Los Angeles: the long jump, 100-meter dash, 200-
meter dash, and 4 × 100-meter relay race. He de-
clared his intention to equal Jesse Owens’s 1936
feat of winning four Olympic gold medals. He met
this goal. Lewis won the 100-meter dash with a time
of 9.9 seconds; he won the long jump; he set a new
Olympic record for the 200-meter dash at 19.8 sec-
onds; and he anchored the winning 4 × 100-relay
race. His performance was so outstanding that it
may have led to his being drafted that year by the Na-
tional Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls and by
the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys.
After the 1984 Olympic Games, Ben Johnson
became Lewis’s chief competitor, and in the 1987
World Championships in Rome, Johnson won the
100-meter dash. Lewis’s suggestion that Johnson was
using drugs proved to be accurate, however, for in
the 1988 Olympic Games, Johnson tested positive
for steroids after again defeating Lewis. As a result of
the test, Johnson lost his gold medal, which was then
awarded to Lewis, who also received a silver medal in
the 200-meter event and a gold medal in the long
jump.
Impact Track and Field Newsnamed Carl Lewis the
Athlete of the Year in 1982, 1983, and 1984;Sports
Illustratednamed him the Olympian of the Century;
and the International Olympic Council deemed him
the Sportsman of the Century. He set world records
in the 100-meter dash and, with his team members,
in the 4 × 100-meter and 4 × 200-meter relay races.
He perhaps also bested Bob Beamon’s record in the
long jump, but a judge’s error prevented him from
achieving that feat; he did win sixty-five consecutive
long-jump events. Lewis played a large part in estab-
lishing track and field as a professional sport. Be-
cause of his aloof manner and lack of humility, he
was not a favorite with fans or with his colleagues, but
his achievements in the 1980’s were spectacular.
Further Reading
Klots, Steve.Carl Lewis. Philadelphia: Chelsea House,
2001.
Lewis, Carl, with Jeffrey Marx.Inside Track: My Profes-
sional Life in Amateur Track and Field.New York: Si-
mon & Schuster, 1990.
Thomas L. Erskine
See also African Americans; Olympic Games of
1980; Olympic Games of 1984; Olympic Games of
1988; Sports.
Liberalism in U.S. politics
Definition A political ideology that tends to
support progress, civil rights and liberties,
reform, social justice, and using the power of
the federal government to improve the general
welfare of the nation
During the 1980’s, liberalism was challenged, criticized,
and often defeated by the conservative ideologies of the Rea-
gan and Bush administrations. The liberal Democratic
Party retained control of the House of Representatives, but
it faced Republican control of the Senate from 1981 to
1986, the development of a conservative majority in the Su-
preme Court, and the growing influence of the Religious
Right in American politics, especially among southern
whites.
Republican victories in the 1980, 1984, and 1988
presidential elections influenced leading Demo-
cratic politicians, especially presidential candidates,
to avoid identifying themselves with liberalism. Pres-
ident Ronald Reagan’s landslide reelection in 1984
motivated some Democrats, such as future president
Bill Clinton and future vice president Al Gore, to es-
tablish the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)
in 1985. The DLC intended to develop more moder-
ate policy positions in order to make Democratic
presidential candidates more successful in future
elections.Liberalism in U.S. politics
the domestic policy legacy of the New Deal of the
1930’s, especially its support of social welfare pro-
grams and the interests of labor unions, and major
political movements and events of the 1960’s, espe-
cially concerning civil rights, Supreme Court deci-
sions on civil liberties, feminism, and opposition to
the Vietnam War. In general, liberals favor more
government intervention in order to reduce eco-
nomic inequality; achieve greater racial, ethnic, and
gender diversity in education and employment; and
improve environmental protection, consumer rights,
and public health and safety through regulation. On
social issues, such as abortion, school prayer, and
crime, liberals usually favor protecting individual lib-
erty and privacy, as well as stronger due process rights
for those accused of crimes. During the 1970’s and
1980’s, the enduring controversy of the Vietnam War
led many liberals to oppose high defense spending,
new nuclear weapons, and an aggressively anticom-
munist foreign policy, especially in Latin America.The Eighties in America Liberalism in U.S. politics 587