United States version of European SOCIAL DEMOCRACY,
often associated with the economic theories of John
Maynard KEYNES. It began during the Progressive Era
around 1900 with federal laws regulating business
health and safety regulations, labor laws, and programs
for the poor. This was largely motivated by the Calvin-
ist or PURITAN social conscience of leaders like
Woodrow WILSON. During the Great Depression of the
1930s, Liberalism greatly expanded under President
Franklin D. ROOSEVELT’S NEW DEAL, which gave the
national government tremendous powers to regulate
business and citizens’ everyday lives. Massive federal
programs in welfare, education, public housing, de-
fense, highway construction, agriculture, banking, and
health care transformed the United States from a CAPI-
TALISTeconomy to a mixed public/private economy.
The New Deal Democratic Party coalition included
labor unions, blacks, Jewish Americans, CATHOLICS,
FEMINIST women, SOCIALISTS, and COMMUNISTS. This
coalition continued liberal policies in the presidential
administrations of John F. KENNEDY, Lyndon Johnson,
Jimmy CARTER, and William Clinton. A corollary liberal
movement in the U.S. Supreme Court, beginning
under Chief Justice Earl Warren in the 1950s, affected
much of U.S. CONSTITUTIONALlaw (toward liberal deci-
sions on ABORTION, FEDERALISM, criminal due process,
religious PLURALISM, and women’s, minority, and HOMO-
SEXUALrights). Corollary liberal movements in reli-
gion, education, art, and entertainment are described
by James D. HUNTER’s book Culture Warsas “progres-
sive” thought.
Liberalism dominated U.S. politics for about 50
years (1930–80). When the fiscal policies of high
federal taxes and government deficits caused econo-
mic recessions in the 1970s and liberal social policy
favoring minorities, and women (affirmative action)
prompted resentment, a CONSERVATIVEtrend entered the
United States with the presidency of Republican
Ronald REAGAN. Later, the Republican-dominated Con-
gress led by Newt Gingrich modified many liberal pro-
grams (welfare, health care, Social Security). Even
ideologically Liberal Democrat president Bill Clinton
compromised on many traditional liberal positions,
moderating the national party’s platform.
Further Readings
Burner, David, and West, Thomas R. The Torch Is Passed: The
Kennedy Brothers & American Liberalism,1st ed. New York:
Atheneum, 1984.
Filler, Louis. Crusaders for American Liberalism.Yellow Springs,
Ohio: Antioch Press, 1950.
Gettleman, Marvin E. The Great Society Reader: The Failure of
American Liberalism,Marvin E. Gettleman and David Mer-
melstein, eds. New York: Random House, 1967.
Hamby, Alonzo L. Beyond the New Deal: Harry S. Truman and
American Liberalism.New York: Columbia University Press,
1973.liberation theology
An approach to politics and religion (or CHURCH AND
STATE), first developed in Latin America by Gustavo
GUTIÉRREZ, which combines MARXISM-Leninism with
CHRISTIANITY. Adopting the imperialist theory of
V. I. LENIN, liberation theology asserted that the cause
of Third World poverty and oppression was CAPITALISM
in the advanced Northern Hemisphere nations
(Europe, the United States, Canada, etc.). Because
Christ identified with the poor, liberation theology
advocated that the church lead radical SOCIALISTrevo-
lutions in poor countries, establishing COMMUNISTsys-
tems (like Cuba, China) that would redistribute
wealth, expel imperialist powers, and achieve work-
ers’ DEMOCRACY.
A movement beginning in the Roman CATHOLIC
Church of South America, liberation theology spread
through that continent in the late 1960s and 1970s. It
contributed to the communist takeover by the Sandin-
ista government in Nicaragua. By 1980, more than
100,000 “base communities” of small revolutionary
groups that applied liberation theology principles to
their areas had emerged in South America. Radical
priests and nuns accepted Gutiérrez’s thesis, in his
book A Theology of Liberation,that the church could
not remain neutral in the social CLASSstruggle or leave
politics to the Catholic Church HIERARCHY. Even vio-
lent revolution was seen as a part of this radical reli-
gious “salvation in history.” The Bible was read
through Marxist-Leninist categories and revolutionary
“praxis” was seen as the only valid form of Christian-
ity. The official Catholic Church under Pope John Paul
II rejected this liberation theology, especially its por-
trayal of human sin in economic systems and classes
rather than individuals; though it also called for
greater social justice in the Third World.
Liberation theology entered the North American
churches through FEMINIST, black, and social-justice
movements, especially in the older Protestant denomi-
nations (Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, U.C.C.).
It cast Christian politics in terms of the social oppres-
sion of women and other minorities. Worldly power186 liberation theology