Reagan

The Emergence of Reagan

June 23, 2008

I. The Rise and Fall of Rights-Related Liberalism

1. Preventing Another Watergate (goal: check political corruption, limit executive authority, and create a more open Congress; Watergate elections key—75 Democratic freshmen—VanderVeen, Downey, Edgar; lasting initiatives: FOIA, Budget and Impoundment Act, election of committee chairs; open meeting rules; ethics ineffectiveness: Federal Campaign Act Amendments—weakness of FEC, significance of Buckley v. Valeo; independent counsel; a pre-9/11 world: FBI Domestic Security Investigation Guidelines, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)

2. Feminism and the Constitution (constitutional front—abortion rights and building off earlier movements; run-up to Roe; Blackmun decision, Rehnquist dissent; rise of ERA—Paul and National Woman’s Party; opposition from women labor activists—Perkins, Peterson; importance of EEOC; broad initial base, then cultural reaction; Schlafly and public response—military, protection of women in labor, class divisions; same with abortion—Catholics, traditionalists, cracks in Democratic coalition and Carter election)

II. The Travails of Jimmy Carter

1. Deindustrialization and Decline (policy effects: LBJ and Vietnam War, growth of deficit and abuse of fiscal policy, RN and wage/price controls; broad patterns: globalization and international competition, emergence of West Germany and Japan, effects of unions and competitiveness; international threats: Iranian revolution and quadrupling oil prices, other foreign policy setbacks, Richard Viguerie and 1978 elections—defeats of McIntyre and Clark; “stagflation”; shattering of Democratic coalition—Watergate Democrats, Carter as technocrat, role of Volcker)

2. Deregulation (regulation and the progressive ethos—unifying progressive era-reformers; regulation develops—institutionalizing monopolies, AT&T as example?; emergence of libertarian critique—Kahn; air travel: Airline Deregulation Act, growth of cut-fare airlines, expansions and consolidation; energy: failure of price controls strategy, move to conservation; telecommunications: MCI lawsuit, Wirth and breakup of AT&T, public backlash; long-term effects—competition, cell phones, etc., cable television; high-tech: Apple/IBM battle)

3. 1980 (Iranian hostage crisis and American politics; Kennedy challenge, Carter rebound, and path to convention; GOP: Reagan, potential challengers—Bush, Baker, Connally, nomination; Anderson ticket; role of debate; down-ticket victories)

	House margin	House org.	Senate margin	Senate org.
1974	+49D	+147D	+4D	+24D
1976	+1D	+149D	n/c	+24D
1978	+15R	+119D	+3R	+18D
1980	+35R	+49D	+12R	+6R

June 16 Notes

20^th Century U.S. Politics

1968

June 16, 2008

I. Johnson’s Decline

1. Rights-Related Liberalism and Its Political Effects (right: challenging peripheral issues: apportionment—the road to Wesberry—and Tuck bill; crime—issue in Goldwater campaign, significance of Miranda and White dissent; left: collapse of biracial civil rights coalition—MLK, poverty and open housing; SNCC, CORE, and black nationalism; campaigns and government actions: 1966 elections; increasing polarization of confirmation battles—Fortas)

2. The Democratic Race (importance of RFK; popular protests and effect on Democratic Party; nature of presidential selection; Allard Lowenstein and search for challenger to LBJ; RFK indecision; settling on McCarthy; New Hampshire primary and campaign fallout—RFK entry, LBJ withdrawal)

II. The Campaign

1. To Chicago (RFK/McCarthy battle—role of class and image; MLK assassination, urban riots, and politics of violence; Oregon, California, and RFK assassination; Chicago disaster)

2. Fall Campaign (collapse of Romney campaign; “New Nixon” and safe GOP choice; Wallace wildcard; Buchanan, Phillips, and “Southern Strategy”; rose-garden tactics; Agnew vs. Muskie; HHH Salt Lake City address; Democratic surge?; congressional races; outcome)

Pat Buchanan and Kevin Phillips, The Emerging Republican Majority

Jeffrey Frederick, Stand Up for Alabama

Jules Witcover, 85 Days

Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign

Ray Boomhower, Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary

Theodore White, Making of the President 1968

Joe McGinnis, Selling of the President

Joseph Palermo, Robert Kennedy and the Death of American Idealism

Rick Perlstein, Nixonland

Dan Carter, The Politics of Rage

1964 Campaign Notes

I. The Foundations

1. Establishing an Image (LBJ as political tactician; healer after tragedy; “let us continue”—passing the Kennedy legacy, with political benefits: tax bill, farm bill, civil rights bill; provisions: outlaw racial discrimination in public accommodations, give Justice Dept. authority to file suits for school desegregation in federal court, create EEOC)

2. The Republican Race (Goldwater and Rockefeller weaknesses; Nixon, Scranton bids; the emergence of Lodge; the threat of Lodge; Oregon and Lodge collapse; Goldwater nomination and 1964 convention)

3. Potential Pitfalls (potential pitfalls: ethics—“Landslide Lyndon,” personal wealth, Bobby Baker scandal, John Williams; Kennedy and vice presidency: background relationship, RFK and Justice Department; open pressure and LBJ response; decision to exclude)

III. The Outcome

1. The Frontlash Agenda (LBJ hopes and targeted constituencies; liberals and the 1964 convention—controversy over the Tuck bill; consolidating the civil rights base—MFDP controversy and the convention; neutralizing Goldwater— Tonkin Gulf Resolution, nuclear weapons; economics and how to tailor a Democratic agenda?; limitations of the frontlash approach)

2. The Jenkins Scandal (polls and LBJ vulnerabilities; Baker/McCloskey affair; arrest and reaction—role of Fortas; Lady Bird response; Hoover and continuing fears; election outcome—coattails and transformation of House; ideology and a hollow victory?)

Blue—Goldwater; Red: LBJ

Totals: LBJ: 61% popular vote 486 electoral votes

Goldwater: 38.5% popular vote 52 electoral votes

Video Clips from the 1964 Campaign

Clips from the 1964 Republican convention, where nominee Barry Goldwater (amidst attacks by extremists on civil rights workers in the South) seemed to embrace extremism:


The first (and still most famous) negative ad in a general election campaign--the "Daisy Ad" of Lyndon Johnson--playing off opponent Barry Goldwater's suggestions that a nuclear war might be a possible option for the United States.

West Virginia, in 2008

I mentioned the 1960 West Virginia primary, where John Kennedy proved that a Roman Catholic could win in an overwhelmingly Protestant, and poor, state.

In 2008, Barack Obama didn't fare as well in WV (which in addition to being overwhelmingly poor and Protestant is overwhelmingly white and undereducated). Comedy Central's Jon Stewart explored why:

Civil Rights Notes

20^th Century U.S. Politics

The Civil Rights

June 5, 2008

I. Brown and Beyond

1. Brown (judicial compromises and nature of Brown: NAACP strategies; choice of Topeka; divisions in the Vinson Court—Marshall, liberals, and role of 14^th amendment; Vinson death, Warren elevation, reargument: role of Kenneth Clark; remedy?; Brown II and “all deliberate speed”; declining significance of Supreme Court)

2. Reaction to Brown (civil rights and politics: splits within the two parties, GOP traditions, Eisenhower background; Eisenhower and origins of massive resistance: Virginia, Little Rock; role of Brownell—response to Birmingham and Rosa Parks, MLK; establishment of civil rights division in Justice Dept., federal prosecution of voting rights abuses)

3. Grassroots (baby boom and generational splits; creation of SNCC and CORE; significance of Historically Black Colleges; sit-ins w/new generation—SNCC and Greensboro)

II. Asserting Congressional Influence

1. Lyndon Johnson’s Senate (aging of Senate and entrenched Southern power; LBJ as majority leader: Morse defection, confronting the seniority system and committee assignments, role of campaign contributions, Democratic Policy Committee and Bobby Baker, scheduling matters, role of unanimous consent agreements—shift from public debate to backroom dealing)

2. The Civil Rights Acts (Johnson, Russell, and setting the stage; administration bill and congressional response: House Rules Committee and Judge Smith; Senate situation—Eastland and Judiciary Committee, Thurmond and filibuster, cloture question; Title III and public accommodations; LBJ and Church—role of jury-trial amendment; significance of passage?)

III. The Expansion of Rights

1. The Campaign (West Virginia and Catholicism, role of primaries, nomination struggle and selection of Johnson; Nixon, experience, and debates; Kennedy's Houston speech; call to Coretta Scott King; victory)

2. Kennedy and Civil Rights (political concerns—“stroke of a pen”; significance of bureaucracy—Wofford, Marshall, power of Justice Department; forcing the issue—Freedom Rides and role of federal marshals; Meredith and integration of Ole Miss, NAACP and Civil Rights Division support)

3. After Ole Miss (riots and federal military intervention; Wallace and demagoguery; political costs; Birmingham and Operation “C”; role of Bull Connor; sit-ins and boycott; use of children; public and media response)

4. The Bill (obstacles in Congress: House—Rules Committee and Judge Smith; Senate—Eastland elevation and tradition of filibuster; focus on public accommodations; indecision about tactics; indecision about constitutional justification; provisions—outlaw racial discrimination in public accommodations, give Justice Dept. authority to file suits for school desegregation in federal court, create EEOC; continued legislative obstacles; Kennedy legacy?)

Civil Rights Era Videos

"I Like Ike"


Nixon/Kennedy debate excerpts, CNN


Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech

Nixon's Checkers Speech

Truman Notes

I. The Election

1. The Postwar Environment (postwar assumptions; economic transformations; Truman difficulties—cabinet, confidence, “To Err is Truman”; Republican midterm election—role of far right; Taft-Hartley and the battle against labor; Nixon and HUAC; foreign policy complications—Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, National Security Act, emergence of Wallace candidacy)

2. New Patterns (the Republican race: Dewey, Stassen, and the role of primaries; Oregon and CPUSA debate; Dewey-Taft showdown; Democratic discord: Wallace, Isaacson, and origins of ADA—“vital center”; Pepper, FDR, Jr., and alternatives?: Douglas, Eisenhower; Humphrey and Philadelphia convention; Truman renomination and Thurmond defection)

3. 1948 and American Political Culture (Dewey strategizing; role of public opinion polls; decline of Wallace—Czech coup, subsequent tensions, growing CP role in campaign; Thurmond and limited effort; Truman approach—Clifford memorandum, barnstorming style, populism; Democratic surge—congressional gains)

II. The Aftermath

1. Fair Deal (Truman and American liberalism; health care and AMA—emergence of interest group politics; “socialized medicine” and Cold War; FELP and unintended consequences of anti-communist crusade; Korea and constitutional crises—decision to send troops, Youngstown Steel)

2. The Backlash (Pat McCarran and American politics; internal security, immigration, and battle for American culture; origins of McCarthyism—McCarthy background, partisan environment, changing nature of Senate, path to Wheeling address, Tydings Committee and Senate response; 1950 elections—Tydings defeat, Nixon triumph, origins of McCarthy myth)

3. Beyond 1950 (Truman and race—integration of army, origins of Brown; question of corruption; Korean stalemate, MacArthur dismissal, and constitutional crisis; Kefauver challenge and Truman withdrawal; road to Stevenson; GOP divisions—Taft, Eisenhower, Lodge, and foreign policy; Eisenhower nomination, Nixon and “Checkers” speech; Eisenhower victory—Lodge setback in Massachusetts, Goldwater triumph in Arizona)