Nixon Administration in the United States
Republican Party: The Triumph of Conservatism
Introduction to Nixon Administration
The nomination of Senator Barry M. Goldwater in 1964 brought conservative Republicanism to a dominant place in party councils for the first time since the 1930s. The conservatives thereafter controlled the party machinery and increasingly impressed their stamp on the party’s principles and actions. They worked hard to win recruits in places where they had long been without influence, especially in the South and among urban, ethnic working-class groups. Although Goldwater’s landslide defeat temporarily put to rest the belief that a conservative, anti-New Deal Republican majority existed in the country, waiting to be activated, conservative efforts began to have more of an effect later in the decade. The backlash against the movement for racial equality and the New Left agitation of the 1960s and 1970s drew some groups toward the party; by 1972 Republicans were successfully accusing Senator George S. McGovern, the Democratic presidential nominee, of a permissive attitude toward drug use, indifference to patriotic needs, and a willingness to use the power of government on behalf of controversial social policies.
As these themes developed, moderate Republicans were increasingly isolated within the party. Some prominent moderates abandoned Republicanism, leaving behind only the conservative core to influence the party’s stance and outlook. Although an occasional moderate nominee still appeared, moderates seemed to make up less and less of the party. The administration of Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1974 started out as a strong reaction against the radicalism that swept U.S. college campuses in the late 1960s. After 1972, however, the administration became identified with the Watergate scandal, which led to Nixon’s resignation under threat of impeachment. The administration of Gerald R. Ford was unable to restore the nation’s confidence. A Democratic resurgence followed with the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976, but the conservative tide returned when the Republican candidate Ronald Reagan won an overwhelming victory over Carter in 1980.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Nixon Administration in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia