During the 1970s, the majority of Americans turned away from the reform movements associated with the 1960s. By the 1980s, in reaction to what some perceived as the excesses of these decades, new currents of social perfectionism emerged from evangelical religious movements, conservative groups, and self-help therapy programs. Most people remained content to vent frustrations through more traditional channels or to turn their backs on the larger public arena or, as one popular t-shirt of the era stated, "When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping." In San Diego, shoppers headed for Horton Plaza, the subject of the chapter introduction, which in many ways epitomized the temper of the era.

The Conservative Rebellion

In the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, politicians attempted to address a widespread public distrust of government. One way conservative politicians did so was to align themselves with a growing evangelical movement. Leaders such as Jerry Falwell crossed over into politics in an effort to fight government decisions that clashed with their religious values. Despite significant divisions within evangelical ranks, most leaders of this movement opposed the Supreme Court's liberal rulings on pornography, criminal rights, and abortion. To get their message across, traditional-minded religious leaders adopted sophisticated media technologies. Religious traditionalists generally found the mass media, especially network television, preoccupied with sex and violence. Many found in M*A*S*H and other sitcoms a liberal bias and an attack on traditional values. Parent groups objected to TV's impact on children; feminists and minorities argued that shows depicted them unfairly. Much of this debate over values and entertainment spilled over into the political arena

Jimmy Carter: Restoring the Faith

Into the midst of this growing ferment stepped a little-known Georgia governor named Jimmy Carter, who won the 1976 presidential election largely because he did not fit neatly into either the conservative or the liberal camp. Carter sought to bring honesty, simplicity, and integrity to Washington. In foreign affairs, that strategy meant a commitment to "human rights" and efforts to reduce cold war tensions. Domestically, the idea of scaling down government ran afoul of entrenched interests and a presidency weakened by Vietnam and Watergate. Inflation and energy shortages, which led to sharp rises in the price of oil, continued to hurt the economy. Carter failed to move Congress to act, and he seemed to focus more on details than on constructing broader policies.

In foreign affairs, Carter successfully negotiated a treaty providing for an eventual transfer of the Canal Zone to Panama. He also struggled to enable the United States and Soviet Union to constructively share the world stage. Conservatives opposed the move toward nuclear parity in the SALT II agreement of 1979. Carter responded by shifting toward the hard-line policies of his National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, which led to a renewed military build-up. In dealing with the Middle East, Carter facilitated the signing of the Camp David Accords between traditional foes Egypt and Israel. However, when Iranian fundamentalists overthrew the Shah of Iran and the deposed monarch traveled to the United States for medical treatment, militants seized the American Embassy and held 53 Americans hostage during the following year. A Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980 only underscored the region's instability and the United States' inability to respond effectively to these crises. By 1980 the combination of a sick economy and a foreign policy in disarray mired the nation in what Carter himself described as "a crisis of confidence."

Prime Time with Ronald Reagan

In the presidential election of that year, Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Carter with an unexpectedly large majority, cementing the ascendancy of a conservative coalition that had usurped political dominance from the New Deal Democrats who had largely governed the nation for the previous half century. As president, Reagan used his formidable media skills to communicate his message to the nation. He declared his intention to get government off peoples' backs by reducing federal spending, federal regulation, and inflation. At the same time, he was determined that the United States would shake off the unhappy heritage of the Vietnam War and stand tall again. He sought to accomplish that goal through an aggressive anti-Soviet foreign policy and a sharp increase in defense spending. Liberals feared the "Reagan Revolution," but both they and conservatives largely over-looked Reagan's willingness to bend his ideas before political realities.

Reagan quickly set the public agenda. He dramatized his opposition to labor by breaking a strike of the nation's air traffic controllers. His secretary of interior James Watt and a group of self-proclaimed "sagebrush rebels" set out to dismantle or undermine environmental regulations. And the cornerstone of the Reagan revolution, spurred by a Republican commitment to supply-side economics, was a significant tax cut under the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. But for several years, tight money policies designed to reduce inflation put the economy into recession, leading Reagan to sacrifice his ideology to political pragmatism and agree to tax increases disguised as "revenue enhancements." Ultimately, though, the combination of tax cuts, high unemployment, and cuts in government social programs led to a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. This process was also facilitated by the rise of new technologies such as personal computers (PCs), which also altered the working patterns in new industries that arose in emerging "technoburbs." Workers in these industries, whose work culture was more informal than that in traditional businesses, became known as "Yuppies," or young urban professionals. The biggest beneficiaries of this economic shift were educated women, who gained unprecedented access into professional positions. Other groups, though, such as African American men and organized labor, felt the devastating impact of job displacement.

Standing Tall in a Chaotic World

In the midst of this changing world, Reagan encountered problems without easy solutions. The Defense Department conducted a substantial build-up in all categories of weapons, most notably the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), but opponents claimed that these exorbitantly expensive weapons were either unneeded or an instrument for exacerbating the conflict with the Soviet Union. A terrorist attack on a Marine barracks and the withdrawal of American forces jolted his efforts to stabilize Lebanon. A rescue operation on the island of Grenada and the bombing of Libya were public relations successes, though hardly a solution to unrest in the Caribbean and terrorism in the Middle East. In Central America, Reagan's support for right-wing terrorists in El Salvador proved unpopular, and his efforts to topple the Sandinista government in Nicaragua met repeated resistance from Congress.

By 1985 the Reaganites had grown frustrated on two fronts: Terrorists still held American hostages in Lebanon, and the Sandinistas had survived the attacks of American-supported Contra rebels. Officials of the National Security Council began to implement a scheme: first to secretly trade arms to Iranian moderates for release of hostages, then to use the secret profits from those arms sales to raise money for the Contras. Selling arms to Iran contradicted Reagan's firm public pledges never to deal with terrorists. Aid to the Contras violated the explicit prohibitions of the Boland Amendment, passed by Congress in 1984. But the actions, carried out in great secrecy from Congress, responsible executive agencies, and possibly, even the president himself, went undetected. When the activities of Robert McFarlane, John Poindexter, and Oliver North became known, Congress investigated the plan the media dubbed "Irangate." While the public seemed relatively uninterested in the scandal, the concept of secret government pursuing illegal policies raised profound Constitutional questions.

Reagan retrieved much of his popularity through a series of dramatic meetings in Iceland and Moscow with the new and charismatic Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. The two eventually agreed to a treaty that reduced intermediate-range missiles in Europe.

Beyond his public personality, the key to Reagan's electoral success lay in his promise to advance the conservative social agenda aimed at restoring traditional family values. His appointments to the Supreme Court shifted it in a more conservative direction. But on issues such as abortion, school prayer, and drugs, Reagan delivered little more than rhetorical support. For much of his second term, his administration bogged down in scandals, and Congress proved unwilling to take leadership on issues such as the huge federal deficit. Most of the high-paying jobs created during the economic expansion of the 1980s went to young professionals, leaving to the poor dead-end jobs in fast-food chains or other unskilled areas. Nonetheless, the economy remained robust enough and Republican policies popular enough to assure victory in 1988 for Reagan's vice-president, George Bush.

An End to the Cold War

George Bush much preferred to lead in foreign rather than in domestic affairs. At first that strengthened his presidency as world events dominated the headlines. Most startling was the rapid break-up of the Soviet bloc. In Eastern Europe, nation after nation threw off Communist rule. In 1989 the ultimate cold war symbol, the Berlin Wall, came tumbling down. Events seemed to race out of control. By 1991 the Soviet Union disbanded, and Gorbachev had to yield power in Russia to Boris Yeltsin.

President Bush responded cautiously to these events. He supported the changes, but made no major commitments. When China's hard-line leaders crushed a popular rebellion, he protested only mildly. Against weaker regional leaders, he proved more forceful. When Panama's Manuel Noriega became an embarrassment, Bush sent U.S. forces to topple his government and arrest him. A more threatening crisis arose when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent his troops to conquer oil-rich Kuwait. Bush responded forcefully. He organized America's allies into a coalition that saddled Iraq with a tight economic boycott. When Saddam still refused to leave Kuwait, Bush finally used a UN resolution as authority to launch operation Desert Storm in January 1991. Massive air raids devastated Saddam's forces and prepared the way for a smashing invasion. The war ended with Saddam Hussein still in power, though much weakened.

Popular acclaim from Desert Storm seemed to assure Bush reelection in 1992. But his popularity quickly eroded as the economy soured and the president failed to respond effectively to domestic issues. He outraged environmentalists by weakening the Clean Air Act of 1991 and opposing the agenda of the "Earth Summit" that met in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. Scandals shook the Housing and Education Departments. The appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court raised troublesome issues about the administration's sensitivity to women.

More difficulties came from an economy in recession. Growing budget deficits raised questions about the Republican party's financial strategies. In an effort to ease a budget crisis in 1990, Bush agreed to tax increases. Conservative Republicans felt betrayed by a president who in 1988 had loudly promised, "No new taxes." And in 1991 a violent riot ripped Los Angeles, calling attention to the problems of decayed urban areas that had gone largely unaddressed during the Reagan-Bush years. Even worse for Bush, the recession refused to abate, inflicting continuing hardships on middle-class voters. By 1992, voters had turned angry. Some of the anger buoyed the campaign of a Texas maverick, Ross Perot. But many more "Reagan Democrats" returned to the fold to vote for candidate Bill Clinton as a moderate who nonetheless promised activism and change.