30 Conservative America in the Ascent

1980–1991

For many conservatives, the 1980s dawned bright with the election of Ronald Reagan, whose charismatic personality and boundless optimism became a powerful vessel for spreading their political philosophy. Following the economic and political crises of the 1970s, Reagan’s unrelenting message was a well-timed antidote to the despair that had seized so many. His decisive elections in 1980 and 1984 confirmed for conservatives the power of their ideas as a repudiation of the liberal excesses of the Sixties Generation. Republicans targeted fiscal policy, cut taxes, and stripped regulations they claimed hampered free enterprise. With the support of evangelicals at his back, Reagan waged a social and cultural war to restore what conservatives described as traditional American values. Conservatives targeted pornography and drugs, supported the appointment of conservative judges to the federal bench, and opposed Roe v. Wade, the flashpoint case from 1973 that focused attention on abortion. Reagan’s Cold War rhetoric spurred a costly arms race that his supporters claimed led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Despite his popularity, Reagan and the conservatives he rallied were polarizing figures, and opponents chipped away at his legacy, waiting for opportunities to turn back the conservative tide.