Based on your understanding of United States History in the twentieth and twenty-first century, how would you analyze, or assess, events, issues or movements affecting the American people over the past fifty (50) years? Discuss the topic that you choose in some detail, citing specific examples from the past to support your contemporary observations.
Different ways to approach this essay could be comparing and contrasting topics of the recent past with today, or perhaps examining how a topic from the last 50 years of U.S. History has evolved to the present. There are a number of subject areas one can consider for this essay, but in general the essay can be focused along such lines as political, social, economic and cultural history.
Be sure to highlight four to five specific examples about your topic in the historical analysis.
TOPIC: REACTIONARY CONSERVATISM IN NIXON, REGAN AND TRUMP ELECTION-draw parallels from the past to the 2016 election
Basically how we can draw parallels to the grassroots conservatism movement (Nixon and Regan presidential elections) to what happened in the 2016 election. Lyndon B Johnson was the president before Nixon and led to a lot of reforms that many people felt like were too much too fast. Nixon “brought back” conservatism. Jimmy Carter was pretty liberal for his time and after his presidency Regan became president and was super conservative. Obama was the first black president, his presidency really polarized democrats and republicans. A lot of people did not want him as president simply because he was black and this led to Trump winning the 2016 election.
BACKGROUND INFO
Historians debate the concepts of recent versus contemporary history. It is foremost a matter of perspective. Nonetheless, as people attempt to analyze events that take place in proximity to their own lifespans, the challenge of thinking critically and thinking historically is ever present. It requires attention to the three key elements essential to understanding the study of history – context, significance, perspective. This methodology is particularly important in analyzing the events of the past fifty years of American history.
A conservative movement in politics gained momentum in the 1970s and reached a high mark in the 1980s. It resulted in Republican victories at the national level, and reflected a growing mood among American voters toward a reassessment of the Great Society. However, many reforms promoting civil rights and economic and social opportunity continued to bring about a more inclusive America (Consider last portion of Chapter 28 – Liberal Reform in the Nixon Administration).
I. Grassroots conservatism: antecedents in the later 1940s; development in the late 50s and early 60s; vigorous in the South and West; popular with the suburban middle class; stemmed from Protestant morality, sense of individualism, and opposition to federal interference; manifested in fear of moral decline, southern hostility to racial change and opposition to taxes; became a challenge and alternative to liberalism gone wild belief of the Great Society
II. The Nixon Era – 1969-1974
* Richard Milhous Nixon (1913 – 1994): A man of humble origins – born and raised in Southern California( Yorba Linda – Whittier); life spanned most of the twentieth century; WWII veteran who entered national politics in 1946; served in the House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, as Vice-President;
* 37th. President (1969-1974): Victory in 1968 surprised many in the establishment; resurrection of a political career; Nixon a complex man – intelligent and ambitious; insecure and paranoid; success through diligence; hated by political opponents; Vietnam and Nixons presidency leave a lasting legacy on American politics; distrust of political leaders (politicians); media hostility to political opponents; partisanship (political polarization) into the future
* In office Nixon attempted to play both the moderate in policy and the new conservative in political practice; Nixons roots were in the traditional Republican mode of Reformers like Theodore Roosevelt and moderates like Eisenhower; moderate republicanism of Eisenhower lost sway by the seventies to the rising conservative movement; Nixon embraced conservatism for political advantage
* Nixon attempted to reshape the Great Society by shifting more responsibility for them to the States; nominated Warren G. Burger to replace Warren as chief justice; Burger considered a strict constitutionalist, yet the court upheld many of liberal programs of the 1960s; nonetheless, the Supreme Courts direction a major political cause for both conservatives and liberals
* The courts decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) limited the liberal position of affirmative action that had come out of the 1960s as an effort to raise up the historically underrepresented in American society; seen as a judicial victory for conservatives
* In politics,
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