Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan -- and the Iron Law of Emulation

The 1972 election:  president by county



The 1972 election:  House



NIXON DID NOT REALLY GIVE A [EXPLETIVE DELETED] ABOUT CONGRESS

Carter and the New South



The third-party flirtation (Rosenfeld 188-190).

In California, the confusing legacy of the American Independent Party.

Present at the creation (Rosenfeld 190-191). Paul Weyrich, who founded Heritage and the Free Congress Foundation, spoke of the moment of inspiration in 1969, when he was a staffer for Senator Gordon Allott (R-CO).

Start at 24:20



Drives home two key points:

• Parties as networks
• The Iron Law of Emulation -- the Kingston Group.  [And see below...]

Other Publications and Groups

• The Public Interest (1965)
• Republican Study Committee -- House (1973)
• Cato (1977)

Thanks to primaries, Reagan comes very close to defeating Ford for the 1976 nomination.  The delegate count:

Gerald Ford........... 1,187 52.57%

Ronald Reagan...... 1,070 47.39%

Not photoshopped:  outgoing vp Nelson Rockefeller expresses his view of the New Right.

Carter years 

• Bill Brock at RNC (Rosenfeld 200-204)
• Moral, Majority (1979) -- less abortion than civil rights moves against schools
• Inflation leads to artificial increases in housing values, and income-tax bracket creep -- Supply side economics

"Of a sudden, the GOP has become a party of ideas."  -- Daniel Patrick Moynihan 1981

By the end of the decade, liberal calls abounded for the explicit emulation of conservative organizational innovations from the 1960s and 1970s" (Rosenfeld 248)