The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

during World War II, Caspar Weinberger worked in
a San Francisco law firm before entering California
Republican politics in 1952, when he won a seat in
the California Assembly (1952-1958). While he did
not gain any higher elected office, Weinberger be-
came powerful in the California Republican Party.
With the election of President Richard M. Nixon in
1968, Weinberger was appointed chair of the Fed-
eral Trade Commission (1969), then director of the
Office of Management and the Budget (1970); in
both of these positions, he developed a reputation
for being careful with the public’s funds. In 1973,
Weinberger reached cabinet rank, when he was ap-
pointed Secretary of Health, Education, and Wel-
fare (1973-1975). Weinberger worked in the private
sector between 1975 and 1980. During that time,
he supported Ronald Reagan’s candidacy for presi-
dent.
With Reagan’s election, Weinberger became his
secretary of defense. In that capacity, Weinberger
was charged with restoring the U.S. armed forces
both quantitatively and qualitatively. The impact of
the Vietnam War and the administration of Presi-
dent Jimmy Carter had both contributed to a de-
cline in the capacity, reputation, and morale of the
U.S. military. Weinberger was provided a blank check
by Reagan and moved rapidly to expand the size of
the military, develop and deploy new weapons sys-
tems, support technical innovations, and rebuild the
Air Force and the Navy. His tenure became particu-
larly associated with the development of new mili-
tary technologies, a more professional and highly
paid cadre of soldiers, a six-hundred-ship navy, and
the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
Weinberger also became involved in the case of Is-
raeli spy Jonathan Pollard, when he argued that Pol-
lard should be punished harshly for compromising
American security. More seriously, Weinberger was
associated with the Iran-Contra affair, which led to
his resignation and indictment on charges that he
deceived investigators looking into the sale of mis-
siles to Iran and the use of those funds to support the
pro-U.S. forces in Nicaragua. Weinberger was never
tried on these charges; President George H. W. Bush
pardoned Weinberger and others on December 24,
1992.

Impact Weinberger’s major achievement was over-
seeing the buildup of the U.S. military during the
first six years of the Reagan administration. He also

became embroiled in a constitutional crisis, the Iran-

Contra affair, that involved the illegal use of govern-

ment funds to support the anticommunist forces in

Nicaragua. Weinberger remained a power in Ameri-

can conservative circles until his death in 2006.

Further Reading

Baker, James A.The Politics of Diplomacy.New York:

Putnam, 1995.

Weinberger, Caspar W., with Gretchen Roberts.In

the Arena: A Memoir of the Twentieth Centur y.Wash-

ington, D.C.: Regnery, 2003.

_______.The Next War.Washington, D.C.: Regnery,

1996.

William T. Walker

See also Cold War; Conservatism in U.S. politics;

Elections in the United States, 1980; Europe and

North America; Foreign policy of the United States;

Grenada invasion; Iran-Contra affair; Israel and the

United States; Reagan, Ronald; Reagan Doctrine;

Reagan’s “Evil Empire” speech; Stealth fighter; Stra-

tegic Defense Initiative (SDI).

Welfare

Definition Public provision of cash, goods, or

services to those in need

During the 1980’s, the link between welfare and work was

strengthened, culminating in passage of the Family Sup-

port Act of 1988. Welfare-to-work demonstration programs

were encouraged, and the nation’s child support enforce-

ment system was also strengthened.

The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 provided a

political wedge for antiwelfare punditry about the

values and behavior of poor persons, particularly

unmarried mothers and noncustodial fathers who

failed to pay child support. Martin Anderson’sWel-

fare(1978), Irwin Garfinkel and Sara McLanahan’s

Single Mothers and Their Children(1986), George

Gilder’sWealth and Poverty(1981), Charles Murray’s

Losing Ground(1984), Lawrence Mead’sBeyond Enti-

tlement(1986), and David Ellwood’sPoor Support

(1988) provided much of the theoretical and empir-

ical underpinnings of the welfare debates through-

out the 1980’s. Antiwelfare scholars such as Murray

and Mead, for example, respectively argued that wel-

fare was a moral hazard, encouraging sloth and ille-

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Welfare The Eighties in America