Conservatism In The 1960's

Liberalism in the 1960’s was a combination of all things that were connected to politics and a passion for social reform. Politicians were ultimately voted into their office roles based on the promises they could make and the vote was also based on the support they had for different types of programs, such as welfare. However, the momentum of liberalism in the 1960’s was, in a way, superficial and therefore the movement would rapidly dwindle in the last few years of the decade.
For proof of how liberalism shifted the way political discourse occurred during the 1960’s in the United States, one should only have to look at the presidential election between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. As we take a closer look into this election, we can see that Kennedy was very liberal in his terms of government. He agreed with broad government intervention in all aspects of the economy and even into domestic life. However, Nixon was a strictly a conservative in his governing, but he was bound by the beliefs of the Republican Party which had ultimately adopted the liberalist position as their voting base. …show more content…
Kennedy’s first and foremost priority would be to get the economy back on its feet after the two recessions it had gone through under the Eisenhower presidency. One factor that helped Kennedy toward his goal of helping the economy would be his proposal for trade expansion which would be stimulated by lowering tariffs. This would be known as the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs, which was a program for economic planning and cooperation with the United States’ European trading partners. Kennedy also passed a tax reform that would, in the long run, shift the problem of taxation upward to individuals with a higher income and leave more revenue for the middle