Moreno, Jennifer

25 April 2017

Period 1

Ap U.S. History

Ms. Montes

Investigate the World

Periodization 8 & 9

A New Conservatism and The Women’s Era

During the era in the United States between the years 1960 to 1989 there was a lot of

dissatisfaction with the U.S Government.Throughout that time period the Civil War had started

and ended and the U.S had also participated in the Vietnam War were they experienced a

crushing defeat. Furthermore, there were many cases in which the U.S citizens did not feel any

equality among themselves. Due to much dissatisfaction throughout the country a new

conservatism grew prominence in the U.S politics and culture, defending the traditional social

values and rejecting liberal view. The main reasons a new conservatism rose in the United States

during that era were; the neglection of the government to follow the States’ Rights, the fact that

none of the great ‘reforms” of past decades have achieved their objectives, the realization that

U.S citizens have learned to disrespect the family as God has established it, and the lastly being

that the U.S had forgotten that their purpose was to keep a world at peace by keeping America

strong.

The first reason a previously established was that the U.S parties are not loyal to the

States’ Rights. This was evident during the 1960’s when Franklin Roosevelt’s rapid conversion
from Constitutionalism to the doctrine of unlimited government.. “I am here concerned,” wrote

Barry Goldwater, a Republican senator from Arizona, in The Conscious of a Conservative. He

wrote that he was concerned and unsettled by the sudden change because of how this sudden

change change open mindedly approval by the Republican Party. “The result is that today neither

of our two parties maintains a meaningful commitment to the principle of States’ Rights.” His

purpose became clear once he wrote this, the fact that the Republican Party and Roosevelt were

so set on this new change showed how little they actually cared for the states’ Rights, the state

they are supposed to be dedicating their lives for, so the point given here is that in the past

tradition the States’ Rights were actually abided by. Two short years later the citizens of the U.S

saw how little their government had actually accomplished. “Which if any of the great “reforms”

of past decades has achieved its objective?” This question was imposed by Milton Friedman,

economist, and writer of Capitalism and Freedom, 1962. The sarcasm one gets from this

question is mind blowing, in the sense that it makes the audience actually think about all the

accomplishments the U.S. Government has failed to achieve. It also dawns the idea, and the

second reason, that any new reforms will be unsuccessful so it's for the best to go back to the

traditional ways.

So far it is evident to see that the rise of the new conservatism was partially due to the

lack of accomplishments and visions by the government, the politics. However, politics was not

the only factor involved. Infact, those who were dissatisfied with the actions the government had

been taking, are also counted as factors. “They have learned to disrespect the family as God has

established them.” The ‘they’ in this specific excerpt, by Jerry Falwell, television evangelist and

founder of the Moral Majority, are the U.S citizens. He is giving an enlightening point of view of

how the citizens have forgotten their culture. Of how the traditional ways have been forgotten
and how it is disgusting to see that people have forgotten their roots and should be reminded.

Finally, the last reason for the rise of the new conservatism was due to the fact that America had

forgotten their true goal. “..to preserve a world at peace by keeping America strong.” This goal

was written in the 1980 Republican Party Platform. This was written with single goal to remind

the U.S citizens of how America has fallen. “Never before in modern world history has the

United States endured as many humiliations, insults, and defeats as it has during the past few

year; our ambassadors murdered, our embassies burned, our warnings ignored, 0our diplomacy

scorned, our diplomats kidnapped,” all these reason listed for the fall of the United States shows

how our old traditions kept America stronger than it ever has been and ever will be.

Of course in every argument there is always an opposing side. In this case being that the

rise of the new conservatism is unneeded. “This letter is written to you by a law abiding citizen

who feels she is discriminated against in favor of dope addicts and welfare cheats.” This letter

was written to Nelson Rockefeller, Republican governor of New York on February 6, 1971.

What it's saying is that this new conservatism were to take place women would be discriminated

such as the woman that wrote this letter. In a sense it's saying that tradition is not always the best

thing for a person let alone a country. There was also another women during that era that felt the

same way as the person that wrote the letter. “I am pleased that God blessed me with the

privilege of being a woman. I have never been envious of the role of men but have had to respect

both sexes. There's no doubt that there was discrimination against, women, but that is past

history,...” THe person that wrote this quote was Teddi Holt, am homemaker, a member of

Georgia Stop ERA, and the national president of Mothers On the March, and was written in

1984. What she makes clear is the fact that she's happy the discrimination is over, that it's in the

past now, if she's relieved and happy it's over it's obvious she had a hard time going through it
and if you had a hard time going through something one wouldn't want to be put in that situation

again especially after having already overcome it. Once again showing that going back int

tradition would not be the best for all U.S citizens, women of course being included. Even after

realizing that a new conservatism might not be the right way to go it is impossible to think that

it's not because if you look at the current state of the United States, you can clearly see that going

back and restarted might be the solution.

Moreover, all the reasons that gave the push to a new conservatism are hard to ignore.

The U.S citizens want the new rise for a reason. The reason being that the U.S was not being

fulfilled politically or culturally. This is obvious to see during the era of 1960 between 1989

because it was the era of the freedom of the Gilded Age which was just a series of social

problems. During that time the U.S had gone through a civil war and participated on one that was

not their own which caused some controversy within the country. All in all, the idea of the a new

conservatism arising did give way to other successful ideas. Such as the Civil Rights Act and

Civil Rights Cases as well as that time period being the Women’s Era.