H:

The historical context of this political cartoon is during Reagan’s presidency where there was
a heavy influence as well as promotion of Christianity. The American government in the past
did promote the freedom to have any religion, but they did not endorse Christianity
specifically. Reagan, supporting traditional family values and listening to Jerry Falwell, took a
completely different route. He actively tried to make America as Christian as possible, and
succeeded to some amount.

P:

The purpose of this political cartoon is to draw attention to the massive amounts of
Christianity flooding America at that time. America, supposed to be a nation that allowed for
a lot of freedom with one of these freedoms being religion, largely went against practice
through the promotion of Christianity, as shown by the large amounts of texts promoting
religion as well as a complete reordering of the American flag.
H:

The historical context of this is Reagan having to deal with the national deficit that he created
through his policies. Reagan initiated tax cuts for the rich and also reduced property tax
through California Proposition 13. The money earned through taxing the rich comprised a
large amount of the government’s money, but with these sources being limited, the
government was forced to get its money elsewhere, increasing deficits. Additionally, Reagan
spent a lot of money on his plans such as his Strategic Defense Initiative and increasing the
military budget. This ran up the deficit further.

P:

The purpose of this is to point at the irony of Reagan’s criticisms of the deficit being too high.
Reagan’s policies were the main cause of high deficits in the first place, with Reagan cutting
away sources of money and redirecting finances towards expensive military projects.
Although these projects did have some positive effects like contributing to the end of the
Cold War, large sums of money were also wasted, leading to a high deficit. By indirectly
saying Reagan has amnesia, the cartoonist puts blame on Reagan for the issue he
describes: high deficits.
H:

The historical context is the removal of many welfare programs during the Reagan
administration. With Reagan being very conservative and therefore extremely
anti-Communist, he began to remove many welfare programs. The reasoning behind this,
beyond welfare being “communist,” was also partly due to how Reagan wanted to cut federal
funding in certain areas and use it in other places like the military. This led to many people
who were reliant on welfare to see a dropoff in their quality of life.

P:

The purpose is to point out just how ignorant Reagan is of the impacts his policy had on the
lives of ordinary citizens. Reagan largely focused on improving the lives of those who were
already good, like the rich. To do so, he borrowed out of programs intended to help poor
citizens like welfare. However, Reagan, a strong believer in Capitalism, wanted competition
and limited government intervention so he eschewed stepping in, thinking the poor should try
and fight their condition to find a better life. This is apparent in the document as Reagan is
unable to empathize with why some people are struggling.