THE RISING TIDE OF CONSERVATISM ★^1057bill passed by the Nevada legislature in 1979) directed at the federal govern-
ment. The roots of this “rebellion” lie as far back as the 1920s, when the U.S. For-
est Service announced plans to increase grazing fees and mineral rights in
national forests and other public lands. Nevada’s ranchers went to court to
block these fees but were rebuffed by the Supreme Court. In the 1970s, new
environmental regulations won fresh recruits to the movement. The Clean
Air Act alarmed western coal operators. Westerners who believed the environ-
mental policies of the Carter administration were closing the public domain to
exploitation eagerly supported Ronald Reagan’s presidential candidacy.
Using the language of freedom from government tyranny, leaders in west-
ern states insisted that the states themselves be given decision- making power
over issues like grazing rights, mining development, and whether public lands
should be closed to fishing and hunting. With the federal government reluc-
tant to give up control over public lands in the West, the Sagebrush Rebellion
had few concrete accomplishments, but it underscored the rising tide of anti-
government sentiment.
The Election of 1980
By 1980, Carter’s approval rating had fallen to 21 percent— lower than Nixon’s
at the time of his resignation. A conservative tide seemed to be rising through-
out the Western world. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became prime minister of
Great Britain. She promised to restore economic competitiveness by curtailing
the power of unions, reducing taxes, selling state- owned industries to private
owners, and cutting back the welfare state. In the United States, Ronald Reagan’s
1980 campaign for the presidency brought together the many strands of 1970s
conservatism. He pledged to end stagflation and restore the country’s dominant
role in the world and its confidence in itself. “Let’s make America great again,” he
proclaimed. “The era of self- doubt is over.”
Reagan also appealed skillfully to “white backlash.” He kicked off his cam-
paign in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers had been
murdered in 1964, with a speech emphasizing his belief in states’ rights. Many
white southerners understood this doctrine as including opposition to federal
intervention on behalf of civil rights. During the campaign, Reagan repeatedly
condemned welfare “cheats,” school busing, and affirmative action. The Repub-
lican platform reversed the party’s long- standing support for the Equal Rights
Amendment and condemned moral permissiveness. Although not personally
religious and the first divorced man to run for president, Reagan won the sup-
port of the Religious Right and conservative upholders of “family values.”
Riding a wave of dissatisfaction with the country’s condition, Reagan swept
into the White House. He carried such Democratic strongholds as Illinois,
Texas, and New York. Because moderate Republican John Anderson, running for
What were the roots of the rise of conservatism in the 1970s?