The Republican Party and American Politics from Hoover to Reagan

Robert Mason investigates how Republicans tackled the problem of their party's minority status from the Great Depression until the Reagan years.

Robert Mason (Author)

9781107007048, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 November 2011

320 pages
24.1 x 16.5 x 2.8 cm, 0.59 kg

'Analytically astute, empirically sound, and lucidly written, Mason's history of the Republican Party's long years in the minority is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand America's two-party political system in the modern era. This is the best single-volume history of GOP leaders' struggle to find and articulate a winning response to New Deal and Great Society programs and ideology that I have read.' David Farber, author of The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism

During a long period of the twentieth century, stretching from the Great Depression until the Reagan years, defeat generally characterized the electoral record of the Republican party. Although Republicans sometimes secured victory in presidential contests, a majority of Americans identified with the Democratic party, not the GOP. This book investigates how Republicans tackled the problem of their party's minority status and why their efforts to boost GOP fortunes usually ended in failure. At the heart of the Republicans' minority puzzle was the profound and persistent popularity of New Deal liberalism. This puzzle was stubbornly resistant to solution. Efforts to develop a Republican version of government activism met little success. Only the Democratic party's decline eventually created opportunities for Republican resurgence. This book is the first to offer a wide-ranging analysis of the topic, which is of central importance to any understanding of modern US political history.

Introduction
1. From old Home Melodies to jazz music: 1928–33
2. As Maine goes, so goes Vermont: 1933–9
3. The simple barefoot Wall Street lawyer: 1939–45
4. Liberty versus socialism: 1945–53
5. Modern Republicanism: 1953–61
6. A choice, not an echo: 1960–8
7. There's a realignment going on: 1968–76
8. You are witnessing the great realignment: 1977–89
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]