Rise of the Conservative Movement

• Rise of Berry Goldwater in the 1964 election

• Reaction to:

  • New Deal liberalism and welfare state

  • Feminism

  • Legalization of abortion

    • Roe v. Wade - 1973

  • Sexual Revolution

  • Expansion of gay rights

  • Affirmative action policies

  • Drug use

• Belief that these issues were undermined

  • Family and religious values

  • Work ethic

  • National security

• “Moral Majority” movement, founded by Reverend Jerry Falwell

• Rise of the “religious right”

Election of 1980

• Election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 was an important milestone for the conservative movement

  • New Right

    • Opposed to a large federal government

• Conservatives argued against liberal programs

  • Opposed government entitlement spending

    • Felt counterproductive in fighting poverty and stimulation of economic growth

Reagan and the Economy

• Reagan favored supply-side economics

  • Reaganomics

  • Enacted significant tax cuts for the rich

  • Idea of trickle-down economics

• Supported deregulation of many industries

• Union membership continued to decline

  • Loss of manufacturing jobs

  • Anti-union policies

• Federal budget was not balanced

  • Increased defense spending and tax cuts

Reagan’s Foreign Policy

• Reagan asserted U.S. opposition to communism

• Speeches

  • Evil Empire Speech

• Limited Military Interventions

  • Grenada

• Diplomatic Efforts

  • The relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev led to a relaxation of tensions

• Military spending

  • Increased

  • Proposed Strategic Defense Initiative

    • Star Wars

Reagan Doctrine

• 1979 Nicaragua

  • A Marxist group known as the Sandinista led a revolt against pro-American right-wig dictatorship

• Reagan administration provided military aid to the Contras in their fight against the Sandinistas

  • Boland Amendment prevented further aid to the contras

• Grenada

  • Pro-Cuban regime came to power after a coup

    • 1983

      • Reagan sent a small force of marines to return the pro-U.S. government to power

• Iran-Contra Affair

  • Weapon sales to Iran funded Contras in Nicaragua

    • Illegal since it violated the Boland Amendment

    • Embarrassed, the Reagan administration

U.S. and the Soviet Union

• Mikhail Gorbachev began a series of reforms

  • Glasnost

    • Openness

    • Greater political freedom

  • Perestroika

    • Slowly implemented capitalist reforms

• Soviets pulled back in places such as Eastern Europe

• Arms control agreements

  • 1987

    • Intermediate-Range nuclear forces Treaty

End of the Cold War

• Factors

  • Political and economic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

  • Increased U.S. military spending

  • Reagan’s diplomatic initiatives

• Dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991

George W. Bush

• Elected in 1988

• Persian Gulf War

  • In 1990 Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait

    • U.S. led coalition removed Iraqi troops and liberated Kuwait

Conservative Supreme Court

• Contrast with the decisions of the Warren Court

• Conservative Sandra Day O’Connor, nominated to Supreme Court in 1981

  • First woman