As Americans emerged from the crisis of confidence and narcissism of the post-Vietnam/post-Watergate era, they sought to balance competing philosophies and tendencies in foreign affairs, domestic policy, and cultural endeavors. Determined simultaneously not to become bogged down in regional conflicts and indigenous disputes, the United States wisely stood back as the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact disintegrated. Post–Cold War administrations sought to encourage democracy and free market economies in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe, without threatening their security or sense of national sovereignty. As far as Communist China was concerned, the byword was watchful waiting. Policymakers did not deny that regional conflicts posed a threat to international stability and hence to the national interest, but in areas geographically remote from the United States or conflicts tangential to its interests, the U.S. government sought to work through international organizations and nations more proximate. However, in situations closer to home, as with Panama and Haiti, and in conflicts in which the United States was directly threatened, such as in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the United States took the lead. The object of American policy was to assert leadership without seeking hegemony.

In domestic affairs, the New Right continued its attacks on liberalism, whereas liberals scrambled to define and identify with the political center. America remained generally conservative without being ideological. The average person favored a balanced budget, workfare instead of welfare, lower taxes, and an emphasis on private enterprise. At the same time, they supported a social safety net for the elderly, infirm, disabled, and poor.