He is usually characterized as the leader of a broadly-based conservative movement whose ideas dominated national policy-making in areas such as taxes, welfare, defense, the federal judiciary, and the Cold War.

Other major conservative figures and organizations of the Reagan era include Jerry Falwell, Phyllis Schlafly, Newt Gingrich, and The Heritage Foundation.

During Clinton's presidency, Republicans won passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, a bill which placed several new limits on those receiving federal assistance.

For example, Kalman (2010) explores multiple crises of the 1970s that eroded confidence in liberal solutions: the rise of the Christian right and the reaction against the gay rights movement, feminism, and the Equal Rights Amendment, grassroots reactions against busing ordered by federal judges, the American defeat in the Vietnam War, the collapse of détente and fears of Soviet power, the challenge of imported cars and textiles, the deindustrialization of the Rust Belt, soaring inflation, stagflation, and the energy crisis, as well as the humiliation the nation suffered during the Iran hostage crisis and the sense of malaise as the nation wondered if its glory days had passed.

The 2016 election victory of President Donald Trump has stirred debate over whether his rise signifies the continuation of the Reagan era or represents a paradigm shift for American politics.

Skowronek compares Obama to former presidents like Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon, who governed at a time when their own party was generally in the minority at the federal level.

[7][8] Wilentz traces the start of the Reagan era to the Watergate scandal, which ended the presidency of Richard Nixon and created an opening for a new Republican leader.

[9] Along with the Watergate scandal, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, and poor economic conditions created widespread public alienation from political leaders in the mid-1970s.

A mass movement of population from the cities to the suburbs led to the creation of a new group of voters less attached to New Deal economic policies and machine politics.

Ford narrowly clinched the nomination at the 1976 Republican National Convention, but he lost the White House to the Democratic nominee, Jimmy Carter.

Many of these religious voters were swayed by the public campaigns of leaders such as Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority and Phyllis Schlafly, who opposed ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

[15] With the backing of many in the conservative movement, Reagan defeated establishment favorite George H. W. Bush, moderate Congressman John B. Anderson, and others in the 1980 Republican primaries.

Working with Congressman Jack Kemp, the Reagan administration introduced a major tax cut bill that won the support of enough Republicans and conservative Democrats to pass both houses of Congress.

[20] A strong economic recovery that began in 1983 boosted Reagan's approval ratings, and the administration argued that the tax cuts had been the primary factor in turning the economy around.

On election day, Reagan won 59% of the popular vote and carried 49 states, leading to speculation of a permanent realignment in U.S. politics towards the Republican Party.

Many of Bush's top foreign policy appointments, including National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, were realists who were influenced by Henry Kissinger.

While the Berlin Wall fell and other Soviet-aligned countries experienced turmoil, Bush pursued friendly relations with Gorbachev, which played a part in the Soviet Union's assent to the reunification of Germany.

After a long battle with the Democratic Congress, Bush agreed to sign the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, which contained a mix of tax increases and spending cuts.

[29] Even the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991 did not greatly help Bush, as many conservatives credited Reagan's policies for the collapse of the U.S. long-time rival.

[30] Bush won his party's re-nomination after defeating a challenge from right-wing commentator and former Reagan official Pat Buchanan in the 1992 Republican presidential primaries.

Perot ran a populist campaign that focused on opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement and Bush's failure to balance the budget.

In response, Clinton hired political consultant Dick Morris, who advocated a strategy of Triangulation between the Republican and Democratic members of Congress.

[40] Due to the strong economy, most Washington pundits viewed Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, as the early favorite in the 2000 presidential election.

[citation needed] In the 2008 presidential election, held in the midst of the financial crisis, Democrat Barack Obama defeated Republican John McCain.

The Soviet Union as an evil empire and the superiority of American values and technology are all themes both of Clancy's thrillers and Reagan's rhetoric.

It represented a significant retreat from a vision of society—the Keynesian welfare state—that had motivated state strategies to harmonise interests through social policy, to politically regulate the market economy and thereby reduce class and diverse social conflicts, and to promulgate for the state a tutelary role in securing business and trade union acquiescence (and less commonly approval) for a limited set of important economic policies.

[51][52][53][54][55] According to John Kenneth White, the Reagan era ended in the early 21st century, as typified by the election and reelection of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

The very rapid growth of immigration from Asia and Latin America changed the American population structure, and had a special impact on California.