The Rise of
Conservatism/Fall of
New Deal Liberalism
Roots: 1960-1974
Early Reagan Years: 1964-1980
“Conservative” vs. Republican?
Conservatives
 Tea Party
 States rights
 Low taxes
 Small govt.
 Strict constitutionalists
 Traditional values
 Pro-defense
 Anti-abortion
 Anti-gay-rights
 Gun rights
Republicans
 Southern whites
 Evangelical Christians
 Wealthy
 Pro-business
 Small govt.
 Libertarians
 Military
 Isolationists?
 Suburban or rural
 Anti-entitlement
The Republican Party’s Tortured
Past: A Conservative Party?
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Conflicting ideals; divisions; which way?
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Civil War Radical Republicans = Big Govt. to
protect civil rights
Gilded Age Republicans = Big Govt. for Business,
small govt. for everyone else
Early 20th-century Divisions between small govt.,
laissez-faire and Teddy Roosevelt Bull Moosers
New Deal era = years in the political wilderness
1950s = moderate Republican Eisenhower
1950s = redbaiting and divisive politics for others
Young Americans for Freedom,
Sharon Statement, 1960
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Conservative radicals trying to retake
America and Republican Party
Main ideals?
The New Republican Majority
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Peel off segments of the New Deal coalition?
On what issues?:
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African Americans?
Liberals?
Southern white Democrats?
White ethnics (descendants of New Immigrants,
Catholics, Jews)?
Workers?
Democratic Mistakes
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Democrats alienated major parts of their
electoral coalition:
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Liberals and Leftists – (issues?)
Working-Class
White Ethnics
Women
Southern whites
African Americans
1960s/1970s Democratic Mistakes
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Ways Democrats Alienated Voters?
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Vietnam decisions and actions
Alienated liberals and left-leaning radicals – pro-peace
Liberals/left, Not enough on civil rights
From the right – too permissive of demonstrations, “chaos”
From the left – liberals not very liberal
From the right – too liberal on civil rights, ruining the social
structure
Economy?
Spending money on social welfare programs, Great Society
Perception of spending money on black people
Association with black and urban riots, decaying cities, loss of
control – Law and Order
George Wallace: Southern
Democrat, Republican Ideas
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Rebuild white Democratic Party in south
Retake Democratic Party for white people
Opposed civil rights legislation and activism
Appealed to southern AND northern whites to
run for president in 1960s and 1970s
Used race as focal point for campaign
Changed language of racism: from blame
the “niggers” to blame the lawless, criminals,
people on welfare
George Wallace
Alabama Governor & Presidential Candidate (Dem.)
George Wallace
Nixon, Vietnam & Watergate:
Effects on the Political
Landscape
Nixon’s Foreign Policies and
Actions
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Focus on Big Fish – wanted to open up trade, talks
with China and USSR, decrease Cold War tension
Vietnam - Policy of Vietnamization – turn over war to
South Vietnamese army
Secrecy - secret bombings of N.V., Cambodia, Laos;
secret negotiations w/ N.V.
U.S. detachment from Vietnam conflict – use
rhetoric of peace and withdrawal, while continuing
bombings to force N.V. to accept split Vietnam
Heightened rhetoric against protesters = protesters
were anti-American, helping North Vietnam
Richard Nixon
Nixon
Nixon and New Republican
Majority
Vietnamization
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Nixon ran for president in 1967-8 on platform
of “Vietnamization” – transfer of military
operations in Vietnam to the South
Vietnamese military
Video clip on Vietnamization
Secret Wars: Cambodia & Laos
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Publicly, Nixon pushed Vietnamization,
gradual withdrawal from Vietnam, and peace
talks
In secret, he began bombings and military
missions in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos,
expanding the war
Official U.S. involvement in Vietnam lasted 6
years under Nixon, longer than under LBJ
Video Clip on Bombings & Secret Wars
Nixon’s Political Strategies
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Kevin Phillips’, ‘Emerging Republican Majority’:
Republicans could win (and did) from 1968-1992
Southern Strategy – use “hostility to blacks and
browns” as political strategy (idea from George
Wallace)
Get white Catholics, ethnic whites, and white
southerners to permanently switch to GOP
Appeal to ‘Silent Majority’ of Americans: patriotic,
anti-protester, anti-urban
Law and Order campaign: used images of riots,
protests, and fear to sway voters
Silent Majority of Americans were the real victims (of
protests, draft, taxes, civil rights, economy)
The Silent Majority:
Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle
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‘All the animals come out at night’ clip
‘Late for the sky’ scene clip
Watergate
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Link to film clips, Nixon: The Fall
Connections to Vietnam War
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Nixon’s insecurity and fear of political opposition
Use of FBI to spy on and undermine antiwar and
civil rights movements
Political dirty tricks to hurt political rivals
Covered up instead of coming clean
Nixon and Conservatism:
Conclusions
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Nixon’s foreign policies towards China and USSR
were fairly successful, opened up lines of
communication
Deceitful policies in Vietnam: rhetoric of peace,
while bombing and prolonging war
U.S. involvement in Vietnam War dragged on for 6
more years as he used it as pawn in larger foreign
policy
Nixon’s southern strategy and appeals to ‘silent
majority’ widened political and social rifts in U.S.
Watergate and corruption further weakened
people’s trust in government
Republicans benefited in long run from increasing
distrust of government
Nixon and Watergate helped
Conservatives in the long run?
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General distrust of government
Helped Republicans’ argument against too
much government
Dems handling of impeachment alienated the
public – fatigue
Helped purge Nixon (moderate on foreign
policy and economy) from party – purified
party – door open to conservatives
Reagan, ‘A Time for Choosing,’
1964
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Part One
Reagan, ‘A Time for Choosing,’
1964
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Part Two (text)
Reagan, ‘A Time for Choosing,’
1964
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Part Three
Carter’s ‘Crisis of Confidence’
speech, July, 1979
Reagan’s 1980 Acceptance
Speech
Modern Conservatism
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Rise of Christian Right, evangelicals
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‘With God on Our Side’ documentary, part one
Cultural issues: religion, abortion, prayer in
schools, homosexuality, ERA, women’s
issues, gender issues
Diff. political action groups, organizations, like
the Moral Majority
Problems of keeping coalition together:
religious conservatives, economic, foreign
policy, libertarians
1980s: ‘Wall Street’ America
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Wall Street clips