The History of American Conservatism: 1933-1980

Conservatism in America has come out as one of the dominant political ideologies defining our current modern political system. The present-day American conservative tends to be socially conservative, opposing hot-button cultural issues such as abortion, some LGBT rights, and euthanasia. They tend to be pro-business and pro-capitalism, and oppose expanded worker rights and communism. The typical American conservative typically supports limited government, with the exception of a strong national defense and security. They typically support gun rights, seek to defend “Western civilization” from its perceived threats, and tend to be skeptical of science. That is the current form of American conservatism that exists. How it became its current form is a long, complex story, and today we will take a look at the origins of conservatism in America, all the way up to Ronald Reagan being elected in 1980. 

Modern conservatism in America emerged with opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies in the 1930s. Conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats had a shared opposition toward the liberal and government-expanding president and often joined together in Congress to form a “conservative coalition” that would block Roosevelt’s legislative agenda. These legislators were often anti-labor and anti-big government, with a particular focus against civil rights reform by Southern Democrats and several Republicans. Following Roosevelt’s death in 1945, the conservative coalition played a role in blocking Harry S. Truman’s Fair Deal agenda and passing the anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. However, liberalism would remain the dominant ideology of the country.

Victorious President Harry S. Truman waves a newspaper displaying the erroneous Chicago Daily Tribune headline, “Dewey defeats Truman,” in 1948. Source: Getty Images

By Truman’s surprise victory in 1948, Democrats had swept five consecutive presidential elections. From 1933 to 1953, Democrats had controlled Congress eighteen out of twenty years. It was clear that conservatism was just a minority political ideology. Even as Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower won the 1952 and 1956 elections in a landslide, he continued the policies of the New Deal and even expanded on it, with the Republicans taking credit for the expansion of Social Security. However, the conservative movement continued to grow by rallying support against communism and perceived “socialist” policies of the New Deal, with figures such as William F. Buckley, Jr., leading the charge in the movement. Their chance at taking power would start with the Democratic Party becoming more and more open to the idea of civil rights for African Americans.

When the Democratic-controlled Congress passed the Civil Rights of 1964, banning racial segregation for good, their base in the South was angered. They had already been getting angrier at the Democrats when President John F. Kennedy declared his support for civil rights in 1963. Democrats in the South had fended off the Republican Party by stating they could only defend segregation since the Republicans nationally had been for integration. However, this argument had effectively been killed. Republicans saw an opening to portray themselves as the more conservative option over the Democrats in the South. As a result, Southern conservatives started defecting from the Democrats to the GOP.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, 1964. Source: AP

Senator Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, delivers a speech at the 1964 Republican National Convention. Source: AP

The controversial Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, seen as too conservative by most Americans, was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate in 1964. As such, many moderate and liberal Republicans refused to campaign for him. The election as a whole served as a repudiation of the modern conservative movement, with Democratic incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson winning 44 out of 50 states and over 60% of the popular vote. It appeared that modern conservatism had been dealt a killing blow. Goldwater, on his part, won five states of the Deep South in that election, earning the trust of many segregationists who applauded his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Despite his loss, the Republican Party and the conservative movement’s support in the South only grew stronger. Prominent Southern Democrats such as Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and John Connally of Texas switched to the GOP. The GOP would go on to dominate most presidential elections in the South from 1968 onwards in large part due to their Southern strategy which built support among white Southerners by appealing to racism. The conservative movement was buoyed by this, as a previously solidly Democratic bloc slowly shifted towards the Republicans in an effort to form a more united conservative front.

While Southerners were getting more dissatisfied with the Democrats and started to defect to the more conservative Republican Party, overall dissatisfaction among Americans with their government became a more prominent issue during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency. Despite the advancement of his liberal agenda, which was generally popular amongst the American public, the same could not be said about his foreign policy. Anti-war riots in American cities had broken out due to the continuation of the Vietnam War, and an impatient public demanded an end to the conflict. LBJ would forego a second term, and in the 1968 election, Republican Richard Nixon won by taking advantage of infighting within the Democratic Party. He campaigned on restoring law and order and a new style of leadership for the Vietnam War, appealing to a “silent majority” alienated by both Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey’s liberalism and third-party candidate George Wallace’s segregationism.

Nixon’s presidency did little to excite conservatives, who were angered by his detente policy with the USSR and China and his implementation of liberal programs such as affirmative action and the Environmental Protection Agency. His second term would be marred early on by the 1973 oil crisis, caused by an oil embargo imposed by the mostly Arab members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that were angered by the U.S.’s supporting of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. This crisis would trigger the beginning of public discontent with the Nixon administration which only grew as stagflation became a bigger issue.

Cars line up in two directions at a gas station in New York City on December 23, 1973. Source: AP

As public disapproval of Nixon grew, the 1970s would prove to be a period of growth for the conservative movement, which grew in popularity in response to the ongoing counterculture movement. Conservatives pointed to rising crime in cities as a failure of government policies and waged a cultural war against abortion (which had been legalized nationwide in 1973 by the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision), sexuality, and other issues they saw as the erosion of traditional norms. Conservatives would band together to launch a strong campaign to block the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would have guaranteed equal legal rights for all Americans regardless of sex. The Christian right became a major force in the conservative movement, emphasizing social conservatism. Throughout the 1970s, America as a whole shifted towards conservatism as a response to the perceived lawlessness and civil decline of the country. Conservatives attributed these to the influence of progressive policy and looked for a president who could solve their woes. However, Republican and Democratic presidents continued to implement liberal policies and programs, only adding to the conservative movement’s discontent. They continued to search for a president who would govern as a true conservative.

A protest in support of the Equal Rights Amendment in Washington, DC, 1978.

Everything changed, however, with the outbreak of the Watergate scandal. Five members of President Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign had broken into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington and had planted listening devices. Subsequent reporting by the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (with help from an anonymous source within the FBI known as “Deep Throat”) revealed that the Nixon administration had tried to cover it up. President Nixon ignored the allegations, and he would go on to win the 1972 election by a landslide. Still, the exposure to the scandal as public hearings conducted by the Senate and House Judiciary Committees only further the widespread corruption and abuse of power within the Nixon administration. The Nixon administration had attempted to kill the investigations, but it was too late. The public’s imagination and attention had been captured, and many were watching to see how the events in Washington would unfold. When it was discovered that Nixon had installed recording devices within the Oval Office, the administration resisted calls for the tapes to be released. Their release was eventually ordered by the Supreme Court, proving that the president himself had played a role in ordering the coverup. Facing near-certain impeachment, President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, leaving his vice president Gerald Ford in charge.

This scandal reverberated throughout the national and international consciousness, becoming such a resonating event that many scandals since then it became a common practice for the press to tag the suffix “-gate” to any scandal. Watergate served not only to create further scrutiny about the power of the executive branch but also to further disillusion Americans’ trust in their government. The new President Ford, who had risen through the ranks of his Republican Party due to his decency, integrity, and willingness to compromise, had the chance to bring the country back from the shadow and disillusionment of Watergate. He declared in his inauguration that “our long national nightmare is over”, and for a time it seemed that Ford would be a fresh face to lead the country in the wake of the scandal that had embroiled the United States for two years. However, President Ford would quickly squander any chance of moving on from Watergate by pardoning Nixon a month after his resignation. Ford told Americans that the former president and his loved ones had “suffered enough and will continue to suffer”, that the threat of prosecution was harmful to Nixon’s health, and that his trial would further divide the country and prevent it from moving forward. Americans by and large did not agree with his sentiment, with most polls showing that a majority of the public wanted Nixon to face punishment. Critics alleged that Nixon had made a deal for Ford to pardon him after his resignation. Even as Ford testified before Congress to say that this was not the case, the damage to Ford’s public image had been done. Voters would punish the president’s party with landslide losses in the 1974 midterm elections.

President Gerald Ford announces decision to pardon former President Nixon on September 8, 1974. Source: Ford Library

Ford also alienated many conservatives in his party through a series of executive decisions. He appointed former New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, who famously refused to endorse Barry Goldwater back in 1964, as his vice president. Conservatives opposed the compromises Ford made with congressional Democrats to address government spending and also his detente policies regarding the Soviet Union. The president’s willingness to seek bipartisan compromise rather than advance a conservative agenda left many conservatives disappointed and opposed to him. Coupled with the collapse of South Vietnam and the worst economy the country had seen since the Great Depression, dissatisfaction with the Ford administration’s crises and scandals was felt throughout the country. Many of the conservatives who felt alienated by Ford would go on to back former California governor Ronald Reagan in his quest to seize the Republican presidential nomination from Ford ahead of the 1976 election.

Former California Governor Ronald Reagan addressing the 1976 Republican National Convention as President Ford looks on. Source: Getty Images

Reagan, a former actor who had once been a Democrat, was known for his oratorical skill and adherence to conservative policies. He had been one of the few prominent politicians who remained steadfast behind Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election and had gained prominence with his “Time for Choosing” speech that outlined his belief in limited government. Ford fended off Reagan’s high-profile challenge, but nevertheless, Reagan’s position as a leader in the Republican Party was cemented. Meanwhile, despite his best efforts to claw away from a heavy polling gap, Ford would go on to narrowly lose the 1976 general election to Democrat Jimmy Carter, a former Georgia governor who campaigned on being a political outsider to Washington and swore to “never lie to the American people”. Ford would later cite the Reagan primary challenge as a factor in his loss. However, it was clear in that election that Americans were deeply tired of their current government, and as a result, they voted in an outsider to bring about change. Carter’s honest personality and lack of connection to Washington clicked with voters who perceived their government as rife with corruption and incompetence.

President-elect Jimmy Carter and Vice President-elect Walter Mondale attend a post-election press conference in Plains, GA. Source: Getty Images

Despite the initial promise of a Carter presidency, it was marked by continued economic troubles and inflation. Its first two years were defined by enormous stagflation due to the continued effects of a prior recession that had occurred during the Nixon and Ford presidencies. The situation would further worsen in early 1979, when an energy crisis developed as a result of the Iranian Revolution, leading to a drop in oil production and an ensuing increase in prices of crude oil. This led to fuel shortages throughout the world and in the United States, panicking the public that still had fresh memories of the 1973 oil crisis. Anxiety about energy availability only increased with the unrelated near-disaster at Three Mile Island in March 1979. Panic buying and long lines at gasoline stations ensued in a similar fashion to the situation six years ago. Public trust in the government was once again at historic lows. During efforts to overhaul his policies to address the oil crisis, Carter became convinced that Americans were facing a “crisis of confidence” as the result of the domestic turmoil that had characterized much of the 1960s and 1970s.

President Jimmy Carter’s motorcade leaves Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Station after the accident on April 1, 1979. Source: National Archives

On July 15, 1979, the president delivered a speech outlining his plans to call for long-term limits on oil imports and the development of synthetic fuels. In addition to these plans however, the central theme of his message was about this crisis of confidence, declaring it to be a “fundamental threat to American democracy” that could be seen in the “growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.” He said that “all the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with America. What is lacking is confidence and a sense of community.” While being correct about the American public’s recent attitude toward government, Carter’s “malaise” speech, as it would come to be known, was seen as lacking concrete solutions to tackle the oil crisis and instead as condescending. Many felt he was blaming the American public rather than trying to fix the crisis. Carter’s later decision to fire several Cabinet members as a way to project change was seen as projecting instability and indecisiveness. The 1979 Iranian hostage crisis and his responding grain embargo and Olympic boycott of the Soviet Union following its invasion of Afghanistan in 1980 only drove further the growing public opinion that the president was weak and ineffective. Carter’s presidency, which had started on the promise of restoring public trust in government, failed in regaining that trust.

Iranian students storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis.

With all the dismay and discontent with the Carter administration’s performance, conservatives were eager for another chance at the presidency. Over a week after the Iranian hostage crisis ignited, Ronald Reagan launched another bid for the presidency. In his announcement, he delivered a strong criticism of the Carter administration, calling its energy policies an “utter fiasco” and blaming government spending and deficit for high inflation. Reagan declared that the “citizens of this great nation want leadership…not a ‘man on a white horse’ demanding obedience to his commands.” He said that the American people “want someone who believes they can ‘begin the world over again.’ A leader who will unleash their great strength and remove the roadblocks government has put in their way.” Reagan, by delivering this speech, sets the theme of his 1980 campaign to put real leadership back in charge in the White House and finally deliver on the conservative agenda of limited government. Conservatives quickly rallied around Reagan, who captured the Republican nomination after some initially narrow races against former Central Intelligence Director George H.W. Bush (who would later be Reagan’s running mate) in the Republican primaries. Reagan was soon pitted against the incumbent Jimmy Carter, who survived a strong liberal challenge from Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts in the Democratic primaries. Reagan figured that he would win the election by putting a contrast between himself and Carter and that he would essentially win because he was not Jimmy Carter. Aided by Democratic dissatisfaction with Carter, a bungled attempt to free the hostages in the Iranian hostage crisis, and a worsening economy, Reagan slowly but surely narrowed the polling gap between himself and the president. While there were initial worries in the Reagan camp that the hostages in Iran would be freed prior to Election Day, this never materialized. A turning point that would aid Reagan immensely would be the sole debate between him and President Carter in October of 1980, where he brushed off Carter’s attempt to portray the Republican nominee as a dangerous right-wing extremist and as someone who would cut Medicare and Social Security. Toward the end of the debate, Reagan asked viewers if they were “better off now than you were four years ago”.

Carter and Reagan at the presidential debate. Source: PBS

The lone debate between Carter and Reagan achieved among the highest ratings of any television program in the previous decade. Americans felt inspired by Reagan’s optimistic and charismatic stride which was in pale contrast to Carter’s flailing presidency. The conservative movement was only buoyed by Reagan’s popularity, with evangelical Protestants becoming a core constituency of the Reagan camp. In spite of a third-party campaign by former Republican Lee Anderson aimed towards liberal Republicans alienated by Reagan’s conservatism, Ronald Reagan would win the 1980 general election in a landslide, carrying 44 of 50 states and 489 of 538 electoral votes. Republicans rode on his coattails, winning the Senate for the first time since 1952 and gaining seats in the Democratic-controlled House. Conservatives finally got what they had worked towards for the last few decades: a modern conservative president. By electing Reagan, Americans had voted for an end to the decades of dissatisfaction they had experienced under the last four presidents.

Ultimately, the resurgence of the conservative movement and Reagan’s 1980 landslide victory were the result of growing dissatisfaction with government combined with the unpopularity of liberal policies. Barry Goldwater had been defeated in a landslide in 1964 because of his conservative views. However, as Americans experienced the failures of the Vietnam War, an increase in crime and unrest, the scandals of Watergate, and years of economic struggle, Americans had had enough and voted for a man who espoused optimism and a way out of the turmoil. Exhausted from enduring years of unpopular presidents, America decided to elect a man who had been one of Barry Goldwater’s most prominent supporters. This demonstrates the journey of the modern American conservative movement from pariah status in 1964 with Goldwater’s landslide loss to becoming fully mainstream in American politics in 1980 with Reagan’s landslide. It is the wave of political and social upheaval that defined the 1960s and 1970s that made way for a conservative to finally get elected as President. Americans had enough and voted for a man who espoused optimism and a way out of the turmoil. Exhausted from enduring years of unpopular presidents, America decided to elect a man who had been one of Barry Goldwater’s most prominent supporters. This demonstrates the journey of the modern American conservative movement from pariah status in 1964 with Goldwater’s landslide loss to becoming fully mainstream in American politics in 1980 with Reagan’s landslide.