The Transformation of American Politics and the Rise of Conservatism

Housekeeping

  • The fast pace of the course creates challenges:
    • Papers require readings and discussion, followed by writing time.
    • The course continues to cover new material not directly related to the paper topic.
    • This week's material may not be directly relevant to the paper on the collapse of consensus.
    • The articles should be used to ground broad discussions in specifics.

Paper Guidance

  • Papers should incorporate thoughts and arguments from the articles to provide a foundation.
  • The concept of consensus can be broad and vague, it's an idealized concept Americans evoke.
  • Use articles to ground discussions in specific examples, e.g.:
    • Wartime discussion: Joe Woods.
    • The Fifties: ladies magazines and suburban domesticity.
    • The Sixties: Nina Simone.

Course Structure

  • The course balances politics and pop culture.
  • The focus is on political coalitions and changes over time.
  • The course aims to survey and map the terrain, marking key points for further exploration.

Presidential Administrations

  • Franklin Roosevelt (FDR): 1932, re-elected in 1936, 1940, and 1944; died in 1945.
  • Harry Truman: took over in 1945, elected in 1948.
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower: 1950s (two terms).
  • John F. Kennedy: 1960, assassinated in 1963.
  • Lyndon B. Johnson: took over in 1963, won election in 1964.
  • Richard Nixon: 1968, re-elected in 1972, resigned.
  • Gerald Ford: took over after Nixon's resignation, lost election in 1976.
  • Jimmy Carter: elected in 1976, a post-Watergate candidate promising honesty.

Evolution of Political Parties

  • 1790-1860: Parties frequently emerged, collapsed, merged, and divided based on new issues.
    • Examples: Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, National Republicans, Democrats, Free Soilers, Liberty Party, Know-Nothing Party.
  • By 1860: Party system largely solidified into Democrats and Republicans.

Post-Civil War (Late 19th Century)

Key Aspects:
*   "Bloody shirt" rhetoric: Remembering the war.
*   Demographics: White South, working-class North, reformist North, rural North.
*   Dominant Issues: Corruption and legacy of the war.
  • The Populist Party emerged in the 1890s, addressing issues like:
    • Railroads.
    • Trusts.
    • Land.
    • Monetary policy (free silver, gold vs. silver standards).
    • Banks.
  • 1896: The Democratic Party and Populist Party merged.

Early 20th Century (1896-1920s)

  • Key Aspects:
    • Demographics: White South, Western farmers, unskilled labor, immigrants vs. wealthy North, pro-business interests, skilled labor, African Americans.
    • Skilled labor was an anomaly, fearing both big business and unskilled labor/immigrants.
    • Progressives existed in both parties.

The New Deal Coalition (FDR)

  • Key Aspects:
    • Demographics: White South, reformers, farmers, labor (including skilled).
    • Republican Opposition: Old money, banks and finance, moderates (Dewey, Willkie, etc.)
    • These Republicans were also New Dealers and Keynesians to some extent.

1948 Election

  • Splintering of the Democratic Party:
    • Radicals (Henry Wallace).
    • Southern elite/Dixiecrats.
  • Expectation: Moderate Republicans under Dewey would win.
  • Truman's victory: Banks and finance had little influence due to Bretton Woods Agreement, which prioritized fiscal stability and production/consumption over financial manipulation.
    • Bretton Woods Agreement: aimed for fiscal stability to promote production and consumption, restricting the manipulation of interest rates, prices and stock prices.

The Fifties and Sixties

  • Democratic Party: Maintained core coalition.
  • Republican Party: Expanded to include pro-business interests, consumer businesses, suburban voters, and anti-communists.
  • Parties appeared similar (e.g., George Romney, Robert McNamara).

1968 Election

  • A redefining election due to emergence of new wings in the Republican Party:
    • Goldwater wing: Advocated aggressive anti-communism, even if it meant escalating the Vietnam War or using nuclear weapons.
    • Reagan: Called for cracking down on protesters.
    • Southern Strategy: Shift of the white South from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, fueled by:
      • Opposition to integration (Wallace).
      • Goldwater's and Reagan's platforms.
      • The collapse of consensus (death of Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Chicago convention).

The Undoing of Political Alignments

  • Democratic Party:

    • Generational divide: Old Democrats vs. New Democrats.
    • Collapse of the Great Society.
    • Economic problems: Industrial production decline, urban crisis, falling farm prices.
    • Civil Rights Movement: Unfulfilled promises.

  • Republican Party:

    • Collapse of the moderate center (Rockefeller Republicans).
    • Keynesian economics failing.
    • Suburban disconnect from urban crises.

  • The moderate middle ground was collapsing, leading to political upheaval.

Barry Goldwater & the New Narrative (1964)

  • Lyndon Johnson was highly popular due to Kennedy's assassination so Goldwater represented a new, conservative wing of the Republican Party.
  • Goldwater's platform:
    • "A choice, not an echo": Offering a genuine alternative to Democratic policies (Keynesian economics, consensus politics, containment).
    • Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.
  • Goldwater's defeat:
    • Crushed in the election.
    • Mocked, e.g., the "Daisy ad" (linking Goldwater to nuclear annihilation).
    • Slogans: "In your heart, you know he's right" countered by "In your guts, you know he's nuts."
  • Goldwater's legacy: Planted seeds for alternatives outside the moderate Republican Party.

Ronald Reagan & the Shift

  • Reagan's background:
    • Actor, corporate spokesperson.
    • Former Democrat and New Deal supporter (campaigned for Truman in 1948).
  • Shift to conservatism:
    • Supported Goldwater in 1964 (famous "Time for Choosing" speech).
    • Signaled that others in the Democratic coalition could shift to the Republican Party.
  • Factors influencing Reagan's shift:
    • Influence of his wife and father-in-law
    • Anti-communism.
    • Vietnam War.
    • Perceived dangers of civil rights movements (Chicano movement, AIM, Black Panthers, Watts riots).

Seeds of Change in the 1970s

  • Collapse of the Great Society: perceived failure in the war against poverty.
  • Vietnam War: Loss of war.
  • Economic issues: Deindustrialization, stagflation, energy crisis, plant closures, urban collapse.
  • Carter's perceived weakness: In response to energy crisis, Carter urged to turn down thermostats and wear a sweater (MEOW).

The Rise of Conservative Thought

Intellectual Conservatism:
  • New intellectual conservatism: Challenging consensus.
  • Tradition: Emphasizing tradition.
  • Anti-communism: Advocating fervent anti-communism (John Birch Society).
  • Libertarianism: Limited government, individual self-interest (Ayn Rand).
  • William F. Buckley: Founded National Review, drew inspiration from European conservatism (Spanish fascism).
Backlash to Liberalism:
  • Growing backlash: White working class against integration (busing riots in Boston).
  • Goldwater youth: Opposition to the "hippie eugenism" of the New Left.
  • Reagan's appeal: Law and order policies.
  • Phyllis Schlafly: Rejection of the women's movement and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Moral Conservatism:
  • Rooted in immorality: Belief that societal problems stem from moral decline.
  • Threats to American morality: Crime, disorder, drug use, sexuality, women's rights, gay rights, abortion.
  • Jerry Falwell: Highly politicized evangelical thought; televangelism.
  • Moral Majority: Political interest group advocating for moral laws.
Economic Conservatism:
  • American Enterprise Institute and Chicago School of Economics (Milton Friedman).
  • Critique of Keynesian economics: Stagflation.
  • Monetarism (Alan Greenspan): Reduced money supply, higher interest rates.
  • Trickle-down theory: Tax cuts for the wealthy.
Foreign Policy Conservatism:
  • Backlash against détente: Opposition to Nixon's normalization of relations with China and SALT treaties with the Soviet Union.
  • Moral struggle against the Soviets: Margaret Thatcher and John Paul II.

Key Elements of the New Republican Party

  • Libertarians.
  • Traditionalists.
  • Neoliberals: Free trade.
  • Neoconservatives: Aggressive confrontation with America's enemies.
  • Moral Majority: Need for better moral politics, better moral laws.

Key Moments in the Transformation

  • Barry Goldwater in 1964: Introduced the first option.
  • Ronald Reagan in 1966.
  • The reluctance to nominate Nixon in 1968.
  • Concern that moderate wing represented by Ford and this new wing represented by Reagan.
  • Reagan's ability to unite these factions.

Reagan's Success

  • Ability to unite factions: Moral Majority, neoconservatives, neoliberals, libertarians, and traditionalists.
  • Persona: Hollywood actor with charm.
  • 1980 election: Realignment of parties and their agendas.