1052 ★ CHAPTER 26 The Triumph of Conservatism
Taliban eventually came to power in Afghanistan. Tragically, they would prove
as hostile to the United States as to Moscow.
In an unsuccessful attempt to bring down inflation, Carter had aban-
doned the Keynesian economic policy of increased government spending to
combat recession in favor of high interest rates. He had cut back on social
spending and the federal government’s economic regulations, while pro-
jecting a major increase in the military budget. By 1980, détente had been
eclipsed and the Cold War reinvigorated. Thus, many of the conservative
policies associated with his successor, Ronald Reagan, were already in place
when Carter’s presidency ended.
THE RISING TIDE OF CONSERVATISM
The combination of domestic and international dislocations during the 1970s
created a widespread sense of anxiety among Americans and offered conserva-
tives new political opportunities. Economic problems heightened the appeal
of lower taxes, reduced government regulation, and cuts in social spending
to spur business investment. Fears about a decline of American power in the
world led to calls for a renewal of the Cold War. The civil rights and sexual
revolutions produced resentments that undermined the Democratic coalition.
Rising urban crime rates reinforced demands for law and order and attacks on
courts considered too lenient toward criminals. These issues brought new con-
verts to the conservative cause.
As the 1970s went on, conservatives abandoned overt opposition to the
black struggle for racial justice. The fiery rhetoric and direct confrontation
tactics of Bull Connor, George Wallace, and other proponents of massive resis-
tance were succeeded by appeals to freedom of association, local control, and
resistance to the power of the federal government. This language of individual
freedom resonated throughout the country, appealing especially to the grow-
ing, predominantly white, suburban population that was fleeing the cities and
their urban problems. The suburbs would become one of the bastions of mod-
ern conservatism.
Like predecessors as diverse as the civil rights and labor movements, conser-
vatives organized at the grass roots. In order to spread conservative doctrines,
they ran candidates for office even when they had little chance of winning, and
worked to change the policies of local institutions like school boards, town
councils, and planning commissions.
One set of recruits was the neoconservatives, a group of intellectuals who
charged that the 1960s had produced a decline in moral standards and respect