America's Right Turn

The decline of New Deal liberalism and the resurgence of Republican conservatism that began with the 1968 election of Richard Nixon culminated in the 1980s in the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George Bush. In "America's Right Turn", historian William Berman examines the political, cultural and economic context in which Republican conservatives operated and explores the crisis of the liberal welfare state against the background of presidential politics. In seeking the reasons for the end to Democratic hegemony, Berman first acknowledges the key role played by conservative populism. He also examines the effect of the conservative backlash on the rights revolution. But most importantly, he shows how conservative politics became allied with conservative economics - an alliance forged with singular success during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Inflation and globalization had more to do with conservatism's success in 1980 than any other single factor, Berman contends, and Republican conservatives held the presidency through the decade largely because an improving national economy was working in their favour. After examining the Reagan administration's social and economic policies, as well as the reasons for liberalism's moribund state in the 1980s, Berman concludes with an analysis of how and why George Bush lost control of both the national political agenda and the White House in 1992. As the Clinton administration signals at least a partial return to the liberal agenda, "America's Right Turn" offers a thorough and useful survey of the quarter-century period of Republican ascendancy that has only recently ended.