American History Lecture Thirteen

This is the final lecture of the course, and takes us through the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

What is the most important event in America in the current decade 2001-2010? The terrorist attack of 9/11? President Bush's elections? Two new Justices on the Supreme Court? The election of President Obama? Or this class? Do not think that history is something that involves only other people. You shape history too.

Consider the history of the United States to be like a child who grows into an adult. At what age would you expect a baseball player to hit his first home run? At what age would you expect a country to be old enough to have a prolonged Civil War? At what age would you expect a country to be able to lead the world? Put things in perspective and realize that we had to be 180 years old before we could write a Constitution, and over 300 years old before we could become the most powerful nation in the world. But once our country grew old enough, our enemies began to grow from within (e.g., infiltration by anarchists, communists and, more recently, terrorists).

Be able to identify overall trends in our history. One trend is ever-increasing federal power. Another trend is inflation. A third trend is increased democracy. A fourth trend is increasing power in the world. A fifth trend is the Supreme Court pushing us away from our religious roots. In Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court banned prayer in public schools. Many consider this to be one of the Supreme Court’s worst decisions ever.

Also understand history as a struggle between two sides. It is like two wrestlers combating each other on a mat. The wrestlers rotate on the map as each one tries to gain an advantage on the other. Same for the two political parties: they rotate their regional support over the years. At the time of the Civil War, the Republican Party dominated in the North and the Democratic Party dominated in the South. Now it is the opposite.

We have seen several important figures who were Quakers: William Penn, Susan Anthony (who favored women’s right to vote), Whittaker Chambers and Richard Nixon. What was the Quaker religion really about? It was Protestant against Protestantism. Every Quaker is his own pastor; every Quaker is his own church using the Bible and his “inner light.” This led to a fierce independence in the character of Quakers, including a pacifism (opposition to war) by the Quakers in the eastern United States.

What "drives" or "leads" or "causes" history? Do politicians lead or follow? Do writers of books lead or follow? What's the real cause of history?

Many would say "culture" is what drives history. In other words, what is considered "cool" to people. What is considered to be fun, enjoyable, fashionable, acceptable, etc. The movies we watch, the books we read, the activities we pursue, the styles, the festivals, the communication, etc.

Review

In the 1960s, these hard-to-categorize events occurred:

In 1960, Arab nations formed "OPEC" to control the production and sale of oil to the world. OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This monopoly has caused shortages and driven up the price of oil, particularly in the early 1970s when OPEC retaliated against the United States.

In 1960, liberal students formed the "Students for a Democratic Society" (SDS) in Port Huron, Michigan, saying that they are "looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit." It became the foundation for radical groups later in the 1960s, who became increasingly aggressive and violent in their protest activities. In the spring of 1968, it arranged for 1 million students to skip class. But the public hardly noticed. However, an SDS chapter at Columbia University did succeed with a "sit in" that forced the school to temporarily shut down.

In 1961, President Kennedy started two programs to help alleviate poverty in foreign countries. One was the Alliance for Progress, which consisted of foreign aid to Latin America. The other was the Peace Corps, which sent volunteers to foreign countries to teach farming and build schools.

In 1962, Michael Harrington wrote a book entitled "The Other America," which exposed poverty by 1 out of every 4, especially in Appalachia, in the South, and in city ghettos.

Student movements expanded in 1964 with the "Free Speech Movement," which began at the ultra-liberal University of California at Berkeley and began to protest a number of perceived injustices.

In 1970, the Nixon Administration founded the Environmental Protection Agency (the "EPA") ostensibly to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution. The EPA quickly banned DDT on unproven environmental grounds (as incited by the since-discredited book the "Silent Spring," by Rachel Carson). This ban on DDT, which continues to this day, has resulted in the avoidable deaths of millions of Africans from malaria; DDT easily eliminates malaria.

The 1970s

Furman v. Georgia "1972: invalidates death penalties, requires high standards and guidelines before imposing the death penalty"

Comm. to Reelect the Pres. "1972: Pres. Nixon's reelection committee in 1972 that broke the law, caused Watergate; named ""CREEP"" by critics"

Panama Canal treaties "1977: Carter agrees to give back Panama Canal to Panama after 1999, Senate approves"

Camp David Accords "1978: Carter gets Egypt and Israel to agree to peace, still in effect"

Three Mile Island "1979: Nuclear power plant's meltdown near Harrisburg, boosted anti-nuclear movement"

Iran hostage crisis 1979-81: Iranian fundamentalists captured US embassy since Carter helped Shah; hostages released for Reagan

Watergate 1972-74: Burglary that led to cover-up led to Nixon resigning

Spiro Agnew "1973: Nixon's VP, forced out based on corruption charges arising from when he was governor of Maryland"

Saturday Night Massacre 1973: Nixon wants special prosecutor Cox fired; 2 resign rather than fire Cox; Robert Bork eventually fires Cox

Nixon resigns "1973: Ct ordered his tapes released, and impeachment was likely, so Nixon resigned first"

Gerald Ford "1973-76: Repub., only unelected President; pardoned Nixon, signed Helsinki Accords to promote rights worldwide"

Jimmy Carter "1976-1980: Dem. Pres., honest antidote to Nixon scandal, boycotted Olympics, decried nat'l ""malaise"", high inflation"

President Ronald Reagan

This lecture is about Ronald Reagan, whose influence on American history remains high even 20 years after he was president. An entire course could even be taught about him.

Ronald Reagan "1980-1988: Repub. Pres.: less govt. regulation, more morality, tough with Communists; ""tear down this wall"" (Berlin)"

Many politicians still define themselves by reference to President Reagan, who served from 1980-88. President Clinton, who served in the 1990s, imitated President Reagan in style (but not in substance). The first President Bush, who served from 1988-1992, only won because he had been President Reagan’s vice president.

Called the “Great Communicator” for his ability to connect with the American people through television, President Reagan was both the most-ridiculed president in history and the one who left office with the highest popularity of any modern president. A recent telephone and internet poll selected Ronald Reagan as the greatest American ever, to the dismay of those conducting the survey (who expected someone like Lincoln to win).

Reagan was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1981. On that day, Iran released unharmed all of our hostages that it had held in retaliation against Jimmy Carter’s support of the Shah of Iran. That hostage crisis paralyzed Jimmy Carter’s final year in office, and contributed to his defeat for reelection.

Reagan immediately went to work in enacting the conservative agenda. Within one month, on Feb. 18th, Reagan proposed the biggest tax and spending cuts in history. Reagan adhered to “supply-side economics,” a new theory advanced by Arthur Laffer that cutting taxes would actually increase government revenue. He drew a curve on the back of a napkin in a restaurant one night to explain his theory: as taxes approach 100%, government revenue decreases towards zero because people lose reason to work (all their income is taken by the government). By cutting taxes, we can actually increase revenue. Most established economists laughed at this theory, sarcastically calling it “Reaganomics”.

It was a very rough initial two months in office for Reagan. In 1981 the House of Representatives was controlled by Democrats, and the media was also completely against him.

Then, on March 30th, John Hinckley shot Reagan as he was walking from a speaking event to his car in D.C. The bullet came with an inch of killing him. But Reagan survived with charm and good spirits. Despite losing a great deal of blood, Reagan was even cracking jokes about his misfortune as he was rushed to the hospital. Hinckley tried to kill Reagan because Hinckley had been inspired by a filthy Hollywood movie featuring a prostitute played by Jodie Foster. Hinckley was trying to impress the actress. Hinckley was later found not guilty by reason of insanity, and that led to changes in many laws to limit the insanity defense. Many people gave Reagan a break at this point, and grew sympathetic towards him. His tax cuts passed Congress, because many Democrats voted for them. In exchange Reagan promised not to campaign against them when they ran for reelection.

In August 1981, the Air Traffic Controllers union (PATCO) went on strike in order to obtain much higher wages. Reagan went on television to address the nation and told the union workers to stay on the job or be fired. He was acting just as one of his heroes, President Calvin Coolidge, did when Coolidge was governor of Massachusetts and the police went on strike. Reagan then fired all the PATCO workers who went on strike and barred them from ever being rehired. The airports remained open through use of military traffic controllers who filled in for the strikers.

In 1982, unemployment hit 10.8%, the worst since the Great Depression. Reagan was blamed for this and things looked bleak. But the criticism did not change Reagan. “Stay the course” was his campaign slogan for Republicans up for reelection in 1982. The Democrats countered with “stay the curse.” After hitting rock bottom in 1982, the effects of Reagan’s tax and spending cuts began to take hold in 1983. An unprecedented economic boom began in 1983 and lasted throughout the remainder of the 1980s.

In 1983, Reagan turned to foreign policy. He called the communist Soviet Union the “evil empire.” Then Reagan advanced a completely original idea in a speech to the nation: he proposed a missile defense system called the “Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).” This was probably the most original and powerful idea ever proposed by a president in our entire history. Reagan’s enemies derisively called it “Star Wars.”

To understand the idea, it is first necessary to appreciate our military defense strategy in the 1970s. Throughout the 1970s, our foreign policy towards the Soviet Union consisted of “Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD).” Under this approach, each side was deterred from attacking the other side because the result would be the mutual destruction of both sides through massive nuclear war. While neither side could defend against an attack, each side threatened massive retaliation as a deterrent to the attack. Simply put: “if you attack me, then I’ll attack you back and we’ll both be destroyed!”

There were obvious flaws in MAD. What about an accidental firing of a nuclear missile by the other side, which we could do nothing to stop? What about an attack by smaller countries? What about a terrorist missile attack? What about an attack by a crazed dictator who might rise to power and not mind mutual assured destruction? MAD left us defenseless against such attacks.

Reagan wanted a defense against missile attacks. He thought this would bring us to a new level of freedom and security. Critics immediately attacked his theory as impossible, wasteful, and destabilizing. Enormous debate and controversy followed, and many were vicious in their criticism of Reagan over this. Also in 1983, communists backed by Cuba invaded Grenada, where there were over one hundred American medical students. Reagan immediately sent in our troops and saved the students, bringing them back to the United States safely. Students were seen on television kissing the ground of American soil as soon as they got off their planes.

In 1984, Reagan stood for reelection against Walter Mondale, the former Vice President under Jimmy Carter. Reagan’s mind was stuffed with facts by his advisers in preparation for his first of two debates with Mondale, and Reagan did poorly. Mondale pulled nearly even in the polls. For the second and final debate, public supporters of Reagan demanded that his advisers “let Reagan be Reagan.” Free to be himself, Reagan destroyed Mondale in the second debate and went on to win one of the biggest landslide victories in U.S. history.

In 1985, Reagan began authorizing the sale of arms to Iran in exchange for its work to free American hostages held captive in the Middle East. Two years later this would turn into the “Iran-Contra” scandal, as the proceeds of those sales were intended to be sent to anti-communist freedom fighters in Nicaragua (the “Contras”). Congress, which was controlled by Democrats, had passed a law prohibiting funding of the Contras, and saw this as a violation of that law. Reagan was never charged with any crime, however.

In 1986, Reagan cut taxes much further. He also met with Gorbachev (the leader of the Soviet Union) in Reykjavik, Iceland to negotiate an arms reduction deal. Gorbachev was willing to give Reagan almost anything he wanted in return for just one demand: abandon Star Wars. Reagan refused, and left Iceland embarrassed and dejected for not reaching a deal. He was further criticized in the media for this.

In 1987, Reagan insisted on visiting the Berlin Wall, despite obvious security risks of being in the range of communist East German sharpshooters. In preparing for his speech there, Reagan wrote into his draft remarks this demand: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” His advisors removed this phrase from the speech as being unrealistic, silly and confrontational. As the drafts of the speech went back in forth between Reagan and his advisors, Reagan kept inserting the phrase and his advisors kept removing it. But Reagan included the phrase in his spoken words, the world heard it, and within a few years the wall was miraculously torn down. Reagan is credited with ending communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, though it still remains in China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba.

In 1988, Reagan struck a deal for free trade (no tariffs) with Canada. Reagan was also instrumental in enabling his Vice President, George H.W. Bush, to be elected president in 1988 in a close race.

In 1990, during the (Persian) Gulf War against Iraq, Americans were amazed by the use by our troops of a new missile defense system that knocked Saddam Hussein’s deadly missiles out of the sky before they could hit our troops, civilians, or Israel. Hussein had planned to use chemical warfare with his missiles, and his threatened use of the missiles terrified the world until our missile defense system removed the threat. In addition to giving the United States an important tactical advantage, this new technology inspired by Reagan’s “Star Wars” idea saved thousands of lives.

Debate topic:

In class we then debated this topic: Should Ford have pardoned Nixon?

Ronald Reagan "1980-1988: Repub. Pres.: less govt. regulation, more morality, tough with Communists; ""tear down this wall"" (Berlin)"

Reaganomics "how critics described ""supply side economics"": tax cuts help everyone and can even increase govt revenue"

women Sup. Ct. Justices 1981: 1st woman Supreme Court Justice was Sandra Day O'Connor; second was Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993)

Iran-Contra Scandal "1986: Using arms-for-hostages to fund Contras, despite Congress. prohibition"

Star Wars 1983: Reagan's idea for system to shoot down enemy missiles mid-air; partially developed and useful in Gulf War

Immigration, from Nick: 3. I think that the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, signed into law by President Ronald Regan, was a good idea, for the most part. This law made it a crime for an employer to hire an illegal immigrant. It also required that employers have their employees complete a form, called the I-9 form, which provided documentation that the employees were legally eligible to work in the United States. It imposed financial penalties for the companies who were employing illegal aliens. This law was passed in hopes of reducing illegal immigration.

While I believe that this law was a great idea, I disagree with a part of it. This Act granted amnesty to most illegal aliens who had come to the United States before 1982 and had lived there ever since. I understand why this was done, but I do not agree with it.

The 1990s

George Bush Sr. "1988: Rep. Pres. ""Kinder, gentler America""; saw Cold War end; key pledge: ""Read my lips -- no new taxes."""

Persian Gulf War "1990-91: Iran needs money after war with Iran. Attacks oil-rich Kuwait, and US responds w/ Operation Desert Storm"

Americans with Disabilities Act 1990: Prohibits discrimination against citizens with physical or mental disabilities.

Budget plan of 1990 "1990: Vast budget deficit led to Pres. Bush breaking his ""no new taxes"" campaign pledge by increasing taxes"

Bill Clinton 1992-2000: Dem. Pres. hurt by failed health care plan and Monica Lewinski sex scandal; 1st budget surplus in years

"""Don't ask, don't tell""" 1993: Clinton wanted ban on gays in military lifted; military refused and excludes gays; protested by gay movement

Health care reform "1993: Hilary Clinton led team to take over health care. Physicians, pro-lifers help defeat complex plan in Congress"

World Trade Center bombing 1993: terrorists linked to radical Muslims set off truck bomb under World Trade Ctr in attempt to destroy it; six killed

Brady Bill 1994: federal gun control requiring criminal background check and five-day waiting period for handgun purchasers

Bombing of the Federal Building "1995: on 2nd anniversary of govt raid in Waco, in retaliation Timothy McVeigh bombed govt bldg in Oklahoma City"

NAFTA "1993: North American Free Trade Agt., creates free-trade zone encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. "

World Trade Organization 1995: Aims to promote world trade by lowering by lowering trade barriers.

Monica Lewinsky 1998: Clinton lied about his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky; led to his impeachment (but not his removal)

Columbine High School "1999: two anti-Christian bigoted high school students killed 12 students, one for believing in God, and a teacher"

Dot-com Boom 1997-2000: huge speculation in stocks doing business over the internet; followed by dot-com bust students; baseball team plays high school; seniors get into best colleges

Clarence Thomas

Clarence Thomas 1991: Second African-American Supreme Court Justice; conservative opponent of affirmative action and abortion.

21st Century

Bush v. Gore Five-week-long Supreme Ct. case that blocked a third recount in several Florida districts after close 2000 election

George W. Bush "2000-2008: Repub. Pres.: his ""compassionate conservatism"" expanded govt; fought war on terror; cut taxes"

9/11 terrorist attacks "Sept. 11, 2001: Saudi Arabians hijack 4 planes, fly 2 into World Trade Ctr, it catches fire and collapses, killing 3000" " 3rd jet crashed into Pentagon, killing 66; passengers fight hijackers on 4th jet, it crashes in Pennsylvania field."

Patriot Act of 2001 "Permits extensive phone and email surveillance, and authorizes deportation or detention of suspected terrorists"

No Child Left Behind Act "2001: Aims to improve public schools by increasing testing, and mandating alternatives when test scores are failing"

War on Terrorism 2001: War begun after the 9/11 attacks with the intension of ending international terrorism

Invasion of Afghanistan 2001: Targeted Al-Qaeda members and sought to punish Taliban government for harboring terrorists.

Invasion of Iraq 2003: Saddam Hussein of Iraq fails to disarm; US invades and eventually captures Saddam.

homeschooling now mainstream 2006: homeschooling class swells to 42