Documenting United States History

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494 CHApTEr 2 2 | a ConSerVatiVe tenor | period nine 1980 to the present TopIC I | an end to the twentieth Century^495495

Michigan’s unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent in December from 7.9 per-
cent in November, and the state employment commission estimated that 369,000
of its residents were out of work last month. Some 250,000 residents were drawing
unemployment benefits last month, the commission reported, including 88,000
people who signed up in the week end[ing] Dec. 27....

Reginald Stuart, “Michigan Requests Federal Loan to Bolster Unemployment Fund,” New
York Times, January 17, 1980. © 1980 The New York Times. All rights reserved. Used by per-
mission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, coping, redis-
tribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited.

prACTICIng Historical Thinking


Identify: What is Governor Milliken’s reason for requesting funds from the US
Department of Labor?
Analyze: Why does Milliken believe that the federal government has a role to play
in this crisis? How does this request signal a change in the relationship between
federal control and states rights?
Evaluate: In what ways does this document agree with or disagree with President
Jimmy Carter’s speech (Doc. 22.1)?

Document 22.3 “Morning in america” Campaign television
Commercial
1984

In the aftermath of the Jimmy Carter presidency, President Ronald Reagan (1911–2004)
promised to restore Americans’ confidence by deregulating the economy and freeing
government constraints on American companies. Although prosperity returned for some
Americans between 1981 and 1984, this campaign commercial for Reagan’s second term
claims that the president reawakened broad economic prosperity and therefore should
be reelected for a second term.

It’s morning again in America. Today more men and women will go to work
than ever before in our country’s history. With interest rates at about half the
record highs of 1980, nearly 2,000 families today will buy new homes, more than
at any time in the past four years. This afternoon 6,500 young men and women
will be married, and with inflation at less than half of what it was just four years
ago, they can look forward with confidence to the future. It’s morning again in
America, and under the leadership of President Reagan, our country is prouder
and stronger and better. Why would we ever want to return to where we were
less than four short years ago?

”Morning in America,” 1984—Campaign Advertisement for Ronald Reagan.

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