| Line 2: |
Line 2: |
| | <!--[[American History Lecture Thirteen|Lecture]] [[American_History_Homework_Thirteen|Questions]] -- [[American History Homework Thirteen Answers|Student Answers]]--> | | <!--[[American History Lecture Thirteen|Lecture]] [[American_History_Homework_Thirteen|Questions]] -- [[American History Homework Thirteen Answers|Student Answers]]--> |
| | | | |
| − | '''''Next week: the final exam. The homework is to prepare for it'''''. | + | '''''Homework: begin preparing for the final exam'''''. |
| | | | |
| | This is the final lecture of the course, covering history through the [[9/11]] terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (typically the stopping point for American history), and then even up to the election of Donald Trump as president. | | This is the final lecture of the course, covering history through the [[9/11]] terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (typically the stopping point for American history), and then even up to the election of Donald Trump as president. |
| Line 81: |
Line 81: |
| | | | |
| | In 1982, unemployment hit 10.8%, the worst since the Great Depression. Reagan was blamed for this and things looked bleak. But the criticism did not change Reagan. "Stay the course" was his campaign slogan for Republicans up for reelection in 1982. The Democrats, led by the clever Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, countered with this sarcastic twist: "stay the curse." After hitting rock bottom in 1982 (and losing many Republican seats in the mid-term election), the effects of Reagan's tax and spending cuts began to take hold in 1983. A tremendous economic boom began in 1983 and lasted throughout the remainder of the 1980s. | | In 1982, unemployment hit 10.8%, the worst since the Great Depression. Reagan was blamed for this and things looked bleak. But the criticism did not change Reagan. "Stay the course" was his campaign slogan for Republicans up for reelection in 1982. The Democrats, led by the clever Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, countered with this sarcastic twist: "stay the curse." After hitting rock bottom in 1982 (and losing many Republican seats in the mid-term election), the effects of Reagan's tax and spending cuts began to take hold in 1983. A tremendous economic boom began in 1983 and lasted throughout the remainder of the 1980s. |
| − | | + | [[File:Strategic Defense Initiative.jpg|300px|thumb|right|In "Star Wars" (Strategic Defense Initiative), an anti-missle defense system would shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles with lasers or rockets]] |
| | In 1983, Reagan turned to foreign policy. He called the communist Soviet Union the "evil empire." Then Reagan advanced an idea original to the conservative movement in a speech to the nation: he proposed a missile defense system called the "Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)." This was probably the most original and powerful idea ever proposed by a president in our entire history, and its genesis was in conservative thinkers outside of government. Reagan's enemies derisively called it "Star Wars," after the popular new movie that hit the theaters earlier with advanced new special effects. | | In 1983, Reagan turned to foreign policy. He called the communist Soviet Union the "evil empire." Then Reagan advanced an idea original to the conservative movement in a speech to the nation: he proposed a missile defense system called the "Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)." This was probably the most original and powerful idea ever proposed by a president in our entire history, and its genesis was in conservative thinkers outside of government. Reagan's enemies derisively called it "Star Wars," after the popular new movie that hit the theaters earlier with advanced new special effects. |
| | | | |