Reagan and the Rise of the New Right

I)    Hangover from Cold War Economics

A)  Success of Marshall Plan – the Marshall Plan pumped billions of dollars of economic aid into countries of Western Europe and Japan—which resulted in those countries rebuilding their economies utilizing more efficient factories, which allowed them greater productivity, at the expense of the American worker.

B)  Cost of War in Vietnam – the monetary cost of the War in Vietnam sucked up much of the money that could have gone to meaningful re-training of the US workforce, real efforts at battling the causes of poverty

1)   Increased borrowing by US government – cause a steep rise in interest rates

2)   End of the wartime boom – the money spent on war material for Vietnam meant a great deal of spending on the part of the US government, and therefore a great deal of jobs for many American workers. The end of the war meant this spending was no longer forthcoming, and many of those jobs ended.

C)  Stagflation – definition is a period in which there is high inflation accompanying high unemployment, with low levels of economic growth; by 1974 the United States was faced with double-digit inflation, and double-digit unemployment figures

1)   Inflation – inflation rate sent spiraling upwards by the costs of the War in Vietnam, government borrowing soaked up much of the available credit, which created higher demand for what was left, and sent rates upwards.

2)   OPEC oil embargo – the oil embargo of US and Western Europe in October of 1973, after the support given to Israel during the Arab-Israeli War. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) manipulated the price of a barrel of oil from $3/barrel to $12/barrel

(a) Political phenomenon, rather than merely economic, and a factor relating to the perceived defeat of the United States in Vietnam; countries in Latin America and the Middle East began asserting independence from US hegemony or leadership, since they believed (rightly) that there would be no US military intervention to force the issue.

(b) Oil shock – in 1974, the government had to ration gas, limit the speed on the interstate highway system to 55mph.  There were also long lines at the gas pump, as people waited for the available gasoline.  This resulted in people no longer buying the large, gas-guzzling automobiles that Detroit preferred to manufacture (because of the profit margins on such cars), which resulted in lay-offs in the automobile industry, as well as other petroleum-related industries.

(i)  The story of the small car (Skylark, Falcon, Vega)

3)   Decline in worker productivity – as US factories aged, and less money was spent by corporations on revitalizing these aging factories, worker productivity fell dramatically—and it is worker productivity that the post-war economic gains were built upon.

(a) “Blue Collar Blues” – there was great concern in boardrooms of corporations and in government offices over what was referred to as the “Blue Collar Blues” – worker dissatisfaction, which was thought to be the major contributing factor to the lack of gains in worker productivity

(i)  Lordstown – the fight against the assembly line

4)   Deindustrialization of the North – states in the industrialized North lost more than two million manufacturing jobs in the 1970s, and the South gained just over a million manufacturing jobs

(a) South largely nonunion, with parts of the governing structure there vehemently anti-union

(b) Corporations became activists in seeking to roll back government regulations.

(c) Corporation move to South in the United States, as well as to Mexico, and to Asia

(i)  By 1980, North Carolina (which still had a largely rural population) had one of the greatest concentrations of blue collar manufacturing jobs—as well as one of the lowest concentrations of union members, and one of the lowest blue-collar wage rates.

II)  The Counterculture

A)  Summer of Love (1969)

1)   Woodstock – “Three Days of Peace and Love” – a disaster waiting to happen, but the “hippy vibe” averted what could have happened in the fall of that year

B)  Altamont – free concert near San Francisco, featuring Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, and Rolling Stones—and “security” by the Hell’s Angels.  “Hippy vibe” did not work its magic here, resulting in numerous injuries from conflicts with the Angels (including singer Marty Balin of the Airplane), and one death (concert-goer knifed by gang of Angels).

C)  The Conquest of Cool – advertising firms begin using symbols of the counterculture to sell commodities

1)   “The Man” Can’t Bust Our Music – advertising campaign by CBS Records (part of one of the largest media conglomerates of that time)

2)   Volkswagen

3)   Levi Strauss and Company

D)  New Left legacy

1)   Feminism – many women in the “movement” quickly got fed up with rhetoric which proclaimed ideals of equality, while relegating them to making coffee, servicing male members (Stokely Carmichael quote on his position on women in SNCC)

(a) Drive for equal pay; equality of opportunity

(b) Day care

(c) Readjustment of family roles – common sense about gender roles

E)  Racism – no longer acceptable, in any form, in most forums—although it certainly still exists.

(a) Martin Luther King Day – the fact that we have set aside a day to honor a man who was spied on by the FBI, mistrusted by the presidents he dealt with, and openly despised by millions of white people says a lot about the effect of the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left had upon this country.  Opposition to the establishment of MLK day in Arizona by Gov. Evan Meacham (after a threatened economic boycott) led to his impeachment--although racism seems to boil up in Arizona rather frequently, as witnessed by events of the last week.

2)   Legacy of moralism in politics – although the moralistic tone of politics from the 1960s had been appropriated by the Right (largely the Christian Right), that was brought to the fore by the New Left, which insisted that the United States live up to its high expectations.

3)   Environmentalism – the environmentalist movement is directly related to the legacy of the New Left, and it’s questioning of corporate hegemony.

III)        Southern Strategy of Republican Party

A)  1964 Election – despite Johnson’s landslide victory over Barry Goldwater, the strategy that the Republican Party had followed for the past 46 years was established; undermine Democratic support in its former stronghold in the South, but appear moderate enough on issues to retain support in the Southwest and West.

1)   Barry Goldwater – only senator outside of the South to vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ostensibly because it undermined the constitution.

B)  1968 Election – Nixon’s southern strategy undermined by the candidacy of George Wallace, and it nearly undermined enough of Nixon’s support to cost him the election.  However, Humphrey’s campaign caught fire too late (after he had virtually turned over the running of the campaign to the AFL-CIO), and Nixon was elected

1)   Internal dissension of Democratic Party – liberal coalition coming apart as a result of the War in Vietnam.

C)  1972 Election

1)   Affirmative Action – Nixon administration transforms Affirmative Action into set asides for minorities

(a) Philadelphia Plan – Proposed by Secretary of Labor George Schultz; executive order which stipulated that workforce on government contract jobs had to reflect racial make-up of the area; this alienated a number of white blue-collar workers in the building trades, who had long benefited from family and friend connections to gain building trades jobs—to the exclusion of minorities

2)   Watergate – confirmed people’s worst suspicions about government

D)  1976 Election – the rise of the “outsider” candidate.

1)   Jimmy Carter – southern Democrat (and no friend of labor), first to run as a Washington outsider.

(a) Appointment of Paul Volker as chairman of the Fed – Volker put a choke hold on the economy by raising prime lending rate to unheard of heights to bring inflation under control

E)  Ronald Reagan and the 1980 Election – another “outsider” candidate

1)   Ronald Reagan – the economic malaise, coupled with the hostage situation in Iran, made Carter immensely unpopular as a president.

2)   Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike – air traffic controllers were ostensibly federal employees, unpopular with other airline related employees because they refused to honor picket lines of pilots and attendants; in response to this strike, Reagan fired all controllers who walked (and banned all those who were fired from seeking employment again as air traffic controllers), and replaced them.

(a) Signaled to businesses that it was open season on workers and the unions that represented them.


F. The Reagan Doctrine--Reagan had long been an opponent of "containment" of Soviet influence, and rejected Jimmy Carter's policy of making human rights the linchpin of foreign policy. The Reagan Doctrine was meant to rollback Soviet influence around the world.

1. Support for the Contras--Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua had overthrown longtime dictator Anastocio Somoza,  and were attempting to foster a similar revolution in neighboring Salvador. The Reagan administration began supplying arms to the Contras in the hope of destabilizing the Nicaraguan government.

2. The Enemy of My  Enemy is My Friend--despite back channel diplomatic efforts during the 1980 presidential election to free US hostages in Iran, the US supported Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran, despite his use of weapons of mass destruction (biological and chemical weapons) against the Iranians--and dissident groups within his country.

3. Beruit--US Marines initially sent to facilitate PLO pullout, but after the assassination of Israeli -friendly Christian leader Bashir Gemayel, and Israel allowing Christian forces to retaliate by slaughtering more than 1,000 Palestinians in a refugee camp, the initial contingent was reinforced--but rather than act as an impartial arbitrator, US forces began shelling Muslim militia positions. The upshot was the suicide bomb attack that killed 241 Marines--and led to the quiet withdrawal of US forces from Lebanon.


4. Grenada--Reagan had been planning an invasion of this tiny Caribbean nation, and after the fiasco in Lebanon this gave him a quick victory to remove  the defeat from the newspapers.

5. Continued support for the mujahideen--begun under Jimmy Carter after the Soviet invasion to prop up that country's puppet regime, this policy maintained pressure on the Soviets--and kept them engaged in an increasingly unpopular war at home.


G. Reagan and "Winning" the Cold War