American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 31: FROM "THE AGE OF LIMITS" TO THE AGE OF REAGAN

Main themes of Chapter Thirty-one:

• The difficult problems faced by both Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, including a controversial pardon, a sluggish economy, an energy crunch, and a Middle Eastern crisis



• Religious revivalism, the tax revolt, and the challenge of the New Right to the liberal-moderate consensus that had dominated American politics since the New Deal



• The personal magnetism, hybrid conservatism, supply-side economic policies, and foreign policy challenges of Ronald Reagan



• The end of the Cold War under Mikhail Gorbachev, and the foreign policy problems facing George H.W. Bush

• The contentious domestic issues affecting the "custodianship" of President Gerald Ford



• The rapid emergence of Jimmy Carter as a national figure and the reasons for his victory in 1976



• Carter's emphasis on human rights and its effects on international relations



• Carter's role in bringing about the Camp David agreement, and his failure to extricate the hostages from Iran



• The nature of the "Reagan revolution" and the meaning of "supply-side" economics



• The rise of the New Right in American politics and the effect on fiscal and foreign policy



• The staunchly anticommunist Reagan foreign policy and its part in fostering the Iran-Contra scandals



• The increasingly conservative mood of the American electorate, as exemplified in the Sagebrush rebellion and the Tax revolt



• The crucial role of Mikhail Gorbachev in bringing an end to the forty-year long Cold War



• The emergence of a new era in foreign policy with the collapse of the Soviet Union