Can a traditional Democrat prevail amid inflation?

President Biden is a traditional Democrat. His policies are shaped by the commitments made by the Democratic Party in the decades following World War II. They include the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Cold War policy of containment initiated by Harry Truman and the civil rights commitment made by John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. All three policies, once broadly accepted, have become politically controversial.

The social welfare policies that originated with the New Deal are now routinely derided by Republicans as big government — “taxing and spending.” They were explicitly rejected by President Ronald Reagan, who said in his first budget message to Congress in February 1981, “The taxing power of government … must not be used to regulate the economy or bring about social change. We’ve tried that, and surely we must be able to see it doesn’t work.”

It doesn’t work, Reagan insisted, because it led to the double-digit inflation that the nation suffered during the Carter presidency (which peaked in 1980 at close to 15 percent). Inflation had already contributed to the downfall of President Gerald Ford in 1976 (he gave out “WIN” buttons for “Whip Inflation Now!”). Inflation may spell doom for the Democratic Congress this year.

Inflation is a uniquely destructive political event because the only policy proven to curb inflation is an economic slowdown, usually leading to a recession. It worked very nicely for Reagan during his first term. Reagan and Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker allowed the U.S. economy to slide into a deep recession in 1982, when the unemployment rate climbed to nearly 11 percent — the highest level of unemployment between the 1930s and the pandemic in 2020.

As a result of the recession, Republicans experienced losses in the 1982 midterm (Democrats gained 26 House seats and seven governorships). Reagan was able to hold his party’s losses down by urging voters to “Stay the course!” Reagan’s course (less spending, lower taxes, smaller government) was clear to voters in 1982 even though it had not yet worked. It would be difficult for President Biden to argue “Stay the course” in 2022 because his “course” is not as clear. It certainly could not be smaller government.

By 1984, inflation had declined to 4.3 percent, and the unemployment rate was down to 7.3 percent. The economy, which had shrunk nearly 2 percent in the 1982 recession, was growing by over 7 percent in 1984. It was “Morning in America.”

To reduce inflation, the Federal Reserve is once again trying to slow down the economy. A recession is widely predicted for next year. Democrats do not tolerate recessions. The U.S. has had 11 recessions since 1950. Ten of them started when a Republican was in the White House (all but the 1980 recession, for which President Carter paid a bitter price).

When the Democratic Party establishment — John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey — embraced civil rights in the 1960s, the party paid an immediate price. Democrats lost the party’s base in the South.

A lot of urban ethnic white voters — so-called “Archie Bunker” voters after the famously racist television character — were also folded into the GOP. Whites have voted Republican in every presidential election since 1964.

In foreign policy, at least since the shameful U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Biden’s record has been strong.

In 1947, President Truman announced that the U.S. would lead the world in “containing” the spread of communism. Containment led to costly policies of military intervention that alienated conservatives during the Korean War and progressives during the Vietnam War. President Biden is now leading the world in “containing” the spread of authoritarianism.

While the U.S. is not sending troops to Ukraine, controversy is once again brewing on both the right and the left. A proposal to give Ukraine an additional $40 billion in aid was opposed by 57 out of 212 Republicans in the House and 11 of the 50 Republican senators. “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance said earlier this year. If Republicans retake Congress next month, they are threatening to cut off aid to Ukraine.

Recently 30 liberal House Democrats signed a letter to President Biden urging him to pursue direct negotiations with Russia to end the war. They were forced to withdraw the letter when it met with fierce criticism from mainstream Democrats. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Progressive Caucus, regretted that the letter had “created the unfortunate appearance that Democrats … are somehow aligned with Republicans who seek to pull the plug’’ on aid to Ukraine.

President Biden is standing up to authoritarians and isolationists in the U.S., just as Roosevelt and Truman did. Biden’s leadership of the Western alliance to support Ukraine and oppose Russian aggression would make FDR, Truman — and Ronald Reagan — proud.

Bill Schneider is an emeritus professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and author of “Standoff: How America Became Ungovernable” (Simon & Schuster).