The Republican Party and the War on Poverty: 1964–1981

Mark Mclay

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2021

The Republican Party and the War on Poverty

1964–1981

Mark Mclay

In the series New Perspectives on the American Presidency

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474475549

Overview
Contents

About this book

Reassesses how presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Ronald Reagan dealt with the politics of the War on Poverty

Traces the evolution of the modern Republican party through its approach to poverty
Examines the roots of Republican opposition to antipoverty legislation, giving an insight into contemporary debates over public policy
Grounded in substantial archival research undertaken across the United States, including the presidential libraries of Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, and Ronald W. Reagan
Draws on the public and private papers of leading Republicans from different geographical regions and ideological factions
Uses political science tools such as public and private polling data, poverty and crime statistics, demographic studies, election analyses, and the presidential tapes of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon
Engages with and contributes to history and political science, supplemented by insights from sociological research on antipoverty programmes

Mark Mclay examines the part the Republican Party played in shaping and eventually curtailing President Johnson’s War on Poverty. Republican politicians and presidents consistently influenced how the ‘war’ was fought, before President Reagan symbolically ended the effort with his social welfare cuts in 1981.

Drawing on original archives of Republican politicians across the United States, the author sheds light on the important dynamic that existed between the Republican Party, Congress and the White House throughout those years, and provides a fresh perspective on the Republican Party and their presidents during a period that witnessed its rise from its nadir in 1964 to becoming the ascendant force in US politics.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
List of abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. A familiar trap: the ‘Party of Privilege’ and the War on Poverty, 1964 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2. A path to relevance: the Republican crusade against the War on Poverty, 1965 –66 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
3. Order or justice? Republicans and the ‘urban crisis’, 1966–67 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
4. The choice and the echo: poverty politics and the 1968 campaign Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
5. The crossroads: Nixon’s early years, 1969–70 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
6. The conservative turn: Nixon, Ford, and the beginning of the end, 1971–76 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
7. The end? Poverty politics and the ‘Reagan Revolution’, 1977 –81 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Epilogue: Poverty won? Republicans and poverty, 1982–2018 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 336
Keywords: Politics

eBook

Published: March 24, 2022
ISBN: 9781474475549