Research Paper on:
1980s America

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
cyclical patterns. This was never more evident than in America of the 1980s. It was, at least on the surface, a carbon copy of a decade that had  passed into the annals of time sixty years earlier. The American people were weary of the liberal politics of Democrats like Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter. During both  eras, the nation had been preoccupied by foreign conflicts such as World War I and the Iran hostage crisis and longed to concentrate on the security and familiarity of home  and hearth. Enter charismatic Republican politicians Warren G. Harding and Ronald Reagan, who both were regarded as more style (appearance) than substance (intellect) (McElvaine, 1989). While Harding promised  the American public his administration would represent the Age of Normalcy, Ronald Reagan pledged he would lead the ethical crusade in "bringing America back" (McElvaine, 1989). A return to traditional  family values appeared to be a popular trend in the 1980s as it had been in the 1920s. For this reason, church attendance flourished and Christian fundamentalism became as  popular as the Southern Baptist movement of the 20s. The religious revivals were also led by mesmerizing leaders. In the 1920s, evangelists like Billy Sunday and Aimee Semple  McPherson were recruiting members almost solely on the basis of their personal magnetism. While they were preaching fire and brimstone sermons in newsprint and over the radio airwaves, their  1980s counterparts, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart and the flamboyant couple Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of the PTL Club, were delivering their messages from television pulpits, with family living rooms  serving as comfortable church pews. These televangelists were spreading the gospel while lining their own pockets with millions of dollars in solicited telephone pledges and private donations.