- In 1976, America voted for Carter (77-81).
- He was a president of nostalgia from the 1950s, with a photogenic family and foursquare humility. He was pandering to conservatives
- that missed the ideals of the 1950s.
- Carter claimed that if he won the election, he would hold a White House ‘Conference on the Family’ to discuss reviving old values.
- After Carter’s inauguration the conference was renamed the ‘Conference on Families’ reflecting the growing diversity of American family
- types.
- Carter recognised this view and tried to win over some televangelists at a White House breakfast in January 1980. He failed to do so, and
- lost support of the Right who thought he was impeaching traditional moral values.
- Betty Friedan welcomed this rebranding and in her 1981 book, The Second Stage, she wrote that the conference recognised the most
- important shift in American life in the last 20 years: ‘women now work.’
- In 1950 26% of married women under 45 worked, by 1985 this was 67%.
- Friedan hoped that the conference would continue the work of the Johnson administration in expanding government aid to those
- struggling to get it in the new pecking order.
- Economic recession from 1973-75 made the task even more important.
- Carter’s conference was finally held in 1980 but it was dominated by polarising minorities of feminists and social conservatives.The Right
- Its delegates to the conference believed women’s best hope of liberation was marriage. And that their compassionate nature was
- perfect for motherhood.
The Feminists
- To the feminists this view was archaic. They boasted a larger number of delegates and were able to push platforms that endorsed
- abortion and gay rights.
- Their success gave them the illusion of political momentum.
However, the press and the public were swayed by the conservatives.
Outside the conference, well-known anti-feminist Connie Marshner told the media that:
‘families consist of people related by heterosexual marriage, blood and adoption. Families are not religious cults; families are not heterosexual or homosexual liaisons outside of marriage.’
This statement articulated the view of millions of Americans, that sexual revolution was destroying the concept of family itself.
Ronald Reagan
- With Carter out of the picture for the Right, they decided to make Reagan the candidate for the Republicans.
- Carter was beat in a landslide victory, and politics for the next 30 years was dominated by conservatism.
