With the ideology of the liberal consensus firmly in place in 1965, how could such profound change occur in just three years that marked the fragmentation of the consensus? It was the development of four major issues that caused the fragmentation of the consensus: the Vietnam War, the decline of the economy, and dissatisfaction with the progress of civil rights. These three issues revealed major problems of the American populace toward the liberal consensus, weakening it to the point where it collapsed.The Vietnam War marked the beginning of the decline of the liberal consensus. Rooted in the ideology of containment, the entrance of the United States in the war in Vietnam was an example of the liberal consensus' belief that the United States was economically and militarily powerful enough to confront communism and prevent its spread. Hodgson writes,Here was a political leader (Johnson) in a position of apparently impregnable strength. He had to decide how to spend national resources that were growing at the rate of 5 per cent a year.With the increase of aggression in Vietnam, the ability to fund the war through the increase in government revenues due to Keynesian economics, and the belief that the United States was capable of easily winning the war in Vietnam, the liberal consensus optimistically increased U.S. participation in the war. The plan for U.S. involvement in Vietnam that was put forth by General Westmoreland called for victory by 1967. However, the plan was overly optimistic. This is evidenced by the North Vietnamese's Tet offensive in 1968. From here two major problems arise because of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. First the war diverted funds from the social programs that were intended to stop the problem of poverty in the United States. According to Hodgson,In the first year (1964), OEO's budget had been $750 million. In the second year, Congress appropriated $1.5 million. The agency's own ...
