1 Helpful comments on an earlier version were offered by Beth Fischer, Alan Levy and Lisa Young. The author is responsible for errors of fact or interpretation.

2 See Gelb, Joyce, Feminism and Politics: A Comparative Perspective (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), 188, 190.Google Scholar

3 See Klein, Ethel, Gender Politics: From Consciousness to Mass Politics (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 See Gelb, Joyce and Lief Palley, Marian, Women and Public Policies (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987)Google Scholar, chap. 3.

5 See Gelb, Joyce and Klein, Ethel, Women's Movements: Organizing for Change (Washington: American Political Science Association, 1988)Google Scholar, 5.

6 For a comparative view of the American movement, see Sylvia Bashevkin, “Con fronting Neo-Conservatism: Anglo-American Women's Movements under Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney,” International Political Science Review 15 (1994), 287–308.Google Scholar

7 Faludi, Susan, Backlash: The Undeclared War against American Women (New York: Doubleday), 1991.Google Scholar

8 Ibid., xviii.

9 For an early account of the Reagan impact, see Virginia Sapiro, “The Women's Movement, Politics and Policy in the Reagan Era,” in Dahlerup, Drude, ed., The New Women's Movement (London: Sage, 1986), 122–139.Google Scholar

10 See Dorrien, Gary, The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture, and the War of Ideology(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993);Google ScholarHimmelstein, Jerome L., To the Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990);Google Scholar and Conover, Pamela Johnston and Gray, Virginia, Feminism and the New Right (New York: Praeger, 1983).Google Scholar

11 According to Dorrien (The Neoconservative Mind, 1), neo-conservative intellectuals referred to what they saw as the “countercultural perversion” of progressive politics.

12 Two of the largest-budget feminist organizations based in Washington—the Fund for the Feminist Majority (also with offices in Los Angeles) and EMILY's List—were founded during the Reagan years.

13 Cannon, Lou, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991)Google Scholar, 73.

14 Ibid., 56.

15 Beth Fischer, seminar at the Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, January 14, 1994.

16 See Tiefer, Charles, The Semi-Sovereign Presidency: The Bush Administration's Strategy for Governing without Congress (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994).Google Scholar

17 Shull, Steven A., A Kinder, Gentler Racism? The Reagan-Bush Civil Rights Legacy (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E.Sharpe, 1993)Google Scholar, 83.

18 Cannon, President Reagan, 234.

19 See Reagan, Ronald, An American Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 205–206.Google Scholar Cannon (President Reagan, 109) notes that Carter never actually used the term “malaise.” See also Cannon, President Reagan, 830.

20 Reagan, An American Life, 219.

21 Ibid., 205, 219.

22 Ibid., 67.

23 For portions of Reagan's 1964 speech, see ibid., 141–43.

24 See Cannon, President Reagan, 74.

25 Reagan, An American Life, 189.

26 See Cannon, President Reagan, 48, 75, 518–19.

27 Reagan, An American Life, 189.

28 Cannon, President Reagan, 56.

29 Reagan, An American Life, 337.

30 See ibid., 337, as well as Cannon, President Reagan, 153, for differing views of this argument.

31 Cannon, President Reagan, 92, 162.

32 Reagan speech dated June 1981, as quoted in Shull, A Kinder, Gentler Racism?, 52.

33 See Cannon, President Reagan, chap. 12.

34 See Dorrien, The Neoconservative Mind, chap. 1.

35 See Cannon, President Reagan, 235, on “the competing priorities of the Reagan political coalition.”

36 See Joyce Gelb, “Feminism and Political Action,” in Dalton, Russell J. and Kuechler, Manfred, eds., Challenging the Political Order (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 137–155.Google Scholar On the development of the Canadian and British movements, respectively, see Vickers, Jill, Rankin, Pauline and Appelle, Christine, Politics as if Women Mattered (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993);Google Scholar and Banks, Olive, Faces of Feminism (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986).Google Scholar

37 NOW Statement of Purpose, adopted at organizing conference in Washington, D.C., October 29,1966, 1.

38 See Carabillo, Toni, Meuli, Judith and Bundy Csida, June, Feminist Chronicles,1953–1993 (Los Angeles: Women's Graphics, 1993), 31.Google Scholar

39 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, was founded in 1909. See ShuU, A Kinder, Gentler Racism?, 33–34.

40 “NOW Origins,” 1972 brochure, 2.

41 The full text of the ERA can be found in Mansbridge, Jane J., Why We Lost theERA (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986)Google Scholar, 1.

42 See Marx Ferree, Myra and Hess, Beth B., Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement (Boston: Twayne, 1985), 94–96.Google Scholar

43 See Evans, Sara M. and Nelson, Barbara J., Wage Justice: Comparable Worth and the Paradox of Technocratic Reform (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989).Google Scholar

44 See Tinker, Irene, ed., Women in Washington: Advocates for Public Policy (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1983).Google Scholar

45 See Evans, Sara M., Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left (New York: Vintage, 1979);Google Scholar and Freeman, Jo, The Politics of Women's Liberation (New York: Longman, 1974).Google Scholar On the blurring of radical and reformist streams, see Sapiro, “The Women's Move ment, Politics, and Policy in the Reagan Era,” 124.

46 See Friedan, Betty, The Feminine Mystique (New York: Dell, 1963);Google ScholarMillett, Kate, Sexual Politics (New York: Doubleday, 1970);Google ScholarFirestone, Shulamith, The Dialectic of Sex (New York: Morrow, 1970);Google Scholar and Brownmiller, Susan, Against our Will (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975).Google Scholar For a critique of Friedan's theoretical starting points, see Eisenstein, Zillah R., The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993)Google Scholar, chap. 8. In comparative terms. modern British feminist thought reflects more Marxist and Freudian/psychoanalytic starting points. See Lovell, Terry, ed., British Feminist Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990).Google Scholar

47 See Ferree and Hess, Controversy and Coalition, 84–90.

48 Ibid.

49 Roberta Spalter-Roth and Ronnee Schreiber, “Outsider Issues and Insider Tactics: Strategic Tensions in the Women's Policy Network during the 1980s,” 1993 manuscript, 1.

50 Ronald Reagan used this phrase in his farewell address. See Cannon, President Reagan, 836.

51 On Carter's appointments of women, see Shull,/4 Kinder, Gentler Racism?, 124.

52 See Ferree and Hess, Controversy and Coalition, 125.

53 Reagan's personal history was also at odds with his embrace of social conservatism. Reagan and Nancy Davis were both divorced when they married in 1952; the couple's daughter Patti was born after 7.5 months of marriage. See Cannon, President Reagan, 228.

54 Ibid., 812.

55 See Eisenstein, Zillah R., The Color of Gender: Reimaging Democracy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994),Google Scholar 121; and Faludi, Backlash, 273. According to one interviewee, Bush had been a donor to Planned Parenthood during his career on Capitol Hill.

56 Himmelstein, To the Right, 105.

57 Republicans had consistently endorsed the ERA since 1940. See Ferree and Hess, Controversy and Coalition, 119; and Faludi, Backlash, 236.

58 See, for example, Himmelstein's account of the efforts of Richard Viguerie in Tothe Right, chap. 3.

59 Reagan, An American Life, 232.

60 This position was in direct contrast to Reagan's emphases on deregulation and community volunteers, as well as his rejection of “special interests.”

61 On the growth of organized antifeminism, see Conover and Gray, Feminism and the New Right; Klatch, Rebecca, Women of the New Right (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987);Google Scholar and Dworkin, Andrea, Right-wing Women (New York: Perigee, 1983).Google ScholarAmerican Feminism and the Reagan/Bush Challenge 681

62 Midge Decter, as quoted in Dorrien, The Neoconservative Mind, 353. According to Dorrien, Decter was married to Commentary editor Norman Podhoretz (143).

63 Himmelstein, To the Right, 105.

64 For further details on case selection and coding procedures, see Bashevkin, “Confronting Neo-Conservatism.”

65 This pattern confirms other measures of movement activity in the US analyzed in Klein, Gender Politics; and in Costain, Anne N., Inviting Women's Rebellion: A Political Process Interpretation of the Women's Movement (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992).Google Scholar

66 See Gelb and Palley, Women and Public Policies; Gluck Mezey, Susan, In Pursuitof Equality: Women, Public Policy, and the Federal Courts (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992);Google Scholar and Simon, Rita J. and Danzinger, Gloria, Women's Movementsin America (New York: Praeger, 1991).Google Scholar

67 On Roe v. Wade, see Faux, Marian, Roe v. Wade (New York: Penguin, 1993);Google ScholarWeddington, Sarah, A Question of Choice (New York: Grosset/Putnam, 1992);Google ScholarMcCorvey, Norma with Meisler, Andy, I Am Roe (New York: Harper/Collins, 1994);Google Scholar and Mezey, , In Pursuit of Equality, chap. 10.Google Scholar

68 See Mezey, , In Pursuit of Equality, 245–247.Google Scholar

69 See ibid., 48–49; 61–62; 118; as well as Kenney, Sally J., For Whose Protection? Reproductive Hazards and Exclusionary Policies in the United States and Britain (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992).Google Scholar

70 On the ERA issue, see Mansbridge, , Why We Lost the ERA;Google ScholarFrances Berry, Mary, Why ERA Failed: Politics, Women's Rights, and the Amending Process of the Constitution (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986);Google ScholarHoff-Wilson, Joan, ed., Rights of Passage: The Past and Future of the ERA (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986);Google Scholar and Boles, Janet K., The Politics of the Equal Rights Amendment (New York: Longman, 1979).Google Scholar

71 See Noelle Norton, “Women Lawmakers, Reproductive Policy, and Congressional Anomie, 1969–1992,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, 1993, 2.

72 See Beam, David R., “New Federalism, Old Realities: The Reagan Administration and Intergovernmental Reform,” in Salamon, Lester M. and Lund, Michael S., eds., The Reagan Presidency and the Governing of America (Washington, D.C.: Arbor Institute Press, 1985), 415–442;Google Scholar and Wolf, Charles Jr, Markets or Governments: Choosing between Imperfect Alternatives (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1988).Google Scholar

73 See Katherine Teghtsoonian, “Neo-Conservative Ideology and Opposition to Federal Regulation of Child Care Services in the United States and Canada,” this JOURNAL 25 (1993), 115–16.

74 See Joseph Zimmerman, “Child Support: Interstate Dimensions,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, 1993, 13; as well as Sapiro, “The Women's Movement, Politics, and Policy in the Reagan Era,” 132.

75 See Shull, A Kinder, Gentler Racism?, 165. Reagan appointed William Rehnquist as chief justice, and Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy as justices of the Supreme Court. Bush's other Supreme Court appointment prior to Clarence Thomas was that of David Souter. Carter made no Supreme Court appointments. See ibid., 158, 162–63.

76 In addition, the legacy of presidential vetos from the Reagan years may have led groups to hold off on legislative initiatives (notably the proposed Violenceagainst Women Act) in anticipation of being turned back by the White House.

77 See Eisenstein, The Color of Gender, chap. 4; Mezey, In Pursuit of Equality, 253–62; Hinkson Craig, Barbara and O'Brien, David M., Abortion and American Politics (Chatham, N.J.: Chatham House, 1993)Google Scholar, chap. 6; and Friedman Goldstein, Leslie, The Constitutional Rights of Women: Cases in Law and Social Change (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989), 633–636.Google Scholar

78 See Shull.,4 Kinder, Gentler Racism?, 185–86.

79 Twenty open-ended interviews averaging one hour in length were conducted in Washington in March 1994, 18 by the author and two by a research assistant. Respondents included 18 women and 2 men who had a wide range of federal-, state-and local-level experience. Lists of respondents were drawn up based on the recommendations of three leading experts on the US women's movement, who were asked to identify significant groups and activists in each of the five policy areas. Daily newspapers and women's movement publications were consulted to document the length and extent of activism by each group and individual. Letters requesting interviews were sent by the researcher to identified respondents; a research assistant in Washington made follow-up telephone calls to set up meetings. Although each respondent had experience in a specific area, in all cases their knowledge and background extended to a number of other policy domains. Parallel methodologies were used to identify British and Canadian respondents.

80 White House pollsters were concerned about this factor during the 1984 presidential campaign, and tended to attribute Reagan's relative weakness among women to the state of the economy or foreign policy rather than to domestic social policy. See Mueller, Carol M., ed., The Politics of the Gender Gap (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1988);Google ScholarBolce, Louis, “The Role of Gender in Recent Presidential Elections: Reagan and the Reverse Gender Gap,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 15 (1985), 372–385;Google ScholarJohnston Conover, Pamela, “Feminists and the Gender Gap,” Journal of Politics 50 (1988), 985–1010;CrossRefGoogle ScholarGilens, Martin, “Gender and Support for Reagan: A Comprehensive Model of Presidential Approval,” American Journal of Political Science 32 (1988), 19–49;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Poole, Keith T. and Zeigler, L. Harman, Women, Public Opinion and Politics (New York: Longman, 1985).Google Scholar

81 This pattern is confirmed by data in Shull, A Kinder, Gentler Racism?, 123, 162–63. As secretaries of labor, Elizabeth Dole and Lynn Martin were considered to be moderates in the Bush cabinet.

82 In terms of Senate confirmation, Bork was an unsuccessful and Thomas a successful Supreme Court nominee.

83 For confirmation of this pattern in published research, see ibid.; Sapiro, “The Women's Movement, Politics, and Policy in the Reagan Era,” 130; and Orfield, Gary and Ashkinaze, Carole, The Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 8–9.Google Scholar

84 The 1988 Civil Rights Restoration Act was largely a response to civil rights and women's rights losses in the courts, notably in the Grove City case. See Shull, , A Kinder, Gentler Racism?, 83–87.Google Scholar

85 See Sapiro, “The Women's Movement, Politics, and Policy in the Reagan Era,” 130; and Faludi, Backlash, 238, 276, 405.

86 See Evans and Nelson, Wage Justice, 4, 40–41.

87 On the diffusion of comparable worth policies at state and local levels, see ibid., 3–4. On abortion rights activism, see Staggenborg, Suzanne, The Pro-Choice Movement: Organization and Activism in the Abortion Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991)Google Scholar, part 4; and Craig and O'Brien, Abortion and American Politics, chap. 9.

88 EMILY's List, an acronym for “Early Money Is Like Yeast,” was founded in 1985 by Ellen Malcolm as “a donor network and political resource for pro-choice Democratic women.” In 1992, pro-choice Republican women created WISH List, an acronym for “Women in the Senate and House.”

89 See Clyde Wilcox, “Why Was 1992 the ‘Year of the Woman?’ Explaining Women's Gains in 1992,” in Elizabeth Adell Cook, Sue Thomas and Wilcox, Clyde, eds., The Year of the Woman (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994)Google Scholar, 10; and Weddington, A Question of Choice, 264.

90 For a variety of interpretations, see Morrison, Toni, ed., Race-ing Justice, Engendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality (New York: Pantheon, 1992).Google Scholar

91 See Carabillo et al., Feminist Chronicles, 151.

92 Movement activists in 1994 were primarily concerned about the reproductive health dimensions of health care reform.

93 These strategic tensions were reflected in a number of other areas not cited in the text. For example, feminists divided over their endorsement of the established party system versus support for a new, third party to the left of the Democrats. See Faludi, Backlash, 271, 277. They also split over how to get more women elected; moderates tended to carefully target viable feminist candidates, while radicals were willing to “flood the ticket” with lots of women in the belief that most would be pro-feminist.

94 This legislation was initially introduced as H.R. 2020, the Parental and Disability Leave Act, by Democratic Representative Patricia Schroeder, of Colorado, in 1985, and had been altered significantly in response to opposition by some business groups. See Frances Berry, Mary, The Politics of Parenthood (New York: Viking, 1993), 161–162.Google Scholar

95 Clinton also moved to permit fetal tissue research, abortions in US military hospitals and development of a hormonal product known as RU-486. See Carabillo et al., Feminist Chronicles, 153.

96 On this failure to overturn Hyde Amendment limits on abortion funding, see ibid.

97 On changes in public office holding, see Cook, Thomas and Wilcox, eds., The Year of the Woman. It should be noted that record numbers of US women elected in 1992 hardly constituted a breakthrough in comparative terms. See Nelson, Barbara J. and Chowdhury, Najma, eds., Women and Politics Worldwide (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).Google Scholar

98 See Gelb, “Feminism and Political Action.”

99 See Nelson, Barbara J. and Carver, Kathryn A., “Many Voices but Few Vehicles: The Consequences for Women of Weak Political Infrastructure in the United States,” in Nelson, and Chowdhury, , eds., Women and Politics Worldwide, 738–757.Google Scholar

100 On Hatch's legislative record, see Berry, The Politics of Parenthood, 177–90; and Pollack Petchesky, Rosalind, Abortion and Woman's Choice (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1990)Google Scholar, chap. 7.

101 See Bashevkin, “Confronting Neo-Conservatism.”

102 See Sniderman, Paul M. and Piazza, Thomas, The Scar of Race (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993).Google Scholar

103 Orfield and Ashkinaze, The Closing Door, 5.

104 For comparative measures of movement momentum in the period prior to the elections of Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney, see Bashevkin, “Confronting Neo-Conservatism.”