This chapter shows how the economic woes that followed Vietnam and the disillusion that grew out of the turmoil of political and social reform forced a reconsideration of the nation's limits. The optimism of the previous quarter-century, which led to a belief in the supremacy of American power and the boundlessness of economic prosperity, received a series of shocks during the 1970s. The trends discussed so far--the rise of the U.S. as an industrial nation and an international power, the growth of a consumer-driven economy, the debate over the meaning of equality and freedom, the role of government in regulating the economy and maintaining the welfare of its citizens--all remained central to the nation at the end of the twentieth century. More narrowly, this chapter explains a reaction to the events of the Vietnam Era and the Age of Limits. Ronald Reagan became one of the most visible leaders of the reaction: He wanted to rein in the programs of the Great Society and recommit the U.S. to an interventionist foreign policy. He and his advisers also believed that less government, not more, would reverse the economic slide that had weakened the nation during the 1970s. Conservatives generally objected to the liberal bias they perceived in the courts, media, and schools. These agendas became subjects of conflict that Bill Clinton inherited after his victory in 1992.
