this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Can in America or people who study the USA pick the definitive point we went from going up hill to snow boarding down hill and then came to a cliff which we have no clue what the bottom is? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 month ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to c/askhistorians@lemmy.world
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[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Reagan, but Reagan was made possible by the Southern Strategy, which itself was a long product of the never-started recovery from the Civil War, which was due to the loss of Lincoln's leadership.

There have been ups and downs, so the answer to your question of a hard decline is probably more recent events, but they couldn't have happened without prior ones that paved the way. Just like all the positives.

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I really wish Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated. He didn’t just want to reclaim the South; he wanted to reintegrate them and heal the massive sociopolitical wounds. I think the country would be significantly better off if he had been alive to carry out his plans.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's an oversimplistic comparison and maybe wasn't fully possible, but imagine a post-Civil War US where the North did for the South what the US and other countries did for West Germany and Japan.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago

You mean, transform them into cowed little manufacturers of quality automobiles while they still inwardly remain seethingly racist?