Table Of ContentTHE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN RIGHT
FewscholarshavepaidcloseattentiontothefactorsinternaltotheRepublicanParty
thathelped the Right to consolidate itspower withinthe party between the1960s
and the1980s. Pluggingthe gap inparty literature, The Riseof the RepublicanRight:
From Goldwater to Reagan provides a comprehensive account of the rise of the
Republican Right in the years between Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential defeat
andtheelectionofRonaldReaganaspresidentin1980.Specifically,itoffersahis-
torical-institutional analysis of the organizational factors internal to the Republican
Party that helped the conservative Right maintain, and then expand its ascendant
positionwithintheGOPinthecriticalyearsbetweenGoldwaterandReagan.
Brian M. Conley demonstrates how the growth of the Right during this period
was aided by a desire on the part of many Republican leaders to rebound from
electoral defeat by rebuilding the party organizationally, rather than reforming it
politically,throughtheintroductionofamore“service”-orientedpartystructure.
The Rise of the Republican Right will interest academics, party scholars, and
researchers eager to gain a more nuanced understanding of the factors that helped
the Right become a dominant force within the Republican Party.
Brian M. Conley is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Program in
Political Science at Suffolk University. His principal research interests are in the
areas of US electoral politics, political parties, and political marketing and
branding.
ROUTLEDGE RESEARCH IN AMERICAN POLITICS
AND GOVERNANCE
17. White Voters in 21st Century America
George Hawley
18. Candidate Character Traits in Presidential Elections
David B. Holian and Charles L. Prysby
19. The Social Process of Lobbying
Cooperation or Collusion?
John C. Scott
20. Congressional Communication in the Digital Age
Jocelyn Evans and Jessica Hayden
21. Reforming the Presidential Nominating Process
Front-Loading's Consequences and the National Primary Solution
Lisa K. Parshall
22. Public Debt and the Common Good
Philosophical and Institutional Implications of Fiscal Imbalance
James Odom
23. Removal of the Property Qualification for Voting in the
United States
Strategy and Suffrage
Justin Moeller and Ronald F. King
24. The Rise of the Republican Right
From Goldwater to Reagan
Brian M. Conley
25. Interest Group Design
The Foundation and Evolution of Common Cause
Marcie L. Reynolds
THE RISE OF THE
REPUBLICAN RIGHT
From Goldwater to Reagan
Brian M. Conley
Firstpublished2019
byRoutledge
52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
andbyRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2019Taylor&Francis
TherightofBrianM.Conleytobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeen
assertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,
DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthe
publishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent
toinfringe.
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Conley,BrianM.,author.
Title:TheriseoftheRepublicanRight:fromGoldwatertoReagan/
BrianM.Conley.
Description:NewYork,NY:Routledge,2019.|
Series:RoutledgeresearchinAmericanpoliticsandgovernance;24|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018060404(print)|LCCN2019005000(ebook)|
ISBN9781351067621(Master)|ISBN9781351067614(Adobe)|
ISBN9781351067119(ePub3)|ISBN9781351067102(Mobi)|
ISBN9781138478794(hardback)|ISBN9781138478800(pbk.)|
ISBN9781351067621(e-book)
Subjects:LCSH:RepublicanParty(U.S.:1854-)--History--20thcentury.|
Conservatism--UnitedStates--History--20thcentury.|Rightandleft
(Politicalscience)--UnitedStates--History--20thcentury.|
UnitedStates--Politicsandgovernment--1945-1989.
Classification:LCCJK2356(ebook)|LCCJK2356.C6552019(print)|
DDC324.273409/045--dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018060404
ISBN:978-1-138-47879-4(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-138-47880-0(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-351-06762-1(ebk)
TypesetinBembo
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
For Lisa, Lila and Elliot.
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction 1
2 Ohio and the Akron Fox 27
3 Building the Republican Service Party 41
4 In Service to the Republican Right 55
5 Nixon’s the One? 70
6 Nixon and the Organizational Interlude 83
7 Rebuilding the Republican Right 103
8 Serving the Reagan Revolution 132
9 Conclusion 154
Index 160
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A book is never truly the work of just one person. Like any author, researcher or
scholar I had help along the way from others who contributed in large and small
ways to make this volume possible. I owe a debt of gratitude to my dissertation
advisorsattheNewSchoolforSocialResearch,VickyHattamandDavidPlotke,
who helped me put the service-party framework into the context of the broader
research on the rise of the Conservative Right. Their guidance and input at the
formative stages of this work helped lay the groundwork for all my subsequent
research on these topics.
It isalso critical to acknowledge all the support I received from research staff at
several libraries in the Boston area as I worked to compile the primary and sec-
ondary source material for this book. In particular, I am indebted to the research
staff at the Media Lab at the Lamont library at Harvard as well as the Widener
and Kennedy School libraries; the research staff at the Dewey Social Sciences
Library at MIT; reference librarians at Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Library at Boston
College; and the Mildred Sawyer Library at my home institution of Suffolk
University. I want to express particular thinks to Michael Gianetta at Suffolk for
tirelessly assisting me in my search for obscure sources that were often buried in
offsite locations.
I also want to thank the research staff at the various archives where all too
often I found myself sequestered for days on end. In particular, I am grateful for
the William Brock papers at the Modern Political Archives at the Howard H.
Baker Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, and for archivist
Kris Bronstad, who helped navigate the papers. I am particularly grateful to my
research assistant, Hannah Nolan, for painstakingly reviewing and copying docu-
mentsfrom theBrock collection. I amalso indebted to archivist Whitney Ross at
the Presidential Materials Division at the National Archives and Records
Acknowledgements ix
Administration National Archives in Washington, DC, and the reference staff at
the William Rusher papers at the Library of Congress. Finally, the reference staff
at the Ray Bliss papers at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio pro-
vided a great deal of support for my early research into the legacy of Ray Bliss.
MycolleaguesatSuffolkUniversityhavealsobeenaconstantsourceofsupport
throughout the process of researching and writing this book. I’m especially
thankful to Ken Cosgrove for his constructive ideas and helpful advice, Jeff John-
son,wholivedthishistoryandgraciouslytoldmeaboutit,andRachaelCobbfor
theindescribablesupportsheofferedateverytwistandturninthisproject.
Finally, I want to thank my family for their support and indulgence over the
years as I’ve been working on this book. I want to thank my parents, Dorothy
and David, for the clear example of fortitude and determination they set. I also
need to thank my wife, Lisa, again, again and again for all of the editing over the
years as well as the sustenance. The book would not exist without her! And,
finally, I thank my kids, Lila and Elliot, who bring joy and meaning to my life.
