U9 - The US Since 1980

Student Resources

Presidential Politics/Elections

• Reagan era: Debate between Carter and Reagan (5 mins) - compares the two in terms of demeanor, ends “are you better off…?”
  • Reagan 1st Inaugural (3 min) - top 7 quotes http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/Ronald-Reagan-Inaugural-Highlights-Speech-U-SPresident/2015/03/22/id/631594/ and 3 mins of http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan/videos/inaugural-address-ronald-reagan
  • 2nd term: 1984 ad "Morning in America" and his speech in 1987 Reagan at the Berlin Wall & the video of the speech's key excerpt and reporting on the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
• Clinton era: Newt Gingrich and the Contract With America overview from Heritage Foundation, "Blue Dog" Democrats (a conservative coalition within the party)

Conservative principles & the Conservative Movement

• Heritage Foundation's historical overview in PDF format and on their website
• primary source documents: Barry Goldwater excerpt from Conscience of a Conservative and Sharon Statement (PDF), National Review's Mission Statement, and PDF that includes National Review "Why the South Must Prevail," background on the John Birch Society, Milton Friedman and Reagan excerpts
• reflection on the life and influence of Russell Kirk, a leading Conservative
• current event links: There is quite a lot about both conservatism and the Republican Party:
  • on conservative activists' role in the current era of judicial appointments
  • on the split in the Republican Party: Senator Jeff Flake’s Conscience of a Conservative, conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes explaining some ideas in his book How the Right Lost Its Mind
  • on the economy and immigration, a study based on Pat Buchanan & Donald Trump: 1992 Pat Buchanan on CBS News & 2016 Pat Buchanan discussing Trump's immigration policies on CNN (see also Immigration subtitle below)

Foreign Affairs of Clinton & Obama (others are covered well in Henretta)

• Clinton & Rwanda, and the UVA Miller Center's more general overview of Clinton era
• UVA Miller Center on Obama (note: there is likely to be nothing on the AP exam)

Culture Wars over traditional family, LGBTQ rights, abortion, Affirmative Action

• Women's Movement presentation (including the STOP-ERA movement and Phyllis Schlafly's Illinois and national impact), packet of related (pro/anti) documents, and historical overview of it as a "long" movement
• on LGBTQ rights, see the presentation below and the 2016 Republican Party Platform excerpt relating to gay marriage http://time.com/4411842/republican-platform-same-sex-marriage-abortion-guns-wall-street/
• Immigration (through maps): interactive showing largest immigrant groups since 1960, map showing origin by state, an interactive map allowing you to explore origin with county- and street-level data, and another interactive showing you changing demographics by decade
• Affirmative Action - programs that aim to alleviate the historical burdens of racism and sexism (see OYEZ on 1978 Bakke case)
  • Great timeline overview from the Wall Street Journal from 1978-2014 (online WSJ by subscription OR on this Doc from eLibrary), but add to that the 2016 ruling in Fisher v. University of Texas was 4-3 upholding affirmative action in college admissions, and in August 2017, the Justice Department will investigate admissions policies "that discriminate against white applicants"
  • Are these no longer needed? Discussion in small groups http://www.npr.org/news/specials/michigan/ on 2003 cases
• For more on the culture wars concept, consider the biographies of our very own textbook authors! While there are not full bios that we can read, we can piece together our understanding of their biases by reading about the works they have written. Take Robert O. Self, for example, since he is the expert of the era we are studying. Here is an article from the 2012 presidential election which offers us some insight into his research interest and perspectives: https://www.thenation.com/article/breadwinner-conservatism-robert-o-self/