Period 9: 1980–Present

Read the excerpt below.

'The old political divisions are fading. Our task is to bring together the businessman who is tired of federal regulation, the worker who sees his wages eroded by inflation, and the parent who believes that public policy has turned against traditional moral values. By uniting these groups under a single banner, we can reshape the nation’s political landscape.'
—Address by a conservative political strategist, 1979

The political strategy described in the excerpt contributed most directly to which of the following outcomes?

"There is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. If we lived in a country where the police could search any home at any time, for any reason; if we lived in a country where the government could monitor our communications without judicial oversight... we would have a very secure country. But it would not be a free country. And it would not be America. ... [W]e must maintain our vigil against terrorism, but we must also maintain our vigil against the erosion of the very liberties that make us Americans."

— Senator Russ Feingold, speech on the Senate floor, October 2001

Which of the following debates from the post-9/11 era is most directly addressed by the Senator in this excerpt?

"We must always remember that the economic prosperity of the United States is linked directly to our energy security. While we recognize the long-term challenges posed by global climate change, we cannot support international treaties like the Kyoto Protocol. Doing so would place an unfair economic burden on American industries and workers while exempting major developing economies from similar emissions restrictions. Instead, the United States will lead through technological innovation, public-private partnerships, and voluntary reduction targets that preserve economic growth."

— President George W. Bush, speech on climate change policy, 2001

Which of the following debates in late-twentieth and early-twenty-first-century United States politics does the excerpt best reflect?

"Today, largely because of the immigration wave of the last thirty years, we are once again becoming a nation of new immigrants. . . . This new wave is different. It is not just European; it is Asian, Latin American, African, Middle Eastern. It is changing the face of America. . . . We must decide: Will we treat this diversity as a source of strength or division? In a global economy, our diversity is a great asset."

— President Bill Clinton, Commencement Address at Portland State University, 1998

The developments described in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following political or social debates in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?

Source: President George H. W. Bush, Statement on Signing the Immigration Act of 1990, November 29, 1990

> "This legislation represents a significant step forward in our efforts to reform and modernize our nation’s immigration system. . . . S. 358 meets several objectives of this Administration: it provides for a significant increase in the number of immigrants admitted under the employment-based categories, while also expanding the opportunities for family reunification. By choosing to welcome more highly skilled and educated workers, we strengthen our economy and help ensure American competitiveness in the global marketplace."

The policy changes described in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following late-twentieth-century developments?

"The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled; and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law. The Framers decided that the writ of habeas corpus, a vital instrument for the protection of individual liberty, must have a complexity that would allow it to be of value in different eras. . . . To hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this Court, say 'what the law is.'"

— Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, majority opinion in Boumediene v. Bush (2008)

The arguments expressed in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following ongoing debates in United States history?

Source: Mikhail Gorbachev, Address to the United Nations General Assembly, December 7, 1988.

"Today, we are entered upon an era when progress will be based on the common interests of the whole of humankind. The concept of development at another's expense is becoming obsolete. The compulsion and arms race which accompanied the Cold War are no longer viable instruments of foreign policy. The principle of freedom of choice is mandatory. This applies to both the capitalist and socialist systems. We are also witnesses to the most important landmark in our history: the decision to reduce our armed forces. Over the next two years, the Soviet Union will unilaterally reduce its army by 500,000 men and withdraw combat divisions from Eastern Europe. We do this to foster trust and transition to a new international order."

Which of the following best explains the shift in Soviet foreign policy described in the excerpt?

Read the passage below carefully and answer the question that follows.

"The national identity of this country has been forged by the interaction of many cultures... But the conception of the United States as a nation of distinct, self-contained, and permanent groups is a very different matter. It is a rejection of the historic American concept of 'one people'—a concept that has, for all our failings, held this diverse country together. The new gospel of ethnic separatism threatens to replace the classic image of the melting pot with a babel of discordant voices."
— Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., *The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society*, 1991

Which of the following developments in United States society in the period after 1980 is most directly reflected by the arguments expressed in the excerpt?

During the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the advent of the microchip, the internet, and fiber-optic cables facilitated a rapid transition toward a globalized, knowledge-based economy. This digital revolution allowed corporations to manage real-time supply chains, coordinate international production, and outsource manufacturing jobs to countries with lower labor costs, while centering high-value financial and technological services within the United States.

Which of the following was a direct social or political consequence of the economic developments described in the passage?

“The transition of the United States economy at the turn of the twenty-first century was characterized not merely by the expansion of the personal computer, but by a deeper structural realignment. As international trade agreements lowered tariff barriers, multinational corporations leveraged new information technologies to coordinate global supply chains, offshoring manufacturing processes to developing nations. Domestically, this dual process of globalization and digitization bifurcated the labor market. While high-skill, tech-adjacent sectors experienced unprecedented growth and wealth accumulation, the traditional manufacturing sectors that had anchored the mid-century middle class saw rapid contraction, accelerating a shift toward service-sector employment that offered fewer institutional protections and lower real wage growth.”

—Adapted from a modern economic history of post-Cold War America

The economic shifts described in the passage most directly contributed to which of the following domestic developments in the United States between 1990 and 2015?

Read the following passage and answer the question below:

"The rise of the Sun Belt is often credited to the triumph of the 'rugged individualist' ethos and the appeal of low taxes and right-to-work laws. Yet, this narrative ignores the massive, sustained flow of federal dollars into the region. From defense contracts and aerospace installations during the Cold War to massive water reclamation projects and interstate highway systems, the federal government essentially subsidized the suburban and industrial growth of the South and West. Consequently, the political shift that followed was not merely an organic rejection of the state, but a complex realignment where regions built by federal intervention became the vanguard of a movement dedicated to dismantling it."
—Adapted from historical analyses of post-1980 political geography

The historical interpretation expressed in the excerpt most directly challenges which of the following arguments regarding the political realignment of the Sun Belt post-1980?

"Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price."

— President Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981

The political philosophy expressed in the excerpt most directly challenged which of the following prevailing mid-twentieth-century political beliefs?

“The rapid deployment of fiber-optic networks, the internet, and personal computers has fundamentally altered how American companies operate. Functions that once required physical proximity—such as data processing, customer service, and software development—can now be performed instantaneously by workers located anywhere in the world. While these advances have reduced costs for corporations and lowered prices for consumers, they have simultaneously exposed American clerical and technical workers to direct international competition. The stability of the mid-century corporate career is being replaced by a highly flexible, but far less secure, global labor market.”

—Testimony before a congressional subcommittee on economic technology, 1998

The developments described in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following economic trends in the United States during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries?

"Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated. ... Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. We will direct every resource at our command—every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war—to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network."
— President George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress, September 20, 2001

Which of the following best describes the shift in United States foreign policy represented by the goals outlined in the excerpt?

"We must stand against the tide of moral decay that has swept our nation over the last two decades. The breakdown of the traditional family, the removal of prayer from public schools, and the rise of secular humanism are not just private concerns; they are political mandates. It is time for religious Americans to register to vote, to organize, and to reclaim the leadership of this country from a secular establishment that has led us astray."

— Adapted from a political organization's statement, 1980

The mobilization described in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following political shifts by 1980?

"We accept the challenge of the 1980s: to make America work again, to make our nation secure again, to make our government responsive to the people again. We pledge to reduce the growth of federal spending, to restrain the growth of the money supply, and to enact a program of across-the-board tax cuts to stimulate investment and job creation. We also reaffirm our commitment to traditional family values, the right to life, and a strong national defense to counter Soviet expansionism."

— Republican Party Platform, 1980

Which of the following historical developments during the 1980s best illustrates the internal tension within the political coalition described in the excerpt?

"The Old Right was intellectual, elitist, and print-oriented. It was content to write essays in journals and debate theory while losing elections. The New Right is activist, populist, and operational. We are organizing at the grassroots. We have built a coalition from what used to be isolated, single-issue groups—middle-class tax protesters, opponents of federal school busing, religious conservatives alarmed by the erosion of traditional family values, and defense hawks concerned about the perception of American weakness abroad. By bypassing the establishment media through direct-mail campaigns, we have welded these disparate factions into a new electoral majority."

—Adapted from Richard Viguerie, *The New Right: We're Ready to Lead*, 1980

Which of the following best explains how the political strategy described in the excerpt succeeded in reshaping the American political landscape by the election of 1980?

"For decades, our security rested on containment and deterrence—the assumption that a visible nation-state enemy would hesitate to strike because of the certainty of mutual destruction. But against networks of shadow adversaries who value no territory and hold no citizens hostage, deterrence is obsolete. We cannot wait for the smoking gun to appear in the form of a mushroom cloud. Our defense must now be proactive, dismantling these networks at their source before they can launch catastrophic attacks against our homeland."
— Adapted from a United States national security policy document, 2002

Which of the following best describes the primary shift in United States foreign policy goals that occurred as a result of the developments described in the excerpt?

"The administration’s economic program is a gamble with the livelihoods of millions of working Americans. By combining massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations with severe reductions in vital social programs, it reverses decades of progress toward social equity. This is not a policy of shared sacrifice; it is a redistribution of income upward..."
— Lane Kirkland, President of the AFL-CIO, testimony before Congress, 1981

Which of the following historical developments during the 1980s best explains the perspective expressed in the excerpt?

Read the excerpt below and answer the following question:

"We are not proposing to dismantle the federal government; we are proposing to make it work. It is not our intention to eliminate the regulatory agencies, but to redirect them to their proper functions. We must reduce the burden of taxation, which has stifled productivity, and reassert American strength abroad to counter the growing influence of our adversaries."
—Adaptation of a conservative policy paper, 1980

Which of the following best explains how the ideas in the excerpt contributed to the political realignment in the 1980 presidential election?