In the first fifteen years after the end of World War II, American citizens were generally content with the leadership of the federal government, the thriving economy, and the civility that conformity brought. There was a surge of new jobs in the white-collar industry, an extreme increase in the number of babies being born due to security and hopefulness for the future, and because of the booming economy there was a large increase in the move to suburban housing creating peaceful and safe neighborhoods. However, starting in 1960 and continuing until 1989, this state of well-being quickly became turmoil. As people broke out of the conformity of the fifties, there was an eruption of social change concerning feminism, the anti-war movement, counterculture, …show more content…
Scandals such as Watergate, the abuse of power in implementing social programs, and protests over foreign policy all started to convince people that they needed to replace their current ideals with ones that better confronted the confusion of the time. As a result of these social and political changes, there was a surge of conservative ideology rising among citizens who felt they needed to preserve their beliefs and prevent the continuation of the current government. Furthermore, in that turbulent thirty year time period, social divisions were becoming far too common creating fear and uncertainty among conservatives who enjoyed the tranquility of the 1950’s. Citizens held conflicting views on equal rights, the Vietnam War, domestic programs, youth defiance of tradition, religious morals, and numerous other debates. Due to this, a majority of people longed for peace and the limitation of social change and, in turn, a shift to conservatism. Namely, in 1980 Jerry Falwell, the evangelist founder of the Moral Majority, spoke of the state of rebellion among young people. He argued that the youth was void of discipline and had been introduced to drug culture (Doc 4). While he seems somewhat extreme, his reasoning is …show more content…
The debate over “Big Government” versus a limited government between conservatives and liberals at the time primarily concerned the government’s misuse of power. The executive branch failed to maintain checks and balances by allowing themselves more power in decisions regarding American citizens. In 1960, a conservative, republican Barry Goldwater stressed his concern over this issue in saying that both Republicans and Democrats too commonly tend to encroach on individual freedoms and engage themselves in activities in which they have no purpose (Doc 1). Later, when Lyndon B. Johnson became president in 1963, he materialized Goldwater’s fear by introducing his program Great Society that completely revolutionized domestic policy. While the “Big Four” main goals of Johnson’s program (aid to education, medical care for the elderly and indigent, immigration reform, and a new voting rights bill) were positive steps forward, many citizens at the time were extremely opposed to this much government intervention. This distress was expressed in 1971 when an angered citizen explained how welfare programs such as those of Great Society make her feel unsafe, discriminated against, and treated unfairly by “Big Government” (Doc 3).