An Ongoing Debate

"I believe that sensible, practical programs to rebuild our cities, conserve our energy and natural resources, find jobs for the unemployed, feed the hungry and clothe the needy, can be designed and carried out. But such programs have not often been forthcoming, perhaps because they would involve major changes in our priorities and life styles." Harrison A. Williams, Jr., Commencement address, Seton Hall University, 17 May 1975.

Although a liberal program encompassing the expansion of civil rights, economic opportunity, environmentalism, access to education, and other policies advanced through the 1960s and 1970s, dissent was always present. By the end of the 1970s, this dissent over liberal programs, along with dissatisfaction with the nation’s foreign affairs, ongoing economic crisis, energy costs, and cultural upheavals, led to a political shift favoring a conservative ideology and the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President in 1981. The correspondence presented here provides a sense of the debate over liberal policies leading to the election of 1980. In their familiar issues and arguments, over 30 years after Reagan’s election, we find the continuing influence of Great Society liberalism, points of opposition to it, and the present opportunity to join in the enduring themes of political debate in America.