Discuss the causes and consequences of a conservative backlash among the silent majority of Americans by 1968. How was this conservatism different from the conservatism of the 1950s? How was it similar?  

"Silent majority" as a term was coined by Nixon to refer to those individuals who never participated in the demonstration against Vietnam and most of them included the middle income earners in the America, the consequence was that after thee actions, law and order rhetoric signal was applied to crack down on all these people who tried to challenge the status quo of the American society.

This conservatism of 1968 and that of 1950s were similar in the sense that it promoted a sense of oneness in the spirit of unity for a purpose, all these were seeking for options to make life better through the use of options that were available. In terms of differences, they sought different goals with regard to achievements on individual and group basis. The conservatives in 1968 were fighting for largely the sustenance of Vietnam whereas those of 1950s were largely on the basis of what slavery and racial discrimination meant.