Zach Cape
The Other Side of the 1960s: Barry Goldwater & the Rise of Postwar Conservatism
Major Questions
1. What did conservatives believe in the 1960’s?
2. How did they gain control of the United States government?
Conservatism: from the Political Fringe to the Halls of Power
1. The age of Liberalism- 1930’s – 60’s
2. “Liberalism” defined: individual rights and freedoms protected by “activist” government.
a. Liberalism’s roots: Progressivism and the New Deal
3. !950’s- Liberalism dominant… even among many Republicans
a. “Moderates”. Eisenhower, Rockefeller, Nixon
4. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Liberalism
a. Government support for civil rights
a.i. The “Great Society” and the “War on Poverty”
a.i.1. Departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development
a.i.2. Medicaid and Medicare
a.i.3. Head Start, Upward Bound
a.i.4. Job training, college loan programs
a.i.4.a. Allowed hundreds of thousands to attend college.
a.i.5. Food Stamps
a.i.6. “Keynesian” economics: government spending boosts economy
a.ii. Anticommunism
a.ii.1. The Conservative Backlash
Many different kinds of Conservatives
Core Conservative beliefs
Opposition to “Big Government” – Ex., Milton Friedman, Ayn Ran
Conservatives believed that the government had no obligation to protect rights except property rights.
Believed governments makes people Smooches off the government
Does not believe that poverty limits potential
If your poor it is because your “stupid” and “lazy”
Believed people with ambition and smarts will ALWAYS be wealthy.
Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand- key economists
Support for “Big Military”
Military spending increases dramatically
Fierce Anticommunism
Support for “traditional values,” conservative Christianity
Christians are devoted to traditional values
“Traditional Values” social made concept
Mistrust of Civil Rights
The Southern Strategy
Contempt for Republican Party Moderates
Barry Goldwater and the 1964