Seeking a New Majority

The rise of the Republican Party from its mid-twentieth-century minority status between 1960 and 1980 had a profound impact on American politics that is still being felt in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The GOP would move to the right in its pursuit of electoral ascendancy, but considerable debate within the party surrounded this shift and its success was far from certain. Ultimately, however, this development would culminate in the transformational election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980.Seeking a New Majority assembles an international group of scholars to move beyond the ideas and activities of party leaders who have hitherto received the bulk of historical attention. It illuminates how the Republican Party expanded its regional base, especially in the South, appealed to new constituencies ranging from blue-collar workers to Christian fundamentalists, and enhanced the political appeal of conservatism. It also examines how Republicans engaged in a remarkable organizational and intellectual mobilization to challenge Democratic Party dominance--in search of a new majority.

CONTENTSIntroduction: Republicans in Search of a New Majority - Robert Mason and Iwan MorganThe Rise of Conservative Republicanism: A History of Fits and Starts - Donald T. CritchlowRace, Region, and the Shadow of the New Deal - Timothy N. Thurber"The Republican Party Is Truly the Party of the 'Open Door'": Ethnic Americans and the Republican Party in the 1970s - Joe MertonBuilding the Republican Party and the Problem of Diversity, 1968-1975 - Catherine E. RymphRepublican Populism in the Quest for a New Majority: Pat Buchanan in the White House - Tim StanleyJohn Tower, Texas, and the Rise of the Republican South - Sean P. CunninghamUneasy Alliance: The Religious Right and the Republican Party - Robert FreedmanBuilding Consensus: The Republican Right and Foreign Policy, 1960-1980 - Sandra ScanlonForeign Policy and the Republican Quest for a New Majority - Robert MasonTaxation as a Republican Issue in the Era of Stagflation - Iwan MorganRendezvous with Destiny: The Republican Party and the 1980 Election - Dominic SandbrookEpilogue: The Ongoing Republican Search for a New Majority since 1980 - Robert Mason and Iwan Morgan