The 1970s: historical overview and cultural significance

¶ … McGovern's failed candidacy reshaped the Democrats. His followers gave full convention voting expression to a gamut of groups who make up the "liberal coalition."

Despite the unpopularity of the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon won by an unprecedented landslide against his Democratic rival, Senator George McGovern. ("The Presidential Election of 1972," 2005) The incumbent Nixon received 61% of the popular vote and 520 votes in the Electoral College to McGovern's 17. The American electorate had apparently granted Nixon the popular mandate that he had always craved. After the debacle of the rioting that took place during the 1968 Democratic Convention, the Democratic Party had undergone internal reforms that had important repercussions in the 1972 campaign, resulting in the nomination of the liberal anti-war pacifist from South Dakota who had little popular appeal.

The traditional power brokers of the Democratic Party, such as big labor, lost representation in the 1972 convention, while women, minorities, and leaders of the peace movement gained greater influence in the party. This transformation angered many of the traditional supporters of the Democrats, such as labor unions, Catholics, and Southerners. ("The Twilight of Liberalism: The Nixon Years," Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, 1999) This kind of extreme pluralism of interests represented by the new members party caused it to fragment and lose a large part of its broader, older and more cohesive ideological base. McGovern was criticized for promising amnesty to Vietnam draft avoiders as well, an issue that angered many working class Democrats, who had sent sons to fight in the front lines. These boys were not subject to the exemptions enjoyed by many wealthier sons, such as having the status of college students.

Question 2

In hindsight, did his nomination triumph help or hamper the party until Bill Clinton's election in 1992, or might it have been a combination of both?

McGovern's nomination deprived the Democratic Party of many of its core constituencies. Even worse, the interest groups that did hold sway in the party were often at war against themselves, making the Republicans appear more unified and better leaders. Early on in Bill Clinton's own political career, he learned the dangers of appearing overly liberal. "Clinton's defeat" as an Arkansas governor "motivated him to adopt a more cautious, pragmatic, and moderate approach." ("Clinton: William Jefferson," "The American Presidency," 2005) Clinton was motivated to take a more conservative social stance on a personal level. His wife took his name, for example and became Hilary Rodham Clinton.

Although these gestures may have seemed small, they were an important symbolic steps in avoiding the association of anti-Americanism that had tainted the Democratic party ever since the slogan 'Amnesty, Abortion, and Acid,' had caused Republicans to suggest that the Democrats were far to the left of 'real' Americans, or Nixon's silent majority. ("The Twilight of Liberalism: The Nixon Years," Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, 1999)

Question 3

American foreign policy in the Nixon-Ford years dramatically altered the course of the Cold War. The opening to the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks I (SALT I) with the Soviet Union were widely heralded in their time as helping to lessen world tensions. No one could have foreseen at the time the end of the Cold War in the near-term.

Part A

Why were these initiatives made by Nixon and Kissinger and also comment as to why the conservative critics reacted against Nixon with the Ashbrook primary challenge in 1972 and the Reagan campaign against Ford in 1976.

Since the 1950s, Richard Nixon had been a staunch anti-Communist. But by the time he had become president in January 1969, his thinking had changed. In the increasingly dangerous atmosphere of the Cold War, Nixon wanted to bring the Soviet Union to the bargaining table. Nixon, after suffering through Vietnam's turmoil, worried the most populous nation on earth could pose a future danger to the United State because of its isolation. Also, given its estrangement from the Soviet Union, the time seemed right for an American democratic coop.

However, the dogma among right-wing Republicans like Reagan and Ashbrook was that communism was a monolith. But Nixon believed that he could use the growing split between the Russians and the Chinese as a lever. Nixon a move toward the Chinese that increased his leverage with the Russians in the SALT talks -- yet he continued to carefully manage his relations with the Russians, as leverage against the Chinese. ("Nixon's China Game: Enhanced Transcript," 2005, PBS)

Question 3

Part B

What were the political views of Ashbrook and Reagan?