Liberal party, British political party. An outgrowth of the WHIG party, it was supported by the bulk of the industrial and business classes enfranchised by the REFORM BILL of 1832. Lord John Russell, a leading Liberal, became prime minister in 1846. The party advocated LAISSEZ FAIRE and initially opposed social legislation. Under William GLADSTONE, however, it accepted electoral and social reforms and, in 1884, took up the cause of Irish HOME RULE. Herbert Asquith (see OXFORD AND ASQUITH, 1ST EARL OF), a Liberal imperialist, became prime minister in 1908. He was followed by David LLOYD GEORGE, who led a coalition government during WORLD WAR I. By the 1930s the Liberals had become a small third party. In 1981 it entered into an alliance with the newly formed SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, later (1988) merging with it to form the Social and Liberal Democratic party.

Conservative party, major British political party, the other being the LABOUR PARTY. The successor of the TORY party, it came into being after the REFORM BILL of 1832 and advocated the Tory policies of defense of the Church of England and protection of agricultural interests. Later, it strongly supported imperialism. The repeal of the protectionist CORN LAWS (1846) by the Conservative leader Sir Robert PEEL caused a split in the party and its exclusion from power for most of the period 1846-73. Under Benjamin DISRAELI's "Tory democracy" (1874-80), the party wooed the broadening electorate with social legislation. The dominant party under Stanley BALDWIN, during the 1920s and 30s, it lost prestige with the failure of Neville CHAMBERLAIN's appeasement of Nazi Germany (1937-40), but the country rallied to his successor, Sir Winston CHURCHILL, during WORLD WAR II. In the postwar years the Conservatives led Britain into the European EUROPEAN COMMUNITY and generally continued the social programs initiated by the Labour party. In 1979 Margaret THATCHER, a Conservative, became Britain's first woman prime minister. She cut social programs and privatized many government-owned companies. Thatcher was succeeded by Conservative John MAJOR in 1990.

Republican party, major American political party, the other being the DEMOCRATIC PARTY. It was founded (1854) by opponents of the extension of slavery into the territories. The election of the Republican presidential candidate, Abraham LINCOLN, in 1860 precipitated the secession of the Southern states and the CIVIL WAR. Lincoln's RECONSTRUCTION policies were opposed by radical Republicans such as Charles SUMNER and Edwin Stanton, whose candidate, Ulysses S. GRANT, was elected in 1868 and 1872. With the election of Rutherford B. HAYES (1876), Republican domination of the South ended. In the period that followed, the Democratic and Republican parties differed little in their policies. Theodore ROOSEVELT succeeded the assassinated William MCKINLEY in 1901 and was reelected in 1904. His policies combined "trust busting" and other domestic reforms with an imperialist foreign policy. The Republicans, under Herbert HOOVER, were blamed for the GREAT DEPRESSION, and the party lost every presidential election between 1932 and 1952, when Dwight D. EISENHOWER became president. The WATERGATE AFFAIR during the administration of Richard M. NIXON damaged the party's prestige. In 1980 a Republican, Ronald REAGAN, was elected president. He was succceeded in 1988 by his vice president, George BUSH, but a recession and anemic recovery led to Bush's defeat (1992) by Democrat Bill CLINTON.

Democratic party, American political party. Founded around Thomas JEFFERSON and opposed to Alexander HAMILTON and the Federalists, the party emphasized personal liberty and the limitation of federal government. Originally called Democratic Republicans, they were called Democrats by 1828. Backed by a coalition of Southern agrarians and Northern city dwellers. Jefferson was elected president in 1800, and the Democrats retained the presidency until 1825. A radical group of Democrats led by Andrew JACKSON won the elections of 1828 and 1832, but arguments over slavery created or deepened splits within the party, and the CIVIL WAR all but destroyed it. The party revived after the disputed election of 1876, and the end of RECONSTRUCTION brought the "solid South" into the Democratic fold. With the nomination (1896) of W.J. BRYAN on a FREE SILVER platform, the radicals again gained control, but Bryan's defeat pointed out the difficulty of reconciling the party's diverse elements. The Democrats regained (1913-21) the presidency under the liberal Woodrow WILSON, and during the Depression they swept into office with Franklin D. ROOSEVELT and initiated the NEW DEAL. When Roosevelt died in his fourth term, he was succeeded (1945) by Harry S TRUMAN, who was elected (1948) in his own right. Following the presidential victories (1952, 1956) of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, Democrat John F. KENNEDY narrowly won the 1960 election. After his assassination (1963) he was succeeded by Lyndon JOHNSON, whose administration was marked by civil rights legislation and the VIETNAM WAR. The modern Democratic party had by then become an uneasy alliance of labor, minorities, middle-class reformers, and Southern Democrats. Hubert H. HUMPHREY and George MCGOVERN were the Democratic presidential nominees in 1968 and 1972 respectively, but serious Southern disaffection contributed to their defeats by Republican Richard M. Nixon. Following the WATERGATE AFFAIR, the Democrats elected (1976) the hitherto unknown Jimmy CARTER as president. Carter's inability to cope with economic problems and to free (1979-81) U.S. hostages in Iran led to his defeat (1980) by Republican Ronald REAGAN. Although the party did not win the presidency again until the election (1992) of Bill CLINTON, it remained a power in Congress and at the state level throughout the 1980s.