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The 1980s was the reaction to the remaining crisis of the 1970s. It began with the down fall but slowly recovered as Ronald Regan was elected as President as he brought back the morale. The rest of the 1980s could be defined as the Regan era, where the whole society, both politically and economically, was brought back to conservatism by him. This conservatism tide had deep effect on the following eras.

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Aftermath of the 1970s & The raise of Ronald Reagan

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Aftermath of the 1970s & The raise of Ronald Reagan

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The 1980s' society was greatly influenced by events happened in the 1970s, such as stagflation (high inflation and unemployment), Vietnam War and Iran Hostage. Most Americans were in a misery as they eagerly wanted a new leader to lead them out of this depression. And there comes Ronald Reagan, who said he will bring back American morale.

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Ronald Reagan, originally an actor, was first elected president at the election of 1981 and served his term from 1981 to 1989. He won the Republican Party nomination and the former President Jimmy Carter. As his presidency start, it is also the start of Reagan Revolution.

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Conservatism was brought back by Ronald Reagan during his term. He tended to deduct the influence of federal government and favored state rights. Reagan cut the tax, supported free market and was also anti-union (labor union) and anti-Soviet Union/communism.
Regan's tendency toward Conservatism attracted many conservative voters as neoconservatives, racial and religious conservatives.  The whigs of neoconservatives and New Right had come into the scene. Many of Regan's staff were conservatives. This feature was especially presented in his judicial appointment.

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Anti-Union: Firing Air Traffic Controllers

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Anti-Union: Firing Air Traffic Controllers

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About 13,000 air traffic controllers went on strike after the failure to set an agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Their action caused the cancelation of nearly 7000 flights. As a result, Regan threatened that if the controllers did not go back to work, they will be fired and will be banned from rehiring. At the end Regan fired a total of 11,000 strikers.

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The four Supreme Court Justice appointed by Ronald Reagan composed the conservative side of the court. Nevertheless, they were divided into deep conservatives (William H. Rehnquist & Antonin Scalia) and moderate conservatives (Sandra Day O'Connor & Anthony M. Kennedy). Surprisingly, Reagan had appointed Sandra Day O'Connor: the first women to serve on the Supreme Court. Because O'Conner and Kennedy were swing justices as they vote for gay rights and other non-conservative ideas, the court remained moderate.

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To prompt economy recovery, Presidents Reagan proposed a program to cut tax for the wealth to encourage them to spend more. The marginal income-tax had been cut by 23 percent (The Recovery-Tax Act of 1981). As the top percent spent and invest, their money will eventually trickle down to the bottom. This method is called trickle down economy and also referred as Supply-side economics. Another policy he made was to deregulate the economy by deducing regulation laws on consumer protection, fair competition and environmental protection. The deregulation brought back the free market where government has lesser influence on the market and business can compete freely.  Reagan also cut down domestic social programs, including food stamp, health care, and child nutrition, to increase military spending.
The economy did boosted during the 1980s, but it was short lived. Due to Reagan's massive military spending the national deficit had grown to $1 trillion. Furthermore, only the top 20 percent had benefited by cutting tax, occupying a large portion of the national income share. The bottom percent's share of the national income was at its lowest with no increase in wages.

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The saving and loan industry, where people put their saving, had collapsed due to fraud. It was caused by deregulation of the economy that the many of the limits on interest rate and type of loans for borrowers were removed.

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This act enact the deductibility of mortgage interest payments, increased after-tax interest rate on credit card and auto loan debt. It also lowered marginal tax rates. As a result people can buy a household cheaper. The Tax Reform Act had eventually reduced the tax rate for both top and bottom percent. Furthermore, it increased mortgage debt and decreased credit card debt and auto loan debt in the following years. Nevertheless, the act did not really effect the Federal government receipt that it remained neutral.

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During Reagan's presidency he issued the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to compete against the Soviet Union, which he called the "evil empire" due to communism. His idea is to spent massively in arms as nuclear weapons and to bankrupt the Soviet Union in this military competition. As a result, many believed that Regan and SDI had successively ended the Cold War by leading the Soviet Union to increase its military spending to the point it couldn't afford. However, statistics showed that the military spending of  the Soviet Union remained constant during 1980s. Neither Regan or SDI had greatly impacted their economy. The ending of the cold war was partly due to the Soviet Union's President Gorbachev's desire to fix his country's economy. Nevertheless, Regan and Gorbachev eventually signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987 to stop their military competition,  to deduce and to control the production of nuclear weapon (missiles).

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Star War or the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was an ideal plan of high-tech shield initiated by President Reagan to protect America from attack of missiles in the space. The idea was to put remote controlled devices as lasers, particle beams, and space based radars into space to destroy attacking missiles in space before they hit America. This plan was a failure, but America still continued to work on it until today.

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Ronald Reagan - American Idol (BBC Documentary)

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Uploaded by Crazy Weird Cool Shows on 2015-04-22.