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Conservative Movement In The United States Between The 1960s And The 1980s

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The most important reasons why a new conservative movement arose in the United States between the 1960s and the 1980s, were because of the sharp transformations in racial, cultural, and economic issues. Changes to the American way of life had gradually been occurring for years; however, the persistence and resilience of the Civil Rights Movement created a domino effect for the progression of other issues, catapulting change throughout every aspect of American Society. The conservative movement arose as a direct response to those changes. Protests and boycotts created major wins for African Americans, among those were the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, (American Yawp, 28) the desegregation of schools, and the disintegration of racial …show more content…

The Supreme Court moved to prohibit bible reading in public schools, recreational drug use was on the rise, and minorities were becoming more visible in American culture. All of these were at odds with the way society had always operated. This left the previous generation wanting to counter this “counterculture” and prevent what they would see as the downfall of American standards. Economically, America is having a crisis. There was slow wage growth, rising prices, and growing tax burdens on many working-class people. The economic inequality gap was widening with no end in sight and the pipeline to a good life had dried up for many. Middle-class working Americans needed a more stable economy, and the Republicans who openly opposed liberalism seemed to be the answer. Different areas of American society were all affected by this rapid societal change, and most of them were nostalgic for times that seemed easier, more prosperous, and less chaotic. Each of these unhappy parties turned their efforts into one giant Conservative movement in hopes of countering the rise of liberalism and unsatisfactory political and social …show more content…

Distrust in the government can be traced back to the Vietnam War. Initially, little was known by the public about why American troops were in Vietnam, only what government officials reported. However, once the media could offer footage from Vietnam directly to television sets across the country, Americans realized that what was being told by the government and what they saw on their televisions were conflicting. This diminished the credibility of the US government, caused anti-war riots, and fractured the trust between the public and the government. (American Yawp, 28) The Great Recession of 2008 was also a notch in the belt of American unrest. The recession magnified the rising income and wealth inequality that only seemed to grow year after year since the 1900s. Working-class people lost their jobs and homes, while banks reported “profit margins not seen in decades” (American Yawp, 30) and were rescued from debt by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. This only reinforces the feeling of “The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer” and casts a pessimistic lens over the government for the working-class American people. 2020 is when the biggest fracture between the public happens, in my opinion. COVID-19 caused a global pandemic and people were on “stay at home” orders for about two years. The general

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During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s, shifts in the political and societal views were very apparent. Through out the time era, we saw figures of great importance and the strength of activists are its highest. The build up of severe racism and discrimination led to the beginning of the civil rights era, which led to several divides in blacks, as well as a beginning of a more enriched society.. The Civil Rights era had several key events leading up to the full force of the movement - including bus boycotts, Freedom Riders, and the Little Rock Nine. Once the movement began to increase in involvement, many supporters were gained.

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In her book, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (2001), Lisa McGirr traces how right-wing ideology became mainstream over the course of the 1960s, and became institutionalized in American politics in the following years (1970s-1980s). She examines the way everyday people in Orange County first came together to form a grassroots social movement that formed its own strand of conservatism in the shape of the New Right that eventually propelled them into politics with Barry Goldwater's campaign and eventually helped Reagan win the presidency. The New Right started in the neighborhoods of Orange County, rooted in an existing set of ideals regarding individualism, private property, and family alongside early fears of communism that eventually shifted to fears regarding liberalism as a cause of moral decline. Fear is a theme that runs throughout the book, beginning with Orange Country's economic connection to military spending, many of the residents who lived there had membership

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During the late 1960s to 1980, conservatism in America showed up because people were looking for stability in a changing world. Richard Nixon, who became president in 1968, wanted to bring order and safety, which many people liked. He also had a plan called the Southern Strategy to get more votes from white people in the South. This plan changed how elections worked. In the 1970s, a group called the Religious Right became more active, focusing on things like religion and abortion.

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