TheReaganRevolution:AVeryShortIntroduction VeryShortIntroductionsavailablenow: AFRICANHISTORY CLASSICS JohnParkerandRichardRathbone MaryBeardandJohnHenderson AMERICANPOLITICALPARTIES CLAUSEWITZ MichaelHoward ANDELECTIONS THECOLDWAR RobertMcMahon L.SandyMaisel COMMUNISM LeslieHolmes THEAMERICANPRESIDENCY CONSCIOUSNESS SusanBlackmore CharlesO.Jones CONTEMPORARYART ANARCHISM ColinWard JulianStallabrass ANCIENTEGYPT IanShaw CONTINENTALPHILOSOPHY ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY JuliaAnnas SimonCritchley ANCIENTWARFARE COSMOLOGY PeterColes HarrySidebottom THECRUSADES ANGLICANISM MarkChapman ChristopherTyerman THEANGLO-SAXONAGE JohnBlair CRYPTOGRAPHY ANIMALRIGHTS DavidDeGrazia FredPiperandSeanMurphy ANTISEMITISM StevenBeller DADAANDSURREALISM THEAPOCRYPHALGOSPELS DavidHopkins PaulFoster DARWIN JonathanHoward AQUINAS FergusKerr THEDEADSEASCROLLS TimothyLim ARCHAEOLOGY PaulBahn DEMOCRACY BernardCrick ARCHITECTURE AndrewBallantyne DESCARTES TomSorell ARISTOTLE JonathanBarnes DESERTS NickMiddleton ARTHISTORY DanaArnold DESIGN JohnHeskett ARTTHEORY CynthiaFreeland DINOSAURS DavidNorman ATHEISM JulianBaggini DOCUMENTARYFILM AUGUSTINE HenryChadwick PatriciaAufderheide AUTISM UtaFrith DREAMING J.AllanHobson BARTHES JonathanCuller DRUGS LeslieIversen BESTSELLERS JohnSutherland THEEARTH MartinRedfern THEBIBLE JohnRiches ECONOMICS ParthaDasgupta BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGY EGYPTIANMYTH GeraldinePinch EricH.Cline EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN BIOGRAPHY HermioneLee PaulLangford THEBOOKOFMORMON THEELEMENTS PhilipBall TerrylL.Givens EMOTION DylanEvans THEBRAIN MichaelO’Shea EMPIRE StephenHowe BRITISHPOLITICS AnthonyWright ENGELS TerrellCarver BUDDHA MichaelCarrithers ETHICS SimonBlackburn BUDDHISM DamienKeown THEEUROPEANUNION BUDDHISTETHICS DamienKeown JohnPinderandSimonUsherwood CAPITALISM JamesFulcher EVOLUTION CATHOLICISM GeraldO’Collins BrianandDeborahCharlesworth THECELTS BarryCunliffe EXISTENTIALISM ThomasFlynn CHAOS LeonardSmith FASCISM KevinPassmore CHOICETHEORY MichaelAllingham FASHION RebeccaArnold CHRISTIANART BethWilliamson FEMINISM MargaretWalters CHRISTIANITY LindaWoodhead THEFIRSTWORLDWAR CITIZENSHIP RichardBellamy MichaelHoward CLASSICALMYTHOLOGY FOSSILS KeithThomson HelenMorales FOUCAULT GaryGutting FREESPEECH NigelWarburton JUNG AnthonyStevens FREEWILL ThomasPink KABBALAH JosephDan THEFRENCHREVOLUTION KAFKA RitchieRobertson WilliamDoyle KANT RogerScruton FREUD AnthonyStorr KIERKEGAARD PatrickGardiner FUNDAMENTALISM THEKORAN MichaelCook MaliseRuthven LAW RaymondWacks GALAXIES JohnGribbin LINCOLN AllenC.Guelzo GALILEO StillmanDrake LINGUISTICS PeterMatthews GAMETHEORY KenBinmore LITERARYTHEORY JonathanCuller GANDHI BhikhuParekh LOCKE JohnDunn GEOGRAPHY LOGIC GrahamPriest JohnMatthewsandDavidHerbert MACHIAVELLI QuentinSkinner GEOPOLITICS KlausDodds THEMARQUISDESADE GERMANLITERATURE JohnPhillips NicholasBoyle MARX PeterSinger GLOBALCATASTROPHES MATHEMATICS TimothyGowers BillMcGuire THEMEANINGOFLIFE GLOBALWARMING MarkMaslin TerryEagleton GLOBALIZATION ManfredSteger MEDICALETHICS TonyHope THEGREATDEPRESSIONANDTHE MEDIEVALBRITAIN NEWDEAL EricRauchway JohnGillinghamand HABERMAS JamesGordonFinlayson RalphA.Griffiths HEGEL PeterSinger MEMORY JonathanK.Foster HEIDEGGER MichaelInwood MODERNART DavidCottington HIEROGLYPHS PenelopeWilson MODERNCHINA RanaMitter HINDUISM KimKnott MODERNIRELAND SeniaPaˇseta HISTORY JohnH.Arnold MODERNJAPAN THEHISTORYOFASTRONOMY ChristopherGoto-Jones MichaelHoskin MOLECULES PhilipBall THEHISTORYOFLIFE MORMONISM MichaelBenton RichardLymanBushman THEHISTORYOFMEDICINE MUSIC NicholasCook WilliamBynum MYTH RobertA.Segal THEHISTORYOFTIME NATIONALISM StevenGrosby LeofrancHolford-Strevens NELSONMANDELA EllekeBoehmer HIV/AIDS AlanWhiteside THENEWTESTAMENTAS HOBBES RichardTuck LITERATURE KyleKeefer HUMANEVOLUTION NEWTON RobertIliffe BernardWood NIETZSCHE MichaelTanner HUMANRIGHTS AndrewClapham NINETEENTH-CENTURYBRITAIN HUME A.J.Ayer ChristopherHarvieand IDEOLOGY MichaelFreeden H.C.G. Matthew INDIANPHILOSOPHY THENORMANCONQUEST SueHamilton GeorgeGarnett INTELLIGENCE IanJ.Deary NORTHERNIRELAND INTERNATIONALMIGRATION MarcMulholland KhalidKoser NOTHING FrankClose INTERNATIONALRELATIONS NUCLEARWEAPONS PaulWilkinson JosephM.Siracusa ISLAM MaliseRuthven THEOLDTESTAMENT JOURNALISM IanHargreaves MichaelD.Coogan JUDAISM NormanSolomon PARTICLEPHYSICS FrankClose PAUL E.P.Sanders RUSSIANLITERATURE CatrionaKelly PHILOSOPHY EdwardCraig THERUSSIANREVOLUTION PHILOSOPHYOFLAW S.A.Smith RaymondWacks SCHIZOPHRENIA PHILOSOPHYOFSCIENCE ChrisFrithandEveJohnstone SamirOkasha SCHOPENHAUER PHOTOGRAPHY SteveEdwards ChristopherJanaway PLATO JuliaAnnas SCIENCEANDRELIGION POLITICALPHILOSOPHY ThomasDixon DavidMiller SCOTLAND RabHouston POLITICS KennethMinogue SEXUALITY Ve´roniqueMottier POSTCOLONIALISM RobertYoung SHAKESPEARE GermaineGreer POSTMODERNISM SIKHISM EleanorNesbitt ChristopherButler SOCIALANDCULTURAL POSTSTRUCTURALISM ANTHROPOLOGY CatherineBelsey JohnMonaghanandPeterJust PREHISTORY ChrisGosden SOCIALISM MichaelNewman PRESOCRATICPHILOSOPHY SOCIOLOGY SteveBruce CatherineOsborne SOCRATES C.C.W.Taylor PSYCHIATRY TomBurns SOVIETUNION StephenLovell PSYCHOLOGY THESPANISHCIVILWAR GillianButlerandFredaMcManus HelenGraham PURITANISM FrancisJ.Bremer SPINOZA RogerScruton THEQUAKERS PinkDandelion STATISTICS DavidJ.Hand QUANTUMTHEORY STUARTBRITAIN JohnMorrill JohnPolkinghorne SUPERCONDUCTIVITY RACISM AliRattansi StephenBlundell THEREAGANREVOLUTION TERRORISM CharlesTownshend GilTroy THEOLOGY DavidF.Ford THEREFORMATION TRAGEDY AdrianPoole PeterMarshall THETUDORS JohnGuy RELATIVITY RussellStannard TWENTIETH-CENTURYBRITAIN RELIGIONINAMERICA KennethO.Morgan TimothyBeal THEUNITEDNATIONS THERENAISSANCE JerryBrotton JussiM.Hanhim¨aki RENAISSANCEART THEVIKINGS JulianRichards GeraldineA.Johnson WITTGENSTEIN A.C.Grayling ROMANBRITAIN PeterSalway WORLDMUSIC PhilipBohlman THEROMANEMPIRE THEWORLDTRADE ChristopherKelly ORGANIZATION AmritaNarlikar ROUSSEAU RobertWokler WRITINGANDSCRIPT RUSSELL A.C.Grayling AndrewRobinson Availablesoon: Epidemiology IslamicHistory AdamSilverstein SaracciRodolfo Neoliberalism ForensicScience JamesFraser ManfredStegerandRaviK.Roy Information LucianoFloridi Privacy RaymondWacks Formoreinformationvisitourwebsite www.oup.co.uk/general/vsi/ Gil Troy The Reagan Revolution A Very Short Introduction 3 3 OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthatfurther OxfordUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellence inresearch,scholarship,andeducation. Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright#2009byOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016 www.oup.com OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Troy,Gil. TheReaganrevolution:averyshortintroduction/GilTroy. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978–0–19–531710–7(pbk.) 1. Reagan,Ronald—Politicalandsocialviews. 2. Reagan,Ronald—Influence. 3. UnitedStates—Politicsandgovernment—1981–1989. 4. Politicalculture—UnitedStates—History—20thcentury. 5. UnitedStates—Foreignrelations—1981–1989. I. Title. E877.2.T7672009 973.927092—dc22 2009002082 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 PrintedinGreatBritain byAshfordColourPressLtd.,Gosport,Hants. onacid-freepaper Contents Listofillustrations ix Preface xi 1 WasReaganadummy? 1 2 DoAmericansliketheirgovernmentbig—orsmall? 20 3 WasthereacallforaReaganrevolution (orwhathappenedtotheGreatSociety)? 31 4 Wasthere,infact,aReaganrevolution? 53 5 DidtheDemocratsfiddleastheReaganauts conqueredWashington? 71 6 WhoendedtheColdWar—ReaganorGorbachev? 86 7 DidtheReaganrevolutionsucceedorfail? 104 8 WhendidtheReaganrevolutionend? 118 References 132 Furtherreading 137 Index 141 This page intentionally left blank List of illustrations 1 RonaldReaganrunsfor 7 RonaldReagan, re-election,October,1984 xii TipO’Neill,and GeorgeH.W.Bush, 2 RonaldReaganas‘‘the January1986 72 Gipper,’’1940 8 TheWhiteHouse 3 RonaldReaganandBarry 8 RonaldReagan Goldwater,1964 34 andMikhailGorbachev, LosAngeles November19,1985 95 Geneva,Switzerland 4 RonaldReaganandJimmy Carter,January20,1981 51 9 RonaldReaganatthe Washington,DC BrandenburgGate, June12,1987 99 5 RonaldReaganathisranch, WestBerlin, August13,1981 67 FederalRepublicof RanchodelCielo, Germany California 10 RonaldReagan 6 RonaldReagangreets andNancyReagan, MargaretThatcher,February July4,1986 105 26,1981 69 StatueofLiberty, TheWhiteHouse NewYorkCity AllphotographscourtesyofRonaldReaganPresidentialLibrary,Simi Valley,California