Unit 2H.2 - The USA, 1955-92: conformity and challenge
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History for Edexcel A Level: Democracies in change: Britain and the USA in the twentieth century
Summarised, condensed, easy to understand revision notes for the Republican Dominance and its Opponents, 1981-92 section
Contains only the content covered in the 2022 summer exams (reduced content)
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The Religious Right and its critics, cultural challenge and social change
Chapter 4 republican dominance and its opponents, 1981-92
April 17, 2022
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2021/2022
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history a level
edexcel history
conformity and challenge
1981 92
republican dominance and its opponents
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Unit 2H.2 - The USA, 1955-92: conformity and challenge
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4 Republican dominance and its opponents, 1981-92
2 The Religious Right and its critics
Introduction - Raegan’s election victories of 1980 and 1984 were largely due to
his policies on taxation and the role of government, and his
opposition to 1960s permissiveness and his advocacy of
traditional family values
- His social conservatism won him the support of right-wing voters
who mobilised in the late 1970s to oppose social changes that had
occurred since the 1960s – the Religious Right
The beliefs - Sought to promote a socially conservative agenda
of the - Included Catholics such as Schlafly and Protestants such as
Religious LaHaye, whose 500,000 Concerned Women for America
Right membership outnumbered members of the liberal NOW by the
mid-1980s
- Disliked the counter-culture of the 1960s, sought conformity to
‘traditional family values’
- Increased the polarisation of American politics and society in the
‘culture wars’ through campaigns to promote traditional family
values
- Insisted these values could be maintained if women were
homemakers who avoided abortion, extramarital affairs or pre-
marital sex, seeing the male as head of the family
- Affected the outcome of presidential elections – many of the
Religious Right voted for Reagan in 1980 and 1984 and Bush in
1988, hoping they would promote traditional family values and
oppose abortion, homosexuality and drug taking
The - Promoted traditional family values through organisations, the
promotion of media and support for conservative politicians
traditional - Baptist minister Falwell demonstrated his social conservatism
family through his ‘Old Time Gospel Hour’ which was broadcast on 225
TV stations and 300 radio stations weekly in the 1980s – ‘pro-life,
values
pro-family, pro-morality and pro-American’
- Falwell raised millions for Reagan’s campaign and it is estimated
his Moral Majority registered around 2 million voters
The Religious Right opposed
- Feminism – blamed for damaging paternal authority and
weakened the family
- Divorce – doubled between 1965-85 from 25 to 50% of all
marriages
- Mothers working – less than 50% of women were housewives,
believed this adversely affected family life
- Equal Rights Amendment
- Drugs
- Abortion and Roe v. Wade – 4 abortions for every 10 births
between 1974-77
- Sexual liberalisation – 1 million unmarried couples lived together
by 1980
- Unmarried mothers – commonly relied on welfare payments, 18%
in 1980 to 28% by 1990
- Homosexuality
- Popular culture’s preoccupation with sex
- Pornography
- Teaching of sex education in schools, despite worrying about
increased teenage pregnancy rates
, 4 Republican dominance and its opponents, 1981-92
Republicans and the promotion of traditional values
- Religious Right looked to conservative politicians to promote
traditional values and Republicans quickly responded
- Reagan is the most influential politician associated with the
Religious Right
- Emphasised his disgust with the 1960s permissiveness and his
opposition to feminism and the Equal Rights Amendment in his
election campaign of the 1980s
- ‘Morning Again in America’ advertisements played on traditional
family values
- Supported school prayer and believed creationism should be
taught in schools – a biblical account of the origins of the Earth
and life that is on it
- Promoted traditional values through a successful judicial strategy
which was an important victory for social conservatism –
nominated nearly 400 conservatives judged ‘Reaganised’ the
judiciary and helped compensate his failure to win congressional
approval for his conservative social agenda
- Appointed over 50% of the federal judiciary
- Bush ensured ¾ of federal judges were conservative Reagan or
Bush appointees by 1992
- Religious Right were disappointed with Reagan in his presidency
o Said he wanted constitutional amendments to ban abortion
and restore prayer in public schools but failed to get 2/3
majority in Congress and they felt he did not try very hard on
these issues
o Failed to endorse the Family Protection Act which called for
the prohibition of abortion, restoration of school prayer, tax
breaks for stay at home wives and mothers and Congress did
not pass it
The Religious Right and the Supreme Court
- Court became more conservative on many issues e.g. frightened
liberals with decisions that seemed to be chipping away at Roe v.
Wade and abortion rights
- Religious Right was often dissatisfied with the Supreme Court,
specifically over school prayer and its refusal to overturn Roe v.
Wade
The The Religious Right’s campaign against abortion and the Supreme
campaign Court’s Roe v. Wade decision promoted values in several ways and to
against great effect:
abortion - Emotive mailings and slogans
- ‘Reformed’ sinners to advertise its causes e.g. former feminists
were encouraged to tell people that they had renounced feminism
- Enlisted the support of Republicans who sought their votes – even
moderate Republicans felt they had to oppose abortion and Bush
changed his stance to please conservative Republicans despite
initially being pro-choice, saying in his 1988 campaign ‘abortion is
murder’
- Appropriated civil rights movement tactics, including ‘rights’
language that emphasised the rights of the unborn child
- Operation Rescue’s sit-ins – slogan was ‘If you believe abortion is
murder, act like its murder’, activities became increasingly
involved in illegal activities such as trespassing clinics, 50,000
, 4 Republican dominance and its opponents, 1981-92
members arrested and jailed between 1988-89
The federal government and abortion
- Divisions over abortions within government reflected divisions
among the public
- Reagan persuaded Congress to fund ‘chastity clinics’ where
women would be encouraged to avoid sex
- Reagan’s judicial appointments resulted in several Supreme Court
rulings that hindered abortions e.g. Webster v. Reproductive
Services of Missouri (1989) the Supreme Court ruled that Missouri
could deny women access to public abortion facilities
- Bush nominated Souter following Breannan’s retirement from the
Supreme Court in 1990, whose views on abortion were unknown
- Reagan’s appointment of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme
Court in 1981 upset the Religious Right because she had a record
of sympathy towards women in need of abortions
- After Webster, the Religious Right hoped many states would
follow Missouri’s example and deny women access to public
abortion facilities, but only 3 states did
The - Religious Right and majority of Middle America opposed
campaign homosexuality as part of their campaign for a return to ‘traditional
against moral values’
homosexuali - Antigay groups such as the Umbrella Voice emerged after the
campaign for gay rights
ty
- Campaign against homosexuality gained further support from the
mid-1980s with the spread of AIDS
Leading campaigners against homosexuality
- Baptist minister Robertson
o Set up ‘The 700 Club’ – a Christian news and TV programme
o Promoted traditional values
o Established the Christian Coalition in 1989 which lobbied
against gay rights and abortion
o Pro-school prayer
- Concerned Women for America
- Falwell and his Moral Majority
- Campaigners won support in the courts and at state level
- In 1986,the Supreme Court supported a Georgia law that
criminalised anal sex, and 24 other states and Washington had
similar laws against what they called ‘deviant sexual intercourse’
The success of the campaigns
- Pressure on the courts and legislatures made access to abortion
more difficult
- Success is evident through the current problems facing those
seeking abortions in conservative states
- No issue of ‘murder’ in the campaign against homosexuality as
seen in the campaign against homosexuality meaning they could
not use intense emotions to win support
- Ineffectiveness of the campaign is indicated by the current
successes in the courts over the issue of same-sex marriage
Nancy - Religious right believed there was a huge drug problem in the
Reagan’s 1980s – ‘the American disease’
‘Just Say No’ - Recreational drug use had tripled since the 1970s
- 375,000 babies born addicted to cocaine or heroin
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