Triumph of Conservatism 1969-1988

Introduction

  • Chronological scope: 1969–19881969\text{--}1988, a period Foner labels “The Triumph of Conservatism.”
  • Starting point: the unraveling of the post-New-Deal “liberal consensus” around 19681968 (Tet Offensive, MLK Jr.’s assassination, urban unrest, law-and-order politics).
  • End point: Ronald Reagan’s two terms and the embedding of a new conservative – or “free-market / Reagan / neoliberal” – consensus.
  • Through-line: recurring tension between promises of order, freedom, and prosperity versus mounting distrust of government, economic dislocation, and culture-wars backlash.

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)

  • Ran in 1968 on “law & order”; spoke the language of conservatism yet often governed within liberal-consensus parameters.
    • Created or expanded: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), OSHA, National Transportation Safety Board, Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, food stamps, Social Security\text{Social Security} COLA’s.
    • “New Federalism”: block grants → federal →\rightarrow state →\rightarrow local, with fewer strings (states’-rights flavor).
  • Civil-rights record: mixed.
    • Southern strategy: appointed segregation-tolerant judges (C. Hainsworth, G. Carswell) to woo white South.
    • Yet school integration in the South jumped from 32%32\% → 77%77\% under his tenure.
    • Initially backed affirmative action (as wedge against unions/Democrats), later withdrew.
  • Supreme Court transformation → Burger Court.
    • Expected to be conservative; instead consolidated 1960s1960s precedents (e.g., Roe v. Wade, school-busing litigation).
  • Domestic flashpoints:
    • School busing backlash; Court ultimately limited cross-district remedies → re-segregation, esp. North by 1990s1990s.
    • Regents of U.C. Davis v. Bakke (1978): struck rigid minority set-aside; race may be “one factor.”
  • Social movements continue despite conservative mood:
    • Title IX (1972) & Equal Credit Opportunity Act: expanding women’s educational/economic rights.
    • Gay & lesbian activism: local elections, decriminalization, anti-discrimination ordinances → conservative alarm.
  • Foreign policy: détente + covert intervention.
    • SALT I, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, diplomatic opening to PRC (first U.S. recognition).
    • Continued CIA coups (Chile 1973 Pinochet; arms to Iran, Philippines, S. Africa).
  • Vietnam paradox:
    • “Secret plan” = Vietnamization, yet war widened (Cambodia 1970 bombing) → destabilized region; Khmer Rouge.
    • Kent State (4 dead) & Jackson State (2 dead) → peak campus strikes (>350350 campuses).
    • My Lai massacre (exposed 1969) + Pentagon Papers (1971) → erosion of trust → War Powers Act (1973) limits troop deployments to 6060 days w/o congressional OK.
    • Paris Peace Accords (1973) → U.S. exit; Saigon falls 19751975.
  • Watergate (1972-1974):
    • Plumbers break-ins (Ellsberg psychiatrist, DNC HQ); cover-up → Saturday Night Massacre.
    • U.S. v. Nixon: unanimous; president not above law → tape release.
    • House Judiciary vote to impeach → Nixon resigns Aug 1974 (only resignation in U.S. history).
  • Church Committee revelations: FBI domestic spying, CIA coups & assassination plots.
    • Net effect: liberal reliance on federal problem-solving undermined; conservative case for limited gov’t strengthened.

Economic Maelstrom of the 1970s

  • End of post-WWII hegemony:
    • U.S. encouraged rebuilding of allies (Japan, W. Germany, “Asian Tigers”).
    • Bretton Woods →\rightarrow strong \text{US}\ tied to gold
      \Rightarrowexportspricey→firsttradedeficitexports pricey → first trade deficit1971.
  • Nixon ends gold standard (1971) \Rightarrow floating exchange rates; volatility.
  • OPEC oil shocks: 1973 & 1979.
    • Supply shock → stagflation (simultaneous \uparrow prices & \uparrow unemployment).
    • Inflation avg. 10\%p.a.;realGDPgrowthp.a.; real GDP growth\approx 2.4\%.
    • U.S. auto-makers lose ground; by 1980s Japan #1; imports 25\% of U.S. market.
  • Deindustrialization:
    • Manufacturing share of workforce 38\%\,(1960) \rightarrow 28\%\,(1971).
    • Rust Belt factory closures; Paterson, NJ example (library sell-off, state-run schools).
    • Sunbelt growth → conservative political weight.
  • Labor on defensive:
    • Union rate falls; real wages stagnate post-1973.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)

  • Pardoned Nixon (“heal the nation”).
  • Inflation fight: “WIN” buttons (Whip Inflation Now) – voluntary belt-tightening.
    • Recession 1974\text{--}75 unemployment > 9\%.
  • Foreign policy: Helsinki Accords (1975) – legitimize post-WWII borders; human-rights pledge aiding dissidents.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

  • Ran as Washington outsider; reflected distrust in federal gov’t.
  • Economic policy:
    • Prioritized inflation over unemployment; slashed domestic spending.
    • Deregulated airlines & trucking; early supply-side tax cuts for wealthier earners.
    • Backed Fed’s high-interest “Volcker Shock.”
    • Result: continued joblessness + soaring interest rates.
  • “Crisis of Confidence” / “Malaise” speech (1979): blamed consumerism; told Americans to conserve ("put on a sweater").
  • Human-rights pivot:
    • Cut aid to regimes with death-squads (El Salvador), signed Panama Canal transfer treaty (1999 target), refused to attack Sandinistas.
    • Camp David Accords (1978): Israel–Egypt peace (first Arab state to recognize Israel).
    • SALT II (1979) signed but withdrawn after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
  • Iranian Revolution (1979): Shah overthrown → Islamic Republic.
    • U.S. embassy seizure: 66hostagesforhostages for444 days; freed minutes after Reagan’s 1981 inauguration.
    • Soviets invade Afghanistan (1979) → Carter Doctrine (Persian Gulf vital interests), grain embargo, Olympic boycott.
  • Carter’s moderation/deregulation laid groundwork for Reaganomics.

Seeds of a Conservative Upsurge

  • Economic anxiety ++ cultural backlash → appetite for: lower taxes, deregulation, strong anti-communism, moral traditionalism.
  • Religious Right:
    • Evangelicals/ fundamentalists alarmed by sexual revolution, abortion (Roe v. Wade 1973), school prayer bans.
    • Leaders: Jerry Falwell (“Moral Majority”), Pat Robertson; branded ERA, abortion, pornography as “forces of Satan.”
  • Equal Rights Amendment (ERA):
    • Passed Congress 1972,required, required38states;conservativewomenledbyPhyllisSchlaflymobilized→failedratificationstates; conservative women led by Phyllis Schlafly mobilized → failed ratification1982.
  • Abortion politics: “pro-choice” vs. “right-to-life” → permanent political cleavage.
  • Tax revolt: California Prop 13 (1978) capped property-tax hikes; template for anti-tax politics.
  • Western / Sunbelt conservatism: Sagebrush Rebellion against federal land control; low-tax, anti-regulation ethos.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

Electoral Coalition (1980 landslide)
  • Constituents: Sunbelt suburbanites, blue-collar ethnics, libertarians, Christian Right, Cold Warriors.
  • Campaign themes: End stagflation, “Make America Great Again,” states’ rights (launched in Philadelphia, MS – coded signal on civil rights).
Economic Program (“Reaganomics” / Supply-Side)
  • Tax cuts:
    • Economic Recovery Tax Act (1981): top rate 70\% \rightarrow 50\%.
    • Tax Reform Act (1986): top rate 28\% (lowest since 1920s).
  • Deregulation & union confrontation:
    • PATCO strike (1981) – fired >11,000 air-traffic controllers; signaled open season on organized labor.
    • By late ’80s, only 11\% of private-sector workers unionized.
  • Spending priorities:
    • Social programs (food stamps, public housing) slashed.
    • Core welfare state (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) left largely intact (politically untouchable).
    • Massive Pentagon buildup ⇒ largest peacetime deficits.
  • Outcomes:
    • GDP growth rebound 1983\text{--}88,inflationtamed,butnationaldebttripledto, inflation tamed, but national debt tripled to\$2.7\text{ trillion}.
    • Wealth inequality: top 1\%shareshare\approx 40\% by mid-’90s (double early ’70s).
    • Deindustrialization accelerates; black unemployment >20\%1981.
    • Savings-and-Loan deregulation crash (late ’80s) \approx \$250\text{ billion} taxpayer bailout.
Social Policy & Courts
  • Appointed Sandra Day O’Connor (1st female justice) + Scalia, Kennedy – ideologically conservative bench.
  • Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) upheld sodomy laws; Court also whittled affirmative-action enforcement.
  • Abortion survived: Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989, just after Reagan) allowed some state limits but didn’t overturn Roe.
Cold War & Foreign Affairs
  • Rhetoric: “Evil Empire,” SDI (“Star Wars”) missile shield; largest arms race since 1950s.
  • Interventions / Covert Ops:
    • Grenada invasion (1983) – toppled Marxist-leaning gov’t.
    • Lebanon deployment (1982) → Beirut barracks bombing (241 Marines killed).
    • Central America: backed El Salvador junta, Guatemalan military, Angolan UNITA, Afghan mujahideen.
  • Iran-Contra (1985-87): sold arms to Iran \rightarrowdiverteddiverted\ to Nicaraguan Contras (Congress-banned).
    • 1111 officials convicted; Reagan claimed ignorance, approval ratings rebounded.
  • Thaw with USSR:
    • Mikhail Gorbachev (1985) meetings – Geneva, Reykjavík, Washington.
    • INF Treaty (1987): eliminated entire class of nukes in Europe.
    • USSR withdraws from Afghanistan; momentum toward Cold War end.
Legacy & Paradoxes
  • Re-defined “freedom” as free markets, low taxes, strong defense; turned “liberal” into pejorative.
  • Yet: government grew (spending, deficits), family/community stability eroded by market forces, regional & racial inequality widened.
  • Provided ideological frame later embraced by Democrat Bill Clinton (NAFTA, welfare reform, balanced budgets) – evidence of a prevailing conservative consensus.

Overarching Themes & Connections

  • Collapse of Trust: Vietnam (credibility gap), Watergate, Church Committee undermined liberal belief in benign federal power.
  • Economic Shift: from Fordist manufacturing welfare-capitalism to globalized, finance-driven, service-sector economy.
  • Political Realignment: South & West move Republican; union/ethnic “Reagan Democrats” abandon New Deal coalition.
  • Culture Wars: civil-rights & feminist gains catalyze religious and suburban backlash (ERA defeat, abortion, school prayer).
  • Continuity & Change: Like FDR’s New Deal, Reaganism forged a durable paradigm; but 2008 crash & 21st-century populism suggest its limits.

Key Statistics & Dates (Quick Reference)

  • 19681968: Tet Offensive; MLK assassination; Nixon elected.
  • 19711971: First U.S. trade deficit; gold standard ended.
  • 19731973: Paris Peace Accords; OPEC embargo; Roe v. Wade.
  • 19741974: Nixon resigns; Ford takes office.
  • 19791979: Iranian Revolution; Soviet invasion Afghanistan.
  • 19801980: Reagan elected; top tax rate 70%70\%.
  • 19811981: PATCO fired; Economic Recovery Tax Act.
  • 19871987: INF Treaty with USSR.
  • 19881988: Reagan leaves office – debt ≈$2.7 trillion\approx \$2.7\text{ trillion}, top tax 28%28\%.

Concept Glossary

  • Liberal Consensus: mid-20th-century bipartisan faith in activist gov’t (New Deal → Great Society).
  • Stagflation: simultaneous ↑\uparrow inflation & ↑\uparrow unemployment; supply-shock driven (1970s1970s).
  • Supply-Side Economics: lower taxes + deregulation ⇒\Rightarrow increased investment ⇒\Rightarrow growth (a.k.a. trickle-down).
  • Détente: 1970s cooling of Cold War tensions (SALT I, Nixon–Brezhnev).
  • Vietnam Syndrome: post-1975 reluctance to commit troops abroad; Reagan sought to “kick” it.
  • Religious Right: coalition of evangelical Protestants & Catholics pushing socially conservative agenda post-Roe.
  • Neoliberalism: ideology favoring free markets, privatization, fiscal austerity, deregulation; global ascendancy 1980s1980s.

Ethical & Philosophical Implications

  • Balance of freedom vs. equality: shifting from government-provided social rights to market-mediated liberties favored affluent groups.
  • Democratic accountability: Watergate & Church Committee reaffirm rule of law (U.S. v. Nixon), yet Iran-Contra shows executive secrecy endures.
  • Human-rights universalism vs. realpolitik: Carter’s moral diplomacy versus Reagan’s anti-communist alliances with authoritarian regimes.
  • Economic justice: supply-side promised broad prosperity but delivered heightened inequality – raising questions of moral responsibility in policy design.

Analytical Takeaways for Exams

  • Be able to trace the erosion of the liberal consensus through Vietnam, Watergate, stagflation.
  • Compare/contrast Nixon, Carter, and Reagan on economic and foreign policy; note bipartisan drift rightward.
  • Explain how cultural issues (ERA, abortion, school prayer) intertwined with economic conservatism to forge a new coalition.
  • Discuss how Cold War objectives shaped (and sometimes contradicted) human-rights rhetoric.
  • Use key legislation, court cases, and numerical data (tax rates, union density, unemployment) to substantiate arguments.