What factors led to the rise of conservatism

he rise conservatism embodied in the candidacy of Ronald Reagan should be examined in light of events dating to the mid-1970s. 

In the wake of the end of the Vietnam War, and with the domestic political turmoil still fresh from the war's divisiveness and from the Watergate scandal, the country was deeply split along ideological lines.  Even within the Republican Party, conservatives were deeply divided between moderates and those further to the right.