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Children of the “Silent Majority”: Richard Nixon’s Young Voters for the President, 1972

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2015

Seth E. Blumenthal
Seth E. Blumenthal*
Affiliation:
Boston University
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Journal of Policy History , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 337 - 363
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Copyright © Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

NOTES

1. Von Drehle, David, “The Year of the Youth Vote,” Time, 31 January 2008Google Scholar,

2. http://www.pewresearch.org/2008/11/13/young-voters-in-the-2008-election/ (accessed 23 June 2014).

3. On the history of youth politics during this era, see Blum, John Morton, Years of Discord: American Politics and Society, 1961–1974 (1991)Google Scholar; David, Frum, How We Got Here: The 70’s, the Decade That Brought You Modern Life (For Better or Worse) (2000)Google Scholar; Greenberg, David, Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image (2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Hixson, Walter L., The Vietnam Antiwar Movement (2000)Google Scholar; Lytle, Mark Hamilton, America’s Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon (2006)Google Scholar; Miroff, Bruce, The Liberal’s Moment: The McGovern Insurgency and the Identity Crisis of the Democratic Party (2007)Google Scholar; Perlstein, Rick, Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (2008Google Scholar); Doug Rossinow, The Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity, and the New Left in America (1998); Alan Sica and Stephen Turner, eds., The Disobedient Generation: Social Theorists in the Sixties (2005); Melvin Small, Covering Dissent: The Media and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement (1994); Theodore Windt, Presidents and Protesters: Political Rhetoric in the 1960s (1990); Jules Witcover, Very Strange Bed Fellows: The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew (2007).

4. YVP State Action Plan, folder Citizens Youth [1 of 5], box 43; Papers of Fred Vincent Malek (hereafter PFVM), Richard Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, CA.

5. http://www.gallup.com/poll/9457/election-polls-vote-groups-19681972.aspx (accessed 2 July 2014).

6. Novelli to Magruder, 14 March 1972, folder Subject Files: Alphabetical (JSM), Youth [5 of 8], box 27, Papers of Jeb Stuart Magruder (hereafter PJSM), Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, Calif.

7. Nixon to Haldeman, 23 July 1972, Camp David. Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/documents/donated/072372_nixon.pdf (accessed 2 January 2015).

8. Robert Finch to President, “Youth,” 8 April 1971, folder Youth Progress Report and Paper, box 45, Papers of Robert Finch (hereafter PRF), NARA II, College Park, Md.

9. Novelli to Magruder, 14 March 1972, Subject Files: Alphabetical (JSM), Youth [5 of 8], box 27, PJSM.

10. White, Theodore, The Making of the President, 327–29Google Scholar. For more on the structure of the CRP, see The Ripon Society and Clifford Brown Jr., Jaws of Victory; The Game-plan Politics of 1972, the Crisis of the Republican Party, and the Future of the Constitution (Boston, 1973).

11. Oval Conversation 473–2, 25 March 1971, White House Tapes, Nixon Library, Yorba Linda.

12. Oval Conversation 761–7, 4 August 1972, White House Tapes.

13. Andrew, John, The Other Side of the Sixties (Piscataway, N.J., 1997).Google Scholar While literature on the YAF looks at its influence on the Goldwater campaign and the eventual role in later years under Reagan, Nixon’s youth campaign is mostly ignored. For more on YAF and Goldwater/Reagan, see Perlstein, Rick, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of American Consensus (New York, 2009)Google Scholar; Crawford, Alan, Thunder on the Right: The “New Right” and the Politics of Resentment (New York, 1980)Google Scholar; Klatch, Rebecca E., A Generation Divided (Berkeley, 1999)Google Scholar; Nash, George H., The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (Wilmington, Del., 1996)Google Scholar; Rusher, William A., The Rise of the Right (New York, 1993)Google Scholar; Schneider, Gregory L., Cadres for Conservatism: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of the Contemporary Right (New York, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Thorburn, Wayne, A Generation Awakes: Young Americans for Freedom and the Creation of the Conservative Movement (Ottawa, Ill., 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Shirley, Craig, Reagan’s Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All (Nashville, 2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14. Colson to Haldeman, folder Youth Optional Proposals [2 of 2], [CFOA 336], box 43, PRF.

15. Ibid.

16. For the rise of conservatism, see McGirr, Lisa, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (Princeton, 2002)Google Scholar; Lassiter, Matt, The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South (Princeton, 2007)Google Scholar; Schulman, Bruce and Zelizer, Julian, Rightward Bound: Making America Conservative in the 1970s (Cambridge, Mass., 2008)Google Scholar; Perlstein, Rick, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (New York, 2001)Google Scholar; Kalman, Laura, Right Star Rising: A New Politics, 1974–1980 (New York, 2010).Google Scholar

17. Brock won the youth vote 2–1 in 1970; see Tiede, Tom, “Who’s Got the Youth Vote,” (Henderson, N.C.) Times-News, 1 August 1972, 15Google Scholar.

18. Brock interview, 12 December 2012.

19. Oval Conversation 385-14, 2 December 1972, White House Tapes.

20. Hope, Paul, “Nation’s Youth Being Courted for Votes,” Reading Eagle, 6 July 1971, 22Google Scholar.

21. Oval Conservation 795-1, 10 October 1972, White House Tapes.

22. Magruder, Jeb Stuart, An American Life: One Man’s Road to Watergate (New York, 1974), 105.Google Scholar

23. Ibid.

24. Maxey, David, “Nixon’s Youth Corps,” Look Magazine, 10 February 1970, 48Google Scholar.

25. Bullock, Paul, “‘Rabbits and Radicals: Richard Nixon’s 1946 Campaign Against Jerry Voorhis,” Southern California Quarterly 55, no. 3 (Fall 1973): 319–59 (324).Google Scholar

26. http://www.gallup.com/poll/9451/election-polls-vote-groups-19521956.aspx (accessed 1 July 2014).

27. Eisenhower, Dwight D., Republican National Convention, 23 August 1956, http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3359 (accessed 1 July 2014)Google Scholar.

28. Nixon still held his own, winning 45 percent of voters under thirty, http://www.gallup.com/poll/9454/election-polls-vote-groups-19601964.aspx (accessed 1 July 2014).

29. Seagull, Louis M., “The Youth Vote and Change in American Politics,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 397, Seven Polarizing Issues in America Today (September 1971), 88–96, 95.Google Scholar Lamare, James, “Inter-or-Intragenerational Cleavage? The Political Orientations of American Youth in 1968,” American Journal of Political Science 19, no. 1 (February 1975): 81.Google Scholar While Wallace won only 14 percent of voters over thirty, 24 percent of non–high school graduates under thirty supported his candidacy in 1968.

30. William Brock to Advisory Board, “Action Items and Follow Up,” folder (JSM) Youth No. [4 of 4], box 2, PJSM.

31. Kilpatrick, James J., “Nixon Group Aims at Youth,” Deseret News, 16 August 1972, 10AGoogle Scholar

32. Brock Strategy (JSM), Youth No. 1 [1 of 3], box 27, PJSM.

33. Ken Rietz to Jeb Magruder, “Young Voters for the President,” folder: Youth Programs [2 of 2[, box 158, Papers of H. R. Haldeman (hereafter PHRH), NARA II, College Park, Md.

34. Oval Conversation 360–20, 11 September 1972, White House Tapes.

35. Ken Rietz to Jeb Magruder, 24 February 1972, folder Budget Youth, box 43, PFVM.

36. Strachan to Haldeman, “Youth,” 25 September 1971, folder: Youth Programs [1 of 2], box 158, PHH.

37. Campaign Strategy Group to Attorney General, 15 October 1971, Election File. folder: Re-Election Committee [1 of 3]; WHSF SM&OF: Patrick Buchanan, 1972, NARA II, College Park.

38. Tiede, Tom, “Youth Vote, Youth Vote, Who’s Got the Youth Vote?” Oscala-Star Banner, 14 August 1972, 10AGoogle Scholar.

39. Ted Garish to Fred Malek, “State Priorities for Young Voter Division,” folder Citizens Youth [1 of 2], 26 September 1972, box 43, PFVM.

40. YVP State Action Plan, folder: Citizens Youth 1 of 5, box 4, PFVM.

41. Henry McGee III, “The GOP Strategy: Organizing Nixon Youth from the Top Down, Reitz [sic] Now Has 200,000 Student Volunteers,” Harvard Crimson, 24 October 1972.

42. Rietz to Magruder, folder: Youth No.1 [4 of 4], Subject Files, Alphabetical, box 29, PJSM (CRP).

43. Nunley, Jane, “Powell Says, ‘Nixon Needs Young,’” UT Daily Beacon, 29 September 1972Google Scholar, University of Tennessee Special Collections.

44. Rietz interview, 20 June 2012.

45. Robert Odle interview, 9 July 2014.

46. “Politics: GOP Reach to Youth,” Time, 31 January 1972.

47. Rietz to Magruder, “Youth Position Survey,” folder: Alphabetical, Youth [3 of 4], box 20, PJSM (CRP) Collection.

48. Clark, Dennis, “Drive on for Voter Registration,” UT Beacon, 5 October 1972, 5Google Scholar.

49. Rietz interview.

50. Docksai, Ronald, “Welcome to the Remnant,” New Guard, October 1971, 4Google Scholar.

51. Buchanan to Grassmuck, folder: Attitude Study [CFOA 336], box 45, PRF. Huston is more well-known for his controversial “Huston Plan,” which he wrote as a White House liaison to the Interagency Committee on Intelligence, a plan that called for covert operations to gather information on “radicals” on college campuses.

52. Letters, New Guard, November 1972.

53. Odle to Magruder, Brock Strategy, Youth No. 1 [1 of 3], box 27, PJSM.

54. Ken Clawson, “GOP Finds Solace in Youth Vote,” folder: Alphabetical (JSM) Voter Registration [4 of 7], box 27, PJSM. Also Rietz to Magruder, 2 September 1971, folder: Alphabetical Subject Files (JSM) Youth [4 of 4], box 29, PJSM.

55. Ibid.

56. Young Republicans National Convention Brochure, folder 4, College Republican National Committee, Campaign Literature 1971–72, box 2, Papers of University of Maryland College Republicans (hereafter UMDCR), University of Maryland, College Park.

57. Oval Conversation 31–5, 5 October 1972, White House Tapes.

58. George Gorton interview. 12 October 2012

59. Young Republicans National Convention Brochure, Papers of UMCR, 2 Folder 4, box 2, College Republican National Committee, Campaign Literature 1971–72. University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

60. Rietz to Tom Hayden, “California,” folder: Subject Files: Alphabetical (JSM), Youth [3 of 3], box 27, PJSM.

61. Odle to Magruder, “Youth for Nixon, 1972,” 20 April 1971, folder: (JSM) Youth No. 1 [1 of 3], box 27, PJSM.

62. Colson to Haldeman, “18 Year Old Vote in 1972,” 9 December 1970, folder: 18 Year Old Vote, 1972 [1 of 2], box 43, PRF.

63. “Senator Brock Concerned with Youth Vote,” (Henderson, N.C.) Times-News, 3 May 1971, 9.

64. Rietz to Magruder, “The Vocation Education Group and First Family Involvement,” folder: Chronological (August 1971–January 1972) [4 of 12], box 55, Papers of James McLane (hereafter PJM).

65. McLane to Chapin, 4 January 1972, folder: Youth (August 1971–January 1972) [6 of 12], box 56, PJM.

66. “Ross Is Named to DECA Post,” Boca Raton News, 16 April 1972, 3A.

67. Ken Rietz to Fred Malek, “Vocational Student Leaders Endorsing the President,” 2 October 1972, folder: Citizen Youth [1 of 2], box 43, PFVM.

68. “Remarks to Members of Young Labor for Nixon,” 23 September 1972, folder: Chronological, box 317, Public Papers of the President; Roberts, Steven V., “Role of ‘Invisible Youths’ in 1972 Politics Reviewed,” Nashua Telegraph, 22 March 1972, 24Google Scholar.

69. “Remarks to Members of Young Labor for Nixon,” 23 September 1972, Public Papers of the President.

70. Roberts, “Role of ‘Invisible Youths’ in 1972 Politics Reviewed,” 24.

71. Strachan to Rietz, “Campus Opinion Poll,” 10 December 1971, folder: Alphabetical, JSM Youth no. 3 [1 of 4], box 29, PJSM.

72. Finch to President, April 1971, folder: Youth-General [3 of 19], box 56, PJM.

73. Rietz to McLane, 2 December 1971, folder: Alphabetical, Youth [3 of 4], box 29, PJM.

74. Colson to Kehrli, folder: Youth-General, box 56, PJM

75. “Politics: GOP Reach to Youth,” Time, Monday, 31 January 1972.

76. Gorton Interview.

77. McCloskey Flyer, folder: Subject Files Alphabetical (JSM), Contenders [1 of 7], box 15, PJM.

78. Kehrli to Colson, “Iowa State Poll,” folder: Youth-General [14 of 19], box 56, PJM.

79. Rietz to Magruder, 22 June 1971, folder: Alphabetical (JSM), Mock Elections, box 22, PJSM.

80. Ibid.

81. Gorton interview.

82. Rietz to Magruder, 22 June 1971, folder: Alphabetical (JSM), Mock Elections, box 22, PJSM

83. Dartmouth Polls, folder, Alphabetical (JSM), Mock Elections, box 22, PJSM.

84. Rietz to Mitchell, 3 February 1972, folder: Alphabetical (JSM), Mock Elections, box 22, PJSM.

85. Gorton Interview.

86. Rietz to Magruder, 24 February 1972, folder: Budget, Youth, box 31, PFVM.

87. Rietz to Magruder, folder: (JSM) Mock Elections, Subject Files: Alphabetical, box 22, PJSM.

88. George Gorton to Rietz, “New Hampshire ‘Young Voters’ Rally,” 26 January 1972, folder: Subject Files, Alphabetical (JSM), Youth [7 of 8], box 27, PJSM.

89. Ibid.

90. Girard to Magruder, 24 January 1972, folder: Subject Files, Alphabetical (JSM), Youth [8 of 8], box 27, PJSM.

91. McCloskey Flyer, folder: Subject Files Alphabetical (JSM), Contenders [1 of 7], box 15, PJSM.

92. Gorton interview.

93. Memo, February 1968, folder 10, box 1, Papers of UMDCR, Presidential Papers, Karel Petraitis, 1967–69, University of Maryland, College Park.

94. Joe Abate to Alan Virta, 15 June 1972: folder 5, box 2, UMDCR Papers, College Republican National Committee, Correspondence 1971–72, University of Maryland, College Park.

95. “Top-Notch Orator Wins Dallas Trip,” Deseret News, 2 May 1969, 2C.

96. Alan Virta, 1 July 1972, folder 14, box 1, Papers of UMDCR, Presidential Papers, Alan Virta (hereafter PAV), 1971–72. University of Maryland, College Park.

97. Helen Orndorff, 28 June 1972, folder 14, box 1, PAV.

98. Alan Virta, July 1, 1972, folder 14, box 1, PAV.

99. Saar, John, “GOP Probes Official as Teacher of Dirty ‘Tricks,’” Washington Post, 1 August 1973, A16Google Scholar.

100. Rove, Karl, Courage and Consequences: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight (New York, 2010), 27–37.Google Scholar

101. Bob Odle Interview.

102. Ken Rietz to Fred Malek, 9 June 1972, folder: Memo, Citizens Youth, 1 of 5, box 43, PFVM.

103. “Tentative Budget: Youth Division,” folder: Budget Youth, box 43, PFVM.

104. Odle to Magruder, Brock Strategy, Youth No. 1 [1 of 3], box 27, PJSM.

105. Joe Abate to Alan Virta, 15 June 1972, folder 5, box 2, UMDCR Papers, College Republican National Committee, Correspondence 1971–72.

106. Alan Virta to UMCR Alumnae, 6 May 1972, folder 13, box 1, UMDCR Papers, PAV.

107. The Elephant’s Memory, Spring 1972 1(1), folder 13, box 1, PAV.

108. Gallup, George, “Gallup Shows McGovern Gain,” Anchorage Daily News, 1 (October 1972), 1Google Scholar.

109. McGee, Henry III, “The GOP Strategy: Organizing Nixon Youth from the Top Down, Rietz Now Has 200,000 Student Volunteers,” The Harvard Crimson, (October 24, 1972).http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1972/10/24/the-gop-strategy-organizing-nixon-youth/ (Accessed, 2 January 2015)Google Scholar.

110. Terry Ryan, “Nixon Forces Confident They’ll Win Half Youth Vote,” Sarasota Herald Tribune, 16 August 1972, 5A.

111. Oval Conversation 761-7, 4 August 1972, White House Tapes.

112. “Campus Opinion,” 12 August 1971, PHH box 158, folder: Youth Programs [1 of 2].

113. Perlstein, Rick, Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America (New York: Scribner, 2008)Google Scholar, illustrations.

114. Oval Conversation 360-20, 11 September 1972, White House Tapes.

115. Oval Conversation 217-6, 6 October 1972, White House Tapes.

116. Oval Conversation 792-4, 5 October 1972, White House Tapes.

117. Colson to Haldeman, “18 year old vote in 1972,” 9 December 1970, folder: Youth Optional Proposals [2 of 2], [CFOA 336] box 43, PRF.

118. McLane to Finch, “Youth Action Plan, folder: Eighteen Year Old Vote, 1972 [1 of 2], box 56, PJM.

119. Ryan, Terry, “Nixon Forces Confident They’ll Win Half Youth Vote,” Sarasota Herald Tribune, 16 August 1972Google Scholar, 5A.

120. “Nixon Gaining California Youth Support,” Lodi News-Sentinel, 14 September 1972, 7.

121. Associated Press, “Volpe to Give Initial Seconding Speech as Nixon Is Proposed for Candidate,” (Maine) Lewiston Evening Journal, 7 August 1968, 21.

122. Mort Allin, “Youth for Nixon Final Report,” 14, folder: Subject Files, Alphabetical (JSM), Youth [2 of 3], box 27, Papers of JSM.

123. Ibid.

124. Ibid.

125. Convention Schedule, 3 August 1972, folder: Subject Files, Alphabetical (JSM), Convention [1 of 10], box 15, PJSM. See also Max Frankel, “Nixon Is Renominated by 1,347 to 1 Vote, Liberals Lose Fight over Rules for 1976,” New York Times, 23 August 1972, 1.

126. Andy Soltis, “Muted Politics on Campus,” New York Post, 3 November 1972, 26, folder: Youth, 1972, box 927, Papers of George McGovern, Mudd Library, Princeton.

127. Oval Conversation 761-7, 4 August 1972, White House Tapes.

128. Novelli to Joanou, “Young Voters,” March 14, 1972, folder: Alphabetical, (JSM) Youth [5 of 8], box 27, PJSM.

129. See Nixon Commercial on McGovern, “Turnaround,” http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1972 (accessed 15 January 2014). The ad points out McGovern’s reversals on issues such as unilateral withdrawal in Vietnam, marijuana regulation, a welfare program to provide $1,000 for every American, the inheritance tax, and busing.

130. Message from Dr. Evelyn Hooker (LA) to Frank Mankiewicz, 2 August 1972, Chronological File, box 9, Papers of Frank Mankiewicz, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston.

131. Chaffee, Steven H. and Becker, Lee B., “Young Voters’ Reactions to Early Watergate Issues,” American Politics Research 3 (1975): 3, 360, 379.Google Scholar