The Reagan and Bush Administrations
By 1980 the apparent inability of the Carter administration to control the economic situation, coupled with a perception of U.S. impotence abroad (exemplified by the Iranian seizure of U.S. hostages), favored a Republican resurgence. Reagan easily won the party’s presidential nomination (his most liberal opponent, John Anderson, subsequently ran as an independent) and went on to overwhelm Carter, taking 489 electoral votes (against Carter’s 49) and 51 percent of the popular vote. At the same time, the Republicans won 12 additional seats in the U.S. Senate, taking control of that body for the first time in 25 years.
This Republican resurgence, however, was only partially confirmed in the 1984 elections. Although in his reelection bid Reagan routed Walter F. MONDALE, taking 59 percent of the popular vote and a record-breaking 525 electoral votes (to Mondale’s 13), the Republicans lost two SENATE seats, while retaining a majority. Democrats continued to control the House. The pattern of Republican presidential triumphs and Democratic gains in Congress continued in 1986, when the Democrats regained a majority in the Senate, and 1988, when George Bush won the presidency by a large margin.
President Bush’s approval rating reached an impressive 89 percent in 1991 after the international coalition he forged against Iraq achieved victory in the Persian Gulf War. However, a recession that began in 1990, combined with the electorate’s growing concern with domestic issues in the aftermath of the Cold War and public impatience with “gridlock” in the government, counted against him in his reelection bid. Led by Bill CLINTON, the Democrats in 1992 captured the presidency (with 370 ELECTORAL votes to Bush’s 168) and solid majorities in both houses of Congress. In 1994, having blocked Clinton’s legislative agenda and mounted an aggressive counterattack in that year’s mid-term election campaign, Republicans seized control of both houses of Congress.
Bibliography
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