Timeline of modern American conservatism

Contents 1 Chronology of events 1.1 1930s 1.2 1940s 1.3 1950s 1.4 1960s 1.5 1970s 1.6 1980s 1.7 1990s 1.8 2000s 1.9 2010s 2 See also 3 Bibliography 3.1 Videos 4 Notes 5 External links

The Timeline of modern American conservatism lists important events, developments and occurrences which have significantly affected conservatism in the United States. Since the 1950s, conservatism has been a major influence on American politics. The movement is most closely associated with the Republican Party. Economic conservatives favor limited government and low taxes, while social conservatives focus on moral issues and neoconservatives focus on democracy worldwide. Most give strong support to Israel.^[1]

Although conservatism has much older roots in American history, the modern movement began to jell in the mid-1930s when intellectuals and politicians collaborated with businessmen to oppose the liberalism of the New Deal, led by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, newly energized labor unions, and big city Democratic machines. After World War II that coalition gained strength from new think tanks and writers who developed an intellectual rationale for conservatism.^[2]

Chronology of events

1930s

As the nation plunges into its deepest depression ever, Republicans and conservatives are pummeled by a series of electoral blows in 1930, 1932 and 1934, losing more and more of their seats. Liberals (mostly Democrats with a few Republicans and independents) come to power with the landslide 1932 election of liberal Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his first 100 days Roosevelt pushes through a series of dramatic economic programs known as the New Deal.^[3]

1934

• Opposition to New Deal policies first takes shape as the American Liberty League. Led by conservative Democrats, such as Al Smith, it fades after Roosevelt's 1936 landslide and disbands in 1940.^[4][5] Businessmen begin organizing their opposition especially to labor unions.^[6]

1936

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt calls his opponents "conservatives" as a term of abuse, they reply that they are "true liberals".^[7]

1937

• Roosevelt's court-packing plan alienates conservative Democrats.^[8]
• Conservative Republicans (nearly all from the North) and conservative Democrats (most from the South), form the Conservative Coalition and block most new liberal proposals until the 1960s.^[9]
• The Conservative Manifesto (originally titled "An Address to the People of the United States") rallies the opposition to Roosevelt. It is drafted by Senator Josiah W. Bailey (D-NC) and Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-MI).^[10]
• The liberal AFL and more leftist CIO labor federations are both growing and both support FDR. However their bitter feud over jurisdiction, produces numerous strikes, angers public opinion and weakens their political power.^[11]

1938

• The Republicans make major gains in the House and Senate in the 1938 elections.^[12] Conservatives had been energized in 1937-38, and liberals discouraged, by the a souring of Roosevelt's political fortunes, as his allies in the AFL and CIO battled each other; his Court packing plan was a fiasco; his attempt to purge the conservatives from the Democratic Party failed and weakened his stature; and the sharp Recession of 1937–1938 discredited his argument that New Deal policies were leading to full recovery.^[13]
• Leo Strauss (1899–1973), a refugee from Nazi Germany, teaches political philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York (1938–49) and the University of Chicago (1949–1958). He was not an activist but his ideas have been influential.^[14]

1939

• As Republican Senator from Ohio (1939–53) Robert A. Taft leads the conservative opposition to liberal policies (apart from public housing and aid to education, which he supported). Taft opposed much of the New Deal, American entry into World War II, NATO, and sending troops to the Korea War. He was not so much as an "isolationist" but more a staunch opponent of the ever-expanding powers of the White House. The growth of this power, Taft feared, would lead to dictatorship or at least spoil American democracy, republicanism and civil virtue.^[15]

1940s

1940

• April: Peter Viereck's article "But—I'm a Conservative!" is published in the Atlantic Monthly^[16]

1943

• Medical missionary Walter Judd (1898–1994) enters Congress (1943–63) and defines the conservative position on China as all-out support for the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-sheck and opposition to the Communists under Mao. Judd redoubled his support after the Nationalists in 1949 fled to Formosa (Taiwan).^[17]
• The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) founded in Washington "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate."^[18]

1944

• Friedrich Hayek, a British libertarian economist, publishes Road to Serfdom, which is widely read in America and Britain. He warns that well-intentioned government intervention in the economy is a slippery slope that will lead to tight government controls over people's lives, just as medieval serfdom had done.^[19] Hayek wins the Nobel Prize in economics in 1974.^[20]
• Liberal icon Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to fourth Presidential term, defeating liberal Republican Tom Dewey, governor of New York. Conservatives blame big city bosses and labor unions PACs (Political Action Committees).^[21]

1945

• Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) having fled Nazis, becomes professor of economics at New York University (1945–1969) where he disseminates Austrian School libertarianism^[22]

1946

• Milton Friedman (1912–2006) appointed professor of economics at the University of Chicago.^[23] Previously a Keynesian, Friedman moves right under the influence of his close friend George Stigler (1911–1991). He founds the market-oriented Chicago School of Economics which reshapes conservative economic theory. Stiger opposed regulation of industry as counterproductive; Friedman undermines Keynesian macroeconomics.^[24] Friedman wins the Nobel Prize in 1976; others of the Chicago School who win the Nobel in Economics include Stigler, Ronald Coase (b. 1910); Gary Becker (b. 1930); and Robert Lucas, Jr. (b. 1937), among others.
• November 5: Republicans score a landslide victories in the House and Senate in off-year elections, and set about enacting a conservative agenda in the 80th Congress.^[25]

1947

• June 23: Passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, designed by conservatives to create what they considered a proper balance between the rights of management and labor.^[26]

1948

• Deep South Democrats lead by Strom Thurmond split from the National Democratic Party to form the pro-segregation States' Rights Democratic Party or Dixiecrat party. They are protesting support for civil rights legislation in the party platform. They make Thurmond their nominee for president in the election. Nearly all return to the Democratic party in 1949.^[27]
• Scholar Richard M. Weaver publishes Ideas Have Consequences
• June: Liberal Republican Tom Dewey again wins the Republican nomination, to the frustration of conservatives.^[28]
• November 2: Pundits are astonished when Dewey loses to incumbent Democrat Harry S. Truman in the presidential election in what is considered the greatest election upset in American history.

1950s

1950

• February 9: Senator Joseph McCarthy gives a speech saying, "I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party." This would be the beginning of McCarthy's anti-communist pursuits.
• Conservatism reaches a low ebb in the U.S. Lionel Trilling observes that "liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition", and dismisses conservatism as a series of "irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas."^[29][30]

1952

• Dwight D. Eisenhower leads moderate and liberal Republicans to victory over Sen. Robert A. Taft, the conservative champion.^[31] Ike then wins the presidency in a landslide by denouncing the failures of the Truman Administration in terms of "Korea, Communism and Corruption."^[32]

1953

• Four major conservative works that would influence modern conservatism in the United States published: Daniel J. Boorstin's The Genius of American Politics, Peter Viereck's Conservatism: From John Adams to Churchill, Russell Kirk's The Conservative Mind, and Robert Nisbet's Quest for Community'^[33][34]
• Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is founded by libertarian journalist Frank Chodorov (1887–1966) to counter the growing spread of collectivism; its original name was Intercollegiate Society of Individualists.^[35]

1955

• The National Review weekly magazine is founded by William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925–2008). The editors include representative traditionalists, Catholics, libertarians and ex-Communists. The most notable were Russell Kirk, James Burnham, Frank Meyer, Willmoore Kendall, L. Brent Bozell, and Whittaker Chambers.^[36]
• Russian-born philosopher Ayn Rand (1905–1982) publishes her novel Atlas Shrugged that influenced libertarians by promoting aggressive entrepreneurship, and rejecting religion and altruism.^[37]
• In The liberal tradition in American, Louis Hartz claims that there has never been a European-style conservative tradition in America, and that the sole mainstream tradition is Lockean liberalism.^[38]

1958

• Businessman Robert W. Welch Jr. (1899–1985) founds the John Birch Society, an anti-Communist secret group with chapters across the country. Welch used an elaborate control system that enabled him to keep a very tight rein on each chapter. Its major activities were circulating petitions and supporting the local police. It became a favorite target of attack from the left and was disowned by many of the prominent conservatives of the day.^[39]
• In a deep economic recession the Democrats score a landslide victory, defeating many old-guard conservative Republicans. The new Congress has large Democratic majorities: 282 Democrats to 154 GOP in the House, 64 to 34 in the Senate. Nevertheless, the new Congress fails to pass any major liberal legislation as most committee chairs are Southern Democrats who support the Conservative Coalition.^[40]

• Two Republicans score upsets in the face of the landslide, liberal Nelson A. Rockefeller as governor of New York, and Barry Goldwater as Senator from Arizona; both become presidential prospects

1960s

Movement conservatism emerged first as grassroots activists emerged in reaction to liberal and New Left agendas. It developed a structure that supported Goldwater in 1964 and Reagan in 1976-80. By the late 1970s local evangelical churches had joined the movement.^[41][42]

1960

• Conservatives are angered when GOP presidential nominee Richard M. Nixon strikes a deal with liberal leader Nelson Rockefeller. Nixon agrees to put all 14 of Rockefeller's demands in the party platform, including promises that the executive branch be totally reorganized and that Rockefeller's liberal policies on economic growth, medical care for the aged and civil rights be included.^[43] Led by Goldwater, conservatives vow to organize at the grass roots and take control of the GOP.^[44] Nixon loses a very close election to liberal Democrat John F. Kennedy.

• Barry Goldwater publishes The Conscience of a Conservative. The book reignites the American conservative movement which rallies behind the charismatic Arizona Senator.^[45]
• Buckley forms a youth group called the Young Americans for Freedom; it helps Goldwater win the 1964 nomination but is otherwise ineffective and collapses in internal bickering.^[46]
• Frank S. Meyer's article, "Freedom, Tradition, Conservatism", published in Modern Age, argues that traditional conservatism and libertarianism share a common philosophical heritage. The concept comes to be known as "fusionism" and unites the two strands of thought.^[47]

1961

• Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) founded by Pat Robertson; its signature program The 700 Club launches in 1966.^[48]

1962

• English political philosopher Michael Oakeshott publishes Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, securing his position as one of the most important conservative thinkers of the 20th century.^[49]

1963

• Governor of Alabama, Democrat George Wallace, electrifies the white South by proclaiming "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" Wallace's angry populist anti-elitist rhetoric appeals to the poor farmers and workers who comprise a major part of the New Deal Coalition. He does well in Democratic primaries in the industrial North as well as the rural South. He exploits distrust of government, racial fear, anticommunism and a yearning for "traditional" American values.^[50]

1964

• Goldwater defeats a series of liberal contenders to win the GOP presidential nomination and launch a conservative crusade. He is defeated in a massive landslide.^[51]
• The American Conservative Union, the oldest conservative lobbying organization in the United States is founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.
• George Wallace gives a speech condemning the Civil Rights Act of 1964, claiming that it would threaten individual liberty, free enterprise and private property rights and that "The liberal left-wingers have passed it. Now let them employ some pinknik social engineers in Washington, D.C., To figure out what to do with it."^[52]
• The American Spectator monthly political magazine is founded by Emmett Tyrrell; its name until 1977 was The Alternative: An American Spectator.^[53]

1965

• Buckley gains national attention by running for mayor of New York City on the ticket of the new Conservative Party of New York State. He loses but gains visibility and respectability for the cause in the aftermath of Goldwater's defeat.^[54]

1967

• Phyllis Schlafly launches the Eagle Trust Fund, a precursor to the conservative think tank Eagle Forum.

1969

• Libertarian economists, especially Milton Friedman and Walter Oi, lead the intellectual charge against the draft. Nixon abolishes it as the Vietnam War ends in 1973.^[55]
• The libertarians, influenced by Ayn Rand, split from the traditionalists in the Young Americans for Freedom. They form the Society for Individual Liberty.^[56]

1970s

Neoconservatism emerges as liberals become disenchanted with Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society welfare programs. They increasingly focus on foreign policy, especially anti-Communism, and support for Israel and for democracy in the Third World.^[57]

1970

• November 3: James Buckley elected as United States Senator for New York with 39% of the vote, running as a candidate for the Conservative Party of New York.^[58]

1971

• December 11: Libertarians meeting at the home of David Nolan organize the Libertarian Party which nominates John Hospers for president in 1972. John Hospers receives one electoral vote from a faithless elector.^[59]

1972

• Phyllis Schlafly forms the "STOP (Stop Taking Our Privileges) ERA" movement; it blocks passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.^[60]

1973

• The American Conservative Union and Young Americans for Freedom start the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as a "small gathering of dedicated conservatives."^[61]

• Socialist Michael Harrington popularizes^[62] the term "neoconservative" for liberals who switch on foreign policy and domestic issues.^[63]
• February 16: The Heritage Foundation is founded by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner and Joseph Coors.^[64]
• May: In response to the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, the National Right to Life Committee is formed, the oldest and largest pro-life organization in the United States.^[65]

1974

• Robert Grant founds the American Christian Cause as an effort to institutionalize the Christian Right as a politically active social movement.^[66]
• January 22: The first March for Life, in Washington, attracts 20,000 supporters.

1976

• Commentary, a monthly Jewish magazine on politics, foreign policy, society and cultural issues that began as a liberal voice in the 1940s moves sharply to the right in the 1970s under editor Norman Podhoretz. It becomes an influential voice for Israel, anti-communism and neoconservatism by 1976, and supports Reagan in the 1980s.^[67]

1977

• Focus on the Family is founded by psychologist James Dobson.^[68] The New York Times later calls Dobson "the nation's most influential evangelical leader."^[69]
• The Save Our Children movement is formed by celebrity singer Anita Bryant to oppose the gay rights movement.^[70]

1978

• Robert Grant, Paul Weyrich, Terry Dolan, Howard Phillips, and Richard Viguerie found Christian Voice, to recruit, train, and organize Evangelical Christians to participate in elections. Grant later ousts the others.^[71]
• June 6: California unleashes a tax revolt, with Proposition 13 to limit property taxes, promoted by Howard Jarvis (1903–1986), a long-time activist. The movement was backed by the United Organizations of Taxpayers, the Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association, and realtors' associations.^[72] Preconditions included steadily rising property taxes, "stagflation" and growing anger at government waste. California's tax revolt was followed by 30 other states.^[73]

1979

• February: Irving Kristol is featured on the cover of Esquire under the caption, "the godfather of the most powerful new political force in America -- neoconservatism."^[74]
• June: Jerry Falwell founds Moral Majority, a landmark in the entry of Evangelicals into the conservative political coalition.^[75] Some consider this to be the birth of the Christian Right.^[76][77]

1980s

The decade is marked by the rise of the Religious Right and the Reagan Revolution. A priority of Reagan's administration is the rollback of Soviet communism in Latin America, Africa and worldwide.^[78] Reagan bases his economic policy on supply-side economics, also known as "Reaganomics".

1980

• April 29: Washington for Jesus marches in support of Reagan's positions on social issues as Pat Robertson brings together a theologically diverse coalition of charismatics, Pentecostals, Southern Baptists, and other evangelicals.^[79]

• November 4: Ronald Reagan is elected president running on a "Peace Through Strength" platform. He would serve two presidential terms (1981–1989). Republicans capture the Senate for the first time since 1952.

1983

• The International Democrat Union, an international alliance of conservative and liberal conservative political parties, is founded in London at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and American Vice President George H. W. Bush.^[80]

1984

• Ronald Reagan wins the presidential election in a landslide, winning 525 electoral votes; his opponent, Democrat Walter Mondale, won only 13.

1986

• October 22: Congress enacts the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the second of the "Reagan Tax Cuts". The act simplified the tax code and broadened the tax base.

1987

• June 12: In Berlin, President Reagan announces American terms for ending the Cold War, challenging Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!"; Gorbachev allows the Berlin Wall to come down in November 1989, ending Soviet control over Eastern European satellites.^[81]
• Pat Robertson (b. 1930) an Evangelical minister founds the Christian Coalition, which becomes a prominent voice in the Christian Right. Robertson also telecasts news and commentary on his own network, the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), founded in 1961. He runs poorly in the 1988 GOP presidential race and withdraws.^[82]

1988

• August 1: The Rush Limbaugh Show debuts on Premiere Radio Networks and will become the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States.^[83]
• November 8: George H. W. Bush is elected president.

1990s

Conservative think tanks 1990-97 mobilize to challenge the legitimacy of global warming as a social problem. They challenge the scientific evidence; argue that global warming will have benefits; and warn that proposed solutions would do more harm than good.^[84]

1991

• October 15: Clarence Thomas, a black Republican, is confirmed as a Justice of the Supreme Court after extremely controversial hearings that focus less on his strongly conservative beliefs than his relationships with one of his aides, Anita Hill, who accuses him of sexual harassment.^[85]

1992

• November 3: George H. W. Bush is defeated by Bill Clinton in the presidential election. Bush had alienated much of his conservative base by breaking his 1988 campaign pledge. "Read my lips: no new taxes.

 He also seemed much more interested in foreign affairs than domestic concerns.[86]

1994

• September 27: The Contract with America is released on the steps of the United States Capitol.^[87]
• November 8: Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, led by conservative Newt Gingrich. The takeover was dubbed the Republican Revolution.^[88]

1996

• September: Congress passes and Clinton signs the Defense of Marriage Act. Supporters of gay marriage try to repeal it in 2011.^[89]
• October: Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch launches Fox News Network. Its strong appeal to conservative viewers on cable TV soon gives it more viewers than arch-rival CNN.^[90]

1998

• September 16: Christopher W. Ruddy starts conservative new website Newsmax.com.^[91]

2000s

George W. Bush embodies what he describes as compassionate conservatism. Works with Congress to pass major tax cuts, "No Child Left Behind" (accountability in public schools), and drug payments for elderly as part of Medicare. The terror attack on September 11, 2001 reorients the adminsistration towards foreign policy and terrorism issues, providing an opportunity for neoconservatives to have a greater influence on foreign policy.

2001

• January 20: George W. Bush becomes president after highly contentious recount in Florida.
• September 11: 9-11 terrorists attacks redefine conservative role in foreign policy. Americans of all stripes support War in Afghanistan.

2002

• Scott McConnell, Patrick Buchanan, and Taki Theodoracopulos found the paleoconservative magazine, The American Conservative.

2003

• The Bush administration launches the Iraq War based on indications that Saddam Hussein was supporting Al Queda and was actively pursuing weapons of mass destruction. To the surprise of the Bush administration he was no longer building such weapons.
• November 3: The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act is enacted.

2004

• November 2: Conservatives mobilize to reelect President Bush; he defeats John F. Kerry.^[92]

2005

• Bush pushes for private dimension to Social Security; it goes nowhere.^[93]

2006

• September 22: the first conference of the Values Voter Summit is held^[94]
• November 7: Democrats make major gains in off-year elections, attacking the unpopular war in Iraq and the bungling of Hurricane Katrina relief.^[95]

2008

• August 29: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin becomes the first woman on a national GOP ticket as nominee for Vice President.
• November 5. Democrat Barack Obama defeats Republican John McCain by 53% to 46%. According to an exit poll, self-identified Conservatives comprise 34% of the voters and support McCain 78%-20%. Liberals comprise 22% of the voters and support Obama 89%-10%. Moderates comprise 44% of the voters and support Obama 60%-39%.^[96]
• November 5: Proposition 8 which prescribes that marriage is between a man and a woman in California is passed with 52.2% of the vote.

2009

• September 12: A large turnout of conservatives join the Taxpayer March on Washington.^[97][98]
• The Tea Party movement is founded.^[99]

2010s

2010

• November 3: In the largest GOP gain since 1938, 2010 became one of the most important elections in conservative history^[100] as GOP candidates, fired up by Tea Party support, make major gains in midterm elections across the country for Congress, governorships and state legislatures. Conservative voters (self-identified) comprise 42% of the voters and support GOP House candidates 84%-13%. Liberals comprise 20% of the voters and support Democrats 90%-8%. Moderates comprise 38% of the voters and support the GOP 55%-42%.^[101]

See also

• Timeline of Black conservatism in the United States
• Timeline of the Christian right
• Movement conservatism‎
• Neoconservatism
• Timeline of libertarian thinkers
• Timeline of the Cold War
• Timeline of United States history
• Category:American libertarians

Bibliography

• Allitt, Patrick. The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities Throughout American History (2009)
• Carlisle, Rodney P. (2005). Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right. Sage Publications. ISBN 1412904099. 
• Congressional Quarterly. Congress and the Nation: 1945-1964 (1965); Congress and the Nation: 1965-1968 (1969); with new volumes every four years, 1973, 1977... etc. Highly detailed nonpartisan timelines of political activity in Washington.
• Critchlow, Donald T. The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Right Made Political History (2nd ed. 2011)
• Filler, Louis. Dictionary of American Conservatism (Philosophical Library, 1987)
• Frohnen, Bruce et al. eds. American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (2006) ISBN 1-932236-44-9, the most detailed reference
• Nash, George H. The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (1976)
• Schneider, Gregory. The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution (2009)
• Story, Ronald; Bruce Laurie (2007). Rise of Conservatism in America, 1945-2000: A Brief History with Documents. Bedford/St. Martin's. ISBN 0312450648. 

Videos

• Allitt, Patrick N. (2009). The Conservative Tradition (CD). The Teaching Co. ISBN 9781598035483. 

Notes

External links

• Timeline: Ronald Reagan's Life, PBS.ORG
• A brief history of the five kinds of conservatism

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