The Partys Domestic And Foreign Policy - 1232 Words

Neoconservativism has been defined as a political movement born in the United States during the 1960’s among Democrats who became disenchanted with the party s domestic and especially foreign policy. That is a fine definition if one grew up in that era and understood what was going on, or if everyone knew what the parties domestic and foreign policies were. However, not everyone can lay claim to either of those options as true to them. So one must take the time to understand the rise of this conservative movement. Once the understanding is established, you must be able to participate in polite happy hour conversation. Such as, what lead to the rise of conservatism, how it impacted the nation and how it is continuing to impact the nation?†¦show more content†¦While the sixties is often painted with the hippie and free love movement there was also a less publicized string of young conservatives popping up everywhere. These conservatives were anti-communism and against b ig government, they believed in the free market. Lyndon Johnson was elected President in 1964, by a landslide. He was practically unopposed. Barry Goldwater was his competitor, and while Johnson had the JFK assassination on his side, it was Goldwater’s crazy ideas about the Cold War that really made him so undesirable among the people. Extremism just wasn’t okay with the people. An important piece of all this information is that the Democrats won the votes of the â€Å"Solid South† during that election, which previously had been dependably Republican states. Race may be one of the largest factors for this. Democrats traditionally had been supporters of the Civil Rights movement, which caused many white southerners to abandon the Democratic Party. While the Goldwater election was the first that this was seen, it was the Nixon election that really took advantage of this. With the â€Å"southern strategy† the white men that left the Democratic Party were swo oped up and now a part of the Republican Party. Nixon was the Tough on Crime candidate, he also had the anti-hippie movement, the moral conservatives, and the anti-Civil Rights people. Nixon was resting easy, however as the next election drew near disaster for Nixon