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AP U.S. History Videos 277 videos

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AP U.S. History Exam 1.52 171 Views


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Description:

AP U.S. History Exam 1.52. Why did the federal government continue to grow in the 1980s despite the philosophies expressed by Reagan in the excerpt?

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English Language

Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:03

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by social security,

00:07

your safety blanket at a party.

00:10

Sort of. [a woman checking her phone at a party]

00:11

All right, give this excerpt a look.

00:12

[ mumbles ]

00:15

[ mumbling continues ]

00:17

All right, and the question:

00:19

Why did the federal government continue to grow in the 1980s

00:21

despite the philosophies expressed by Reagan in the excerpt?

00:24

And here are your potential answers.

00:26

[ mumbles ]

00:28

[ mumbling continues ]

00:30

All right. Well, presidents can wish for [someone rubbing a genie-lamp]

00:32

as much change as they want, but sometimes

00:35

the public has hopes and dreams of its own.

00:37

Let's see which answer describes how Reagan's

00:39

best-laid plans were laid to rest.

00:42

All right. Did the federal government [image of a government office]

00:44

continue to grow in the 1980s because of A -

00:48

the growth of evangelical religions

00:50

and their role in politics?

00:52

Hmm.

00:53

Evangelical religions, as well as

00:55

the larger conservative movement [image of a cross shinning]

00:56

really praised Reagan's call for less government.

00:59

So that gets rid of A and B.

01:02

Did federal budgets expand

01:03

in the 1980s because of D - the need to rebuild

01:06

trust in the government after the scandals of the 1970s?

01:10

All right, well Nixon's whole Watergate fiasco

01:11

really dampened the public's faith in elected officials. [water falling over people in the parliament]

01:14

But that lack of trust led to calls for

01:16

turning off the government spigot, not increasing its volume.

01:20

So that drowns out D. Good-bye.

01:21

Which means the federal government continued

01:23

to grow in the 1980s because of C - [image of federal government office]

01:25

the popularity of long-existing programs.

01:28

Though many Americans agreed with Reagan's policies,

01:30

the popularity of the programs like Medicare and Medicaid

01:32

meant that government growth was all but written in the stars. [a woman selling shoes]

01:35

So C is the correct answer.

01:36

During the 1980s, the public's eyes were bigger than its stomach

01:40

for cuts to social welfare programs.

01:43

[ musical flourish ]

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