-_ Morning in America POLITICS AND SOCIETY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA Series Editors: William Chafe, Gary Gerstle, Linda Gordon, and Julian Zelizer A list of titles in this series appears at the back of the book. -_ Morning in America How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980s GIL TROY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS p r i n c e t o n a n d o x f o r d Copyright ©2005 by Gil Troy Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, OX20 1SY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Troy, Gil. Morning in America:how Ronald Reagan invented the 1980s/Gil Troy. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-691-09645-7 (cloth:alk. paper) 1. United States—Civilization—1970– 2. United States— Social conditions—1980– 3. Nineteen eighties. 4. Reagan, Ronald—Influence. 5. Politics and culture—United States— History—20th century. 6. United States—Politics and government—1981–1989. I. Title. E169.12.T765 2004 973.927'092–dc22 2004055295 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Dante Printed on acid-free paper. pup.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 To our four children Golden doves, harbingers of spring and righteousness, with the hope that you will grow: “To learn knowledge and ethics, to master subtleties. To embrace the moral discipline of wisdom, justice and right and goodness.” proverbs i:2–3 Contents Introduction Ronald Reagan’s Defining Vision for the 1980s—and America 1 1980 Cleveland “There You Go Again!” Defeating Defeatism— and Jimmy Carter 24 1981 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue The Ronald Reagan Show, the New Dynasty, and David Stockman’s Reaganomics 50 1982 Hill Street The Other America’s Blues 84 1983 Beaufort, South Carolina The Big Chill and the Great Reconciliation: Where the Sixties Meet the Eighties 115 1984 Los Angeles The Wizard of America’s Id Chooses Patriotism over Politics 147 1985 Brooklyn, New York Bill Cosby’s Multicultural America Meets Ronald Reagan’s Celebrity Presidency 175 1986 Wall Street The Wild, Wild East and the Reagan Money Culture 204 1987 Mourning in America Fiascos at Home and Abroad 235 1988 Stanford The Culture Wars: Closing and Opening the American Mind 265 1989 Kennebunkport, Maine The Bush Restoration: Kinder, Gentler, but Still Reaganite 297 1990 Boston First Night, New Decade: Why So Blue? 325 A Note on Method and Sources 349 A Guide to Abbreviations in Notes 357 Notes 359 Acknowledgments 393 Index 397 -_ Morning in America