The United States in the Reagan Years

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

From his national television appearance in support of the doomed Goldwater presidential campaign in 1964 through his failed presidential runs in 1968 and 1976 and his presidency (1981-89) on to the official dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ronald Reagan played a significant role in, and in reaction to, major developments in American politics, foreign policy, and society. This class will consider the turbulence and protest movements of the 1960s; the conservative backlash; the individualism of the Me Decade and beyond; foreign policy issues including Vietnam, détente, the "second Cold War," and the end of the Cold War; and national political disputes over issues like taxes, abortion, foreign policy and nuclear weapons.