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CITIZENS FOR EISENHOWER AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, 1951–1965*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2013

ROBERT MASON
ROBERT MASON*
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
*
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG[email protected]
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Abstract

Founded in support of Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1952 presidential candidacy, Citizens for Eisenhower took on an ambitious mission to revitalize the Republican party by expanding its activist ranks and by supporting the moderation of its conservative policy agenda. The organization proved unable to sustain the impressive momentum that it achieved during the 1952 campaign, however, instead helping to fuel factional opposition that informed the intraparty upsurge of conservatism during the 1950s and afterwards. The Eisenhower administration's efforts to encourage Citizens activists to join the party were flawed, and existing Republican activists often viewed such newcomers with hostility. More significantly, despite recruitment initiatives, in most cases activism in support of Eisenhower did not translate into enthusiasm for the party cause. The history of Citizens for Eisenhower therefore demonstrates the seriousness of Eisenhower's interests as president in boosting the Republican party's fortunes, but also the shortcomings of ‘amateur’ political activity in support of the party cause. It also sheds light on goals and activities of this era's moderate Republicans, together with their role in fostering the conservative resurgence that characterized the post-Eisenhower Republican party.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 513 - 536
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

For helpful advice in response to earlier versions of this article, I am grateful to Jonathan Bell, Iwan Morgan, Byron Shafer, Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, David Stebenne, the anonymous reviewers for the journal, the journal's editors, and the participants in an Institute of Historical Research seminar of February 2011. The article draws on research conducted with support from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Eisenhower Foundation, for which I am also grateful.

References

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4 For James Q. Wilson, a contemporary scholar of political ‘amateurs’, the era's most outstanding example of this amateur spirit in politics was the Goldwater movement within the Republican party. Wilson, James Q., The amateur Democrat (1962; Chicago, IL, 1966), pp. viii–ixGoogle Scholar.

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39 Time, 11 June 1956.

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41 Report on Southern California, 25 Sept. 1956, Nixon papers, series 320, box 157.

42 Report on Nebraska, 23 Oct. 1956, Nixon papers, series 320, box 151.

43 The Deweyites were those associated during the 1940s and early 1950s with support for the moderate agenda of New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey; during the same period, the Taftites preferred Dewey's conservative rival for party dominance, Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft.

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75 Young & Rubicam, Inc., 10 Sept. 1956, Stephens records, box 10.

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109 Houghton to Nixon, 22 Apr. 1957, Nixon papers, series 320, box 356.

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111 Human Events, 18 Aug. 1958, News section, pp. 3–4.

112 McWhorter to Nixon, 15 Sept. 1958, Nixon papers, series 320, box 680.

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121 Guylay to Alcorn, 28 May 1957, Pyle records, box 42.

122 Goldwater to Javits, 25 May 1960, Javits collection, series 5, sub-series 2, box 9.

123 It was later renamed the Republican Citizens Committee of the United States.

124 Eisenhower to Thayer, 9 Feb. 1962, Thayer papers, political files, box 5.

125 Tobin, Jr, to Thayer, 4 June 1962, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, William Safire papers, box 18.

126 ‘Republican Citizens Committee of the United States: Progress Report #1’, June 1963, Thayer papers, political files, box 5; ‘Republican Citizens Committee of the United States Progress Report’, Oct. 1963, ‘Political Files National Republican Citizens Committee 1963’, Thayer papers, political files, box 5.

127 Brennan, Turning Right in the sixties, pp. 55–9.

128 Brown to Miller, 12 July 1962, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, William A. Rusher papers, box 155.

129 Goldwater to Miller, 5 July 1962, Arizona Historical Foundation, Hayden Library, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, Barry Goldwater papers, series P&P i, box 4.

130 Von Stade to Sheffield and Thayer, 22 Aug. 1963, Thayer papers, political file, box 5.

131 Thayer to Goldwater, 4 Aug. 1964, Thayer papers, political file, box 5.

132 Rees to Thayer, 10 Nov. 1965, Thayer papers, political file, box 5.

133 Wagner, Eisenhower Republicanism, p. 132.