ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the areas are similar to those that were considered for the 1960-1980 period: Economics and Economic and Social Welfare Policy; The Role and Powers of Government, Relations Among the Three Branches of the Federal Government, and Federal-State Relations; and Political Developments, Trends, and Reform. The other areas are: Legal and Constitutional Developments and Citizen Rights; Foreign and Defense Policy, War and International Conflicts, and America's Role in the World; Relations and Conflict Among Social Groups, and Immigration; and Socio-Political Developments and Intellectual Trends. At various times in the 1980s, there were different types of economic developments. Some of these probably resulted from federal economic policies. The federal deficit increased in the 1980s, owing to these domestic increases, the rise in the federal civilian workforce, and Reagan's military buildup. The chapter discusses how in American history there was a pattern of periods where presidential and Congressional power waxed and waned with regard to each other.
