Reference no: EM133472195

Case Study: In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan rode the wave of a powerful political movement often referred to as the "New Right," to contrast the more moderate brand of conservatism popular prevalent after World War II. By the 1980s, the New Right had evolved into the most influential wing of the Republican Party and could claim significant credit for its electoral successes. Building upon the gradual unraveling of the New Deal political order in the 1960s and 1970s, the conservative movement not only enjoyed the guidance of skilled politicians like Reagan, but drew tremendous energy from a broad range of grassroots activists. Countless ordinary citizens-newly mobilized Christian conservatives, in particular-helped the Republican Party steer the country onto a rightward course. American politics would increasingly be fought on terrain chosen by the New Right. However, the world beyond conservative America in the late-20th century continued to change. The changing world order of the late-20th and early-21st centuries brought about revolutionary technological change, unprecedented global flows of goods and people and capital, and a broad and unceasing "War on Terror." The last several decades of American history have culminated in an era of innovation and advancement but also of stark partisan division, sluggish economic growth, widening inequalities, widespread military interventions, and pervasive anxieties about the present and future of the United States. Through boom and bust, national tragedy, foreign wars, and the maturation of a new generation, a new chapter of American history will be written, and when it is, it will be based in part on sources such as these.

Question: Chapters 29 & 30 in American Yawp, highlight a growing divide among Americans of the late-20th and early-21st centuries in their vision of the world and America in the coming decades. As a student who has explored much of the journey the United States has traveled throughout the 20th century, please identify and describe two key challenges you see America facing in the early-21st century. Also, drawing upon your insights of American history from earlier in this course, offer two suggestions for how you would like to see the United States rise to meet the challenges -and opportunities- of the early-21st century.