor, was a staunch conservative. He had opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, affirmative action, and the\u00a0<em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>\u00a0decision. After acrimonious confirmation hearings, the Senate rejected Bork\u2019s nomination by a vote of 58\u201342.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\n<p>The largest of the presidential libraries, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reaganfoundation.org\/ronald-reagan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ronald Reagan Presidential Library<\/a> contains Reagan\u2019s most important speeches as well as pictures and artifacts related to Ronald and Nancy Reagan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Yuppies<\/h3>\n<p id=\"fs-idp40584896\">The Reagan years were a complicated era of social, economic, and political change, with many trends operating simultaneously and sometimes at cross-purposes. While many suffered, others prospered. The 1970s had been the era of the hippie, and <em data-effect=\"italics\">Newsweek<\/em> magazine declared 1984 to be the \u201cyear of the <span class=\"no-emphasis\" data-type=\"term\">Yuppie<\/span>.\u201d <strong>Yuppies<\/strong>, whose name derived from \u201c(y)oung, (u)rban (p)rofessionals,\u201d were akin to hippies in being young people whose interests, values, and lifestyle influenced American culture, economy, and politics, just as the hippies\u2019 credo had done in the late 1960s and 1970s. Unlike hippies, however, yuppies were materialistic and obsessed with image, comfort, and economic prosperity. Although liberal on some social issues, economically they were conservative. Ironically, some yuppies were former hippies or yippies, like Jerry Rubin, who gave up his crusade against \u201cthe establishment\u201d to become a businessman.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/jason-manning.weebly.com\/yuppie-culture.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">yuppie culture<\/a> and then use the table of contents to access other information about the culture of the 1980s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"fs-idp286794336\" class=\"summary\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<div data-type=\"title\">\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Neoliberalism:\u00a0<\/strong>an economic term often\u00a0used to describe the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism. Supporters of neoliberalism advocate for little government regulation of the economy and low or no corporate taxes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yuppies:<\/strong>\u00a0a nickname for upwardly mobile young urban professionals from the early 1980s. By the late 1980s, the term yuppie developed a negative connotation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-6940\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Benjamin Lawson for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>US History. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\">http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>The Triumph of the Right. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: THE AMERICAN YAWP . <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/29-the-triumph-of-the-right\/\">https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/29-the-triumph-of-the-right\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>1980 United States House of Representatives elections. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1980_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1980_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Chapter 16 Introductory Essay: 1980u2013Present. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/NgBFhmUc@11.2:y7qhA2Nt@2\/16-2-%F0%9F%93%96-Chapter-16-Introductory-Essay-1980-Present\">https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/NgBFhmUc@11.2:y7qhA2Nt@2\/16-2-%F0%9F%93%96-Chapter-16-Introductory-Essay-1980-Present<\/a>. <strong>Project<\/strong>: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/36004586-651c-4ded-af87-203aca22d946@11.2<\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">Public domain content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Mondale and Ferraro. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikipedia. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1984_United_States_presidential_election#\/media\/File:Candidates_Walter_Mondale_and_Geraldine_Ferraro_campaigning_at_Ft._Lauderdale,_4-27-84..jpg\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1984_United_States_presidential_election#\/media\/File:Candidates_Walter_Mondale_and_Geraldine_Ferraro_campaigning_at_Ft._Lauderdale,_4-27-84..jpg<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/about\/pdm\">Public Domain: No Known Copyright<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section><hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-6940-1\">Margaret Bush Wilson, quoted in Troy, Morning in America, 93. <a href=\"#return-footnote-6940-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-6940-2\">Ibid., 110. <a href=\"#return-footnote-6940-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-6940-3\">Patterson, Restless Giant, 162. Many people used the term harsh medicine to describe Volcker\u2019s action on interest rates; see Art Pine, \u201cLetting Harsh Medicine Work,\u201d Washington Post, October 14, 1979, G1 <a href=\"#return-footnote-6940-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-6940-4\">Patterson, Restless Giant, 189. <a href=\"#return-footnote-6940-4\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 4\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-6940-5\">Patterson, Restless Giant, 190-191. <a href=\"#return-footnote-6940-5\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 5\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":169554,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"US History\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/openstaxcollege.org\/textbooks\/us-history\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Triumph of the Right\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"THE AMERICAN YAWP \",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/29-the-triumph-of-the-right\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Modification, adaptation, and original content\",\"author\":\"Benjamin Lawson for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"1980 United States House of Representatives elections\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1980_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"pd\",\"description\":\"Mondale and Ferraro\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikipedia\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1984_United_States_presidential_election#\/media\/File:Candidates_Walter_Mondale_and_Geraldine_Ferraro_campaigning_at_Ft._Lauderdale,_4-27-84..jpg\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"pd\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Chapter 16 Introductory Essay: 1980u2013Present\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/NgBFhmUc@11.2:y7qhA2Nt@2\/16-2-%F0%9F%93%96-Chapter-16-Introductory-Essay-1980-Present\",\"project\":\"Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Download for free at http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/36004586-651c-4ded-af87-203aca22d946@11.2\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"05ef4894-c6f1-4481-a901-ddb4e858485d,cdd95515-1c20-49fd-898c-fa478b5699e1","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-6940","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":420,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/6940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/169554"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/6940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8936,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/6940\/revisions\/8936"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/420"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/6940\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=6940"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=6940"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=6940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}