Table Of ContentRivalry and Reform
Rivalry and Reform
Presidents, Social Movements, and
the Transformation of American Politics
Sidney M. MilkiS And
dAniel J. Tichenor
The University of chicago Press
chicago and london
The University of chicago Press, chicago 60637
The University of chicago Press, ltd., london
© 2019 by The University of chicago
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iSBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 56925- 3 (cloth)
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iSBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 56942- 0 (e- book)
doi: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226569420.001.0001
library of congress cataloging-in-Publication data
names: Milkis, Sidney M., author. | Tichenor, daniel J., 1966– author.
Title: rivalry and reform: presidents, social movements, and the transformation
of American politics / Sidney M. Milkis and daniel J. Tichenor.
description: chicago; london: The University of chicago Press, 2019. |
includes bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: lccn 2018021915 | iSBn 9780226569253 (cloth: alk. paper) |
iSBn 9780226569390 (pbk: alk. paper) | iSBn 9780226569420 (e-book)
Subjects: lcSh: Presidents—United States. | Social movements—Political
aspects—United States. | civil rights movements—United States. |
christianity and politics—United States. | United States—Politics
and government.
classification: lcc Jk516 .M476 2018 | ddc 303.48/40973—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018021915
♾ This paper meets the requirements of AnSi/niSo Z39.48-1 992
(Permanence of Paper).
conTenTS
Acknowledgments / vii
one / Presidents, Social Movements, and contentious change:
Some Theoretical Foundations / 1
Two / The crucible: lincoln and the Abolitionist Movement / 41
Three / The wayward Path: Presidents and civil rights,
1901– 1945 / 80
FoUr / “Joining the revolution”: lyndon Johnson
and the civil rights Movement / 135
Five / Protestant rearguard: Presidents, christian conservatives,
and the Modern State / 183
Six / Building a Movement Party: ronald reagan
and the new christian right / 225
Seven / executive Power, Social Movements, and American
democracy in a Polarized Age / 279
Notes 319
Index 369
AcknowledgMenTS
our collaboration for this book springs from an indelible friendship and a
brief intellectual rivalry. we have been discussing presidents, social move-
ments, and change in American politics since Sid was an assistant professor
and dan was a graduate student at Brandeis University. early on, we wrote two
conference papers and a journal article together on topics related to the Pro-
gressive era, and then cheered each other on as we pursued separate research
projects. years later we independently were invited by our valued colleague
and friend Stephen Skowronek to write something innovative for a yale con-
ference, “Political Action and change.” Unbeknownst to the other, we each
seized on a subject that struck us as both fresh and highly significant: the rela-
tionship between US presidents and social movements, a fraught but poten-
tially formative partnership we both had come to recognize as an important
dimension of American political development. The two of us chuckled when
we figured out that we had stolen each other’s fire. we also soon discovered
that our papers clashed, advancing competing claims about how forthcoming
presidents have been in forming alliances with social activists, what histori-
cal patterns characterized these alliances, and whether the confluence of top-
down and bottom-u p politics had changed over time.
This intellectual rivalry proved short-l ived. After reading our chapters in
the volume that grew out of the yale conference, Formative Acts: American Poli-
tics in the Making (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), which Steve and
Matthew glassman edited, colleagues and students told us what we already
knew: each of our initial studies was incomplete without addressing key in-
sights of the other. Thus began a rewarding journey that has culminated in
Rivalry and Reform. After years of researching and writing together, it is hard
for us to imagine a more rewarding intellectual partnership.
viii / Acknowledgments
we received extraordinary support, guidance, and encouragement from
many generous people and institutions as we wrote this book. Primary
sources were critical to the discoveries of this project— research adventures
made possible by the generous help of the library of congress; the national
Archives; the wisconsin historical Society; the American heritage center at
the University of wyoming; harvard’s Schlesinger library; the dwight d. ei-
senhower, John F. kennedy, lyndon B. Johnson, ronald reagan, and harry S.
Truman Presidential libraries; and the Falwell Papers at liberty University.
The fruits of our labor were deeply enriched by the opportunity to present our
work at a number of highly stimulating academic and public venues: Ameri-
can Politics workshops at the University of Pennsylvania, notre dame, co-
lumbia University, Boston college, the University of Massachusetts Amherst,
and the University of virginia; conferences at yale, Princeton, the Sorbonne,
northumbria University, and the University of oregon; and lectures delivered
before audiences at ohio University, the University of Southern denmark,
rhodes college, williams college, and oxford University. we also are im-
mensely grateful to the rothermere American institute and nuffield college
of oxford University, which cosponsored a workshop in June 2017, “The State
and Social Movements.” This enabled us to convene a distinguished group of
scholars for a stimulating and wide- ranging two- day discussion of the issues
addressed in the book. From these colleagues, we gained inspiration and new
perspective at a crucial time of the manuscript’s development.
we are very fortunate to have many friends and colleagues who have gen-
erously offered us detailed comments that pushed us to keep improving the
manuscript. Special thanks are owed to richard ellis, Marie gottschalk, des-
mond king, Thomas langston, cathie Martin, Bruce Miroff, and James Mo-
rone, each of whom offered constructive commentaries that were brilliant and
invaluable acts of tough love. Tom’s penetrating advice on an early portion of
this work was offered when he was waging a courageous fight against cancer,
and we are saddened by his loss. we also benefited enormously from the
anonymous readers enlisted by the University of chicago Press. Those reviews
were solicited by our gifted editor, charles Myers, who guided us through the
final, sometimes wrenching stages of Rivalry and Reform. his enthusiasm for
the book was reassuring, and his insightful comments and criticisms showed
us where our prose was prolix and our analysis was obscured. Although mak-
ing important cuts meant we had to “break [our] egocentric little scribblers’
hearts,” as Stephen king aptly puts it, chuck expertly led us to a better place.
Throughout the pursuit of this elusive finish line, we have been offered
the warm friendship and unstinting encouragement of our colleagues and
students. Sid has the good fortune to work in the rich intellectual setting of
Acknowledgments / ix
the University of virginia, where his colleagues in the department of Poli-
tics and the Miller center have encouraged him to pursue important ques-
tions rigorously while reaching out to other disciplines and communicating
with public audiences. Particularly engaging were conversations with wil-
liam Antholis, lawrie Balfour, Brian Balogh, James ceaser, dale copeland,
John echeverri- gent, william hitchcock, george klosko, Melvyn leffler,
guian Mckee, Michael nelson, Barbara Perry, russell riley, lynn Sand-
ers, James Savage, denise walsh, vesla weaver, Stephen white, and Brantly
womack. Special thanks go out to two of Sid’s talented graduate students—
laura Blessing (now at georgetown University) and nicholas Jacobs— who
helped enormously, not only with the hard work of mining evidence and
fascinating stories from the archives but also with the task of solving the
puzzle of how all these detailed parts could be organized into a compelling
and persuasive whole.
dan is indebted to the carnegie corporation for an Andrew carnegie Fel-
lowship and to the Philip h. knight chair at the University of oregon for
making this research and writing possible. he is very grateful to be part of an
amazing team of coworkers at the University of oregon’s wayne Morse center
for law and Politics who are dedicated to students, lifelong learning, and so-
cial justice, especially his partner in crime Margaret hallock, and Thea chro-
man, rebecca Flynn, Sally Frisella, ellen herman, val hoyle, and Abbie Stillie.
he also thanks his lucky stars for oregon departmental colleagues who are
kind, fun, and endorse his love of politics and history: erin Beck, gerry Berk,
Anita chari, Jane cramer, craig kauffman, Joe lowndes, craig Parsons, debra
Thompson, Priscilla yamin, and especially Alison gash, a gifted coauthor and
thoughtful friend. Two impressive University of oregon Phd students were
particularly helpful at stages of this project: Jeremy Strickler assisted with ar-
chival research at the Truman and eisenhower libraries, and Angelita chavez
collaborated on interviews with dreamers movement leaders. dan learned
important lessons about both democratic leadership and generosity from sev-
eral former rutgers colleagues: Mike Aronoff, dennis Bathory, Sue carroll,
Milton heumann, Jan kubik, richard lau, Susan lawrence, wilson carey
Mcwilliams, gerry Pomper, and his favorite boss, ruth Mandel. he also
thanks his brilliant pal Janice Fine for patiently letting him finish this project
before returning to their book on immigration and the labor movement. his
parents, ruth and Jay Tichenor, are unfailingly supportive and models of how
to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.”
Although authors routinely save the last words of their acknowledg-
ments section for family, we insist that there is nothing routine about the
love and support of our families. They persevered as we took off on research
