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Comparative Decades: Conservatism in the 1920s and 1980s
Comparitive Decades Handout

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 This lesson should introduce students to the ongoing issues of American conservatism and help them review the key concepts of the 1920s and 1980s. I use this lesson with my high school juniors after they have read about the 1980s. It helps them understand the appeal of Ronald Reagan, review both decades, and explore the nature of American conservatism.

Time Frame
This lesson should take one 45-minute period.

Student Objectives
Students will practice the techniques of comparative analysis and will review the events and concepts of 1920s and 1980s. The comparison of the two decades will help the students understand the appeal of Ronald Reagan and conservatism to various generations of Americans and to understand how or if it has changed since the 1920s. Students will be more prepared for similar comparative essays on the Advanced Placement or final exams.

Background
There are a number of obvious comparisons between the decades, as well as more subtle ones. Teachers should plan out ahead of time the key points they want to make, but should also rely on the students to come up with interesting comparisons. One of the best resources for planning this lesson will be the other articles in this magazine. Some of the comparisons that I like to discuss include:

• fiscal policy, including taxation and stock market crashes

• government scandals (especially the motives of the participants)

• foreign policy (arms control? isolationism? defense?)

• religious fundamentalism and evangelists (use of the media? scandals?)

• the law-and-order records of Governors Reagan and Coolidge

The first chapter of The Republican Ascendancy, by Michael Schaller and George Rising, (the source of the quote on the handout and the follow up question) provides interesting context and ideas for subsequent lessons, such as a discussion of the road from Barry Goldwater to Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich, or a follow-up decades comparison to the 1950s (was "Ike" really a conservative?). An alternative approach to this lesson would be to use it to introduce the 1980s and to present areas for further discussion and research, such as the life and career of Ronald Reagan.

Procedure
1. Pre-class preparation: Copy the handout front to back. Alternatively, the chart on the back could be drawn on the board or presented as an overhead, and the students could complete it in their notebooks.

2. Arrange desks in pairs or small groups.

3. Distribute the Comparative Decades Handout. Introduce the lesson by reading the introduction and discussing the questions.

4. Read and discuss the quotation, define the key terms, and brainstorm as a class about comparisons between the 1920s and 1980s.

5. Have students work in groups to fill in the chart on the back of the handout.

6. Discuss the charts as a class with each group presenting some of its key points.

7. I like to conclude the lesson with a question for thought: Having done this exercise, how do you explain the fact that Reagan voted against the conservative Republicans in 1932 and actually voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt in four consecutive elections? This question sets up a subsequent discussion on the changing party systems of the second half of the twentieth century.

Bibliography

The basic concept of this lesson comes from the first paragraph and first chapter of Michael Schaller and George Rising's The Republican Ascendancy: American Politics, 1968-2001 (Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 2002). Other useful books on the Republican ascendancy include Dan Carter's work, most notably From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counter-Revolution, 1963-1994 (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1996).

Ted Dickson teaches United States History and Advanced Placement United States History to eleventh-graders at the Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina. He earned his A.B. in history from Princeton University and his M.A. in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the 2002 recipient of the Organization of American Historians Tachau Precollegiate Teaching Award.