A retrospective look at the crisis of the 1970s which contributed to the rise of the the Conservative movement—as a pivot between two different eras in the history of U.S. capitalism and by extension US labor relations—are not just an exercise in nostalgia. Rather, it is an opportunity to try to extract lessons from these crises, and to apply them to our current situation. The 1970’s were in fact a turning point in public sector labor relations. This turning point has had long ranging effects on how states and municipalities deal with public sector unions.
“It is important to understand the driving force that compelled American conservatives to become practically engaged in the worlds of politics, education, the courts, and the culture— namely, the force of reaction”. (That ‘70’s Crisis, 2013) As the 1950’s ended Conservatives believed they had no choice but to fight against what was happening in their country and in the world and what was happening was largely the result, in one way or another, of the Left. Things were going wrong and needed to be fixed: the advance of Communism, the expansion of the welfare state, overregulation of free-market capitalism, the growing power of labor unions, activism in the courts, sexual permissiveness, crime, and the breakdown of the family, not to mention the deterioration of our schools. “What the Left saw as progress, conservatives saw as decline—and in reaction they searched for practical solutions”. (First Principles 2013)
During the next two decades—the 1960s and ’70s—conservatives became increasingly influential in politics, conservative organizations grew, financial resources were developed, new periodicals were founded, and a vibrant youth movement in...
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...ision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike That Changed America. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
McCartin, Joseph A “A Wagner Act for Public Employees”: Labors Deferred Dream and the rise of Conservatism, 1970-1976. The Journal of American History; June 2008
Schulman, Bruce J. The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics. New York: Free, 2001. Print.
Taylor, Evelyn S. P. A. T. C. O. and Reagan: An American Tragedy : The Air Traffic Controllers' Strike of 1981. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2011. Print.
"What Can the Crisis of U.S. Capitalism in the 1970s Teach Us about the Current Crisis and Its Possible Outcomes?" That '70s Crisis. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
Killing Reagan is a book written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The book’s focus is to take readers behind the scenes, through the life and times of Ronald Reagan. From his Hollywood days to his days in presidency, near-death experience, and the nearly impossible obstacles he had to overcome in order to carry out the duties as a man and as President of the United States. The authors wanted to create a portrait of a “great man operating in violent times”, and that they did.
The paper will discuss minicases on ‘The White-Collar Union Organizer’ and ‘The Frustrated Labor Historians’ by Arthur A. Sloane and Fred Witney (2010), to understand the issues unions undergo in the marketplace. There is no predetermined statistical number reported of union memberships in this country. However, “the United Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) excludes almost 2 million U.S wages and salary employees, over half of whom are employed in the public sector, who are represented at their workplaces by a union but are not union members. Not being required to join a union as a condition of continued employment, these employees have for a variety of reasons chosen not to do so. Nor do the BLS estimates include union members who are currently unemployed” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p.5). Given this important information, the examination of these minicases will provide answers to the problems unions face in organizational settings.
The rise of the new Republican party can be seen through the Presidency of Richard Nixon and more specifically the events chronicled in the documentary film, “The Day the 60’s Died”. This film demonstrates the growth of the antiwar movement on United States college campuses at the height of the Vietnam War .
Works Cited "American President Ronald Wilson Reagan: Impact and Legacy." Miller Center. University of Virginia, n.d. -. Web. The Web.
Throughout the history of the United States of America the continuation of misfortunes for the workforce has aggravated people to their apex, eventually leading to the development of labor unions.
In the late1960’s American politics were shifting at a National level with liberalism being less supported as its politics were perceived as flawed, both by people on the left who thought that liberalism was not as effective as more radical political enterprises and by conservatives who believed that liberal politics were ostensibly crippling the American economy.
Wallerstein, M. & Western, B. 2000. Unions in Decline? What Has Changed and Why? Annual Review of Political Science. 3: 355-377.
Howell, John. "The Regressives: Unraveling the Progressive Movement." Conference Papers -- Southern Political Science Association (2009 Annual Meeting 2009): 1. Political Science Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed January 29, 2014).
The 1960s and 1970s helped shape the conservative movement to grow in popularity and allowed conservatives to enjoy modern benefits such as economic prosperity and consumerism without conforming to liberal ideologies. The period of strong conservative support, the 1960s, usually refers to the time frame between 1964 through 1974. The grass roots mobilization started strong with the help of Orange County's middle-class men and women volunteers. The effort and hard work of these people along with economic support from businesses such as the National Review helped to spread conservative philosophy. Other contributions to the effort include community meetings, film showing, handing out pamphlets, and Fred Schwarz's school of anti-communism to inform Southern Californians of communist threat. Among anti-communism, conservatives also believe in the importance of religion, a restrictive government role, upholding traditional American values, and private business prosperity. The ethos upheld by long-time residents along with a heavy migration of people who would later join right-wing conservatism made Orange County the ideal location to enrich and expand the movement.
Stedman, M. S. "American Political Parties as a Conservative Force." Political Research Quarterly 10.2 (1957): 392-97. JSTOR. Web. 23 May 2014.
The Sixties, by Terry H. Anderson, takes the reader on a journey through one of the most turbulent decades in American life. Beginning with the crew-cut conformity of 1950s Cold War culture and ending with the transition into the uneasy '70s, Anderson notes the rise of an idealistic generation of baby boomers, widespread social activism, and revolutionary counterculture. Anderson explores the rapidly shifting mood of the country with the optimism during the Kennedy years, the liberal advances of Johnson's "Great Society," and the growing conflict over Vietnam that nearly tore America apart. The book also navigates through different themes regarding the decade's different currents of social change; including the anti-war movement, the civil rights struggle, and the liberation movements. From the lunch counter sit-in of Greensboro, N.C. in 1960 and the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Black Power movement at the decade's end, Anderson illustrates the brutality involved in the reaction against civil rights, the radicalization of some of the movement's youth, and the eventual triumphs that would change America forever. He also discusses women's liberation and the feminist movement, as well as the students' rights, gay rights, and environmental movements.
Starting during the 1970s, factions of American conservatives slowly came together to form a new and more radical dissenting conservative movement, the New Right. The New Right was just as radical as its liberal opposite, with agendas to increase government involvement beyond the established conservative view of government’s role. Although New Right politicians made admirable advances to dissemble New Deal economic policies, the movement as a whole counters conservativism and the ideologies that America was founded on. Although the New Right adopts conservative economic ideologies, its social agenda weakened the conservative movement by focusing public attention to social and cultural issues that have no place within the established Old Right platform.
Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of these things. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fight against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.
President Reagan, at the time in the beginnings of his second term, had successfully maintained overall a high approval rating with the American people. He had won their trust and respect by being quite relatable to the average citizen (Cannon). He had planned that evening to give his State of the Union address, but instead postponed it. The tragedy that had unfolded just hours earlier demanded his complete attention (Eidenmuller 29).
Throughout American history, labor unions have served to facilitate mediation between workers and employers. Workers seek to negotiate with employers for more control over their labor and its fruits. “A labor union can best be defined as an organization that exists for the purpose of representing its members to their employers regarding wages and terms and conditions of employment” (Hunter). Labor unions’ principal objectives are to increase wages, shorten work days, achieve greater benefits, and improve working conditions. Despite these goals, the early years of union formation were characterized by difficulties (Hunter).