Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority

Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority
Author: Robert Mason
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2005-10-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0807875929

In recent years historians have paid substantial attention to the origins of modern political conservatism and the record of the Nixon administration in building a Republican majority in the late twentieth century. In Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority, Robert Mason analyzes Nixon's response to the developing conservative climate and challenges revisionist claims about the activist nature of the Nixon administration. Nixon was an activist in intent, Mason contends, but not in deed. Nixon's "silent majority" speech of 1969 not only undermined the growth of the antiwar movement, Mason shows, but also identified a constituency for Nixon to cultivate in order to secure reelection. However, the implementation of his new-majority project was hindered by the resort to dirty tricks against political opponents and the ineffectual pursuit of a policy agenda. Although some Nixon initiatives were enacted, says Mason, they were not substantial enough to rival the Democrats' bread-and-butter issues. While Nixon built Republican strength at the presidential level, Mason argues that he did not succeed in mobilizing popular support for broad-based political conservatism.

Building a New Majority

Building a New Majority
Author: Michael P. Balzano
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2016-01-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1491785926

Building a New Majority weaves together the autobiographical recollections of the political and professional life of the author, Michael P. Balzano, with his seasoned analysis of several successful Republican presidential campaigns. The combination provides the foundation for recommendations for current and future Republican candidates to follow in capturing a majority of the nations working-class voters. The narrative follows the author, the son of working-class Italian immigrants, from his boyhood in New Haven, Connecticut, through his time as a high-school dropout and garbage collector to his return to school, where he earned a doctoral degree at Georgetown University. His story attracted the attention of staff members in the administration of President Richard M. Nixon. Brought on board to provide insights and to coordinate efforts to reach ethnic and working-class voters as part of Nixons strategy to create a New Majority, he contributed to the winning 1972 campaign. He later performed similar roles in President Ronald Reagans 1980 and 1984 campaigns and in President George H. W. Bushs 1988 campaign. From these experiences, he offers guidance to Republican candidates seeking to win elections by appealing to members of labor unions and the working class. For any political party to win the White House, it must capture a majority of working-class voters. Building a New Majority is a blueprint for constructing a new Republican majority that can win elections. Building upon those victories, they can govern in ways that invite all people to share in a common future in which individuals may improve their social status and their economic wellbeing, living out the American Dream.

Painting the Map Red

Painting the Map Red
Author: Hugh Hewitt
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2013-02-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1621571483

Nationally syndicated talk show host and political strategist Hugh Hewitt delivers this insider's guide to the 2006 elections and the crucial messages GOP candidates and activists will be adopting to foster the spread of Red States.

The Emerging Republican Majority

The Emerging Republican Majority
Author: Kevin P. Phillips
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 599
Release: 2014-11-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400852293

One of the most important and controversial books in modern American politics, The Emerging Republican Majority (1969) explained how Richard Nixon won the White House in 1968—and why the Republicans would go on to dominate presidential politics for the next quarter century. Rightly or wrongly, the book has widely been seen as a blueprint for how Republicans, using the so-called Southern Strategy, could build a durable winning coalition in presidential elections. Certainly, Nixon's election marked the end of a "New Deal Democratic hegemony" and the beginning of a conservative realignment encompassing historically Democratic voters from the South and the Florida-to-California "Sun Belt," in the book’s enduring coinage. In accounting for that shift, Kevin Phillips showed how two decades and more of social and political changes had created enormous opportunities for a resurgent conservative Republican Party. For this new edition, Phillips has written a preface describing his view of the book, its reception, and how its analysis was borne out in subsequent elections. A work whose legacy and influence are still fiercely debated, The Emerging Republican Majority is essential reading for anyone interested in American politics or history.

Brown Is the New White

Brown Is the New White
Author: Steve Phillips
Publisher: The New Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2018-03-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1620973251

The New York Times and Washington Post bestseller that sparked a national conversation about America's new progressive, multiracial majority, updated to include data from the 2016 election With a new preface and afterword by the author When it first appeared in the lead-up to the 2016 election, Brown Is the New White helped spark a national discussion of race and electoral politics and the often-misdirected spending priorities of the Democratic party. This "slim yet jam-packed call to action" (Booklist) contained a "detailed, data-driven illustration of the rapidly increasing number of racial minorities in America" (NBC News) and their significance in shaping our political future. Completely revised and updated to address the aftermath of the 2016 election, this first paperback edition of Brown Is the New White doubles down on its original insights. Attacking the "myth of the white swing voter" head-on, Steve Phillips, named one of "America's Top 50 Influencers" by Campaigns & Elections, closely examines 2016 election results against a long backdrop of shifts in the electoral map over the past generation—arguing that, now more than ever, hope for a more progressive political future lies not with increased advertising to middle-of-the-road white voters, but with cultivating America's growing, diverse majority. Emerging as a respected and clear-headed commentator on American politics at a time of pessimism and confusion among Democrats, Phillips offers a stirring answer to anyone who thinks the immediate future holds nothing but Trump and Republican majorities.

The Emerging Democratic Majority

The Emerging Democratic Majority
Author: John B. Judis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2004-02-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0743254783

ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR AND A WINNER OF THE WASHINGTON MONTHLY'S ANNUAL POLITICAL BOOK AWARD Political experts John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira convincingly use hard data -- demographic, geographic, economic, and political -- to forecast the dawn of a new progressive era. In the 1960s, Kevin Phillips, battling conventional wisdom, correctly foretold the dawn of a new conservative era. His book, The Emerging Republican Majority, became an indispensable guide for all those attempting to understand political change through the 1970s and 1980s. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the country in Republican hands, The Emerging Democratic Majority is the indispensable guide to this era. In five well-researched chapters and a new afterword covering the 2002 elections, Judis and Teixeira show how the most dynamic and fastest-growing areas of the country are cultivating a new wave of Democratic voters who embrace what the authors call "progressive centrism" and take umbrage at Republican demands to privatize social security, ban abortion, and cut back environmental regulations. As the GOP continues to be dominated by neoconservatives, the religious right, and corporate influence, this is an essential volume for all those discontented with their narrow agenda -- and a clarion call for a new political order.

The New Majority

The New Majority
Author: Stanley B. Greenberg
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780300078626

The contributors to this volume argue that America is ready for progressive politics, and that embarking on a popular progressive course, the Democratic Party can become the moral voice of all American families striving for a better life.

It's Time to Fight Dirty

It's Time to Fight Dirty
Author: David M. Faris
Publisher: Melville House
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2018
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1612196950

The American electoral system is clearly failing more horrifically in the 2016 presidential election than ever before. In It's Time to Fight Dirty, David Faris expands on his popular series for 'The Week' to offer party leaders and supporters concrete strategies for lasting political reform - and in doing so lays the groundwork for a more progressive future. With equal parts playful irreverence and persuasive reasoning, It's Time to Fight Dirty is essential reading as we head toward the 2018 midterms... and beyond.

New Majority Or Old Minority?

New Majority Or Old Minority?
Author: Nicol C. Rae
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 238
Release: 1999
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780847691692

This volume of original essays by leading congressional scholars explores the impact of the Republican majority on Congress with attention to the history of the institution and party characteristics present and future. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Presidential Party Building

Presidential Party Building
Author: Daniel J. Galvin
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2009-09-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400831172

Modern presidents are usually depicted as party "predators" who neglect their parties, exploit them for personal advantage, or undercut their organizational capacities. Challenging this view, Presidential Party Building demonstrates that every Republican president since Dwight D. Eisenhower worked to build his party into a more durable political organization while every Democratic president refused to do the same. Yet whether they supported their party or stood in its way, each president contributed to the distinctive organizational trajectories taken by the two parties in the modern era. Unearthing new archival evidence, Daniel Galvin reveals that Republican presidents responded to their party's minority status by building its capacities to mobilize voters, recruit candidates, train activists, provide campaign services, and raise funds. From Eisenhower's "Modern Republicanism" to Richard Nixon's "New Majority" to George W. Bush's hopes for a partisan realignment, Republican presidents saw party building as a means of forging a new political majority in their image. Though they usually met with little success, their efforts made important contributions to the GOP's cumulative organizational development. Democratic presidents, in contrast, were primarily interested in exploiting the majority they inherited, not in building a new one. Until their majority disappeared during Bill Clinton's presidency, Democratic presidents eschewed party building and expressed indifference to the long-term effects of their actions. Bringing these dynamics into sharp relief, Presidential Party Building offers profound new insights into presidential behavior, party organizational change, and modern American political development.