Difference between revisions of "Republican Party"

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Republican Party

Party Chairman	Michael Whatley
Senate Leader
House Speaker	Mike Johnson
House Leader	Steve Scalise
Founded	March 20, 1854
Headquarters	310 K Street SE Washington, D.C. 20003
Political ideology	Conservatism Classical Liberalism Libertarianism Right-wing populism Paleoconservativism Abolitionism/Emancipation Constitutionalism Patriotism Nationalism Neoconservatism (RINO minority)
Political position	Fiscal: Right-wing, Free Market Social: Centre-Right to Right-wing, Conservative, Libertarian, Patriotic
International affiliation	International Democrat Union Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (regional partner)
Color(s)	Red (unofficial)
Website	www.gop.com

The Republican Party (R) or informally the GOP (short for Grand Old Party), is one of the two major political parties in the United States and founded on the principles of opportunity, meritocracy and "one person, one vote."

The Republican Party is the only major U.S. political party that is pro-life. The Republican Party is also pro-free enterprise, pro-religious liberty, pro-school choice, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-traditional marriage, while opposing the defunding of police departments. At its first national convention, in 1856, the Republican Party platform stated, "It is the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery."^[1]

The Republican Party was created in 1854 by anti-slavery activists and has always stood for equal rights and the dignity of the individual. It soon swept to control of all the northern states, and in 1860 elected Abraham Lincoln president. The South seceded, and the Union side of the American Civil War was directed by Lincoln and the new party, with help from "War Democrats." The GOP (as it was increasingly made up of veterans of the GAR or Grand Army of the Republic) dominated the elections of the Third Party System (1854–1896) as well as the Fourth Party System or Progressive Era (1896–1932). However, the Democrats built a liberal New Deal Coalition under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and dominated the Fifth Party System (1932–1968), with the GOP only electing Dwight D. Eisenhower in that era. The Sixth Party System, since 1968, has been dominated by the GOP.

Unable to suppress minority voting rights for another century, in the 1960s Democrats sought to make Blacks dependent for food and housing on the Democratic party again with the War on Poverty, as Blacks had been in the pre-Civil War plantation system.^[2] Throughout the voter suppression of the Jim Crow era and beyond the War on Poverty, Democrats were always determined that the party that freed the slaves would not become beneficiaries of the Freedmen's vote. The system of economic co-dependency and patronage between white liberal racists and African Americans that existed for centuries was renewed in the mid-1960s.^[3] Only now the system of co-dependency was paid for with federal money rather than the private sector plantation system of the pre-Civil War era.^[4]

20 of the 30 US Presidents since 1861 have been Republicans and since that same year, a Republican has won 24 of the last 38 presidential elections. The party's most recent candidates Free Soil Republicans Donald Trump of New York, along with his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, won the 2016 presidential election against Southern Democrat challengers Hillary Clinton of Arkansas and her running mate Tim Kaine of Virginia.

It is important to vote for someone who's more conservative on the issues rather than for someone who represents their party only by name due to the fact some Republicans are less conservative and more liberal/progressive than typical Republicans (see: RINO).

1877 Thomas Nast drawing of the Republican elephant.

Symbol

The official symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. Although the elephant had occasionally been associated with the party earlier, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.^[5] In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican party in some Midwestern states was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic cock (rooster). The eagle still appears on Indiana ballots.

A political term referring to the party is "G.O.P.", which was originally an acronym of "Grand Old Party". The term was coined in 1875.

Ideology

Donald Trump has made the Republican Party more focused on immigration issues and blue-collar worker issues.

The Republican Party was established to successfully end the relics of slavery, barbarism and polygamy. Historically, the fundamental philosophy and political ideals of the Republican Party are founded on the idea that societal health is rooted in personal responsibility and actions. The Republican Party holds the belief that all material things are earned, not owed. This is seen most often in the party's push for lower taxes. This is fought for in an attempt to treat all citizens equally despite income, race, gender, or religion. They also see taxes as a drag on the economy, and believe private spending is usually more efficient than public spending.

Republicans also show concerns about having big government in charge of such vital issues as food, shelter, or health care, as they believe the private sector and/or the individual are better suited to control their own lives. President Ronald Reagan who became a Republican in the early 1960s after being a New Dealer at one time, has been quoted as saying "Government is not the solution, it is the problem."

The party tends to hold both conservative and libertarian stances on social and economic issues respectively. Major policies that the party has recently supported include a conservative foreign policy, including War on Terror, liberating of Afghanistan and Iraq, and strong support for democracy, especially in the Middle East. Many party members and politicians have shown a distrust of the United Nations due to the organization's incompetent bureaucracy, anti-capitalist undertone, corruption on the Security Council and in UN humanitarian programs. Along with demanding radical reforms in the UN, many Republican politicians also opposes the Kyoto Protocol due the protocol's unfair application to certain countries (especially the United States) and the fact that it prevents economic growth and slows the reduction of poverty.

The Republican Party generally supported free trade to promote democracy, especially NAFTA and CAFTA. It is responsible for a series of across-the-board tax cuts since 2001 that have bolstered the economy and reduced the punitive aspect of the income tax. It has sought business deregulation, reduction of environmental regulations that restrict fair use of land and property, and other policies that are pro-capitalism. It supports gun ownership rights, and enterprise zones (low taxes for investing in poverty areas). On social issues the majority of its national and state candidates usually favor the death penalty, call for stronger state-level control on access to abortion, support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage at the federal level and by the states, favor faith-based charitable initiatives, support school choice and homeschooling, social welfare benefit reform, and oppose reverse racism, such as racial quotas.

In recent years the party has called for much stronger accountability in the public schools, especially through the "No Child Left behind Act" of 2001 (which also increased federal funding for schools). The party is split on the issue of federally funding embryonic stem cell research that involves the cloning and killing of human embryos. Many in the party think it is unethical to force taxpayers who believe this type of research is morally wrong to finance it. Historically Republicans have had a strong belief in individualism, limited government, and business entrepreneurship.

In recent years, the Republican party has downplayed its emphasis on small government. Under the administration of George W. Bush, the federal government has been expanded to record levels, surpassing even the Great Depression era.^[6] Additionally, the Bush administration has acted to nationalize the country's banking institutions in an effort to stymie the decline of the U.S. economy^[7]

In 2016, the Republican Party adopted the most pro-life party platform in its entire history, with strong language recognizing the right to life of unborn human beings and condemning Planned Parenthood.^[8] Between 1995 and 2018, the GOP become significantly more pro-life on the issue.^[9]

Contrary to the claims of liberals and Democrats, the GOP better represent the poor in the U.S., while Democrats represent the wealthy.^[10]

History

GOP Presidents by Andy Thomas; clockwise from right: Nixon, Ford, Lincoln, GHW Bush, Reagan, GW Bush, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt

The party began in 1854, at the start of the Third Party System. The GOP (or "Grand Old Party" as it was nicknamed after 1880 by veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, the GAR) dominated national politics as the victors of the American Civil War, including most of the Fourth Party System until 1932. Then the Fifth Party System (or "New Deal Coalition") was dominant until the late 1960s. Since 1968 the GOP has won 8 of 13 presidential elections (losing in 1976, 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012). Its great rival is the party of segregation, slavery, Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan, the Democrat Party.

Third Party System: 1854–1896

The Republican party began as a spontaneous grassroots protest against the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed slavery into western territories where it had been forbidden by earlier compromises. The creation of the new party, along with the death of the Whig Party, realigned American politics. The central issues were new, as were the voter alignments, and the balance of power in Congress. The central issues became slavery, race, civil war and the reconstruction of the Union into a more powerful nation, with rules changed that gave the vote to Blacks and former slaves.

Issues: Slavery

Republican activists denounced the Kansas-Nebraska act as proof of the power of the Slave Power—the powerful class of slaveholders who were conspiring to control the federal government and to spread slavery nationwide. The name "Republican" gained such favor in 1854 because "republicanism" was the paramount political value the new party meant to uphold. The name also echoed the former Jeffersonian party of the First Party System. The party founders adopted the name "Republican" to indicate it was the carrier of "republican" beliefs about civic virtue, and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.^[11]

Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president

Two small cities of the Yankee diaspora, Ripon, Wisconsin, and Jackson, Michigan, claim the birthplace honors.^[12] Ripon held the first county convention on March 20, 1854. Jackson held the first statewide convention where delegates on July 6, 1854, declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories and selected a statewide slate of candidates. The Midwest took the lead in forming state party tickets, while the eastern states lagged a year or so. There were no efforts to organize the party in the South, apart from a few areas adjacent to free states. The new party was sectional, based in the northeast and northern Midwest—areas with a strong Yankee presence. It had only scattered support in slave states before the Civil War.^[13]

The first presidential nomination in 1856 when to an obscure western explorer John C. Fremont, as the party crusaded against the Slave Power with the slogan, "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free men, Fremont and victory!" Democrats warned darkly that disunion and Civil War would result. The remnants of the Know Nothing movement prevented the new party from sweeping the North, and the Democrats elected James Buchanan. By 1858 the Know Nothings were gone and the Republicans swept the North. The 1860 election seemed a certain victory, for the party had majorities in states with a majority of the electoral votes. In the event, the opposition split three ways, and Abraham Lincoln coasted to an easy victory, carrying 18 states with 190 electoral votes, while the opposition carried 15 states (mostly in the South) with 123 electoral votes. Lincoln had 1.9 million popular votes.

Modernization

Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a modernizing vision—emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers. It vigorously argued that free-market labor was superior to slavery and the very foundation of civic virtue and true American values - this is the "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men" ideology explored by historian Eric Foner.^[14] The Republicans absorbed the previous traditions of its members, most of whom had been Whigs, and some of whom had been Democrats or members of third parties (especially the Free Soil Party and Know-Nothings (American Party). Many Democrats who joined up were rewarded with governorships.^[15] or seats in the U.S. Senate.^[16] Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party, but the amount of flow back and forth of prominent politicians between the two parties was quite high from 1854 to 1896.

Ethnocultural voting

Historians have explored the ethnocultural foundations of the party, along the line that ethnic and religious groups set the moral standards for their members, who then carried those standards into politics. The churches also provided social networks that politicians used to sign up voters. The pietistic churches, heavily influenced by the revivals of the Second Great Awakening, emphasized the duty of the Christian to purge sin from society. Sin took many forms—alcoholism, polygamy and slavery became special targets for the Republicans. The Yankees, who dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest were the strongest supporters of the new party. This was especially true for the pietistic Congregationalists and Presbyterians among them and (during the war), the Methodists, along with Scandinavian Lutherans. The Quakers were a small tight-knit group that was heavily Republican. The liturgical churches (Roman Catholic, Episcopal, German Lutheran), by contrast, largely rejected the moralism of the GOP; most of their adherents voted Democratic.^[17]

Politics 1854–1860

John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee for President in 1856, using the political slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont's bid was unsuccessful, the party showed a strong base. It dominated in New England, New York and the northern Midwest, and had a strong presence in the rest of the North. It had almost no support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-60 as a divisive force that threatened civil war. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 ended the domination of the fragile coalition of pro-slavery southern Democrats and conciliatory northern Democrats which had existed since the days of Andrew Jackson. Instead, a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial and agricultural north ensued. Republicans still often refer to their party as the "party of Lincoln" in honor of the first Republican President.

See also: Third Party System

Civil War: 1861–1865

Lincoln proved brilliantly successful in uniting the factions of his party to fight for the Union.^[18] However he usually fought the Radical Republicans who demanded harsher measures. Most Democrats at first were War Democrats, and supportive until the fall of 1862. When Lincoln added the abolition of slavery as a war goal, many war Democrats became "peace Democrats." All the state Republican parties accepted the antislavery goal except Kentucky. In Congress, the party passed major legislation to promote rapid modernization, including a national banking system, high tariffs, an income tax, many excise taxes, paper money issued without backing ("greenbacks"), a huge national debt, homestead laws, and aid to education and agriculture. The Republicans denounced the peace-oriented Democrats as Copperheads and won enough War Democrats to maintain their majority in 1862; in 1864, they formed a coalition with many War Democrats as the "National Union Party" which reelected Lincoln easily, then folded back into the Republican party. During the war, upper-middle-class men in major cities formed Union Leagues, to promote and help finance the war effort.

Reconstruction: Blacks, Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

A cartoon threatening that the KKK will lynch scalawags (left) and carpetbaggers (right) on March 4, 1869, the day President Grant takes office. Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, September 1, 1868. A full-scale scholarly history analyzes the cartoonː Guy W. Hubbs, Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman (2015).^[19]

In Reconstruction, how to deal with the ex-Confederates and the freed slaves, or Freedmen, were the major issues. By 1864, Radical Republicans controlled Congress and demanded more aggressive action against slavery, and more vengeance toward the Confederates. Lincoln held them off, but just barely. Republicans at first welcomed President Andrew Johnson; the Radicals thought he was one of them and would take a hard line in punishing the South. Johnson, however, broke with them and formed a loose alliance with moderate Republicans and Democrats. The showdown came in the Congressional elections of 1866, in which the Radicals won a sweeping victory and took full control of Reconstruction, passing key laws over the veto. Johnson was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate. With the election of Ulysses S. Grant in 1868, the Radicals had control of Congress, the party and the Army, and attempted to build a solid Republican base in the South using the votes of Freedmen, Scalawags and Carpetbaggers, supported directly by U.S. Army detachments. Republicans all across the South formed local clubs called Union Leagues that effectively mobilized the voters, discussed issues, and when necessary fought off Ku Klux Klan attacks. Thousands died on both sides.

Grant supported radical reconstruction programs in the South, the 14th Amendment, and equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen. Most of all he was the hero of the war veterans, who marched to his tune. The party had become so large that factionalism was inevitable; it was hastened by Grant's tolerance of high levels of corruption typified by the Whiskey Ring. The "Liberal Republicans" split off in 1872 on the grounds that it was time to declare the war finished and bring the troops home. Many of the founders of the GOP joined the movement, as did many powerful newspaper editors. They nominated Horace Greeley, who gained unofficial Democratic support, but was defeated in a landslide. The depression of 1873 energized the Democrats. They won control of the House and formed "Redeemer" coalitions which recaptured control of each southern state, in some cases using threats and violence.

Reconstruction came to an end when the contested election of 1876 was awarded by a special electoral commission to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes who promised, through the unofficial Compromise of 1877, to withdraw federal troops from control of the last three southern states. The region then became the Solid South, giving overwhelming majorities of its electoral votes and Congressional seats to the Democrats until 1964.

In terms of racial issues, "White Republicans as well as Democrats solicited black votes but reluctantly rewarded blacks with nominations for office only when necessary, even then reserving the more choice positions for whites. The results were predictable: these half-a-loaf gestures satisfied neither black nor white Republicans. The fatal weakness of the Republican party in Alabama, as elsewhere in the South, was its inability to create a biracial political party. And while in power even briefly, they failed to protect their members from Democratic terror. Alabama Republicans were forever on the defensive, verbally and physically." [Woolfolk p 134]

Social pressure eventually forced most Scalawags to join the conservative/Democratic Redeemer coalition. A minority persisted and formed the "tan" half of the "Black and Tan" Republican party, a minority in every southern state after 1877. (DeSantis 1998)

Gilded Age: 1877–1894

The "GOP" (as it was now nicknamed) split into factions in the late 1870s. The Stalwarts, followers of Senator Conkling, defended the spoils system. The Half-Breeds, who followed Senator James G. Blaine of Maine, pushed for civil service reform. Independents who opposed the spoils system altogether were called "Mugwumps". In 1884 they rejected James G. Blaine as corrupt and helped elect Democrat Grover Cleveland; most returned to the party by 1888.

As the Northern post-bellum economy boomed with heavy and light industry, railroads, mines, and fast-growing cities, as well as prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to keep the fast growth going. They supported free enterprise generally, hard money (i.e. the gold standard), high tariffs, and high pensions for Union veterans. By 1890, however, the Republicans had agreed to reform with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to complaints of large enterprise monopoly control by small business owners and farmers. The high McKinley Tariff of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections, even defeating McKinley himself.

Ethnocultural Voters: pietistic Republicans versus liturgical Democrats

From 1860 to 1912, the Republicans took advantage of the association of the Democrats with "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion". Rum stood for the liquor interests and the tavern keepers, in contrast to the GOP, which had a strong dry element. "Romanism" meant Catholics, especially Irish Americans, who ran the Democrat Party in every big city, and whom the Republicans denounced for political corruption. "Rebellion" stood for the Confederates who tried to break the Union in 1861, and the Copperheads in the North who sympathized with them.

Demographic trends aided the Democrats, as the German and Irish Catholic immigrants were Democrats, and outnumbered the English and Scandinavian Republicans. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republicans struggled against the Democrats' efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to Grover Cleveland (in 1884 and 1892). Religious lines were sharply drawn [Kleppner 1979]. Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Scandinavian Lutherans and other pietists in the North were tightly linked to the GOP. In sharp contrast, liturgical groups, especially the Catholics, Episcopalians, and German Lutherans, looked to the Democratic party for protection from pietistic moralism, especially prohibition. Both parties cut across the class structure, with the Democrats more bottom-heavy.

Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools became important because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50% of the voters were pietistic Protestants (Methodists, Scandinavian Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Disciples of Christ) who believed the government should be used to reduce social sins, such as drinking. Liturgical churches (Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, Episcopalians) comprised over a quarter of the vote and wanted the government to stay out of the morality business. Prohibition debates and referenda heated up politics in most states over a period of decades, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (and repealed in 1932), serving as a major issue between the wet Democrats and the dry GOP.^[20]

Fourth Party System: 1896–1932: The Progressive Era

The election of William McKinley in 1896 was a realigning election that changed the balance of power, and introduced new rules, new issues and new leaders. It did not, however, see the emergence of a new major party. The Republican sweep of the 1894 Congressional elections presaged the McKinley landslide of 1896, which was repeated in 1900, thus locking the GOP in full control of the national government and most northern state governments. The GOP made major gains as well in the border states. The Fourth Party System was dominated by Republican presidents, with the exception of the two terms of Democrat segregationist Woodrow Wilson, 1912-1920.

McKinley and realignment

McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the Panic of 1893, and that the GOP would guarantee pluralism in which all groups would benefit. He denounced William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee, as a dangerous radical whose plans for "Free Silver" at 16-1 (or Bimetallism) would bankrupt the economy.

McKinley relied heavily on industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of liberty; his campaign manager, Ohio's Mark Hanna, developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world, and McKinley outspent his rival William Jennings Bryan by a large margin. McKinley was the first president to promote pluralism, arguing that prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups.

Progressive Republicans

At the dawn of the 20th century, the Republican Party was regulating monopolies and promoting civil service reform, with progressivism finding a home within the GOP.

Theodore Roosevelt, who became president in 1901, had the most dynamic personality in the nation. Roosevelt had to contend with men like Senator Mark Hanna, whom he outmaneuvered to gain control of the convention in 1904 that renominated him. More difficult to handle was conservative House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon.

When Booker T. Washington's autobiography, Up From Slavery, was published in 1901, it became a bestseller and had a major impact on the African American community, and its friends and allies. Washington in 1901 was the first African-American ever invited to the White House as the guest of President Theodore Roosevelt – white Democrats complained loudly, although Washington remained as an advisor to Roosevelt.^[21]

Roosevelt achieved modest legislative gains in terms of railroad legislation and pure food laws. He was more successful in Court, bringing antitrust suits that broke up the Northern Securities trust and Standard Oil. Roosevelt moved left in his last two years in office but was unable to pass major Square Deal proposals.

Roosevelt did succeed in naming his successor Secretary of War William Howard Taft who easily defeated Bryan again in 1908.

Progressive insurgents vs. Conservatives

The GOP was divided between insurgents and stand-patters (liberals and conservatives, to use 21st-century terms). Theodore Roosevelt was an enormously popular president (1901–1909), and he transferred the office to William Howard Taft. Taft, however, did not have TR's enormous popularity nor his ability to bring rival factions together. When Taft sided with the standpatters under Speaker Joe Cannon and Senate leader Nelson Aldrich, the insurgents revolted. Led by George Norris the insurgents took control of the House away from Cannon and imposed a new system whereby committee chairmanships depended on seniority (years of membership on the committee), rather than party loyalty.

The tariff issue was pulling the GOP apart. Roosevelt tried to postpone the issue but Taft had to meet it head on in 1909 with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act. Eastern conservatives led by Nelson A. Aldrich wanted high tariffs on manufactured goods (especially woolens), while Midwesterners called for low tariffs. Aldrich tricked them by lowering the tariff on farm products, which outraged the farmers. In a stunning comeback, the Democrats won control of the House in 1910, as the GOP rift between insurgents and conservatives widened.

Roosevelt sided with the insurgents and, after long indecision, decided to run against Taft for the 1912 nomination. Roosevelt had to steamroll over insurgent Senator Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, turning an ally into an enemy. Taft outmaneuvered Roosevelt and controlled the convention. Roosevelt walked out and formed a third party, the "Progressive" or "Bull Moose" party. Very few officeholders supported him, and the new party collapsed by 1914. With the GOP vote divided in half, Democrat Woodrow Wilson easily won the 1912 election, and was narrowly reelected in 1916.

With the defeat of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Bull Moose party, along with the election of Woodrow Wilson, the parties switched progressive leadership, and the Democrat Party has been the party of big government ever since.

State and local politics

The Republicans welcomed the Progressive Era at the state and local level. The first important reform mayor was Hazen S. Pingree of Detroit (1890–97) who was elected governor of Michigan in 1896. In New York City the Republicans joined nonpartisan reformers to battle Tammany Hall, and elected Seth Low (1902–03). Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones was first elected mayor of Toledo as a Republican in 1897, but was re-elected as an independent when his party refused to renominate him. In Iowa Senator Albert Cummins came up with the "Iowa Idea" that blamed the trust or monopoly problem on the high tariff, angering the eastern industrialists and factory workers. Many Republican civic leaders, following the example of Mark Hanna, were active in the National Civic Federation, which promoted urban reforms and sought to avoid wasteful strikes.

Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, 1920–1932

The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a limited government platform, opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in the elections of 1920, 1924 and 1928 as the Democrats were deeply split on prohibition and religion. Running on a campaign of returning to normalcy, Harding and Coolidge led a repudiation election of both the war as well as the big government progressivism of Woodrow Wilson.^[22]^[23]

Calvin Coolidge

The breakaway efforts of Senator Robert LaFollette in 1924 failed to stop a landslide for Coolidge, and his movement fell apart. The Teapot Dome Scandal threatened to hurt the party but Harding died and Coolidge blamed everything on him, as the opposition splintered in 1924. The pro-business policies of the decade seemed to produce unprecedented prosperity—until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded the Great Depression. Although the party did very well in large cities and among ethnic Catholics in presidential elections of 1920-24, it was unable to hold those gains in 1928. By 1932 the cities—for the first time ever—had become Democratic strongholds.

The African American vote held for Hoover in 1932, but started moving toward Roosevelt. By 1940 the majority of northern blacks were voting Democrat. Southern blacks who could vote (in border states) were split; disenfranchised blacks in the South probably preferred the Republicans.

The Great Depression cost Hoover the presidency with the 1932 landslide election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican Dwight Eisenhower.

Fifth Party System: 1932–1980

Graham Jackson shedding tears at news of FDR's death. The photo was widely circulated in Life magazine and interpreted to mean even Republicans cried at the death of FDR. It was later re-circulated in the 1960s to create the myth that African Americans were beneficiaries and part of the New Deal coalition. New Deal programs often specifically excluded Blacks by legislation passed by the Democrat Congress.^[24]

Minority parties tend to factionalize and after 1936 the GOP split into a conservative faction (dominant in the West and Southeast) and a liberal faction (dominant in the Northeast) – combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Republicanism active throughout the century. In 1936 Kansas governor Alf Landon and his young followers defeated the Herbert Hoover faction. Landon generally supported most New Deal programs, but carried only two states in the Roosevelt landslide.

Senator Robert Taft of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose New Deal reforms and continued to champion isolationism. Thomas Dewey, governor of New York, represented the Northeastern wing of the party. Dewey did not reject the New Deal programs but demanded more efficiency, more support for economic growth, and less corruption. He was more willing than Taft to support Britain in 1939-40. After the war, the isolationists wing strenuously opposed the United Nations, and was half-hearted in opposition to world Communism. Senator William F. Knowland of California, sobriquet Senator from Formosa (Taiwan).

Dwight Eisenhower, an internationalist allied with the Dewey wing, challenged Taft in 1952 on foreign policy issues. The two men were not far apart on domestic issues. Eisenhower's victory broke a 20-year Democrat lock on the White House. Eisenhower did not try to roll back the New Deal, but he did expand the Social Security system and built the Interstate Highway system.

The conservatives in 1964 made a comeback under the leadership of Barry Goldwater who defeated Nelson Rockefeller as the Republican candidate in the 1964 presidential convention. Goldwater was strongly opposed to the New Deal and the United Nations, but he rejected isolationism and containment, calling for an aggressive anti-Communist foreign policy.

Any long-term movement toward the GOP was interrupted by the Watergate Scandal, which forced Nixon to resign in 1974 under threat of impeachment. Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon and gave him a full pardon—thereby giving the Democrats a powerful issue they used to sweep the 1974 off-year elections. Ford never fully recovered, and in 1976 he barely defeated Ronald Reagan for the nomination. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, running as a Washington outsider.

Civil Rights

Dr. Martin Luther King's meeting with Vice President Nixon marked national recognition of King as leader of the civil rights movement.^[25]

Vice President Richard Nixon invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Washington, D.C., for a meeting on 13 June 1957. This meeting, described by Bayard Rustin as a “summit conference,” marked national recognition of King's role in the civil rights movement (Rustin, 13 June 1957). Seeking support for a voter registration initiative in the South, King appealed to Nixon to urge Republicans in Congress to pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act and to visit the South to express support for civil rights. Optimistic about Nixon's commitment to improving race relations in the United States, King told Nixon, “How deeply grateful all people of goodwill are to you for your assiduous labor and dauntless courage in seeking to make the civil rights bill a reality.”

Republican Attorney General Herbert Brownell originally proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The bill passed 285–126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.^[26] It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. John Kennedy voted for the jury trial amendment which gutted Title IV concerning voting rights, rendering meaningless any efforts to secure injunctions against vote suppression.^[27] It was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

Strength of Parties 1977

How the Two Parties Stood after the 1976 Election:

Party	Republican	Democrat	Independent
Party ID (Gallup)	22%	47%	31%
House	143	292
Senate	38	62
% House popular vote nationally	42%	56%	2%
in the East	41%	57%	2%
in the South	37%	62%	2%
in the Midwest	47%	52%	1%
in the West	43%	55%	2%
Governors	12	37	1
State Legislators	2,370	5,128	55
State Legislators	31%	68%	1%
State legislature control	18	80	1 *
in the East	5	13	0
in the South	0	32	0
in the Midwest	5	17	1 *
in the West	8	18	0
States' one party control of legislature and governorship	1	29	0

*The unicameral Nebraska legislature, in fact controlled by the Republicans, is technically nonpartisan.

Source: Everett Carll Ladd Jr. Where Have All the Voters Gone? The Fracturing of America's Political Parties (1978) p. 6

Moderate Republicans of 1960–80

Nelson Rockefeller

The term Rockefeller Republican was used mainly during 1960–80 to designate a faction of the party holding "moderate" views similar to those of the late Nelson Rockefeller, governor of New York from 1959 to 1974 and vice president under President Gerald Ford in 1974–77. Before Rockefeller, Tom Dewey, governor of New York 1942–54 and GOP presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948 was the leader. Dwight Eisenhower reflected many of their views. An important leader in the 1950s was Connecticut Republican Senator Prescott Bush, father and grandfather of presidents of George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. After Rockefeller left the national stage in 1976, this faction of the party was more often called "moderate Republicans," in contrast to the conservatives who rallied to Ronald Reagan.

Historically, Rockefeller Republicans were moderate or liberal on domestic and social policies. They favored New Deal programs, including regulation and welfare. They were very strong supporters of civil rights. They were strongly supported by big business on Wall Street (New York City). In fiscal policy, they favored balanced budgets and relatively high tax levels to keep the budget balanced. They sought long-term economic growth through entrepreneurship, not tax cuts. In state politics, they were strong supporters of state colleges and universities, low tuition, and large research budgets. They favored infrastructure improvements, such as highway projects. In foreign policy, they were internationalists and anti-Communists. They felt the best way to counter Communism was sponsoring economic growth (through foreign aid), maintaining a strong military, and keeping close ties to NATO. Geographically their base was the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine.

Suburbia

The suburban electorate passed the city electorate in the 1950s, as Eisenhower showed unusual strength there. The history of suburban politics is encapsulated in Nassau County (New York), just east of New York City, where a moderate Republican party machine operated. Despite predictions that the New Deal spelled the demise of the political machine, Nassau provided fertile ground for a party organization that rivaled its big-city Democrat counterparts. The traditionally GOP county underwent a booming expansion during 1945–60, with an influx of new residents, many with previous Democrat Party affiliations. In established villages and new housing developments such as Levittown, under the canny leadership of J. Russel Sprague, the party used patronage and community organizing techniques to build its base among ethnic voters, young people, and new homeowners. The party expanded beyond its white Protestant base, with Italian Americans becoming particularly prominent in party leadership. Sprague was both party leader and county executive. That post was created in 1936 under a new charter engineered by Sprague to update a municipal apparatus unable to meet the infrastructure and development needs of a county that by 1960 had 1.3 million residents. Democrats and reformers had promoted charter revision for decades, and some consolidation of government services did take place. As county "boss," Sprague ruled with an iron hand. Nassau's pluralities for such candidates as Governor Thomas E. Dewey and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Sprague's fundraising prowess made him a force in national party politics. He advocated a moderate, middle-of-the-road position that recognized expectations created by the New Deal while criticizing what were claimed to be Democrat excesses. After leaving elective office and party leadership, Sprague became a major campaign issue when the Democrats, in a 1961 historic upset, won the county executive post by both lambasting Sprague, tainted by a racetrack-stock scandal, and criticizing the developer-friendly "Spragueland" regime that had governed Nassau for decades. Soon after Sprague died in 1969, the Nassau GOP regained its control of the county government and reestablished virtual one-party rule until the 1990s.^[28]

An even longer reign of power characterized GOP machine control of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a rural and suburban area south of Philadelphia. William McClure controlled the GOP from 1875 until his death in 1907; his son John J. McClure, was in control from 1907 until his death in 1965. McLarnon (1998) has four main findings. First, political machines were not confined to big cities; the demographic and political peculiarities of suburban counties lent themselves to continued domination by political machines long after the heyday of the city machine had passed. Secondly, neither the New Deal, immigration restriction, nor the rise of organized labor destroyed all the old Republican machines. Delaware was one of several similar counties in southeastern Pennsylvania where the GOP continued to hold sway throughout the 20th century. Thirdly, not all blacks switched their electoral loyalties to the Democrat Party in 1936. The black population of Chester, Delaware County's industrial city, generally voted Republican for offices below the presidential level. Finally, the citizens of Delaware County supported and continues to support the Republican machine because the machine delivered and continues to deliver those things that the citizens want most. At the beginning of the century, the machine provided food, work, and police protection to Chester's European and black immigrants. During Prohibition, it supplied the county with liquor. Through the Depression, patronage and close alliances with local industrialists kept a significant portion of machine loyalists employed. In the 1950s and 1960s the machine kept taxes low, initiated a war on organized vice, successfully defeated all threats to home rule, and discouraged blacks from settling in historically white communities. The trash was collected, the snow plowed, the streets repaired. The buses ran on time, the playgrounds and parks were clean, and the schools acceptably average. These were the most important concerns of a majority of county's citizens. While the citizens and their concerns changed over time, two things seem to have remained constant: the McClures', and their successors' ability to read and react to the needs of the electorate; and the fact that rarely, if ever, has a desire for honest, democratic government been high on Delaware County voters' list of priorities.^[29]

The first southern states to trend Republican were on the periphery: North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Democrat George Wallace lost these voters in his 1968 presidential bid. The voters who first migrated to the Republican party were suburban, prosperous New South types. The more Republican the South has become, the less racist.^[30]

Rise of the right

Barry Goldwater

Barry Goldwater crusaded against the Rockefeller Republicans, beating Rockefeller narrowly in the California primary of 1964. That set the stage for a conservative resurgence, based in the South and West, in opposition to the Northeast. Brennan (1995) stresses that conservatives in the late 1950s and early 1960s had many internal problems to overcome before they could mount an effective challenge to the hegemony of the distrusted Eastern Establishment, typified by Nelson A. Rockefeller. The conservative movement had some newspapers and magazines (especially William F. Buckley's National Review) and one charismatic national leader, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. The movement gained momentum once they had established a unity out of diverse elements on the Right with a common commitment to a militant anti-Communism, and once they had succeeded in mobilizing a grassroots base inside a number of state and local organizations in the Sun Belt on behalf of a draft Goldwater campaign in 1960. Although Nixon was acceptable to the conservatives, they worried that he compromised with Rockefeller in 1960. His defeat in 1960 removed a major obstacle and also gave ammunition to those who wanted "a choice, not an echo" (to echo a Goldwater slogan). After 1960 liberals and moderates in the Republican party failed to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge they faced on the grass-roots level. Taking up media bias, they too equated their conservative opponents in the party with the "lunatic fringe" and did not take them seriously until they found themselves deposed by a grassroots insurgency of the sort unknown in the party since 1912.^[31] Goldwater's landslide defeat opened the way to a liberal Democrat resurgence, but did little to help the liberal wing of the GOP. The failures of the Great Society, especially a wave of major urban riots and a surge in violent crime, led to major gains in 1966, and to Nixon's election in the chaotic 1968 election. The Democrats became deeply divided on the Vietnam war (which did not divide the GOP), and on issues of race, when Alabamian George C. Wallace set up a third party that carried much of the deep South.

As Goldwater faded to a lesser role after 1964, a new conservative hero emerged: in the largest and most trendy state film star Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966 and reelected in 1970.

With the rise of conservatism, the national Republican Party became more ideologically homogeneous. This change occurred as conservative politicians and voters joined the party and their liberal counterparts abandoned the GOP. Events in New York State during the 1960s and 1970s facilitated this transformation. Here, ideological conservatives formed a third party for the express purpose of changing a state GOP that both symbolized and contributed to the national GOP's liberal viewpoint. The Conservative Party relied on the state's unique election law to crash the New York GOP, either by forcing its way in or by imposing a lethal electoral price. The GOP-Conservative Party relationship began in 1962 at sword's point but achieved a high degree of harmony in 1980. Initially, New York Republicans, led by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, successfully marginalized the new party. As the conservative movement matured, however, the balance of power began to shift. When Nixon was elected president in 1968, the Conservative Party gained an external ally who proved invaluable. The third party achieved partial acceptance in 1970 with the election of James Buckley to the Senate. For much of the ensuing decade, however, Conservatives struggled with success suffering a series of damaging setbacks. Only in the late 1970s, did the party recover when it embraced a more modest agenda. Finally, the 1980 election settled the overall contours of the relationship between the two parties. Conservatives formed their party to force the state GOP to the right, to drive liberal Republicans from office, and allow ideologically conservative national Republicans to succeed in the state. By 1980, it had achieved these goals changing the nature of politics in the state. This resolution affected politics beyond the state by diminishing the importance of ideological liberals in the national GOP, thus freeing a more ideologically consistent national Republican Party to promote the rise of conservatism.^[32]

Sixth Party System

Realignment: Republican inroads in the Solid South

See also: The South#Politics

In the century after Reconstruction ended in 1877, the white South identified with the Democrat Party. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the "Solid South." The Republicans controlled certain parts of the Appalachian and Ozark mountains (where slavery was never strong during the Civil War due to the lack of large plots of fertile soil), but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before 1964, the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern values. They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Northern liberals and Republicans, as well as the civil rights activists they denounced as "outside agitators." Thus there was a serious barrier to becoming a Republican.

However, since 1964, the Democrat lock on the South has been broken. The long-term cause was that the region was becoming more like the rest of the nation and could not long stand apart in terms of racial segregation. Modernization that brought factories, businesses, and cities, and millions of migrants from the North; far more people graduated from high school and college. Meanwhile, the cotton and tobacco basis of the traditional South faded away, as former farmers moved to town or commuted to factory jobs. While liberal academics allege that the shift of the South to the Republican Party began in the 1960s, the evidence that it really began in the 1920s and the 1950s is undeniable.^[33]

The immediate cause of the political transition involved civil rights. The civil rights movement caused enormous controversy among southern Democrats with many attacking it as a violation of states' rights. When segregation was outlawed by a Republican appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice and by the bi-partisan Civil Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, a die-hard element resisted integration, led by Democrat governors Orval Faubus of Arkansas, Lester Maddox of Georgia, and, especially George Wallace of Alabama. These governors appealed to a less-educated, blue-collar electorate that on economic grounds was dependent on the Democrat Party, but opposed segregation. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, most Southerners accepted the integration of most institutions, except public schools. With the old barrier to becoming a Republican removed, traditional Southerners joined the new middle class and the Northern transplants in moving toward the Republican party. Integration thus liberated Southern politics, just as Martin Luther King had promised. Meanwhile, the newly enfranchized black voters were bought off with Johnson's War on Poverty and supported Democrat candidates at the 85-90% level.

The South's transition to a Republican stronghold took decades. First the states started voting Republican in presidential elections—the Democrats countered that with a Southern Strategy that could carry some states in the region, such as Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996; the strategy did not work with Al Gore in 2000, or John Edwards in 2004. Barack Obama held Florida, North Carolina and Virginia and a sweep of House and Senate seats.

Since the 1970s some states elected Republican senators. Republicans made some inroads into legislatures and governorships and gerrymandering protected the African American and Hispanic vote (as required by the Civil Rights laws), but split up the remaining white Democrats so that Republicans mostly would win. In 2006 the Supreme Court endorsed nearly all of the redistricting engineered by Tom DeLay that swung the Texas Congressional delegation to the GOP in 2004.

In addition to its white middle-class base, Republicans attracted strong majorities from the evangelical Christian vote, which had been nonpolitical before 1980. The national Democrat Party's support for liberal social stances such as abortion drove many former Democrats into a Republican party that was embracing the conservative views on these issues. Conversely, liberal Republicans in the northeast began to join the Democrat Party. In 1969 in The Emerging Republican Majority, Kevin Phillips, argued that support from Southern whites and growth in the Sun Belt, among other factors, was driving an enduring Republican electoral realignment. Today, the South is again solid, but the reliable support is for Republican presidential candidates. Exit polls in 2004 showed that Bush led Kerry by 70-30% among whites, who comprised 71% of the Southern voters. Kerry had a 90-9% lead among the 18% of the voters who were black. One-third of the Southerners said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80-20%.^[34]

Despite the shift towards the Republican Party on the presidential level, the South remained solidly Democratic on the state level through the 1980s, 1990s, and even into the 2000s in several states.^[35] The Republican Party only became dominant in the state-level in the 2010 elections, when it captured several state legislatures, among many other victories.^[36] After the 2014 elections, the GOP controlled every state legislature in the South with the sole exception of the Kentucky State House, in which the Democrats maintained a slim majority.^[36] Additionally by 2015, the GOP was dominant in every level of government across the South.^[36]^[37] In 2016, the GOP took the Kentucky State House in a landslide, making every legislature in the South GOP-controlled.^[38]^[39]

Reagan Era

Main article: Reagan Era

Ronald Reagan

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination and easily beat Carter and a breakaway Republican with his strong communication skills and message of economic freedom and strength against the Soviet Union. Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980 the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democrat losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984 Reagan won nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried every state except his Democrat opponent Walter Mondale's home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia, creating a record 525 electoral vote total (of 538 possible). Even in Minnesota, Mondale won by a mere 3,761 votes,^[40] meaning Reagan came within fewer than 3,800 votes of winning in all fifty states.

Reagan opened his presidency proclaiming "Government is the problem".

Running on a "Peace Through Strength" platform to combat the Communist threat and massive tax cuts to revitalize the economy, Reagan's strong but genial persona proved too much for the ineffective and sour Carter in 1980. Reagan's election also gave Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in decades. Dubbed the "Reagan Revolution" he fundamentally altered several long standing debates in Washington, namely dealing with the Soviet threat and reviving the economy. His election saw the conservative wing of the party gain control. While reviled by liberal opponents in his day, his proponents contend his programs provided unprecedented economic growth, and spurred the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Currently regarded as one of the most popular and successful presidents in the modern era (1960–present), he inspired Conservatives to greater electoral victories by being re-elected in a landslide against Walter Mondale in 1984 but oversaw the loss of the Senate in 1986.

The so-called "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterward, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H.W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were primarily Southern Democrats and ethnic Catholics in the Northeast and were frustrated by their seeing abandonment on cultural issues by the Democrat Party's national leaders.

Reagan's Vice-President, George H.W. Bush, a World War II war hero, was elected in 1988 but was defeated in 1992 as domestic issues took prominence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and end of the Cold War. Democrat challenger Bill Clinton strategically repositioned the Democrats to the right. Ross Perot's candidacy was instrumental in Clinton's victory as he took Republican votes with his criticism of deficits and the free trade movement. Perot won 19% of the popular vote, and Clinton, still a largely unknown quantity in American politics with 41% of! the popular vote took office. Despite his loss, Bush left office in 1993 with a 56 percent job approval rating.

The Gingrich revolution

Main articles: Republican Revolution (1994) and Contract with America

House Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich-led the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and its famous Contract with America. It was the first time since the 1952 elections that the Republicans secured control of both houses of Congress, which, with the brief exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, lasted until the 2006 mid-term elections. Democrats had controlled both houses of Congress for the forty years preceding 1994, with the exception of the 1981-1987 Congresses (in which Republicans controlled the Senate).

In the 1994 mid-term election, Republican congressional candidates ran on a platform of promising floor votes to force members of Congress to go on record on a series of popular reforms—something the Democrats had stifled for decades. These measures and others formed the Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in a mid-term election. Seven of the ten Contract items actually became Law. The budget reforms, coupled with reduced defense spending after the Cold War, and the earlier Reagan Tax Cuts for Business Research and Development in the 1980s, led to a high tech consumer boom, rising incomes for all groups, and unprecedented, sustained economic growth in the late 1990s. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed some of the social agenda initiatives but he co-opted the proposals for welfare reform and a balanced federal budget. The result was a major change in the welfare system, which conservatives hailed and liberals bemoaned. One Contract item, which required Democrats in a two-thirds majority to pass a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, failed.

In 1995, a budget battle with President Clinton led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election. That year the Republicans nominated Bob Dole, who was unable to transfer his success in Senate leadership to a viable presidential campaign. Ross Perot ran again (this time on Reform Party ticket), once again draining away a large percentage of Dole's support and ensuring Clinton another term after the majority of Americans voters voted against him.

War on Terror

Main article: War on Terror

George W. Bush

With the election of George W. Bush (son of former president George H. W. Bush) in an extremely close 2000 election, the Republican party controlled both the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. However, after Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent aligned with the Democrats in June 2001, Republicans lost control of the Senate by a single seat.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks on the United States, however, Bush pursued a "War on Terrorism" that included the liberation of Afghanistan from the radical Islamic Taliban regime and the USA PATRIOT act. By early 2002, the Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan. On March 20, 2003, U.S. and allied nations initiated "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to liberate the Iraqi people from the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. By May 1, 2003, the regime of Saddam was declared officially over. Once US and allied military forces entered Iraq, they discovered that various international terrorists had been given sanctuary and ran their terrorist operations from Iraq. Notable terrorists found included Muhammad Zaidan aka Abu Abbas and Sabri Khalil al-Banna aka Abu Nidal.

The Republican Party fared well in the 2002 midterm elections, solidifying its hold on the House and regaining control of the Senate, in the run-up to the liberation of Iraq. This marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934).

Bush was renominated without opposition for the United States presidential election, 2004 and titled his political platform "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America". It expressed Bush's commitment to winning the War on Terror, ushering in an Ownership Era, and building an innovative economy to compete in the world.

On November 2, 2004, Bush was re-elected, while Republicans gained seats in both houses of Congress, leaving Democrats in disarray. Bush carried 31 of 50 states for 286 Electoral College votes. In that election, he also received more popular votes than any previous presidential candidate, 62.0 million votes. Democrat challenger, Senator John Kerry, won 251 Electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote to Bush's 51%. It was the first time anyone won a popular majority since 1988. 2004 marked the seventh consecutive election in which the Democrat nominee failed to reach that threshold.

The wilderness years 2009–2010

After smashing defeats in 2006 and 2008, the GOP lost control of Congress, the White House, and many states. They confronted the president, who still retained some popularity, but were able to chip away at support for his domestic policies, as the recession of 2008 dragged on. In June 2009, public opinion was favorable toward Obama personally but increasingly dubious about his plans to overhaul health care, rescue the auto industry and close the prison at Guantánamo Bay. But with a positive job approval rating of 51%, Obama has the backing of most Democrats, even as Republicans turn negative, with only 23% supporting him. Support for Obama's foreign policies and terrorism policies remains high at 57-59%. Meanwhile, the GOP weaknesses were glaring: the June poll found that the Republican Party is viewed favorably by only 28% of Americans, the lowest rating ever in a New York Times/CBS News poll. In contrast, 57% said that they had a favorable view of the Democrat Party.^[41] However, it should be noted that this poll was conducted by the mainstream media and thus is a clear example of liberal bias.

Rise of the Tea Party movement

Tea Party movement March on DC, 2009.

For a more detailed treatment, see Tea Party Movement.

The Tea Party movement, which began around 2009 and supports small government, fiscal conservatism, American independence, and border security, made huge gains in the 2010 election, defeating establishment Republicans and RINOs. They continued to make gains in later elections, including the 2014 elections in Texas and the 2015 Kentucky elections, and some commentators, including liberals^[42] and conservatives,^[43]^[44]^[45] even believe it was responsible for Donald Trump's 2016 victory.

Despite little action on the federal level, GOP-controlled governments at the state level did deliver to voters, such as through tax reductions.^[46]

Trump Era

For further information, see 2016 U.S. presidential election#General election results

Republican businessman Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election in a major and historic upset that took the establishment, pollsters and analysts completely by surprise, even winning states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which Republicans had not won for years.^[47]^[48] The Republican Party kept control of the House and Senate, outperforming expectations.^[49]^[50]

The public's fascination with Donald Trump dominated the first half of 2016 more than any candidate of either party. Trump spent virtually nothing on media advertising.

In addition, the Republican Party performed well—much better than expected—in state races, winning trifectas in Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, and New Hampshire, and Democrats only had six trifectas and total control in five states, a record low.^[51]^[52] The GOP won 25 trifectas, the largest since 1952.^[53] After the election, the GOP controlled the highest amount of governorships since 1922,^[54] and it controlled the most state legislative chambers in history.^[55] After West Virginia Governor Jim Justice left the Democratic Party and joined the GOP, the GOP had 34 Republican governors, the most since 1922.^[56]

While the GOP increased its vote share across the entire nation, Trump made the largest gains in the rural Midwest and Rust Belt, traditionally a Democrat blue collar stronghold.^[57]

Because of the large gains, the GOP had a massive opportunity to pass common sense conservative legislation and repeal leftist social and economic quagmires.^[53] At the beginning of 2017, Congressional Republicans were also more united during Trump's presidency than in any other time in recent U.S. political history.^[58] However, despite these opportunities, the 115th U.S. Congress saw many missed opportunities to advance conservative policies and priorities.^[59]

In May 2017, the RNC raised a record $10.8 million,^[60] while the DNC raised $4.29 million, the lowest raised in the month since 2003.^[61]^[62] The RNC broke another record in June 2017, raising $13.4 million,^[63]^[64] as well as July.^[65] In 2017 overall, the RNC raised over $130 million, a large amount for an off-election year,^[66] and the National Republican Congressional Committee also raised a record $85 million in 2017.^[67] The Republican Party and the Trump campaign continued raising large sums of money.^[68]

A September 2018 Gallup poll found that the GOP's favorability rating reached the highest level since 2011.^[69]

In Kentucky, voters overwhelmingly rejected the Democrats' racist agenda, electing the state's first black Attorney General and first Republican in 70 years, Daniel Cameron. Four years earlier, Kentucky voters elected conservative Republican Jenean Hampton as the state's first black statewide elected official, and the Republican governor they elected, Matt Bevin, had adopted four children from Ethiopia.

Latinos

Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Republicans are slowly winning over Latino voters.^[70]

Contemporary Party

The contemporary Republican Party represents a wide array of interests such as the conservative evangelicals, economic libertarians, and anti-globalists. The party has had some internal conflict over attitudes about how governments should run and how large they should be, what the party stands for, and what the party's attitude towards neo-conservatism should be especially in regard to foreign policy. The party is also divided over immigration issues with some members (such as George W. Bush) favoring workers visas and permits and some other members favoring strict control of immigration and strong action against illegal immigration. Unlike the Democrat Party, the Republican Party routinely allows dissenting factions such as the Log Cabin Republicans to speak at National Conventions.

In the past, the Republican voter coalitions have generally comprised businessmen, military veterans and evangelical Protestants. Some groups have realigned: blacks went from the GOP to the Democrats beginning in the 1930s, while some white Southerners became Republicans in the 1980s. Catholics switched from 80% Democratic in 1960 to 50-50 in recent years, primarily due to the embrace of abortion by the Democrats (though the Hispanic community still votes predominantly Democrat due to its support for illegal immigration and sanctuary cities). Extremely wealthy businessmen (such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett) have switched to the Democrat party, though small businessmen generally remain in the Republican party. In recent years youth (influenced by Hollywood values) and better educated professionals (influenced by professor values) have moved to the Democrats, while blue collar workers have become more Republican, due mainly to Democrats support for globalist ideals at the expense of manufacturing job losses.

Republican Presidents

Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877)
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881)
James Garfield (1881)
Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885)
Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)
William McKinley (1897–1901)
Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
William Howard Taft (1909–1913)
Warren G. Harding (1921–1923)
Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929)
Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)
Dwight Eisenhower (1953–1961)
Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
George W. Bush (2001–2009)
Donald Trump (2017–2021)

Notable Republicans (Non-presidential)

An incomplete list of notable Republican leaders and politicians who were not elected president:

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895): Abolitionist and suffragist from Maryland
James G. Blaine (1830–1893): Senator from Maine, presidential nominee
Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836–1926): Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Charles Curtis (1860–1936): United States Vice President, a Native American
Charles G. Dawes (1865–1951): United States Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize winner
Tom Dewey (1902–1971): Governor of New York; presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948
Everett Dirksen (1896–1969): Senate minority leader, instrumental in passing the Civil Rights Act
John C. Frémont (1813–1890): First Republican candidate for president
Rudy Giuliani: Mayor of New York City (1994–2001)
Mark Hanna (1837–1904): Senator from Ohio, manager of 1896 campaign
Jesse Helms (1921–2008): Senator from North Carolina
George Frisbie Hoar (1826–1904): U.S. representative and senator from Massachusetts
Charles Evans Hughes: Governor of New York; presidential nominee in 1916, United States Secretary of State, Chief Justice of the United States
Perry W. Howard, II (1877–1961), Republican National Committee delegate from Mississippi who supported Robert Taft in 1952
Jackie Robinson (1919–1972): first African American major league baseball player
William F. Knowland (1908–1974), Senator from California, Senate Majority Leader from 1953–1955, Senate Minority Leader from 1955–1959
Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924): Senator from Massachusetts, foreign policy spokesman
Joseph McCarthy (1908–1957): Senator from Wisconsin and noted anti-communist
Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902): Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979): Vice President, Governor of New York, considered representative of the liberal wing of the party
Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868): Senator from Pennsylvania, leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
Charles Sumner (1811–1874): Senator from Massachusetts, leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
Henry Stimson: Secretary of War for Taft and FDR, Secretary of State for Hoover
Robert A. Taft (1889–1953): Senator from Ohio and presidential hopeful, leader of conservatives
Arthur H. Vandenberg (1884–1951): Senator from Michigan, leader of internationalism in 1940s
Scott Walker: Governor of Wisconsin, presidential candidate in 2016
Earl Warren (1891–1974): Vice presidential nominee, Governor of California, and Chief Justice of the United States
Barry Goldwater (1909–1998): Senator from Arizona, presidential nominee in 1964
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016): Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1986–2016)
Clarence Thomas: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1991–present)
John McCain: Senator from Arizona, presidential nominee in 2008
Sarah Palin: Governor of Alaska, vice-presidential nominee in 2008
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Governor of California
Mitt Romney: Governor of Massachusetts, presidential nominee in 2012
Mike Pence: Vice President (2017–2021), Governor of Indiana (2013–2017)

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Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996) popular narrative
Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period: excerpt and text search
- includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)
Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography.
Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884 (2000) online edition
Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983) online edition
Thelen, David. Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit 1976. short interpretive biography

Since 1980

Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2008: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2007) covers all incumbent Congressmen and governors with amazing detail. New edition published every two years since 1975.
Aistrup, Joseph A. The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South (1996)
Black, Earl and Black, Merle. The Rise of Southern Republicans. (2002). 442 pp.
Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (2000), online edition
Critchlow, Donald T. The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History (2007), by a leading conservative historian
Edwards, Lee. The Conservative Revolution: The Movement That Remade America. (1999). 391 pp. by a conservative
Ehrman, John, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan (2005) by a conservative historian
Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2005), a liberal attack excerpt and text search
Green, John Robert. The Presidency of George Bush. (2000). 1989-1993
Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
Layman, Geoffrey. The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics. (2001). 435pp.
Levy, Peter B. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years Greenwood Press, 1996 online edition
Lublin, David. The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change. Princeton U. Press, 2004. 272 pp. excerpt and text search
Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998) favorable biography by historian; online edition
Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by conservative historian
Rymph, Catherine. Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage through the Rise of the New Right. U. of North Carolina Press, 2006. 338 pp.
Sabato, Larry J. ed. The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency (2007), in-depth essays by scholars
Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future (2001).
Schaller, Michael and Rising, George. The Republican Ascendancy: American Politics, 1968-2001. Harlan Davidson, 2002. 210 pp. Short survey by liberal scholars
Steely, Mel. The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich. Mercer U. Press, 2000. 431 pp.
Taylor, Andrew J. Elephant's Edge: The Republicans as a Ruling Party. 2005. 336 pp. academic study of how GOP turned small advantages into power excerpt and text search
Wilentz, Sean. The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 (2008) by a liberal historian. excerpt and text search
Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004). excerpt and text search

External links

Official GOP Site
Republican Party, YouTube channel

Historical:

History of the Republican Party, Republican Jackson County website

2008:

2008 Republican Platform (pdf download)
The RSC’s Action Plan for House Republicans, Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008
A Detailed Action Plan For House Republicans: Bold, Simple, and Different than the Democrats, Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008

Regional:

New York Young Republican Record

Notes

↑ http://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm
↑ The Welfare State Did What Slavery Couldn't Do, Wendy McElroy, Mises Institute, 09/09/2020.
↑ Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist, by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, 04/11/14
↑ The Dixiecrat Myth
↑ http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7
↑ http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm
↑ https://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12078933
↑ Ertelt, Steven; Bilger, Micaiah (July 18, 2016). Republicans Adopt Most Pro-Life Platform Ever Condemning Abortion and Planned Parenthood. LifeNews.com. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
↑ Williams, Thomas D. (October 20, 2018). Pew: Republicans Trend Increasingly Pro-Life as Democrats Align with Abortion Industry. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
↑ Starr, Penny (October 21, 2018). Economic Profile of 50 States Reveals Republicans Represent the Poor, Democrats the Rich. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
↑ Gould (2003) pp 14-15; republicanism is explored in depth by Foner (1970).
↑ There is also a myth that the town of Exeter, New Hampshire was first by six months, but nothing came of the secret meeting there and scholars dismiss the claim.
↑ There was some strength in border cities such as St. Louis, Louisville, Wheeling, and Baltimore.
↑ Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men. 1993.
↑ They included Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin).
↑ The senators included Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.
↑ Kleppner (1979) has extensive detail on the voting behavior of groups.
↑ Goodwyn 2005
↑ Hubbs, Guy W. (May 15, 2015). "Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman". University Alabama Press.
↑ See Kleppner (1979)
↑ Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (2007)
↑ Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: Meet the Presidents
↑ The Great American History Fact-finder: The Who, What, Where, When, and why of American History
↑ https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/04/9-ways-franklin-d-roosevelts-new-deal-purposely-excluded-blacks-people/
↑ https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/29/the-switch-that-never-happened-how-the-south-really-went-gop/
↑ HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42
↑ August 2, 1957. HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE JURY TRIALS IN ALL CASES OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT AND PROVIDE UNIFORM METHODS FOR SELECTING FEDERAL COURT JURIES. GovTrack.us. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
↑ Marjorie Freeman Harrison, "Machine Politics Suburban Style: J. Russel Sprague and the Nassau County (New York) Republican Party at Midcentury." PhD dissertation Columbia U. 2005. 388 pp. DAI 2005 66(5): 1925-A. DA3174807
↑ John Morrison McLarnon, "Ruling Suburbia: A Biography of the McClure Machine of Delaware County, Pennsylvania." PhD dissertation U. of Delaware 1998. 616 pp. DAI 1998 58(12): 4780-A. DA9819160
↑ https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/democratic-party-racist-history-mona-charen/
↑ Brennan (1995) p, 59
↑ Timothy J. Sullivan, "Crashing the Party: The New York State Conservative and Republican Parties, 1962-1980." PhD dissertation U. of Maryland, College Park 2003. 458 pp. DAI 2004 64(11): 4181-A. DA3112508
↑ Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013). Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ See exit polls
↑ Trande, Sean (September 9, 2010). Misunderstanding the Southern Realignment. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ ^36.0 ^36.1 ^36.2 Hamby, Peter (December 9, 2014). The plight of the Southern Democrat. CNN. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ Cohn, Nate (December 4, 2014). Demise of the Southern Democrat Is Now Nearly Complete. The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ Loftus, Tom (November 9, 2016). GOP takes Ky House in historic shift. Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Brammer, Jack & Blackford, Linda (November 8, 2016). Republicans take the Kentucky House after 95 years of Democratic control. Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=27&f=1&off=0&elect=0
↑ Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care New York Times June 17, 2009
↑ Donald Trump Hasn’t Killed the Tea Party. He Is the Tea Party. New York (May 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ How the Tea Party Helped Trump Win the Election. Fox News (November 12, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ The Tea Party Movement Is Alive and Well—And We Saw Trump Coming. Politico Magazine (November 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ Sarah Palin: Trump Movement Began with the GOP Establishment’s ‘Shocking Betrayals’ of Tea Party Voters. Breitbart News (November 25, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ Persons, Sally (May 31, 2017). Republican governors elected in 2010 delivering to their states what Congress hasn’t. The Washington Times. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
↑ Trump wins presidency, defeats Clinton in historic election upset. Fox News. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Blake, Aaron (November 9, 2016). Donald Trump just blew up the electoral map. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Bresnahan, John (November 9, 2016). Republicans hold the Senate in a stunner. Politico. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Hughes, Siobhan (November 9, 2016). Democrats Gain Seats in House, But GOP Retains Majority. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Greenblatt, Alan (November 9, 2016). Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures. Governing. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Siegel, Josh (November 9, 2016). Republicans Maintain Strong Control of State Capitols. Here’s What That Means. The Daily Signal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ ^53.0 ^53.1 Lieb, David A. (December 29, 2016). GOP-Controlled States Aim to Reshape Laws. Chicago Tribune (from the Associated Press). Retrieved December 30, 2016.
↑ Lieb, David A. (November 9, 2016). Republicans governorships rise to highest mark since 1922. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Bosman, Julie & Davey, Monica (November 11, 2016). Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation. The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
↑ Leahy, Michael Patrick (August 7, 2017). 34 States Have Republican Governors, Most Since 1922. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
↑ How Trump Reshaped the Election Map. The New York Times. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
↑ Stucky, Phillip (April 2, 2017). Trump Smashes Records With Party Unity. The Daily Caller. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
↑
Sherfinski, David; Dinan, Stephen (January 3, 2019). Republicans relinquish Congress with whimper: 'More missed opportunities than anything'. The Washington Times. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
See also:
- Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt. The New American. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
↑ Kew, Ben (June 21, 2017). Dems Fundraising Lowest Since May 2003; RNC Raises Record $10.8 Million. Breitbart News. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
↑ Persons, Sally (June 21, 2017). DNC hits another fundraising low. The Washington Times. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
↑ Bowden, John (June 21, 2017). Democrats raised just $4.3M in May. The Hill. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
↑ Kew, Ben (July 20, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record, Raises Record $13.4 Million in June. Breitbart News. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
↑ Siegel, Josh (July 20, 2017). RNC announces it raised $13.5 million in June, a record for a month in a non-presidential year. Washington Examiner. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
↑ Kew, Ben (August 21, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record as Democrats Struggle. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
↑
Multiple references:
- Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority. The Washington Times. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
- Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017. The Hill. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
- Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
↑ Moran, Sean (January 15, 2018). NRCC Raised a Record $85 Million Ahead of Contentious 2018 Midterm Elections. Breitbart News. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
↑ Singman, Brooke; Dorman, Sam (January 3, 2020). Trump campaign, GOP raised nearly a half-billion dollars in 2019. Fox News. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
↑
Multiple references:
- Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years. Gallup. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade. Breitbart News. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years. The New American. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
- Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup. The Hill. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011. Washington Examiner. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years. The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
↑ Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Will the midterms be worse?, Vox, Sep 20, 2022.

[1] ttp://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm

[2] The Welfare State Did What Slavery Couldn't Do, Wendy McElroy, Mises Institute, 09/09/2020.

[3] Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist, by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, 04/11/14

[4] The Dixiecrat Myth

[5] ttp://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7

[6] ttp://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm

[7] ttps://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12078933

[8] Ertelt, Steven; Bilger, Micaiah (July 18, 2016). Republicans Adopt Most Pro-Life Platform Ever Condemning Abortion and Planned Parenthood. LifeNews.com. Retrieved December 26, 2016.

[9] Williams, Thomas D. (October 20, 2018). Pew: Republicans Trend Increasingly Pro-Life as Democrats Align with Abortion Industry. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 20, 2018.

[10] Starr, Penny (October 21, 2018). Economic Profile of 50 States Reveals Republicans Represent the Poor, Democrats the Rich. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 21, 2018.

[11] Gould (2003) pp 14-15; republicanism is explored in depth by Foner (1970).

[12] There is also a myth that the town of Exeter, New Hampshire was first by six months, but nothing came of the secret meeting there and scholars dismiss the claim.

[13] There was some strength in border cities such as St. Louis, Louisville, Wheeling, and Baltimore.

[14] Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men. 1993.

[15] They included Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin).

[16] The senators included Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.

[17] Kleppner (1979) has extensive detail on the voting behavior of groups.

[18] Goodwyn 2005

[19] Hubbs, Guy W. (May 15, 2015). "Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman". University Alabama Press.

[20] See Kleppner (1979)

[21] Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (2007)

[22] Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: Meet the Presidents

[23] The Great American History Fact-finder: The Who, What, Where, When, and why of American History

[24] ttps://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/04/9-ways-franklin-d-roosevelts-new-deal-purposely-excluded-blacks-people/

[25] ttps://amgreatness.com/2018/07/29/the-switch-that-never-happened-how-the-south-really-went-gop/

[26] HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42

[27] August 2, 1957. HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE JURY TRIALS IN ALL CASES OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT AND PROVIDE UNIFORM METHODS FOR SELECTING FEDERAL COURT JURIES. GovTrack.us. Retrieved May 24, 2023.

[28] Marjorie Freeman Harrison, "Machine Politics Suburban Style: J. Russel Sprague and the Nassau County (New York) Republican Party at Midcentury." PhD dissertation Columbia U. 2005. 388 pp. DAI 2005 66(5): 1925-A. DA3174807

[29] John Morrison McLarnon, "Ruling Suburbia: A Biography of the McClure Machine of Delaware County, Pennsylvania." PhD dissertation U. of Delaware 1998. 616 pp. DAI 1998 58(12): 4780-A. DA9819160

[30] ttps://www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/democratic-party-racist-history-mona-charen/

[31] Brennan (1995) p, 59

[32] Timothy J. Sullivan, "Crashing the Party: The New York State Conservative and Republican Parties, 1962-1980." PhD dissertation U. of Maryland, College Park 2003. 458 pp. DAI 2004 64(11): 4181-A. DA3112508

[33] Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013). Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[34] See exit polls

[35] Trande, Sean (September 9, 2010). Misunderstanding the Southern Realignment. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[Hamby-36] 36.0 ^36.1 ^36.2 Hamby, Peter (December 9, 2014). The plight of the Southern Democrat. CNN. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[37] Cohn, Nate (December 4, 2014). Demise of the Southern Democrat Is Now Nearly Complete. The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[38] Loftus, Tom (November 9, 2016). GOP takes Ky House in historic shift. Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[39] Brammer, Jack & Blackford, Linda (November 8, 2016). Republicans take the Kentucky House after 95 years of Democratic control. Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[40] ttp://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=27&f=1&off=0&elect=0

[41] Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care New York Times June 17, 2009

[42] Donald Trump Hasn’t Killed the Tea Party. He Is the Tea Party. New York (May 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[43] How the Tea Party Helped Trump Win the Election. Fox News (November 12, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[44] The Tea Party Movement Is Alive and Well—And We Saw Trump Coming. Politico Magazine (November 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[45] Sarah Palin: Trump Movement Began with the GOP Establishment’s ‘Shocking Betrayals’ of Tea Party Voters. Breitbart News (November 25, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[46] Persons, Sally (May 31, 2017). Republican governors elected in 2010 delivering to their states what Congress hasn’t. The Washington Times. Retrieved May 31, 2017.

[47] Trump wins presidency, defeats Clinton in historic election upset. Fox News. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[48] Blake, Aaron (November 9, 2016). Donald Trump just blew up the electoral map. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[49] Bresnahan, John (November 9, 2016). Republicans hold the Senate in a stunner. Politico. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[50] Hughes, Siobhan (November 9, 2016). Democrats Gain Seats in House, But GOP Retains Majority. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[51] Greenblatt, Alan (November 9, 2016). Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures. Governing. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[52] Siegel, Josh (November 9, 2016). Republicans Maintain Strong Control of State Capitols. Here’s What That Means. The Daily Signal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[ReshapeLaws-53] 53.0 ^53.1 Lieb, David A. (December 29, 2016). GOP-Controlled States Aim to Reshape Laws. Chicago Tribune (from the Associated Press). Retrieved December 30, 2016.

[54] Lieb, David A. (November 9, 2016). Republicans governorships rise to highest mark since 1922. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[55] Bosman, Julie & Davey, Monica (November 11, 2016). Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation. The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2016.

[56] Leahy, Michael Patrick (August 7, 2017). 34 States Have Republican Governors, Most Since 1922. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 7, 2017.

[57] How Trump Reshaped the Election Map. The New York Times. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.

[58] Stucky, Phillip (April 2, 2017). Trump Smashes Records With Party Unity. The Daily Caller. Retrieved April 2, 2017.

[59] Sherfinski, David; Dinan, Stephen (January 3, 2019). Republicans relinquish Congress with whimper: 'More missed opportunities than anything'. The Washington Times. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
See also:
Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt. The New American. Retrieved January 13, 2019.

[60] Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt. The New American. Retrieved January 13, 2019.

[60] Kew, Ben (June 21, 2017). Dems Fundraising Lowest Since May 2003; RNC Raises Record $10.8 Million. Breitbart News. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

[61] Persons, Sally (June 21, 2017). DNC hits another fundraising low. The Washington Times. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

[62] Bowden, John (June 21, 2017). Democrats raised just $4.3M in May. The Hill. Retrieved June 22, 2017.

[63] Kew, Ben (July 20, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record, Raises Record $13.4 Million in June. Breitbart News. Retrieved July 20, 2017.

[64] Siegel, Josh (July 20, 2017). RNC announces it raised $13.5 million in June, a record for a month in a non-presidential year. Washington Examiner. Retrieved July 20, 2017.

[65] Kew, Ben (August 21, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record as Democrats Struggle. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 22, 2017.

[66] Multiple references:
Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority. The Washington Times. Retrieved December 27, 2017.

Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved December 28, 2017.

Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017. The Hill. Retrieved January 31, 2018.

Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved February 1, 2018.

[68] Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority. The Washington Times. Retrieved December 27, 2017.

[69] Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved December 28, 2017.

[70] Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017. The Hill. Retrieved January 31, 2018.

[71] Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved February 1, 2018.

[67] Moran, Sean (January 15, 2018). NRCC Raised a Record $85 Million Ahead of Contentious 2018 Midterm Elections. Breitbart News. Retrieved January 15, 2018.

[68] Singman, Brooke; Dorman, Sam (January 3, 2020). Trump campaign, GOP raised nearly a half-billion dollars in 2019. Fox News. Retrieved January 3, 2020.

[69] Multiple references:
Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years. Gallup. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade. Breitbart News. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years. The New American. Retrieved September 25, 2018.

Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup. The Hill. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011. Washington Examiner. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years. The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[75] Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years. Gallup. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[76] Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade. Breitbart News. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[77] Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years. The New American. Retrieved September 25, 2018.

[78] Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup. The Hill. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[79] Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011. Washington Examiner. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[80] Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years. The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[70] Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Will the midterms be worse?, Vox, Sep 20, 2022.

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-{{Redirect|GOP}}
+{{AmericanPoliticalParty
-{{Distinguish|American Republican Party|Democratic-Republican Party|National Republican Party}}
+ | party_name = Republican Party
-{{pp-semi-indef}}{{pp-move-indef}}
+  | party_articletitle = Republican Party (United States)
-<!-- Before changing the position section of the infobox, please review past discussions on the talk page (in the archives if not found on the main page) and start a discussion yourself before making any changes if you still plan on doing so. -->
+  | party_logo = [[Image:Cjjfdjfty.png|200px|"Republican Party Elephant" logo]]
-{{Infobox political party
+  | website = [http://www.gop.com www.gop.com]
-  |name          = Republican Party
+  | headquarters = 310 K Street SE<br> [[Washington, D.C.]]<br>20003
-  |logo          = [[File:Republicanlogo.svg|220px]]
+  | chairman = [[Michael Whatley]]
- |colorcode     = #FF5663
+  | housespeaker = [[Mike Johnson]]
- |chairman      = [[Reince Priebus]] ([[Wisconsin|WI]])
+  | houseleader = [[Steve Scalise]]
-  |leader1_title = Senate Leader
+  | senateleader =
- |leader1_name  = [[Mitch McConnell]] ([[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Minority Leader]]) ([[Kentucky|KY]])<br/> [[Jon Kyl]] ([[Assistant party leaders of the United States Senate|Minority Whip]]) ([[Arizona|AZ]])
+  | foundation = March 20, 1854
-  |leader2_title = House Leader
+  | ideology = [[Conservative|Conservatism]]<br>[[Classical Liberalism]]<br>[[Libertarianism]]<br>[[Right-wing populism]]<br>[[Paleoconservative|Paleoconservativism]]<br>[[Abolitionism]]/[[Emancipation]]<br>[[Constitutionalism]]<br>[[Patriotism]]<br>[[Nationalism]]<br>[[Neoconservatism]] ([[RINO]] minority)
- |leader2_name  = [[John Boehner]] ([[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker]]) ([[Ohio|OH]])<br/> [[Eric Cantor]] ([[Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives|Majority Leader]]) ([[Virginia|VA]])<br/> [[Kevin McCarthy (California politician)|Kevin McCarthy]] ([[Party whips of the United States House of Representatives|Majority Whip]]) ([[California|CA]])
+  | fiscalpolicy = [[Right-wing]], [[Free Market]]
-  |leader3_title = Chair of Governors Association
+  | socialpolicy = Centre-Right to Right-wing, [[Conservative]], [[Conservative Libertarianism|Libertarian]], [[Patriotic]]
- |leader3_name  = [[Bob McDonnell]] ([[Virginia|VA]])
+  | international = [[International Democrat Union]]<br/>[[Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe]] (regional partner)
-  |founded       = 1854
+  | colors = [[Red states and blue states|Red]] (unofficial)
- |predecessor   = [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]]<br/>[[Free Soil Party]]
+  | footnotes =
-  |headquarters  = 310 First Street NE<br/>[[Washington, D.C.]] 20003
-  |student_wing  = [[College Republicans]]
-  |youth_wing    = [[Young Republicans]] [[Teenage Republicans]]
-  |ideology      = [[Conservatism]] ([[Conservatism in the United States|American]])<br/> {{•}}[[Classical liberalism]]<br/> {{•}} [[Fiscal conservatism]]<br/>{{•}} [[Social_conservatism_in_the_United_States|Social conservatism]]<br/> ''Factions'' <br/> {{•}}[[Traditionalist conservatism]]<br/>{{•}} [[Libertarian conservatism]]<br/>{{•}} [[Neoliberalism]]<br/>{{•}} [[Neoconservatism]]
- |blank1_title = Position in [[Political parties in the United States|national political spectrum]]
-  |blank1 = [[Center-right]]
- |international  = [[International Democrat Union]]
-  |colors         = [[Red states and blue states|Red]] (unofficial)
- |seats1_title   = [[United States Senate|Seats in the Senate]]
- |seats1        = {{Infobox political party/seats|47|100|hex=#ff5663}}
- |seats2_title  = [[United States House of Representatives|Seats in the House]]
-  |seats2        = {{Infobox political party/seats|242|435|hex=#ff5663}}
- |seats3_title  = [[Governor (United States)|Governor]]ships
- |seats3        = {{Infobox political party/seats|29|50|hex=#ff5663}}
- |seats4_title  = [[State legislature (United States)|State Upper House Seats]]
-  |seats4        = {{Infobox political party/seats|1001|1921|hex=#ff5663}}
- |seats5_title  = [[State legislature (United States)|State Lower House Seats]]
-  |seats5        = {{Infobox political party/seats|3021|5410|hex=#ff5663}}
- |website       = {{URL|http://www.gop.com/}}
- |country       = United States
 }}
+The '''Republican Party''' ('''R''') or informally the '''GOP''' (short for Grand Old Party), is one of the two major political parties in the [[United States]] and founded on the principles of opportunity, [[meritocracy]] and "one person, one vote."
-The '''Republican Party''' is one of the [[Two-party system|two]] [[Major party|major]] contemporary [[political parties in the United States]], along with the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the '''GOP''' (Grand Old Party), although the rival Democratic Party is older. Eighteen US presidents have been Republicans. The [[Party platform|party's platform]] generally reflects [[Conservatism in the United States|American conservatism]] in the [[Politics of the United States|U.S. political spectrum]].<ref name="egrigsby">{{cite book |last=Grigsby |first=Ellen|title=Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=2008 |location=Florence |isbn=0495501123 | pages = 106–7 |quote=''In the United States, the Democratic Party represents itself as the liberal alternative to the Republicans, but its liberalism is for the most the later version of liberalism—modern liberalism.''}}</ref><ref name="sarnold">{{cite book |last=Arnold |first=N. Scott |title=Imposing values: an essay on liberalism and regulation |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |location=Florence |isbn=0495501123 | page = 3 |quote=''Modern liberalism occupies the left-of-center in the traditional political spectrum and is represented by the Democratic Party in the United States.''}}</ref><ref name="jlevy">{{cite book |last=Levy |first= Jonah |title=The state after statism: new state activities in the age of liberalization |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2006 |location=Florence |isbn=0495501123 | page = 198 |quote=''In the corporate governance area, the center-left repositioned itself to press for reform."}}</ref> American conservatism of the Republican Party is not wholly based upon rejection of the political ideology of [[liberalism]], as many principles of American conservatism are based upon [[classical liberalism]].<ref name="Brian R. Farmer 2006. Pp. 64">Brian R. Farmer. ''American political ideologies: an introduction to the major systems of thought in the 21st century''. Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland & Company, 2006. Pp. 64.</ref> Rather the Republican Party's conservatism is largely based upon its support of classical liberal principles against the [[social liberalism|modern liberalism]] of the [[Factions in the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] that is considered [[American liberalism]] in contemporary American political discourse.<ref name="Brian R. Farmer 2006. Pp. 64"/>
+The Republican Party is the only major U.S. political party that is [[pro-life]].  The Republican Party is also pro-[[free enterprise]], pro-[[religious liberty]], pro-[[school choice]], pro-[[Second Amendment]], and pro-[[traditional marriage]], while opposing the defunding of [[police]] departments. At its first national convention, in 1856, the Republican Party platform stated, "It is the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, [[polygamy]] and [[slavery]]."<ref>http://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm</ref>
-In the [[112th United States Congress|112th Congress]], elected in [[United States House of Representatives elections, 2010|2010]], the Republican Party holds a majority of seats in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and a minority of seats in the [[United States Senate|Senate]]. The party holds the majority of [[governor (United States)|governor]]ships as well as the majority of [[List of U.S. state legislatures|state legislatures]].
+The Republican Party was created in 1854 by anti-slavery activists and has always stood for equal rights and the dignity of the individual. It soon swept to control of all the northern states, and in 1860 elected [[Abraham Lincoln]] president.  The South seceded, and the Union side of the [[American Civil War]] was directed by Lincoln and the new party, with help from "War Democrats." The GOP (as it was increasingly made up of veterans of the GAR or Grand Army of the Republic) dominated the elections of the [[Third Party System]] (1854–1896) as well as the [[Fourth Party System]] or Progressive Era (1896–1932). However, the Democrats built a liberal [[New Deal Coalition]] under President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and dominated the [[Fifth Party System]] (1932–1968), with the GOP only electing [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in that era. The Sixth Party System, since 1968, has been dominated by the GOP.
-==History==
+Unable to suppress minority voting rights for another century, in the 1960s Democrats sought to make Blacks dependent for food and housing on the Democratic party again with the [[War on Poverty]], as Blacks had been in the pre-Civil War plantation system.<ref>[https://mises.org/wire/welfare-state-did-what-slavery-couldnt-do The Welfare State Did What Slavery Couldn't Do], Wendy McElroy, Mises Institute, 09/09/2020.</ref>  Throughout the [[voter suppression]] of the [[Jim Crow]] era and beyond the War on Poverty, Democrats were always determined that the party that freed the slaves would not become beneficiaries of the [[Freedmen]]'s vote. The system of economic co-dependency and [[patronage]] between white liberal racists and African Americans that existed for centuries was renewed in the mid-1960s.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lyndon-johnson-civil-rights-racism/amp Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist], by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, 04/11/14</ref> Only now the system of co-dependency was paid for with federal money rather than the [[private sector]] plantation system of the pre-Civil War era.<ref>[http://www.blackandblondemedia.com/2010/03/19/the-dixiecrat-myth/ The Dixiecrat Myth]</ref>
-{{Main|History of the United States Republican Party}}
-[[File:Abraham Lincoln head on shoulders photo portrait.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Abraham Lincoln]], the first Republican President (1861–1865)]]
-Founded in northern states in 1854 by anti-slavery activists, modernizers, ex-[[Whig Party (United States)|Whigs]] and ex-[[Free Soil]]ers, the Republican Party quickly became the principal opposition to the dominant [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and the briefly popular [[Know Nothing|Know Nothing Party]]. The main cause was opposition to the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]], which repealed the [[Missouri Compromise]] by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil. The first public meeting where the name "Republican" was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20, 1854 in a schoolhouse in [[Ripon, Wisconsin]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR=46379&CISOSHOW=46363 |title='&#39;The Origin of the Republican Party'&#39;, A.F. Gilman, Ripon College, 1914 |publisher=Content.wisconsinhistory.org |date= |accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref>
+of the 30 US Presidents since 1861 have been Republicans and since that same year, a Republican has won 24 of the last 38 presidential elections. The party's most recent candidates [[Free Soil]] Republicans [[Donald Trump]] of [[New York]], along with his running mate, [[Indiana]] Governor [[Mike Pence]], won the [[2016 presidential election]] against Southern Democrat challengers [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[Arkansas]] and her running mate [[Tim Kaine]] of [[Virginia]].
-The first official party convention was held on July 6, 1854 in [[Jackson, Michigan]]. By 1858, the Republicans dominated nearly all northern states. The Republican Party first came to power in 1860 with the election of Lincoln to the Presidency and Republicans in control of Congress and the northern states. It oversaw the saving of the union, the destruction of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the [[American Civil War]] and [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], 1861-1877.<ref name=Gould2003>Gould</ref>
+It is important to vote for someone who's more [[conservative]] on the issues rather than for someone who represents their party only by name due to the fact some Republicans are less conservative and more [[liberal]]/[[Progressivism|progressive]] than typical Republicans (see: [[RINO]]).
+[[image:The_off_year_nast_1877.jpg|right|thumb|1877 Thomas Nast drawing of the Republican elephant.]]
-The Republicans' initial base was in the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]] and the upper [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]]. With the [[Realigning election|realignment]] of parties and voters in the [[Third Party System]], the strong run of [[John C. Fremont]] in the [[United States presidential election, 1856|1856 Presidential election]] demonstrated it dominated most northern states. Early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan "free labor, free land, free men."<ref name=Gienapp1989>{{cite book|last=Gienapp|first=W|title=The Origins of the Republican Party|page=168|publisher=|location=|year=1989|url=}}</ref>
+== Symbol ==
+The official symbol of the Republican Party is the [[elephant]].  Although the elephant had occasionally been associated with the party earlier, a political cartoon by [[Thomas Nast]], published in ''Harper's Weekly'' on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.<ref>http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7</ref> In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican party in some Midwestern states was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic cock (rooster). The eagle still appears on Indiana ballots.
-"Free labor" referred to the Republican opposition to slave labor and belief in independent artisans and businessmen. "Free land" referred to Republican opposition to plantation system whereby the rich could buy up all the good farm land and work it with slaves, leaving the [[yeoman]] independent farmers the leftovers. The Party had the goal of containing the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the [[Slave Power]] and the expansion of freedom.<ref name=Foner>{{cite web|author=|title=Free soil, free labor, free men|work=|publisher=|location=|year=1970|url=|accessdate=2011-09-05}}</ref>
+A political term referring to the party is "G.O.P.", which was originally an acronym of "Grand Old Party". The term was coined in 1875.
-Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of saving the Union and destroying slavery during the American Civil War and over [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]]. In the [[United States presidential election, 1864|election of 1864]], it united with pro-war Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]] ticket.
+==Ideology==
+[[File:Donald Trump official presidential photo.jpg|225px|right|thumb|[[Donald Trump]] has made the Republican Party more focused on immigration issues and [[blue-collar worker]] issues. ]]
+The Republican Party was established to successfully end the relics of [[slavery]], [[barbarism]] and  [[polygamy]]. Historically, the fundamental philosophy and political ideals of the Republican Party are founded on the idea that societal health is rooted in personal responsibility and actions. The Republican Party holds the belief that all material things are earned, not owed. This is seen most often in the party's push for lower taxes. This is fought for in an attempt to treat all citizens equally despite income, race, gender, or religion. They also see taxes as a drag on the economy, and believe private spending is usually more efficient than public spending.
-The party's success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s. Those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] ran [[Horace Greeley]] for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the [[spoils system]]; the [[Half-Breed (politics)|Half-Breed]]s pushed for reform of the [[civil service]].
+Republicans also show concerns about having big government in charge of such vital issues as food, shelter, or health care, as they believe the private sector and/or the individual are better suited to control their own lives. President [[Ronald Reagan]] who became a Republican in the early 1960s after being a [[New Deal]]er at one time, has been quoted as saying "Government is not the solution, it is the problem."
-The GOP supported business generally, hard money (i.e., the [[gold standard]]), [[Tariffs in American history|high tariffs to promote economic growth, high wages and high profits]], generous pensions for Union veterans, and (after 1893) the annexation of [[Hawaii]]. The Republicans supported the pietistic Protestants who demanded [[Prohibition]]. As the northern post-bellum economy boomed with heavy and light industry, railroads, mines, fast-growing cities and prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to sustain the fast growth.
+The party tends to hold both [[conservative]] and [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] stances on social and economic issues respectively. Major policies that the party has recently supported include a conservative foreign policy, including [[War on Terror]], liberating of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]], and strong support for democracy, especially in the [[Middle East]]. Many party members and politicians have shown a distrust of the [[United Nations]] due to the organization's incompetent bureaucracy, anti-capitalist undertone, corruption on the [[Security Council]] and in UN humanitarian programs. Along with demanding radical reforms in the UN, many Republican politicians also opposes the Kyoto Protocol due the protocol's unfair application to certain countries (especially the United States) and the fact that it prevents economic growth and slows the reduction of poverty.
-Nevertheless, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the [[Sherman Antitrust Act]] and the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers. The high [[McKinley Tariff]] of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections, even defeating McKinley himself.
+The Republican Party generally supported free trade to promote democracy, especially [[NAFTA]] and [[CAFTA]]. It is responsible for a series of across-the-board tax cuts since 2001 that have bolstered the economy and reduced the punitive aspect of the income tax. It has sought business deregulation, reduction of environmental regulations that restrict fair use of land and property, and other policies that are pro-capitalism. It supports gun ownership rights, and enterprise zones (low taxes for investing in poverty areas). On social issues the majority of its national and state candidates usually favor the death penalty, call for stronger state-level control on access to [[abortion]], support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage at the federal level and by the states, favor faith-based charitable initiatives, support school choice and homeschooling, social welfare benefit reform, and oppose reverse racism, such as racial quotas.
-After the two terms of Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]], the election of [[William McKinley]] in [[United States presidential election, 1896|1896]] is widely seen as a resurgence of Republican dominance and is sometimes cited as a [[realigning election]]. McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the [[Panic of 1893]], and that the GOP would guarantee a sort of pluralism in which all groups would benefit.
+In recent years the party has called for much stronger accountability in the public schools, especially through the "No Child Left behind Act" of 2001 (which also increased [[federal funding]] for schools). The party is split on the issue of federally funding embryonic stem cell research that involves the cloning and killing of human embryos. Many in the party think it is unethical to force taxpayers who believe this type of research is morally wrong to finance it. Historically Republicans have had a strong belief in [[individualism]], limited government, and business entrepreneurship.
-===20th century===
+In recent years, the Republican party has downplayed its emphasis on small government. Under the administration of [[George W. Bush]], the federal government has been expanded to record levels, surpassing even the Great Depression era.<ref>http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm</ref> Additionally, the Bush administration has acted to nationalize the country's banking institutions in an effort to stymie the decline of the U.S. economy<ref>https://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12078933</ref>
-[[File:President Theodore Roosevelt, 1904.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Theodore Roosevelt]], [[List of Presidents of the United States|26th]] President of the United States (1901–1909)]]
-[[File:Dwight D. Eisenhower, official photo portrait, May 29, 1959.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Dwight Eisenhower]], [[List of Presidents of the United States|34th]] President of the United States (1953-1961)]]
-[[File:Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ronald Reagan]], [[List of Presidents of the United States|40th]] President of the United States (1981–1989)]]
-The Republicans were cemented as the party of business, though mitigated by the succession of [[Theodore Roosevelt]] who embraced [[trust busting]]. He later ran on a third party ticket of the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive Party]] and challenged his previous successor [[William Howard Taft]]. The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a platform of opposition to the [[League of Nations]], high tariffs, and promotion of business interests.
-[[Warren G. Harding]], [[Calvin Coolidge]] and [[Herbert Hoover]] were resoundingly elected in [[United States presidential election, 1920|1920]], [[United States presidential election, 1924|1924]], and [[United States presidential election, 1928|1928]] respectively. The [[Teapot Dome scandal]] threatened to hurt the party but Harding died and Coolidge blamed everything on him, as the opposition splintered in 1924. The pro-business policies of the decade seemed to produce an unprecedented prosperity until the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]] heralded the [[Great Depression]].
+'''''In 2016, the Republican Party adopted the most pro-life party platform in its entire history, with strong language recognizing the right to life of unborn human beings and condemning [[Planned Parenthood]].<ref>Ertelt, Steven; Bilger, Micaiah (July 18, 2016). [https://www.lifenews.com/2016/07/18/republicans-adopt-most-pro-life-platform-ever-condemning-abortion-and-planned-parenthood/ Republicans Adopt Most Pro-Life Platform Ever Condemning Abortion and Planned Parenthood]. ''LifeNews.com''. Retrieved December 26, 2016.</ref>''''' Between 1995 and 2018, the GOP become significantly more pro-life on the issue.<ref>Williams, Thomas D. (October 20, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/20/pew-republicans-trend-pro-life-dems-align-abortion-industry/ Pew: Republicans Trend Increasingly Pro-Life as Democrats Align with Abortion Industry]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 20, 2018.</ref>
-The [[New Deal coalition]] of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. [[African American]]s moved into the Democratic Party during Roosevelt's time. After Roosevelt took office in 1933, New Deal legislation sailed through Congress at lightning speed. In the 1934 midterm elections, 10 Republican senators went down to defeat, leaving them with only 25 against 71 Democrats. The House of Representatives was split in a similar ratio.
+Contrary to the claims of liberals and Democrats, the GOP better represent the poor in the U.S., while Democrats represent the wealthy.<ref>Starr, Penny (October 21, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/21/economic-profile-50-states-republicans-represent-poor-democrats-rich/ Economic Profile of 50 States Reveals Republicans Represent the Poor, Democrats the Rich]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 21, 2018.</ref>
-Republicans in Congress heavily criticized the "Second New Deal" and likened it to [[class conflict|class warfare]] and [[socialism]]. The volume of legislation, and the inability of the Republicans to block it, soon elevated the level of opposition to Roosevelt. Conservative Democrats, mostly from the South, joined with Republicans led by Senator [[Robert Taft]] to create the [[conservative coalition]], which dominated domestic issues in Congress until 1964. The Republicans recaptured Congress in 1946 after gaining 13 seats in the Senate and 55 seats in the House.
+{{Anchor|GAR}}
-The second half of the 20th century saw election or succession of Republican presidents [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Richard Nixon]], [[Gerald Ford]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[George W. Bush]]. The Republican Party, led by House Republican Minority Whip [[Newt Gingrich]] campaigning on the ''[[Contract with America]]'', was elected to majorities to both houses of Congress in the [[Republican Revolution]] of 1994.
+== History ==
+[[File:GOP-presidents.jpg|thumb|300px|GOP Presidents by Andy Thomas; clockwise from right: Nixon, Ford, Lincoln, GHW Bush, Reagan, GW Bush, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt]]
+The party began in 1854, at the start of the [[Third Party System]]. The '''GOP''' (or "'''Grand Old Party'''" as it was nicknamed after 1880 by veterans of the '''Grand Army of the Republic''', the '''GAR''') dominated national politics as the victors of the [[American Civil War]], including most of the [[Fourth Party System]] until 1932. Then the [[Fifth Party System]] (or "New Deal Coalition") was dominant until the late 1960s.  Since 1968 the GOP has won 8 of 13 presidential elections (losing in 1976, 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012). Its great rival is the party of [[segregation]], slavery, [[Jim Crow]] and the [[Ku Klux Klan]], the [[Democratic Party#History|Democrat Party]].
-The Senate majority lasted until 2001, when the Senate became split evenly but was regained in the 2002 elections. Both Republican majorities in the House and Senate were held until the Democrats regained control in the [[United States elections, 2006|mid-term elections of 2006]]. In the 21st century, the Republican Party has been defined by [[Social_conservatism_in_the_United_States|social conservatism]], a [[preemptive war]] foreign policy intended to defeat terrorism and promote global democracy, a more powerful [[Executive (government)|executive branch]], [[supply-side economics]], support for gun ownership, and deregulation.
+===Third Party System: 1854–1896===
+The Republican party began as a spontaneous grassroots protest against the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] of 1854, which allowed slavery into western territories where it had been forbidden by earlier compromises.  The creation of the new party, along with the death of the [[Whig Party]], realigned American politics. The central issues were new, as were the voter alignments, and the balance of power in Congress. The central issues became slavery, race, civil war and the reconstruction of the Union into a more powerful nation, with rules changed that gave the vote to Blacks and former slaves.
-In the [[United States presidential election, 2008|Presidential election of 2008]], the party's nominees were Senator [[John McCain]], of Arizona, for President and Alaska Governor [[Sarah Palin]] for Vice President. They were defeated by Senator [[Barack Obama]] of Illinois and Senator [[Joe Biden]] of Delaware. In 2009, Republicans [[Chris Christie]] and [[Bob McDonnell]] were elected to the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia.
+====Issues: Slavery====
+Republican activists denounced the Kansas-Nebraska act as proof of the power of the [[Slave Power]]—the powerful class of slaveholders who were conspiring to control the federal government and to spread slavery nationwide. The name "Republican" gained such favor in 1854 because "[[Republicanism, U.S.|republicanism]]" was the paramount political value the new party meant to uphold. The name also echoed the former Jeffersonian party of the [[First Party System]]. The party founders adopted the name "Republican" to indicate it was the carrier of "republican" beliefs about civic virtue, and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.<ref>Gould (2003) pp 14-15; republicanism is explored in depth by Foner (1970).</ref>
+[[Image:Lincoln seated.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president]]
+Two small cities of the Yankee diaspora, Ripon, Wisconsin, and Jackson, Michigan, claim the birthplace honors.<ref>There is also a myth that the town of Exeter, New Hampshire was first by six months, but nothing came of the secret meeting there and scholars dismiss the claim.</ref> Ripon held the first county convention on March 20, 1854. Jackson held the first statewide convention where delegates on July 6, 1854, declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories and selected a statewide slate of candidates. The Midwest took the lead in forming state party tickets, while the eastern states lagged a year or so. There were no efforts to organize the party in the South, apart from a few areas adjacent to free states. The new party was sectional, based in the northeast and northern Midwest—areas with a strong Yankee presence. It had only scattered support in slave states before the Civil War.<ref>There was some strength in border cities such as St. Louis, Louisville, Wheeling, and Baltimore.</ref>
-was a year of political success for the GOP, starting with the upset win of [[Scott Brown]] in the Massachusetts special Senate election for the seat held for many decades by the Kennedy brothers. In the [[United States elections, 2010|November elections]], the GOP recaptured control of the House, increased their number of seats in the Senate, and gained a majority of governorships.<ref>Donald T. Critchlow, ''The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America'' (2011)  pp 280-312</ref> Additionally, Republicans took control of at least 19 Democratic-controlled state legislatures.<ref>Khan. Huma. [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republicans-historic-win-state-legislatures-vote-2010-election/story?id=12049040#.T4eD_NnhdeM Will Redistricting Be a Bloodbath for Democrats?]. ABCNews.com. 2010-11-04. Retrieved 2012-04-13.</ref>
+The first presidential nomination in 1856 when to an obscure western explorer [[John C. Fremont]], as the party crusaded against the Slave Power with the slogan, "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free men, Fremont and victory!"  Democrats warned darkly that disunion and Civil War would result.  The remnants of the Know Nothing movement prevented the new party from sweeping the North, and the Democrats elected [[James Buchanan]]. By 1858 the Know Nothings were gone and the Republicans swept the North.  The 1860 election seemed a certain victory, for the party had majorities in states with a majority of the electoral votes.  In the event, the opposition split three ways, and [[Abraham Lincoln]] coasted to an easy victory, carrying 18 states with 190 electoral votes, while the opposition carried 15 states (mostly in the South) with 123 electoral votes. Lincoln had 1.9 million popular votes.
-==Name and symbols==
+====Modernization====
-[[File:NastRepublicanElephant.jpg|thumb|1874 [[Thomas Nast|Nast]] cartoon featuring the first notable appearance of the Republican elephant<ref name=harpweek>{{cite web|author=|title=The Third-Term Panic|work=Cartoon of the Day|publisher=|location=|date=2003-11-07|url=http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7|accessdate=2011-09-05}}</ref>]]
+Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a modernizing vision—emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers. It vigorously argued that free-market labor was superior to slavery and the very foundation of civic virtue and true American values - this is the "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men" ideology explored by historian Eric Foner.<ref>Foner, Eric. ''Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men''. 1993.</ref> The Republicans absorbed the previous traditions of its members, most of whom had been [[Whig Party|Whigs]], and some of whom had been Democrats or members of third parties (especially the [[Free Soil Party]] and Know-Nothings (American Party). Many [[U.S. Democratic Party, history|Democrats]] who joined up were rewarded with governorships.<ref>They included Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, [[Salmon P. Chase]] of Ohio, [[Hannibal Hamlin]] of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin).</ref> or seats in the U.S. Senate.<ref>The senators included Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, [[Lyman Trumbull]] of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.</ref> Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party, but the amount of flow back and forth of prominent politicians between the two parties was quite high from 1854 to 1896.
-[[File:GOP Logo1.svg|thumb|The red "GOP" logo used by the party for its website]]
-The party's founding members chose the name "Republican Party" in the mid-1850s as homage to the values of [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]] promoted by [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s Republican party.<ref name=Rutland>{{cite book|last=Rutland|first=RA|title=The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush| publisher=|location=|year=1996|page=2|isbn=0826210902}}</ref> The idea for the name came from an editorial by the party's leading publicist Horace Greeley, who called for, "some simple name like 'Republican' [that] would more fitly designate those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery."<ref name=ushistory>[http://www.ushistory.org/gop/origins.htm The Origins of the Republican Party]</ref> The name reflects the 1776 [[Republicanism in the United States|republican]] values of civic virtue and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.<ref name=Gould2003p14>Gould, pp. 14–15</ref>
+====Ethnocultural voting====
+Historians have explored the ethnocultural foundations of the party, along the line that ethnic and religious groups set the moral standards for their members, who then carried those standards into politics.  The churches also provided social networks that politicians used to sign up voters.  The pietistic churches, heavily influenced by the revivals of the [[Second Great Awakening]], emphasized the duty of the Christian to purge sin from society.  Sin took many forms—alcoholism, polygamy and slavery became special targets for the Republicans. The Yankees, who dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest were the strongest supporters of the new party.  This was especially true for the pietistic Congregationalists and Presbyterians among them and (during the war), the Methodists, along with Scandinavian Lutherans.  The Quakers were a small tight-knit group that was heavily Republican.  The liturgical churches (Roman Catholic, Episcopal, German Lutheran), by contrast, largely rejected the moralism of the GOP; most of their adherents voted Democratic.<ref>Kleppner (1979) has extensive detail on the voting behavior of groups.</ref>
-The term "Grand Old Party" is a traditional nickname for the Republican Party, and the abbreviation "G.O.P." (or "GOP") is a commonly used designation.<ref name=GOP1876> The term originated in 1875 in the ''Congressional Record'', referring to the party associated with the successful military defense of the Union as "this gallant old party"; the following year in an article in the Cincinnati ''Commercial'', the term was modified to "grand old party". The first use of the abbreviation "GOP" is dated 1884. See "Grand Old Party," ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''</ref>
+====Politics 1854–1860====
+[[John C. Frémont]] ran as the first Republican nominee for [[President of the United States|President]] in 1856, using the [[political slogan]]: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont's bid was unsuccessful, the party showed a strong base. It dominated in New England, New York and the northern Midwest, and had a strong presence in the rest of the North. It had almost no support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-60 as a divisive force that threatened civil war. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 ended the domination of the fragile coalition of pro-slavery southern Democrats and conciliatory northern Democrats which had existed since the days of [[Andrew Jackson]]. Instead, a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial and agricultural north ensued. Republicans still often refer to their party as the "party of Lincoln" in honor of the first Republican President.
+{{See also|Third Party System}}
-The traditional mascot of the party is the elephant. A political cartoon by [[Thomas Nast]], published in ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's Weekly]]'' on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.<ref name=harpweek20031107>[http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7 Cartoon of the Day: "The Third-Term Panic"]. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.</ref> In the early 20th century, the usual symbol of the Republican Party in Midwestern states such as [[Indiana]] and [[Ohio]] was the [[eagle]], as opposed to the Democratic [[rooster]]. This symbol still appears on Indiana, New York,<ref name=schenectadycounty>{{cite web|author=|title=Schenectady County|publisher=schenectadycounty.com|location=Schenectady County, New York|year=|url=http://www.schenectadycounty.com/FullStory.aspx?m=320&amid=930 accessdate=2010-06-17}}</ref>{{Dead link|date=May 2010}} and West Virginia<ref name=wvsos>{{cite web|author=|title=Home|publisher=Wvsos.com|year=|url=http://www.wvsos.com/elections/ballots/barbourgen.pdf|accessdate=2010-06-17}}</ref>{{Dead link|date=May 2010}} ballots.
+====Civil War: 1861–1865====
+Lincoln proved brilliantly successful in uniting the factions of his party to fight for the Union.<ref>Goodwyn 2005</ref> However he usually fought the [[Radical Republicans]] who demanded harsher measures. Most Democrats at first were [[War Democrats]], and supportive until the fall of 1862. When Lincoln added the abolition of slavery as a war goal, many war Democrats became "peace Democrats." All the state Republican parties accepted the antislavery goal except Kentucky. In Congress, the party passed major legislation to promote rapid modernization, including a national banking system, high tariffs, an income tax, many excise taxes, paper money issued without backing ("greenbacks"), a huge national debt, homestead laws, and aid to education and agriculture. The Republicans denounced the peace-oriented Democrats as [[Copperheads]] and won enough [[War Democrats]] to maintain their majority in 1862; in 1864, they formed a coalition with many War Democrats as the "National Union Party" which reelected Lincoln easily, then folded back into the Republican party. During the war, upper-middle-class men in major cities formed [[Union League]]s, to promote and help finance the war effort.
-After the [[United States presidential election, 2000|2000 election]], the color red became associated with the GOP, although the party has not officially adopted it. That election night, for the first time, all of the major broadcast networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map: states won by Republican nominee George W. Bush were colored red, and states won by Democratic nominee [[Al Gore]] were colored blue. Although the assignment of colors to political parties is unofficial and informal, they have come to be widely recognized by the media to represent the respective political parties ''(see [[Political color]] and [[Red states and blue states]] for more details)''.
+====Reconstruction: Blacks, Carpetbaggers and Scalawags====
+[[File:Kkk-carpetbagger-cartoon.jpg|left|300px|thumb|A cartoon threatening that the KKK will lynch [[scalawag]]s (left) and [[carpetbagger]]s (right) on March 4, 1869, the day President Grant takes office. Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, September 1, 1868. A full-scale scholarly history analyzes the cartoonː Guy W. Hubbs, Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman (2015).<ref>Hubbs, Guy W. (May 15, 2015). [https://books.google.com/books?id=KIVoCQAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s "Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman"]. University Alabama Press.</ref>]]
+In [[Reconstruction]], how to deal with the ex-Confederates and the freed slaves, or [[Freedmen]], were the major issues. By 1864, [[Radical Republicans]] controlled Congress and demanded more aggressive action against slavery, and more vengeance toward the Confederates. Lincoln held them off, but just barely. Republicans at first welcomed President [[Andrew Johnson]]; the Radicals thought he was one of them and would take a hard line in punishing the South. Johnson, however, broke with them and formed a loose alliance with moderate Republicans and Democrats. The showdown came in the Congressional elections of 1866, in which the Radicals won a sweeping victory and took full control of Reconstruction, passing key laws over the veto. Johnson was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate. With the election of [[Ulysses S. Grant]] in 1868, the Radicals had control of Congress, the party and the Army, and attempted to build a solid Republican base in the South using the votes of [[Freedmen]], [[Scalawags]] and [[Carpetbaggers]], supported directly by U.S. Army detachments. Republicans all across the South formed local clubs called [[Union League]]s that effectively mobilized the voters, discussed issues, and when necessary fought off [[Ku Klux Klan]] attacks. Thousands died on both sides.
-==Structure and composition==
+Grant supported radical reconstruction programs in the South, the 14th Amendment, and equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen. Most of all he was the hero of the war veterans, who marched to his tune. The party had become so large that factionalism was inevitable; it was hastened by Grant's tolerance of high levels of corruption typified by the [[Whiskey Ring]]. The "[[Liberal Republican]]s" split off in 1872 on the grounds that it was time to declare the war finished and bring the troops home. Many of the founders of the GOP joined the movement, as did many powerful newspaper editors. They nominated [[Horace Greeley]], who gained unofficial Democratic support, but was defeated in a landslide. The depression of 1873 energized the Democrats. They won control of the House and formed "[[Redeemers|Redeemer]]" coalitions which recaptured control of each southern state, in some cases using threats and violence.
-{{further2|[[Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties]]}}
-The [[Republican National Committee]] (RNC) is responsible for promoting Republican campaign activities. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. Its current chairman is [[Reince Priebus]]. The chairman of the RNC is chosen by the President when the Republicans have the White House or otherwise by the Party's state committees.
-The RNC, under the direction of the party's presidential candidate, supervises the [[Republican National Convention]], raises funds, and coordinates campaign strategy. On the local level, there are similar state committees in every state and most large cities, counties and legislative districts, but they have far less money and influence than the national body.
+Reconstruction came to an end when the contested election of 1876 was awarded by a special electoral commission to Republican [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] who promised, through the unofficial Compromise of 1877, to withdraw federal troops from control of the last three southern states. The region then became the [[Solid South]], giving overwhelming majorities of its electoral votes and Congressional seats to the Democrats until 1964.
-The Republican House and Senate caucuses have separate [[fundraising]] and strategy committees. The [[National Republican Congressional Committee]] (NRCC) assists in House races, and the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]] (NRSC) in Senate races. They each raise over $100 million per election cycle, and play important roles in recruiting strong state candidates, while the [[Republican Governors Association]] (RGA) assists in state gubernatorial races; it is currently chaired by Governor [[Bob McDonnell]] of Virginia.
+In terms of racial issues, "White Republicans as well as Democrats solicited black votes but reluctantly rewarded blacks with nominations for office only when necessary, even then reserving the more choice positions for whites. The results were predictable: these half-a-loaf gestures satisfied neither black nor white Republicans. The fatal weakness of the Republican party in Alabama, as elsewhere in the South, was its inability to create a biracial political party.  And while in power even briefly, they failed to protect their members from Democratic terror. Alabama Republicans were forever on the defensive, verbally and physically." [Woolfolk p 134]
+Social pressure eventually forced most [[Scalawags]] to join the conservative/Democratic Redeemer coalition. A minority persisted and formed the "tan" half of the "Black and Tan" Republican party, a minority in every southern state after 1877. (DeSantis 1998)
-==Ideology and political positions==
+====Gilded Age: 1877–1894====
-{{Conservatism US}}
+The "GOP" (as it was now nicknamed) split into factions in the late 1870s. The Stalwarts, followers of Senator Conkling, defended the [[spoils system]]. The Half-Breeds, who followed Senator [[James G. Blaine]] of Maine, pushed for [[Civil service system|civil service reform]]. Independents who opposed the spoils system altogether were called "[[Mugwumps]]". In 1884 they rejected [[James G. Blaine]] as corrupt and helped elect Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]]; most returned to the party by 1888.
-{{Further2|[[Factions in the Republican Party (United States)]]}}
-The Republican Party includes [[Fiscal conservatism|fiscal conservatives]], [[Social_conservatism_in_the_United_States|social conservatives]], [[Neoconservatism|neoconservatives]], [[moderate]]s, and [[Libertarianism|libertarians]]. Prior to the formation of the conservative coalition, which helped realign the Democratic and Republican party ideologies in the mid-1960s, the party historically advocated [[classical liberalism]], [[paleoconservatism]], and [[American progressivism|progressivism]].
+As the Northern post-bellum economy boomed with heavy and light industry, railroads, mines, and fast-growing cities, as well as prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to keep the fast growth going. They supported [[free enterprise]] generally, hard money (i.e. the [[gold standard]]), high [[tariff]]s, and high pensions for Union veterans. By 1890, however, the Republicans had agreed to reform with the [[Sherman Anti-Trust Act]] and the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]], in response to complaints of large enterprise [[monopoly]] control by small business owners and farmers. The high [[McKinley Tariff]] of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections, even defeating McKinley himself.
-===Economic policies===
+====Ethnocultural Voters: pietistic Republicans versus liturgical Democrats====
-Republicans emphasize the role of [[free market]]s and individual achievement as the primary factors behind economic prosperity. To this end, they favor [[laissez-faire|laissez-faire economics]], fiscal conservatism, and the promotion of [[Responsibility assumption|personal responsibility over welfare programs]].
+From 1860 to 1912, the Republicans took advantage of the association of the Democrats with "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion". Rum stood for the liquor interests and the tavern keepers, in contrast to the GOP, which had a strong dry element. "Romanism" meant Catholics, especially Irish Americans, who ran the Democrat Party in every big city, and whom the Republicans denounced for political corruption. "Rebellion" stood for the Confederates who tried to break the Union in 1861, and the [[Copperheads]] in the North who sympathized with them.
-A leading economic theory advocated by modern Republicans is [[supply-side economics]]. Some fiscal policies influenced by this theory were popularly known as [[Reaganomics]], a term popularized during the Presidential administrations of [[Ronald Reagan]]. This theory holds that reduced income tax rates increase [[GDP]] growth and thereby generate the same or more revenue for the government from the smaller tax on the extra growth.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.economist.com/node/21530093 | work=The Economist | title=Diving into the rich pool | date=2011-09-24 | accessdate=2012-01-13}}</ref> This belief is reflected, in part, by the party's long-term advocacy of tax cuts. Many Republicans consider the income tax system to be inherently inefficient and oppose graduated tax rates, which they believe are unfairly targeted at those who create jobs and wealth. They believe private spending is usually more efficient than government spending. Republicans oppose the [[estate tax]].
+Demographic trends aided the Democrats, as the German and Irish Catholic immigrants were Democrats, and outnumbered the English and Scandinavian Republicans. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republicans struggled against the Democrats' efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to Grover Cleveland (in [[United States presidential election, 1884|1884]] and [[United States presidential election, 1892|1892]]). Religious lines were sharply drawn [Kleppner 1979]. Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Scandinavian Lutherans and other pietists in the North were tightly linked to the GOP. In sharp contrast, liturgical groups, especially the Catholics, Episcopalians, and German Lutherans, looked to the Democratic party for protection from pietistic moralism, especially prohibition.  Both parties cut across the class structure, with the Democrats more bottom-heavy.
-{{Politics of the United States}}
+Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools became important because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50% of the voters were pietistic Protestants (Methodists, Scandinavian Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Disciples of Christ) who believed the government should be used to reduce social sins, such as drinking. Liturgical churches (Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, Episcopalians) comprised over a quarter of the vote and wanted the government to stay out of the morality business. Prohibition debates and referenda heated up politics in most states over a period of decades, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (and repealed in 1932), serving as a major issue between the wet Democrats and the dry GOP.<ref>See  Kleppner (1979)</ref>
-Most Republicans agree there should be a "safety net" to assist the less fortunate; however, they tend to believe the private sector is more effective in helping the poor than government is; as a result, Republicans support giving government grants to faith-based and other private charitable organizations to supplant welfare spending. Members of the GOP also believe that limits on eligibility and benefits must be in place to ensure the safety net is not abused. Republicans introduced and strongly supported the [[Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act|welfare reform of 1996]], which was signed into law by Democratic President Clinton, and which limited eligibility for welfare, successfully leading to many former welfare recipients finding jobs.<ref name=Poverty>{{wayback|title=Welfare Reforms Reduce Poverty|publisher=House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources|date=2006-04-28|url=http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/welfare/042806welfarereport.pdf|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5oAXfUewC|archivedate=2010-03-12|accessdate=2006-11-18}}</ref><ref name=Welfare>{{wayback|title=Welfare Reforms Reduce Welfare Dependence|publisher=House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources|date=2006-02-26|url=http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/welfare/022706welfare.pdf|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5oAXfUcct|archivedate=2010-03-12|accessdate=2006-11-18}}</ref>
-The party opposes a government-run [[single-payer health care]] system, believing such a system constitutes [[socialized medicine]], and is in favor of a personal or employer-based system of insurance, supplemented by [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] for the elderly and [[Medicaid]], which covers approximately 40% of the poor.<ref name=2007UnsettlingScores>[http://www2.citizen.org/hrg/medicaid/assets/reports/2007UnsettlingScores.pdf Unsettling Scores: A Ranking of State Medicaid Programs, P. 15]{{dead link|date=January 2011}}</ref> The GOP has a mixed record of supporting the historically popular [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], Medicare and Medicaid programs. Congressional Republicans and the Bush administration supported a reduction in Medicaid's growth rate;<ref name=Wachino>{{cite web|last=Wachino|first=V|title=The House Budget Committee's Proposed Medicaid and SCHIP Cuts Are Larger Than Those The Administration Proposed|work=|publisher=[[Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]]|location=|url=http://www.cbpp.org/3-10-05health.htm|date=2005-03-10|accessdate=2006-11-18}}</ref> however, congressional Republicans expanded Medicare, supporting a new drug plan for seniors starting in 2006.
+===Fourth Party System: 1896–1932: The Progressive Era ===
+The election of [[William McKinley]] in 1896 was a realigning election that changed the balance of power, and introduced new rules, new issues and new leaders. It did not, however, see the emergence of a new major party.  The Republican sweep of the 1894 Congressional elections presaged the McKinley landslide of 1896, which was repeated in 1900, thus locking the GOP in full control of the national government and most northern state governments. The GOP made major gains as well in the border states.  The [[Fourth Party System]] was dominated by Republican presidents, with the exception of the two terms of Democrat segregationist [[Woodrow Wilson]], 1912-1920.
-In 2011, House Republicans overwhelmingly voted for a proposal named [[The Path to Prosperity]] and for major changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and the [[Health care reform in the United States#Key reform drivers for the 2010 reforms|2010 Health Care Legislation]]. Many Republicans support increased health insurance portability, laws promoting coverage of pre-existing medical conditions, a cap on malpractice lawsuits, the implementation of a streamlined [[electronic medical records]] system, an emphasis on preventative care rather than emergency room care, and tax benefits aimed at making health insurance more affordable for the uninsured and targeted to promote universal access. They generally oppose government funding for elective abortions.<ref name=ontheissues>{{cite web|author=|title=Bobby Jindal on the Issues|work=|publisher=Ontheissues.org|location=|year=|url=http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Bobby_Jindal.htm|accessdate=2010-05-16}}</ref>
+====McKinley and realignment====
+McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the [[Panic of 1893]], and that the GOP would guarantee [[pluralism]] in which all groups would benefit. He denounced [[William Jennings Bryan]], the Democratic nominee, as a dangerous radical whose plans for "Free Silver" at 16-1 (or [[Bimetallism]]) would bankrupt the economy.
-Republicans are generally opposed by [[trade union|labor union]] management and members, and have supported various legislation on the state and federal levels, including [[right to work]] legislation and the [[Taft-Hartley Act]], which gives workers the right not to participate in unions, as opposed to a [[closed shop]], which prohibits workers from choosing not to join unions in workplaces. Some Republicans are opposed to increases in the [[minimum wage]], believing that such increases hurt many businesses by forcing them to cut jobs and services, export jobs overseas, and raise the prices of goods to compensate for the decrease in profit.
+McKinley relied heavily on industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of [[liberty]]; his campaign manager, Ohio's [[Mark Hanna]], developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world, and McKinley outspent his rival [[William Jennings Bryan]] by a large margin.  McKinley was the first president to promote [[pluralism]], arguing that prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups.
-===Separation of powers and balance of powers===
+====Progressive Republicans====
-[[File:Bill of Rights Pg1of1 AC.jpg|thumb|[[United States Bill of Rights]]]]
+At the dawn of the 20th century, the Republican Party was regulating monopolies and promoting civil service reform, with progressivism finding a home within the GOP.
-Many contemporary Republicans voice support of [[strict constructionism]], the judicial philosophy that the Constitution should be interpreted narrowly and as close to the original intent as is practicable rather than a more flexible "living Constitution" model.<ref name=nytimes2008>{{cite news|author=|title=Supreme Court|work=On the Issues|publisher=|location=|year=|url=http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/issues/judges.html|accessdate=2011-09-05}}</ref><!--It's only McCain's position, so a better ref would be good, but any comparison of the 2008 Republican candidates should show them all agreeing.--> Most Republicans point to [[Roe v. Wade]] as a case of [[judicial activism]], where the court overturned most laws restricting abortion on the basis of a [[privacy law|right to privacy]] inferred from the [[United States Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] and the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. Some Republicans have actively sought to block judges whom they see as being [[judicial activism|activist judges]] and have sought the appointment of judges who claim to practice [[judicial restraint]]. Other Republicans, though, argue that it is the right of judges to extend the interpretation of the Constitution and judge actions by the legislative or executive branches as legal or [[Constitutionality|unconstitutional]] on previously unarticulated grounds. The issue of [[judicial deference]] to the legislature is a matter of some debate&nbsp;— like the Democrats, most Republicans criticize court decisions that overturn their own (conservative) legislation as overstepping bounds and support decisions that overturn opposing legislation. Some commentators have advocated that the Republicans take a more aggressive approach and support legislative supremacy more firmly.<ref name=McCarthy>{{cite web|last=McCarthy|first=AC|title=Judicial Restraint|publisher=Nationalreview.com|year=|url=http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTZmYzY4YzkzYzYxMjY4MzAxZjI4NDdjMmVlYTNmMDQ|accessdate=2010-06-17}}</ref>
+[[Theodore Roosevelt]], who became president in 1901, had the most dynamic personality in the nation.  Roosevelt had to contend with men like Senator [[Mark Hanna]], whom he outmaneuvered to gain control of the convention in 1904 that renominated him. More difficult to handle was conservative House Speaker [[Joseph Gurney Cannon]].
-The Republican Party has supported various bills within the last decade to strip some or all federal courts of the ability to hear certain types of cases, in an attempt to limit judicial review. These [[jurisdiction stripping]] laws have included removing federal review of the recognition of same-sex marriage with the [[Marriage Protection Act of 2007|Marriage Protection Act]],<ref name=washingtontimes20040722>{{cite news|author=|title=House to debate court stripping|publisher=Washington Times|location=Washington, D.C.|date=2004-07-22|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040722-121146-3494r.htm|accessdate=2010-06-17}}</ref> the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance with the [[Pledge Protection Act]], and the rights of detainees in Guantanamo Bay in the [[Detainee Treatment Act]]. The Supreme Court overruled the last of these limitations in ''[[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]]''.
+When [[Booker T. Washington]]'s autobiography, ''Up From Slavery'', was published in 1901, it became a bestseller and had a major impact on the African American community, and its friends and allies. Washington in 1901 was the first African-American ever invited to the White House as the guest of President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] &ndash; white Democrats complained loudly, although Washington remained as an advisor to Roosevelt.<ref>Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (2007)</ref>
-Compared with Democrats, many Republicans believe in a more robust version of [[federalism]] with greater limitations placed upon [[Federal government of the United States|federal]] power and a larger role reserved for the States. Following this view on federalism, Republicans often take a less expansive reading of congressional power under the [[Commerce Clause]], such as in the opinion of [[William Rehnquist]] in ''[[United States v. Lopez]]''. Many Republicans on the more libertarian wing wish for a more dramatic narrowing of Commerce Clause power by revisiting, among other cases, ''[[Wickard v. Filburn]]'', a case that held that growing wheat on a farm for consumption on the same farm fell under congressional power to [[Commerce Clause|"regulate commerce ... among the several States"]].
+Roosevelt achieved modest legislative gains in terms of railroad legislation and pure food laws. He was more successful in Court, bringing antitrust suits that broke up the Northern Securities trust and [[Standard Oil]].  Roosevelt moved left in his last two years in office but was unable to pass major Square Deal proposals.
-President George W. Bush was a proponent of the [[unitary executive theory]] and cited it within his [[Signing statement (United States)|Signing statement]]s about legislation passed by Congress.<ref name=boston20060430>{{cite news |title=Bush challenges hundreds of laws |work=The Boston Globe |publisher= |location= |url=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/ |accessdate=2011-09-05 |first=Charlie |last=Savage |authorlink=Charlie Savage |date=2006-04-30}}</ref> The administration's interpretation of the unitary executive theory was called seriously into question by ''Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'', where the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the President does not have sweeping powers to override or ignore laws through his power as commander in chief,<ref name=Cole2010>{{cite web|last=Cole|first=D|title=Why The Court Said No|work=New York Review of Books|publisher=Nybooks.com|year=|url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19212|accessdate=2010-06-17}}</ref> stating "the Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law that prevails".<ref name=SCOTUS>[{{SCOTUS URL Slip|05|05-184}} Opinion of the court, ''Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'', p. 72]</ref> Following the ruling, the Bush administration has sought Congressional authorization for programs started only on executive mandate, as was the case with the [[Military Commissions Act of 2006|Military Commissions Act]], or abandoned programs it had previously asserted executive authority to enact, in the case of the [[National Security Agency]] [[NSA warrantless surveillance controversy|domestic wiretapping program]].
+Roosevelt did succeed in naming his successor Secretary of War [[William Howard Taft]] who easily defeated Bryan again in 1908.
-===Environmental policies===
+====Progressive insurgents vs. Conservatives====
-The Republican Party has long supported the protection of the environment. For example, Republican President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was a prominent conservationist whose policies eventually led to the creation of the modern [[National Park Service]].<ref name=Filler>{{cite web|author=Filler, Daniel|title=Theodore Roosevelt: Conservation as the Guardian of Democracy|url=http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/filler/filler.html|accessdate=2007-11-09}}</ref> Republican President [[Richard Nixon]] was responsible for establishing the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] in 1970.<ref name=Nixon>{{cite web|author=Nixon, Richard|title=Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970|date=1970-07-09|url=http://www.epa.gov/history/org/origins/reorg.htm|accessdate=2007-11-09}}{{dead link|date=February 2012}}</ref> More recently, [[California]] Republican Governor [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], with the support of 16 other states, [[filing (legal)|sued]] the [[Federal government of the United States|Federal Government]] and the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency]] for the right to set vehicle emission standards higher than the [[United States emission standards|Federal Standard]],<ref name=Schwarzenegger>{{cite news|author=Schwarzenegger, Arnold|title=California will Sue Federal Government|date=2007-12-07|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/20/california.emissions/|accessdate=2008-01-08|publisher=CNN}}</ref> a right to which California is entitled under the [[Clean Air Act]].
+The GOP was divided between insurgents and stand-patters (liberals and conservatives, to use 21st-century terms). [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was an enormously popular president (1901–1909), and he transferred the office to [[William Howard Taft]]. Taft, however, did not have TR's enormous popularity nor his ability to bring rival factions together. When Taft sided with the standpatters under Speaker [[Joe Cannon]] and Senate leader [[Nelson Aldrich]], the insurgents revolted. Led by [[George Norris]] the insurgents took control of the House away from Cannon and imposed a new system whereby committee chairmanships depended on seniority (years of membership on the committee), rather than party loyalty.
-This association however has shifted as the Democratic Party came to also support environmentalism. For example, Democratic President [[Bill Clinton]] did not send the [[Kyoto Protocol]] to the U.S. Senate for ratification, as he thought it unfair to the United States.<ref name=BushGW>{{cite web|author=Bush, George W.|title=Text of a Letter from the President|date=2001-03-13|url=http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010314.html|accessdate=2007-11-09}}{{Dead link|date=February 2009}}</ref> President [[George W. Bush]] also publicly opposed ratification of the Kyoto Protocols on the grounds that they unfairly targeted Western industrialized nations such as the United States while favoring developing [[North-South divide|Global South]] polluters such as China and India.
+The tariff issue was pulling the GOP apart. Roosevelt tried to postpone the issue but Taft had to meet it head on in 1909 with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act. Eastern conservatives led by Nelson A. Aldrich wanted high tariffs on manufactured goods (especially woolens), while Midwesterners called for low tariffs.  Aldrich tricked them by lowering the tariff on farm products, which outraged the farmers. In a stunning comeback, the Democrats won control of the House in  1910, as the GOP rift between insurgents and conservatives widened.
-In 2000, the Republican Party adopted as part of its platform support for the development of market-based solutions to environmental problems. According to the platform, "economic prosperity and environmental protection must advance together, environmental regulations should be based on science, the government’s role should be to provide market-based incentives to develop the technologies to meet environmental standards, we should ensure that environmental policy meets the needs of localities, and environmental policy should focus on achieving results processes."<ref name=Encourage>{{cite journal|title=Encourage Market-Based Solutions to Environmental Problems|journal=OnTheIssues|date=2000-08-12}}</ref>
+Roosevelt sided with the insurgents and, after long indecision, decided to run against Taft for the 1912 nomination. Roosevelt had to steamroll over insurgent Senator [[Robert LaFollette]] of Wisconsin, turning an ally into an enemy. Taft outmaneuvered Roosevelt and controlled the convention. Roosevelt walked out and formed a third party, the "Progressive" or "Bull Moose" party. Very few officeholders supported him, and the new party collapsed by 1914. With the GOP vote divided in half, Democrat [[Woodrow Wilson]] easily won the 1912 election, and was narrowly reelected in 1916.
-The [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]],<ref name=FactSheet>{{cite web|title=Fact Sheet: Harnessing the Power of Technology for a Secure Energy Future|date=2007-02-22|url=http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/02/20070222-2.html|accessdate=2007-11-09}}</ref> along with several of the [[Republican Party (United States) presidential candidates, 2008|candidates that sought the Republican Presidential nomination in 2008]],<ref name=Kudlow>{{cite web|author=Kudlow & Company|title=Interview with Rudy Giuliani|date=2007-03-26|url=http://www1.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/interview_with_rudy_giuliani_1.html|accessdate=2007-11-09}}</ref><ref name=IssueWatch>{{cite web|title=Issue Watch: Achieving Energy Independence|url=http://www.mittromney.com/Issue-Watch/Energy|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071107193334/http://www.mittromney.com/Issue-Watch/Energy|archivedate=2007-11-07|accessdate=2007-11-09}}</ref><ref name=Candidates>{{cite news|title=The Candidates: Rep. Duncan Hunter|work=Washington Post.com|date=2007-10-12|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/10/01/DI2007100101460.html|accessdate=2007-11-09}}</ref> supported increased Federal investment into the development of clean alternative fuels, increased [[nuclear power]], and well as fuels such as [[ethanol]], as a way of helping the U.S. achieve [[North American energy independence|energy independence]], as opposed to supporting less use of carbon dioxide-producing methods of generating energy. McCain supports the [[Emissions trading|cap-and-trade]] policy, a policy that is quite popular among Democrats but much less so among other Republicans. Some Republicans support increased [[oil well|oil drilling]] in currently protected areas such as the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]], a position that has drawn sharp criticism from some activists.
+With the defeat of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Bull Moose party, along with the election of Woodrow Wilson, the parties switched progressive leadership, and the Democrat Party has been the party of big government ever since.
-===Social policies===
+====State and local politics====
-====Social services====
+The Republicans welcomed the [[Progressive Era]] at the state and local level.  The first important reform mayor was Hazen S. Pingree of Detroit (1890–97) who was elected governor of Michigan in 1896. In New York City the Republicans joined nonpartisan reformers to battle [[Tammany Hall]], and elected Seth Low (1902–03). Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones was first elected mayor of Toledo as a Republican in 1897, but was re-elected as an independent when his party refused to renominate him.  In Iowa Senator [[Albert Cummins]] came up with the "Iowa Idea" that blamed the trust or monopoly problem on the high tariff, angering the eastern industrialists and factory workers. Many Republican civic leaders, following the example of Mark Hanna, were active in the [[National Civic Federation]], which promoted urban reforms and sought to avoid wasteful strikes.
-Some Republicans favor [[White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives|faith-based initiatives]]. There are some exceptions, especially in the Northeast and Pacific Coast states.
-====Race====
+====Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, 1920–1932====
-They are generally against [[affirmative action]] for women and some minorities, often describing it as a [[racial quota|quota system]], believing that it is not [[meritocratic]] and that is counter-productive socially by only further promoting [[discrimination]]. Many Republicans support race-neutral admissions policies in universities but support taking into account the socioeconomic status of the student.<ref name=affirmativeaction>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/15/bush.affirmativeaction/|work=CNN|title=Bush criticizes university 'quota system'|date=2003-01-15|accessdate=2010-05-22}}</ref><ref name= Eilperin >{{cite news|last=Eilperin|first=Juliet|title=Watts Walks a Tightrope on Affirmative Action|publisher=The Washington Post|date=1998-05-12|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa051298.htm|accessdate=2007-01-22}}</ref>
+The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a limited government platform, opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests. [[Warren G. Harding]], [[Calvin Coolidge]] and [[Herbert Hoover]] were resoundingly elected in the elections of 1920, 1924 and 1928 as the Democrats were deeply split on prohibition and religion.  Running on a campaign of ''returning to normalcy'', Harding and Coolidge led a repudiation election of both the war as well as the big government progressivism of Woodrow Wilson.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8iSeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: Meet the Presidents]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LziMzAR4eD0C&pg=PA162 The Great American History Fact-finder: The Who, What, Where, When, and why of American History]</ref>
+[[Image:Coolidge close.jpg|thumb|100px|left|Calvin Coolidge]]
+The breakaway efforts of Senator [[Robert LaFollette]] in 1924 failed to stop a landslide for Coolidge, and his movement fell apart.  The [[Teapot Dome Scandal]] threatened to hurt the party but Harding died and Coolidge blamed everything on him, as the opposition splintered in 1924. The pro-business policies of the decade seemed to produce unprecedented prosperity—until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded the [[Great Depression]].  Although the party did very well in large cities and among ethnic Catholics in presidential elections of 1920-24, it was unable to hold those gains in 1928. By 1932 the cities—for the first time ever—had become Democratic strongholds.
-====Capital punishment====
+The African American vote held for Hoover in 1932, but started moving toward Roosevelt. By 1940 the majority of northern blacks were voting Democrat. Southern blacks who could vote (in border states) were split; disenfranchised blacks in the South probably preferred the Republicans.
-Most of the GOP's membership favors [[capital punishment]] and stricter punishments as a means to prevent crime.
-====Gun rights====
+The [[Great Depression]] cost Hoover the presidency with the [[United States presidential election, 1932|1932 landslide election]] of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Roosevelt's [[New Deal coalition]] controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican [[Dwight Eisenhower]].
-Republicans generally support [[Gun politics in the United States|gun ownership rights]] and oppose laws regulating guns, although some Republicans in urban areas sometimes favor limited restrictions on the grounds that they are necessary to protect safety in large cities.
-====Education====
+===Fifth Party System: 1932–1980===
-Most Republicans support [[school choice]] through [[charter school]]s and [[school voucher]]s for private schools; many have denounced the performance of the public school system and the teachers' unions. The party has insisted on a system of greater accountability for public schools, most prominently in recent years with the [[No Child Left Behind Act]] of 2001. Many Republicans, however, opposed the creation of the [[United States Department of Education]] when it was initially created in 1979.
+[[File:Edward-clark-c.p.o-graham-jackson.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Graham Jackson shedding tears at news of FDR's death. The photo was widely circulated in ''Life'' magazine and interpreted to mean even Republicans cried at the death of FDR. It was later re-circulated in the 1960s to create the myth that [[African American]]s were beneficiaries and part of the New Deal coalition.  New Deal programs often specifically excluded Blacks by legislation passed by the Democrat Congress.<ref>https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/04/9-ways-franklin-d-roosevelts-new-deal-purposely-excluded-blacks-people/</ref>]]
+Minority parties tend to factionalize and after 1936 the GOP split into a conservative faction (dominant in the West and Southeast) and a liberal faction (dominant in the Northeast) &ndash; combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Republicanism active throughout the century. [[United States presidential election, 1936|In 1936]] Kansas governor [[Alf Landon]] and his young followers defeated the [[Herbert Hoover]] faction.  Landon generally supported most New Deal programs, but carried only two states in the Roosevelt landslide.
-Some in the religious wing of the party support voluntary [[School prayer|organized prayer in public schools]] and the teaching of [[intelligent design]] in science classes.
+Senator [[Robert Taft]] of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose [[New Deal]] reforms and continued to champion [[isolationism]]. [[Thomas Dewey]], governor of New York, represented the Northeastern wing of the party. Dewey did not reject the New Deal programs but demanded more efficiency, more support for economic growth, and less corruption. He was more willing than Taft to support Britain in 1939-40. After the war, the isolationists wing strenuously opposed the [[United Nations]], and was half-hearted in opposition to world Communism. Senator [[William F. Knowland]] of California, sobriquet ''Senator from Formosa'' (Taiwan).
-====Abortion and related issues====
+[[Dwight Eisenhower]], an internationalist allied with the Dewey wing, challenged Taft in 1952 on foreign policy issues. The two men were not far apart on domestic issues. Eisenhower's victory broke a 20-year Democrat lock on the White House.  Eisenhower did not try to roll back the New Deal, but he did expand the Social Security system and built the Interstate Highway system.
-A majority of the GOP's national and state candidates are [[pro-life]] and oppose elective [[abortion]] on religious or moral grounds.
-Although the GOP has voted for increases in government funding of scientific research, some members actively oppose the federal funding of [[embryonic stem cell]] research beyond the original lines because it involves the destruction of human [[embryo]]s (which many consider ethically equivalent to abortion), while arguing for applying research money into [[adult stem cell]] or amniotic stem cell research. The stem cell issue has garnered two once-rare vetoes on research funding bills from President Bush, who said the research "crossed a moral boundary".
+The conservatives in 1964 made a comeback under the leadership of [[Barry Goldwater]] who defeated [[Nelson Rockefeller]] as the Republican candidate in the [[United States presidential election, 1964|1964 presidential convention]]. Goldwater was strongly opposed to the New Deal and the United Nations, but he rejected isolationism and containment, calling for an aggressive anti-Communist foreign policy.
-====LGBT issues====
+Any long-term movement toward the GOP was interrupted by the [[Watergate Scandal]], which forced Nixon to resign in 1974 under threat of impeachment. [[Gerald Ford]] succeeded Nixon and gave him a full pardon—thereby giving the Democrats a powerful issue they used to sweep the 1974 off-year elections. Ford never fully recovered, and in 1976 he barely defeated [[Ronald Reagan]] for the nomination. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] in [[United States presidential election, 1976|1976]], running as a Washington outsider.
-The 2004 Republican platform expressed support for the [[Federal Marriage Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution]] to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman.
-Generally speaking, most Republicans have opposed government recognition of same-sex unions such as with [[Same-sex marriage in the U.S.|same-sex marriage]]. This opposition formed a key method of energizing conservative voters, the Republican base, in the 2004 election. A ''New York Times'' and [[CBS News]] collaborative poll released in April 2009 reported that 18% of Republicans favored recognition of same-sex marriage.<ref name=nytimes20090429>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/us/politics/28web-nagourney.html|title=Signs G.O.P. Is Rethinking Stance on Gay Marriage|date=April 28, 2009|work=The New York Times|accessdate=August 23, 2010}}</ref> An August 2010 Fox poll found 19% support.<ref name=foxnews20100813>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/081310_RoundupPoll.pdf|title=Fox News Poll|date=August 13, 2010|publisher=Fox News}}</ref> Historically, most Republicans have opposed permitting [[LGBT]] people to serve openly in the military and supported the "[[don't ask, don't tell]]" policy. However, majorities of 52% and 58% among Republicans in both 2004 and 2009 opposed the policy and supported open enlistment, according to Gallup polling.<ref name=gallup2009>{{cite news|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/120764/conservatives-shift-favor-openly-gay-service-members.aspx|title=Conservatives Shift in Favor of Openly Gay Service Members|publisher=[[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]]|date=June 5, 2009|first=Lymari|last=Morales}}</ref>
-Groups pushing for LGBT issues inside the party include [[Log Cabin Republicans]] and [[GOProud]]. Fox News national [[exit polls]] of self-described LGBT voters found that 24% voted Republican in 2004 and in 2006. That value was 19% and 31% in 2008 and 2010, respectively.<ref name=foxnews20101106>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/06/gop-gains-traction-gay-voters-focusing-economy-analyst-says/|title=GOP Gains Traction Among Gay Voters By Focusing on Economy, Analyst Says|publisher=Fox News|date=November 6, 2010}}</ref> In 2011, 28% of Republicans supported gay marriage.<ref name=foxnews20110522>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/22/time-majority-americans-support-gay-marriage/|publisher=Fox News|title=For First Time, Majority of Americans Support Gay Marriage|date=May 22, 2011}}</ref>
+====Civil Rights====
+[[File:Nixon-and-Martin-Luther-King.png|right|300px|thumb|Dr. Martin Luther King's meeting with Vice President Nixon marked national recognition of King as leader of the civil rights movement.<ref>https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/29/the-switch-that-never-happened-how-the-south-really-went-gop/</ref>]]
-==National defense and military spending==
+Vice President [[Richard Nixon]] invited Dr. [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] to Washington, D.C., for a meeting on 13 June 1957. This meeting, described by [[Bayard Rustin]] as a “summit conference,” marked national recognition of King's role in the civil rights movement (Rustin, 13 June 1957). Seeking support for a voter registration initiative in the South, King appealed to Nixon to urge Republicans in Congress to pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act and to visit [[the South]] to express support for civil rights. Optimistic about Nixon's commitment to improving race relations in the United States, King told Nixon, “How deeply grateful all people of goodwill are to you for your assiduous labor and dauntless courage in seeking to make the civil rights bill a reality.”
-Although the Republican Party has always advocated a strong national defense, historically they disapproved of interventionist foreign policy actions. Republicans opposed [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s intervention in [[World War I]] and his subsequent attempt to create the [[League of Nations]]. They were also staunchly opposed to intervention in [[World War II]] until the Japanese attack on [[Pearl Harbor]].
-===Dwight Eisenhower===
+Republican Attorney General [[Herbert Brownell]] originally proposed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]]. The bill passed 285–126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.<ref>HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42</ref> It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. [[John Kennedy]] voted for the [[jury trial amendment]] which gutted Title IV concerning voting rights, rendering meaningless any efforts to secure injunctions against vote suppression.<ref>August 2, 1957. [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s73 HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE JURY TRIALS IN ALL CASES OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT AND PROVIDE UNIFORM METHODS FOR SELECTING FEDERAL COURT JURIES.] ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved May 24, 2023.</ref> It was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
-In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower was drafted by the Republican party to counter the candidacy of [[Non-interventionism|non-interventionist]] Senator [[Robert Taft]]. Eisenhower's campaign was a crusade against the [[Harry S. Truman|Truman]] administration's policies regarding "[[Korea]], [[Communism]] and Corruption."<ref name="time 2008">{{Cite news
-| url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1857862,00.html
-| publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|]]''
-| date=November 10, 2008
-| title=When New President Meets Old, It's Not Always Pretty|first=Nancy|last=Gibbs}}</ref>
-===Ronald Reagan===
+====Strength of Parties 1977====
-====Grenada====
+How the Two Parties Stood after the 1976 Election:
-On October 25, 1983, at the request of the regional governments, Reagan ordered ''[[Operation Urgent Fury]]'', a military invasion of the small, Caribbean island of [[Grenada]], where over a thousand American students and their families were in residence. A Marxist coup d'état had overthrown the established government and shot its leader [[Maurice Bishop]]. This was the first actual [[rollback]] that destroyed a Communist regime and marked the continued escalation of tensions with the Soviet Union known as the [[Cold War (1979–1985)|Second Cold War]]. Democrats had been highly critical of Reagan's anti-Communism in Latin America, but this time Reagan had strong support from the voters and leading Democrats said the invasion was justified.<ref name=Hayward>Steven F. Hayward, '' The age of Reagan: The conservative counterrevolution, 1980-1989'', p. 323</ref> It built the President's image of decisive strong action a year before the 1984 election, when Mondale said he too would have ordered the invasion. Indeed Mondale attacked Senator [[Gary Hart]], his chief opponent for the Democratic nomination, as isolationist and weak on fighting dictatorships.<ref name=Kagan1996>Robert Kagan, ''A twilight struggle: American power and Nicaragua, 1977-1990'' (1996) p. 346</ref>
-====Cold War====
+{| class=wikitable
-Reagan escalated the [[Cold War]], accelerating a reversal from the policy of [[détente]], which began in 1979 under President [[Jimmy Carter]] following the [[Soviet war in Afghanistan|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]].<ref name=wilsoncenter >{{cite web|url=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.event_summary&event_id=12594|title=Towards an International History of the War in Afghanistan, 1979–89|accessdate=May 16, 2007|year=2002|publisher=The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars}}{{dead link|date=February 2012}}</ref> Reagan then ordered a massive buildup of the [[United States Armed Forces]]<ref name=fasorg>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/icbm/lgm-118.htm|title=LGM-118A Peacekeeper|accessdate=April 10, 2007|date=August 15, 2000|publisher=Federation of American Scientists}}</ref>
+! Party
+! Republican
+! Democrat
+! Independent
+|-
+! Party ID (Gallup)
+| 22%
+| 47%
+| 31%
+|-
+! House
+| 143
+| 292
+|
+|-
+! Senate
+| 38
+| 62
+|
+|-
+! % House popular vote nationally
+| 42%
+| 56%
+| 2%
+|-
+| align=right | in the East
+| 41%
+| 57%
+| 2%
+|-
+| align=right | in the South
+| 37%
+| 62%
+| 2%
+|-
+| align=right | in the Midwest
+| 47%
+| 52%
+| 1%
+|-
+| align=right | in the West
+| 43%
+| 55%
+| 2%
+|-
+! Governors
+| 12
+| 37
+| 1
+|-
+! rowspan=2 | State Legislators
+| 2,370
+| 5,128
+| 55
+|-
+| 31%
+| 68%
+| 1%
+|-
+! State legislature control
+| 18
+| 80
+| 1 *
+|-
+| align=right | in the East
+| 5
+| 13
+| 0
+|-
+| align=right | in the South
+| 0
+| 32
+| 0
+|-
+| align=right | in the Midwest
+| 5
+| 17
+| 1 *
+|-
+| align=right | in the West
+| 8
+| 18
+| 0
+|-
+! States' one party control<br>of legislature and governorship
+| 1
+| 29
+| 0
+|-
+|}
+<nowiki>*</nowiki>The unicameral Nebraska legislature, in fact controlled by the Republicans, is technically nonpartisan.
-====Covert operations====
+Source: Everett Carll Ladd Jr. ''Where Have All the Voters Gone? The Fracturing of America's Political Parties'' (1978) p.&nbsp;6
-Under a policy that came to be known as the [[Reagan Doctrine]], Reagan and his administration also [[Covert U.S. regime change actions|provided overt and covert aid]] to [[anti-communist]] [[Guerrilla warfare|resistance movements]] in an effort to "[[rollback]]" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The policy was politically controversial, with liberal Democrats especially angry with Reagan's operations in Latin America.<ref name=Kagan1996>Robert Kagan, ''A twilight struggle: American power and Nicaragua, 1977-1990'' (1996) p 29</ref> Covert operations elsewhere, especially in Afghanistan against the Soviets, however, usually won bipartisan support.<ref Name=Meher2004>Jagmohan Meher, ''America's Afghanistan war'' (2004) [http://books.google.com/books?id=JR4xbUD0Lv8C&pg=PA133&dq=afghanistan+cambodia+%22moral+boost%22+inauthor:Meher&hl=en&ei=LqdkToniHInbiAK-x8SgCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=afghanistan%20cambodia%20%22moral%20boost%22%20inauthor%3AMeher&f=false p 133 online]</ref>
-===George H. W. Bush===
+====Moderate Republicans of 1960–80====
-====Gulf War 1990–91====
+[[Image:Nelson Rockefeller.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Nelson Rockefeller]]
-{{Main|Gulf War}}
+The term ''Rockefeller Republican'' was used mainly during 1960–80 to designate a faction of the party holding "moderate" views similar to those of the late [[Nelson Rockefeller]], governor of New York from 1959 to 1974 and vice president under President [[Gerald Ford]] in 1974–77. Before Rockefeller, [[Tom Dewey]], governor of New York 1942–54 and GOP presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948 was the leader. Dwight Eisenhower reflected many of their views. An important leader in the 1950s was Connecticut Republican Senator [[Prescott Bush]], father and grandfather of presidents of [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[George W. Bush]]. After Rockefeller left the national stage in 1976, this faction of the party was more often called "moderate Republicans," in contrast to the conservatives who rallied to [[Ronald Reagan]].
-On August 1, 1990, [[Iraq]], led by [[Saddam Hussein]], [[Invasion of Kuwait|invaded]] [[Kuwait]]. President Bush formed an international coalition and secured UN approval to expel Iraq. On January 12, 1991, Congress voted approval for a military attack, [[Operation Desert Storm]], by a narrow margin, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The vote in the House was 250–183, and in the Senate 52–47. In the Senate 42 Republicans and 10 Democrats voted yes to war, while 45 Democrats and two Republicans voted no. In the House 164 Republicans and 86 Democrats voted yes, and 179 Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent voted no.<ref name=Hiro>Dilip Hiro, ''Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War'' (2003) p. 300</ref> The war was short and successful, but Hussein was allowed to remain in power. Arab countries repaid all the American military costs.<ref name=Hess>Gary R. Hess, ''Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq'' (2009) pp 153-219</ref>
-In the 1990s, Republicans opposed the intervention of the United States in the [[Balkans]] under President Bill Clinton<ref name=spectator >www.spectator.org, March 21, 2011, "Republicans on Kosovo" by W. James Antile,III</ref> and in 2000, George W. Bush ran on a platform that opposed these types of involvement in foreign conflicts.
+Historically, Rockefeller Republicans were moderate or liberal on domestic and social policies. They favored New Deal programs, including regulation and welfare. They were very strong supporters of civil rights. They were strongly supported by big business on Wall Street (New York City). In fiscal policy, they favored balanced budgets and relatively high tax levels to keep the budget balanced. They sought long-term economic growth through entrepreneurship, not tax cuts. In state politics, they were strong supporters of state colleges and universities, low tuition, and large research budgets. They favored infrastructure improvements, such as highway projects. In foreign policy, they were internationalists and anti-Communists. They felt the best way to counter Communism was sponsoring economic growth (through foreign aid), maintaining a strong military, and keeping close ties to [[NATO]]. Geographically their base was the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine.
-===George W. Bush===
+====Suburbia====
-====Invasion of Afghanistan====
+The suburban electorate passed the city electorate in the 1950s, as Eisenhower showed unusual strength there. The history of suburban politics is encapsulated in Nassau County (New York), just east of New York City, where a moderate Republican party machine operated. Despite predictions that the New Deal spelled the demise of the political machine, Nassau provided fertile ground for a party organization that rivaled its big-city Democrat counterparts. The traditionally GOP county underwent a booming expansion during 1945–60, with an influx of new residents, many with previous Democrat Party affiliations. In established villages and new housing developments such as [[Levittown]], under the canny leadership of J. Russel Sprague, the party used patronage and community organizing techniques to build its base among ethnic voters, young people, and new homeowners. The party expanded beyond its white Protestant base, with Italian Americans becoming particularly prominent in party leadership. Sprague was both party leader and county executive. That post was created in 1936 under a new charter engineered by Sprague to update a municipal apparatus unable to meet the infrastructure and development needs of a county that by 1960 had 1.3 million residents. Democrats and reformers had promoted charter revision for decades, and some consolidation of government services did take place. As county "boss," Sprague ruled with an iron hand. Nassau's pluralities for such candidates as Governor Thomas E. Dewey and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Sprague's fundraising prowess made him a force in national party politics. He advocated a moderate, middle-of-the-road position that recognized expectations created by the New Deal while criticizing what were claimed to be Democrat excesses. After leaving elective office and party leadership, Sprague became a major campaign issue when the Democrats, in a 1961 historic upset, won the county executive post by both lambasting Sprague, tainted by a racetrack-stock scandal, and criticizing the developer-friendly "Spragueland" regime that had governed Nassau for decades. Soon after Sprague died in 1969, the Nassau GOP regained its control of the county government and reestablished virtual one-party rule until the 1990s.<ref>Marjorie Freeman Harrison, "Machine Politics Suburban Style: J. Russel Sprague and the Nassau County (New York) Republican Party at Midcentury."  PhD dissertation Columbia U. 2005. 388 pp.
-After the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001 in New York, Bush launched the [[War on Terrorism]], in which the United States led an international coalition [[Invasions of Afghanistan#U.S.-led invasion|invaded Afghanistan]], the base of terrorist [[Osama bin Laden]]. This invasion led to the toppling of the [[Taliban]] regime. After a surprise raid on bin Laden's compound on May 2, 2011, ordered by Barack Obama, bin Laden was killed and his body disposed of in the sea. There was bipartisan support for this action, with notable Republican and Democratic figures speaking out in support of the raid.
+DAI 2005 66(5): 1925-A. DA3174807</ref>
-====Invasion of Iraq====
+An even longer reign of power characterized GOP machine control of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a rural and suburban area south of Philadelphia. William McClure controlled the GOP from 1875 until his death in 1907; his son John J. McClure, was in control from 1907 until his death in 1965. McLarnon (1998) has four main findings. First, political machines were not confined to big cities; the demographic and political peculiarities of suburban counties lent themselves to continued domination by political machines long after the heyday of the city machine had passed. Secondly, neither the New Deal, immigration restriction, nor the rise of organized labor destroyed all the old Republican machines. Delaware was one of several similar counties in southeastern Pennsylvania where the GOP continued to hold sway throughout the 20th century. Thirdly, not all blacks switched their electoral loyalties to the Democrat Party in 1936. The black population of Chester, Delaware County's industrial city, generally voted Republican for offices below the presidential level. Finally, the citizens of Delaware County supported and continues to support the Republican machine because the machine delivered and continues to deliver those things that the citizens want most. At the beginning of the century, the machine provided food, work, and police protection to Chester's European and black immigrants. During Prohibition, it supplied the county with liquor. Through the Depression, patronage and close alliances with local industrialists kept a significant portion of machine loyalists employed. In the 1950s and 1960s the machine kept taxes low, initiated a war on organized vice, successfully defeated all threats to home rule, and discouraged blacks from settling in historically white communities. The trash was collected, the snow plowed, the streets repaired. The buses ran on time, the playgrounds and parks were clean, and the schools acceptably average. These were the most important concerns of a majority of county's citizens. While the citizens and their concerns changed over time, two things seem to have remained constant: the McClures', and their successors' ability to read and react to the needs of the electorate; and the fact that rarely, if ever, has a desire for honest, democratic government been high on Delaware County voters' list of priorities.<ref>John Morrison McLarnon, "Ruling Suburbia: A Biography of the McClure Machine of Delaware County, Pennsylvania."  PhD dissertation U. of Delaware 1998. 616 pp.  DAI 1998 58(12): 4780-A. DA9819160</ref>
-In 2003, George W. Bush launched the [[Iraq War|invasion of Iraq]], in conjunction with coalition partners, most notably Great Britain. The invasion was described by Bush as being part of the War on Terrorism. Saddam Hussein was captured and executed, but his supporters staged an insurgency that dragged on for years. It was a major election issue in 2004 (when Bush was reelected) and in 2006 and 2008 (when the Democrats won).<ref name=Hess2009>Hess, ''Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq'' (2009) pp 221-76</ref>
-===Policies===
+The first southern states to trend Republican were on the periphery: North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Democrat [[George Wallace]] lost these voters in his 1968 presidential bid. The voters who first migrated to the Republican party were [[suburban]], prosperous New South types. The more Republican the South has become, the less racist.<ref>https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/democratic-party-racist-history-mona-charen/</ref>
-As a result, some in the Republican Party support [[unilateralism]] on issues of national security, believing in the ability and right of the United States to act without external support in matters of its national defense. In general, Republican thinking on defense and [[international relations]] is heavily influenced by the theories of [[neorealism (international relations)|neorealism]] and [[Political realism|realism]], characterizing conflicts between nations as struggles between faceless forces of international structure, as opposed to being the result of the ideas and actions of individual leaders. The realist school's influence shows in Reagan's [[Evil empire|Evil Empire]] stance on the [[Soviet Union]] and George W. Bush's [[Axis of evil]].
-Republicans secured gains in the [[United States congressional elections, 2002|2002]] and [[United States congressional elections, 2004|2004 elections]], with the [[War on Terror]] being one of the top issues favoring them. Since the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], some in the party support [[neoconservatism|neoconservative]] policies with regard to the War on Terror, including the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|2001 war in Afghanistan]] and the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]].
+====Rise of the right====
+[[Image:BarryGoldwater.jpg|right|thumb|220px|Barry Goldwater]]
+[[Barry Goldwater]] crusaded against the Rockefeller Republicans, beating Rockefeller narrowly in the California primary of 1964. That set the stage for a conservative resurgence, based in the South and West, in opposition to the Northeast.  Brennan (1995) stresses that conservatives in the late 1950s and early 1960s had many internal problems to overcome before they could mount an effective challenge to the hegemony of the distrusted Eastern Establishment, typified by [[Nelson A. Rockefeller]]. The conservative movement had some newspapers and magazines (especially [[William F. Buckley]]'s ''National Review'') and one charismatic national leader, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. The movement gained momentum once they had established a unity out of diverse elements on the Right with a common commitment to a militant anti-Communism, and once they had succeeded in mobilizing a grassroots base inside a number of state and local organizations in the Sun Belt on behalf of a draft Goldwater campaign in 1960. Although Nixon was acceptable to the conservatives, they worried that he compromised with Rockefeller in 1960. His defeat in 1960 removed a major obstacle and also gave ammunition to those who wanted "a choice, not an echo" (to echo a Goldwater slogan). After 1960 liberals and moderates in the Republican party failed to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge they faced on the grass-roots level. Taking up [[media bias]], they too equated their conservative opponents in the party with the "lunatic fringe" and did not take them seriously until they found themselves deposed by a grassroots insurgency of the sort unknown in the party since 1912.<ref>Brennan (1995) p, 59</ref> Goldwater's landslide defeat opened the way to a liberal Democrat resurgence, but did little to help the liberal wing of the GOP. The failures of the [[Great Society]], especially a wave of major urban [[riot]]s and a surge in [[violent crime]], led to major gains in 1966, and to Nixon's election in the chaotic 1968 election. The Democrats became deeply divided on the Vietnam war (which did not divide the GOP), and on issues of race, when Alabamian [[George C. Wallace]] set up a third party that carried much of the deep South.
-The doctrine of [[preemptive war]], wars to disarm and destroy potential military foes based on speculation of future attacks rather than in defense against actual attack, has been advocated by prominent members of the Bush administration, but the war within Iraq has undercut the influence of this doctrine within the Republican Party. [[Rudy Giuliani]], mayor of New York at the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks, and a candidate for the Republican [[United States presidential election, 2008|presidential nomination in 2008]], has stated his support for that policy, saying America must keep itself "on the offensive" against terrorists.<!--I'm pretty sure we can come up with an equivalent McCain quote. Anyone want to try?-->
+As Goldwater faded to a lesser role after 1964, a new conservative hero emerged: in the largest and most trendy state film star [[Ronald Reagan]] was elected governor of California in 1966 and reelected in 1970.
-The George W. Bush administration took the position that the [[Geneva Conventions]] do not apply to [[unlawful combatant]]s, saying they apply to soldiers serving in the armies of [[nation state]]s and not [[List of designated terrorist organizations|terrorist organizations]] such as [[Al-Qaeda]]. The Supreme Court overruled this position in ''[[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]]'', which held that the Geneva Conventions were legally binding and must be followed in regards to all enemy combatants. Prominent Republicans such as [[John McCain]], [[Mike Huckabee]], and [[Ron Paul]] strongly oppose the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, which they view as torture.
+With the rise of conservatism, the national Republican Party became more ideologically homogeneous. This change occurred as conservative politicians and voters joined the party and their liberal counterparts abandoned the GOP. Events in New York State during the 1960s and 1970s facilitated this transformation. Here, ideological conservatives formed a third party for the express purpose of changing a state GOP that both symbolized and contributed to the national GOP's liberal viewpoint. The [[Conservative Party, New York|Conservative Party]] relied on the state's unique election law to crash the New York GOP, either by forcing its way in or by imposing a lethal electoral price.  The GOP-Conservative Party relationship began in 1962 at sword's point but achieved a high degree of harmony in 1980. Initially, New York Republicans, led by Governor [[Nelson Rockefeller]], successfully marginalized the new party. As the conservative movement matured, however, the balance of power began to shift. When Nixon was elected president in 1968, the Conservative Party gained an external ally who proved invaluable. The third party achieved partial acceptance in 1970 with the election of James Buckley to the Senate. For much of the ensuing decade, however, Conservatives struggled with success suffering a series of damaging setbacks. Only in the late 1970s, did the party recover when it embraced a more modest agenda. Finally, the 1980 election settled the overall contours of the relationship between the two parties. Conservatives formed their party to force the state GOP to the right, to drive liberal Republicans from office, and allow ideologically conservative national Republicans to succeed in the state. By 1980, it had achieved these goals changing the nature of politics in the state. This resolution affected politics beyond the state by diminishing the importance of ideological liberals in the national GOP, thus freeing a more ideologically consistent national Republican Party to promote the rise of conservatism.<ref>Timothy J. Sullivan, "Crashing the Party: The New York State Conservative and Republican Parties, 1962-1980."  PhD dissertation U. of Maryland, College Park 2003. 458 pp.  DAI 2004 64(11): 4181-A. DA3112508</ref>
-==Other international policies==
+===Sixth Party System===
-===Israel===
+====Realignment: Republican inroads in the Solid South====
-The Republican leadership supports a strong [[Israel]], but supports efforts to secure peace in the
+:''See also: [[The South#Politics]]
-Middle East between Israel and its [[Arab]] neighbors.<ref name=canadiancoalition >{{cite web|url=http://canadiancoalition.com/adbusters01/|title=Authorization Required|publisher=canadiancoalition.com}}</ref>
+In the century after Reconstruction ended in 1877, the white South identified with the [[Democrat Party]]. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the "Solid South." The Republicans controlled certain parts of the Appalachian and Ozark mountains (where slavery was never strong during the Civil War due to the lack of large plots of fertile soil), but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before 1964, the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern values. They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Northern liberals and Republicans, as well as the civil rights activists they denounced as "outside agitators." Thus there was a serious barrier to becoming a Republican.
-===Russia===
+However, since 1964, the Democrat lock on the South has been broken. The long-term cause was that the region was becoming more like the rest of the nation and could not long stand apart in terms of racial segregation. Modernization that brought factories, businesses, and cities, and millions of migrants from the North; far more people graduated from high school and college. Meanwhile, the cotton and tobacco basis of the traditional South faded away, as former farmers moved to town or commuted to factory jobs. While liberal academics allege that the shift of the South to the Republican Party began in the 1960s, the evidence that it really began in the 1920s and the 1950s is undeniable.<ref>Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013). [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/30/southern_whites_shift_to_the_gop_predates_the_60s_118172.html Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s]. ''Real Clear Politics''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref>
-The Republican party claims U.S. should promote friendship not only between the United States and Russia, but also between Russia and its neighbors. With Russia, the U.S. needs patience, consistency, and a principled reliance on democratic forces. Russia must stop encouraging the proliferation of [[weapons of mass destruction]].<ref>Republican Platform adopted at GOP National Convention Aug 12, 2000</ref> The party stress the common interests of the two countries which includes ending [[terrorism]], combating [[nuclear proliferation]], promoting [[bilateral trade]].<ref>2008 Republican Party Platform, September 1, 2008</ref>
+[[File:Partycivilrights.jpeg|right|200px|thumb|]]
+The immediate cause of the political transition involved civil rights. The [[civil rights movement]] caused enormous controversy among southern Democrats with many attacking it as a violation of states' rights. When segregation was outlawed by a Republican appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice and by the [[bi-partisan]] Civil Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, a die-hard element resisted integration, led by Democrat governors [[Orval Faubus]] of Arkansas, [[Lester Maddox]] of Georgia, and, especially [[George Wallace]] of Alabama. These governors appealed to a less-educated, blue-collar electorate that on economic grounds was dependent on the Democrat Party, but opposed segregation. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, most Southerners accepted the integration of most institutions, except public schools. With the old barrier to becoming a Republican removed, traditional Southerners joined the new middle class and the Northern transplants in moving toward the Republican party. Integration thus liberated Southern politics, just as [[Martin Luther King]] had promised. Meanwhile, the newly enfranchized black voters were bought off with Johnson's [[War on Poverty]] and supported Democrat candidates at the 85-90% level.
-===Trade===
+The South's transition to a Republican stronghold took decades. First the states started voting Republican in presidential elections—the Democrats countered that with a Southern Strategy that could carry some states in the region, such as [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976 and 1980, and [[Bill Clinton]] in 1992 and 1996; the strategy did not work with [[Al Gore]] in 2000, or [[John Edwards]] in 2004. Barack Obama held Florida, North Carolina and Virginia and a sweep of House and Senate seats.
-The party, through former U.N. Ambassador [[John R. Bolton|John Bolton]], has advocated reforms in the [[United Nations]] to halt corruption such as that which afflicted the [[Oil-for-Food Program]]. Most Republicans oppose the [[Kyoto Protocol]]. The party promotes [[free trade]] agreements, most notably [[North American Free Trade Agreement]], [[Dominican Republic&nbsp;– Central America Free Trade Agreement]] and now an effort to go further south to Brazil, Peru and Colombia, although some have a protectionist view of trade.
-===Immigration===
+Since the 1970s some states elected Republican senators. Republicans made some inroads into legislatures and governorships and gerrymandering protected the African American and Hispanic vote (as required by the Civil Rights laws), but split up the remaining white Democrats so that Republicans mostly would win. In 2006 the Supreme Court endorsed nearly all of the redistricting engineered by [[Tom DeLay]] that swung the Texas Congressional delegation to the GOP in 2004.
-Republicans are divided on how to confront [[illegal immigration]] between a platform that allows for migrant workers and easing citizenship guidelines, and border enforcement-first approach. In general, pro-growth advocates within the Republican Party support more immigration, and traditional or populist conservatives oppose it. In 2006, the White House supported and Republican-led Senate passed [[Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006|comprehensive immigration reform]] that would eventually allow millions of illegal immigrants to become citizens, but the House, also led by Republicans, took an enforcement-first approach, and the bill failed to pass the [[conference committee]].<ref name=Blanton>{{cite news|last=Blanton|first=Dana|title=National Exit Poll: Midterms Come Down to Iraq, Bush|publisher=[[Fox News]]|date=2006-11-08|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,228104,00.html|accessdate=2007-01-06}}{{dead link|date=February 2012}}</ref>
-===Political status of Puerto Rico===
+In addition to its white middle-class base, Republicans attracted strong majorities from the evangelical Christian vote, which had been nonpolitical before 1980. The national Democrat Party's support for liberal social stances such as [[abortion]] drove many former Democrats into a Republican party that was embracing the conservative views on these issues. Conversely, liberal Republicans in the northeast began to join the Democrat Party. In 1969 in ''The Emerging Republican Majority'', Kevin Phillips, argued that support from Southern whites and growth in the [[Sun Belt]], among other factors, was driving an enduring Republican electoral realignment. Today, the South is again solid, but the reliable support is for Republican presidential candidates. Exit polls in 2004 showed that Bush led Kerry by 70-30% among whites, who comprised 71% of the Southern voters. Kerry had a 90-9% lead among the 18% of the voters who were black. One-third of the Southerners said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80-20%.<ref>See [https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.3.html exit polls]</ref>
-The Republican Party has expressed its support for the [[United States nationality law|U.S. citizens]] of [[Puerto Rico]] to exercise their right to determine a future permanent non-territorial political status with government by consent, full enfranchisement and to be admitted to the union as a fully sovereign [[U.S. state]]. Puerto Rico has been under U.S. sovereignty for over a century and Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917; but the island’s ultimate status still has not been determined and its 3.9 million residents still do not have voting representation in their national government. The following is a section from the 2008 party platform (unchanged from the 2004 and 2000 platforms).<ref name=Republican2004>{{cite web|url=http://www.gop.com/media/2004platform.pdf|title=2004 Republican Platform|publisher=Gop.com|date=|accessdate=2010-08-01}}{{dead link|date=January 2011}}</ref><ref name=letpuertoricodecide >{{cite web|url=http://www.letpuertoricodecide.com/status.php|title=An Introduction to Puerto Rico's Status Debate|publisher=Let Puerto Rico Decide|date=1998-03-04|accessdate=2010-06-17}}</ref><ref name=Republican2008>[http://platform.gop.com/2008Platform.pdf 2008 Republican Platform]</ref>
-<blockquote>We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state after they freely so determine. We recognize that Congress has the final authority to define the constitutionally valid options for Puerto Rico to achieve a permanent non-territorial status with government by consent and full enfranchisement. As long as Puerto Rico is not a state, however, the will of its people regarding their political status should be ascertained by means of a general right of referendum or specific referenda sponsored by the U.S. government.</blockquote>
-==Voter base==
+Despite the shift towards the Republican Party on the presidential level, the South remained solidly Democratic on the state level through the 1980s, 1990s, and even into the 2000s in several states.<ref>Trande, Sean (September 9, 2010). [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/09/misunderstanding_the_southern_realignment_107084.html Misunderstanding the Southern Realignment]. ''Real Clear Politics''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref> The Republican Party only became dominant in the state-level in the 2010 elections, when it captured several state legislatures, among many other victories.<ref name="Hamby">Hamby, Peter (December 9, 2014). [https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/politics/southern-democrats/ The plight of the Southern Democrat]. ''CNN''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref> After the 2014 elections, the GOP controlled every state legislature in the South with the sole exception of the Kentucky State House, in which the Democrats maintained a slim majority.<ref name="Hamby"/> Additionally by 2015, the GOP was dominant in every level of government across the South.<ref name="Hamby"/><ref>Cohn, Nate (December 4, 2014). [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/upshot/demise-of-the-southern-democrat-is-now-nearly-compete.html?_r=0 Demise of the Southern Democrat Is Now Nearly Complete]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref> In 2016, the GOP took the Kentucky State House in a landslide, making every legislature in the South GOP-controlled.<ref>Loftus, Tom (November 9, 2016). [http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2016/11/08/control-kentucky-house-up-grabs/93344114/ GOP takes Ky House in historic shift]. ''Courier-Journal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Brammer, Jack & Blackford, Linda (November 8, 2016). [https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article113464563.html Republicans take the Kentucky House after 95 years of Democratic control]. ''Lexington Herald-Leader''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref>
-{{Asof|2010}}, [[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]] polling found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, 29% as Republicans, and 38% as independents.<ref name=Gallup2010>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/145463/Democratic-Party-Drops-2010-Tying-Year-Low.aspx |title=Democratic Party ID Drops in 2010, Tying 22-Year Low |publisher=Gallup.com |date= |accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref>
-===Business community===
+====Reagan Era====
-The GOP is usually seen as the traditionally pro-business party and it garners major support from a wide variety of industries from the financial sector to small businesses. Republicans are about 50 percent more likely to be self-employed, and are more likely to work in management.<ref name=Fried2008p104>Fried, pp. 104–5, 125.</ref>
+:''Main article: [[Reagan Era]]''
+[[File:Reagan-at-durenberger-rally.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|[[Ronald Reagan]] ]]
+In 1980, [[Ronald Reagan]] won the Republican nomination and easily beat Carter and a breakaway Republican with his strong communication skills and message of economic freedom and strength against the [[Soviet Union]]. Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980 the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democrat losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984 Reagan won nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried every state except his Democrat opponent Walter Mondale's home state of [[Minnesota]] and the District of Columbia, creating a record 525 electoral vote total (of 538 possible). Even in Minnesota, Mondale won by a mere 3,761 votes,<ref>http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=27&f=1&off=0&elect=0</ref> meaning Reagan came within fewer than 3,800 votes of winning in all fifty states.
+[[Image:Reagan and Buckley.jpg|left|thumb|220px|Reagan opened his presidency proclaiming "Government is the problem".]]
+Running on a "Peace Through Strength" platform to combat the Communist threat and massive tax cuts to revitalize the economy, Reagan's strong but genial persona proved too much for the ineffective and sour Carter in 1980. Reagan's election also gave Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in decades. Dubbed the "Reagan Revolution" he fundamentally altered several long standing debates in Washington, namely dealing with the Soviet threat and reviving the economy. His election saw the conservative wing of the party gain control. While reviled by liberal opponents in his day, his proponents contend his programs provided unprecedented economic growth, and spurred the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Currently regarded as one of the most popular and successful presidents in the modern era (1960–present), he inspired Conservatives to greater electoral victories by being re-elected in a landslide against Walter Mondale in 1984 but oversaw the loss of the Senate in 1986.
-===Gender===
+The so-called "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterward, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H.W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were primarily Southern Democrats and ethnic Catholics in the Northeast and were frustrated by their seeing abandonment on cultural issues by the Democrat Party's national leaders.
-Since 1980, a "gender gap" has seen slightly stronger support for the GOP among men than among women. In the 2006 House races, 43% of women voted for GOP, while 47% of men did so.<ref name=2006cnnexitpolls>{{cite news|title=Exit Polls|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html|date=2006-11-07|accessdate=2006-11-18}}</ref> In the 2010 midterms, the "gender gap" was reduced with women supporting GOP and Democratic candidates equally 49% to 49%.<ref name=abcnews3775>{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vote-2010-elections-results-midterm-exit-poll-analysis/story?id=12003775|title=Exit Poll Analysis: Vote 2010 Elections Results|publisher=ABC News|date=2010-11-02|accessdate=2011-01-30}}</ref><ref name=Weeks2010>{{cite web|last=Weeks|first=Linton|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131039717|title=10 Takeaways From The 2010 Midterms|publisher=NPR|date=2010-11-03|accessdate=2011-01-30}}</ref>
-===Race===
+Reagan's Vice-President, [[George H.W. Bush]], a [[World War II]] war hero, was elected in 1988 but was defeated in 1992 as domestic issues took prominence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and end of the [[Cold War]].  Democrat challenger [[Bill Clinton]] strategically repositioned the Democrats to the right. [[Ross Perot]]'s candidacy was instrumental in Clinton's victory as he took Republican votes with his criticism of deficits and the free trade movement.  Perot won 19% of the popular vote, and Clinton, still a largely unknown quantity in American politics with 41% of! the popular vote took office. Despite his loss, Bush left office in 1993 with a 56 percent job approval rating.
-Currently, most of the Republican voter base is [[White American|Caucasian]]. While historically the party had been supporters of rights for African Americans since the 1860s, it lost its leadership position; the GOP has been winning under 15% of the black vote in recent national elections (1980 to 2008). The party has recently nominated African American candidates for senator or governor in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, though none were successful. In the 2010 elections, two African American Republicans were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref name=Holmes2010>{{cite news|author=L.A. Holmes|url=http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/03/black-republicans-win-first-congress-seats-2003|title=Black Republicans Win First Congress Seats Since 2003|publisher=FoxNews.com|date=2010-04-07|accessdate=2011-01-30}}</ref> The Republican Party abolished slavery under [[Abraham Lincoln]], defeated the [[Slave Power]], and gave blacks the vote during [[Reconstruction Era|Reconstruction in the late 1860s]]. Until the [[New Deal]] of the 1930s, blacks supported the GOP by large margins.<ref name=South>In the South, they were often not allowed to vote, but still received some Federal patronage appointments from the Republicans</ref> Most black voters switched to the Democratic Party in the 1930s when the New Deal offered them employment opportunities, and major figures, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, began to support civil rights. They became one of the core components of the [[New Deal Coalition]]. In the South, blacks were able to vote in large numbers after 1965, when a bipartisan coalition passed the [[Voting Rights Act]], and ever since have formed a significant portion (20-50%) of the Democratic vote in that region.<ref name=Sitkoff>Harvard Sitkoff, ''A New Deal for Blacks'' (1978).</ref>
-In recent decades, the party has been moderately successful in gaining support from [[Hispanic]] and [[Asian American]] voters. George W. Bush, who campaigned energetically for Hispanic votes, received 35% of their vote in 2000 and 44% in 2004.<ref name=2004cnnexitpolls>{{cite news|title=Exit Polls|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.4.html|date=2004-11-02|accessdate=2006-11-18}}</ref> The party's strong anti-communist stance has made it popular among some minority groups from current and former Communist states, in particular [[Cuban American]]s, [[Korean American]]s, [[Chinese American]]s, and [[Vietnamese American]]s. The election of [[Bobby Jindal]] as Governor of Louisiana has been hailed as pathbreaking.<ref name=BBC7412>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7907412.stm|title=Americas &#124; Profile: Bobby Jindal|publisher=BBC News|date=2009-02-25|accessdate=2010-05-16}}</ref> He is the first elected minority governor in [[Louisiana]] and the first state governor of [[Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin|Indian]] descent.<ref name=deccanherald >{{cite web|url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/31998/bobby-jindal-may-become-first.html|title='Bobby Jindal may become first Indian-American to be US prez'|publisher=Deccanherald.com|date=2009-10-23|accessdate=2010-05-16}}</ref> In the 2008 presidential election, John McCain won 55% of white votes, 35% of Asian votes, 31% of Hispanic votes, and 4% of African American votes.<ref name=pewresearch>"[http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1209/racial-ethnic-voters-presidential-election?src=prc-latest&proj=peoplepress Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History]". Pew Research Center. April 30, 2009</ref> In the 2010 House election, the GOP won 60% of the white votes, 38% of Hispanic votes, and 9% of the African American vote.<ref name=pewresearch1790>{{cite web|author=|title=The Latino Vote in the 2010 Elections|work=|publisher=Pew Research Center|location=|date=2010-11-03|url=http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1790/2010-midterm-elections-exit-poll-hispanic-vote|accessdate=2011-01-30}}</ref>
+====The Gingrich revolution====
+:''Main articles: [[Republican Revolution (1994)]] and [[Contract with America]]''
+House Republican Minority Whip [[Newt Gingrich]]-led the [[Republican Revolution (1994)|"Republican Revolution" of 1994]] and its famous ''[[Contract with America]]''. It was the first time since the 1952 elections that the Republicans secured control of both houses of Congress, which, with the brief exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, lasted until the 2006 mid-term elections.  Democrats had controlled both houses of Congress for the forty years preceding 1994, with the exception of the 1981-1987 Congresses (in which Republicans controlled the Senate).
-For decades, a greater percentage of white voters identified themselves as Democrats, rather than Republicans. However, since the mid-1990s whites have been more likely to self-identify as Republicans than Democrats.<ref name=Fried2008p321>Fried, p. 321.</ref>
+In the 1994 mid-term election, Republican congressional candidates ran on a platform of promising floor votes to force members of Congress to go on record on a series of popular reforms—something the Democrats had stifled for decades. These measures and others formed the Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in a mid-term election. Seven of the ten Contract items actually became Law.  The budget reforms, coupled with reduced defense spending after the Cold War, and the earlier Reagan Tax Cuts for Business Research and Development in the 1980s, led to a high tech consumer boom, rising incomes for all groups, and unprecedented, sustained economic growth in the late 1990s. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed some of the social agenda initiatives but he co-opted the proposals for welfare reform and a balanced federal budget. The result was a major change in the welfare system, which conservatives hailed and liberals bemoaned. One Contract item, which required Democrats in a two-thirds majority to pass a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, failed.
-===Family status===
+In 1995, a budget battle with [[President Clinton]] led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election. That year the Republicans nominated [[Bob Dole]], who was unable to transfer his success in Senate leadership to a viable presidential campaign. [[Ross Perot]] ran again (this time on [[Reform Party]] ticket), once again draining away a large percentage of Dole's support and ensuring Clinton another term after the majority of Americans voters voted against him.
-In recent elections, Republicans have found their greatest support among whites from married couples with children living at home.<ref name=vdare>[http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2005/05/08/affordable-family-formation-the-neglected-key-to-gops-future/ Affordable Family Formation–The Neglected Key To GOP’s Future] by Steve Sailer</ref> Unmarried and divorced women were far more likely to vote for Kerry in 2004.<ref name=wvwv2004>[http://www.wvwv.org/docs/WVWV_2004_post-election_memo.pdf Unmarried Women in the 2004 Presidential Election]{{dead link|date=January 2011}} ([[PDF]]). Report by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, January, 2005. Page 3: "The marriage gap is one of the most important cleavages in electoral politics. Unmarried women voted for Kerry by a 25-point margin (62 to 37 percent), while married women voted for President Bush by an 11-point margin (55 percent to 44 percent). Indeed, the 25-point margin Kerry posted among unmarried women represented one of the high water marks for the Senator among all demographic groups."</ref>
-===Income===
+====War on Terror====
-Low-income voters tend to favor the Democratic Party while high-income voters tend to support the Republican Party. President George W. Bush won 41% of the poorest 20% of voters in 2004, 55% of the richest twenty percent, and 53% of those in between. In the 2006 House races, the voters with incomes over $50,000 were 49% Republican, while those under were 38%.<ref name=2006cnnexitpolls/>
-===Military===
+:Main article: [[War on Terror]]''
-Republicans hold a large majority in the armed services, with 57% of active military personnel and 66% of officers identified as Republican in 2003.<ref name=Lobe>{{cite web|url=http://google.com/search?q=cache:GDeFkKSDCpoJ:www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe43.html+army+percent+Republican&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us|title=Lobe, J. (January 1, 2004). Military More Republican, Conservative Than Public&nbsp;— Poll. ''LewRockwell.com''.|accessdate=2007-07-11}}</ref>
+[[File:George w bush.jpeg|thumbnail|200px|left|[[George W. Bush]] ]]
+With the election of [[George W. Bush]] (son of former president George H. W. Bush) in an extremely close 2000 election, the Republican party controlled both the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. However, after [[Vermont]] Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent aligned with the Democrats in June 2001, Republicans lost control of the Senate by a single seat.
-===Education===
+In the wake of the September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks on the United States, however, Bush pursued a "War on Terrorism" that included the liberation of Afghanistan from the radical Islamic Taliban regime and the [[Patriot act|USA PATRIOT act]]. By early 2002, the Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan. On March 20, 2003, U.S. and allied nations initiated "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to liberate the Iraqi people from the brutal regime of [[Saddam Hussein]]. By May 1, 2003, the regime of Saddam was declared officially over. Once US and allied military forces entered Iraq, they discovered that various international terrorists had been given sanctuary and ran their terrorist operations from Iraq. Notable terrorists found included Muhammad Zaidan aka Abu Abbas and Sabri Khalil al-Banna aka Abu Nidal.
-Self-identified Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats to have 4-year college degrees. The trends for the years 1955 through 2004 are shown by gender in the graphs below, reproduced from a book published by Joseph Fried.<ref name=Fried2008p74>Fried, pp. 74–5.</ref> These graphs depict results obtained by Fried from the National Election Studies (NES) database.
-[[File:Fig 57 - men 4-yr college degrees.JPG|thumb|375px]]
+The Republican Party fared well in the 2002 midterm elections, solidifying its hold on the House and regaining control of the Senate, in the run-up to the liberation of Iraq. This marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934).
-[[File:Fig 58 women with 4-yr college degs.JPG|thumb|375px]]
-Regarding graduate-level degrees (masters or doctorate), there is a rough parity between Democrats and Republicans. According to the Gallup Organization: "[B]oth Democrats and Republicans have equal numbers of Americans at the upper end of the educational spectrum&nbsp;— that is, with post graduate degrees..."<ref name=Fried2008p74/> Fried provides a slightly more detailed analysis, noting that Republican men are more likely than Democratic men to have advanced degrees, but Democratic women are now more likely than Republican women to have advanced degrees.<ref name=Fried2008p76>Fried, pp. 76–7.</ref>
+Bush was renominated without opposition for the [[United States presidential election, 2004]] and titled his political platform "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America". It expressed Bush's commitment to winning the War on Terror, ushering in an Ownership Era, and building an innovative economy to compete in the world.
-Republicans remain a small minority of college professors, with 11% of full-time faculty identifying as Republican.<ref name=Kurtz2005>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html|title=Kurtz, H. (March 29, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.|accessdate=2007-07-02|date=2005-03-29}}</ref>
+On November 2, 2004, Bush was re-elected, while Republicans gained seats in both houses of Congress, leaving Democrats in disarray. Bush carried 31 of 50 states for 286 Electoral College votes. In that election, he also received more popular votes than any previous presidential candidate, 62.0 million votes. Democrat challenger, Senator [[John Kerry]], won 251 Electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote to Bush's 51%. It was the first time anyone won a popular majority since 1988. 2004 marked the seventh consecutive election in which the Democrat nominee failed to reach that threshold.
-===Age===
+====The wilderness years 2009–2010====
-The Democrats do better among younger Americans and Republicans among older Americans. In 2006, the GOP won 38% of the voters aged 18–29.<ref name=2006cnnexitpolls/>
+After smashing defeats in 2006 and 2008, the GOP lost control of Congress, the White House, and many states. They confronted the president, who still retained some popularity, but were able to chip away at support for his domestic policies, as the [[recession of 2008]] dragged on.  In June 2009, public opinion was favorable toward Obama personally but increasingly dubious about his plans to overhaul health care, rescue the auto industry and close the prison at Guantánamo Bay. But with a positive job approval rating of 51%, Obama has the backing of most Democrats, even as Republicans turn negative, with only 23% supporting him.  Support for Obama's foreign policies and terrorism policies remains high at 57-59%.  Meanwhile, the GOP weaknesses were glaring: the June poll found that the Republican Party is viewed favorably by only 28% of Americans, the lowest rating ever in a New York Times/CBS News poll. In contrast, 57% said that they had a favorable view of the Democrat Party.<ref>Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/us/politics/18poll.html?th&emc=th ''New York Times'' June 17, 2009]</ref> However, it should be noted that this poll was conducted by the [[mainstream media]] and thus is a clear example of [[liberal bias]].
-===Sexual orientation===
+====Rise of the Tea Party movement====
-Exit polls conducted in 2000, 2004, and 2006 indicate that about one quarter of gay and lesbian Americans voted for the GOP. In recent years, many in the party have opposed [[same-sex marriage]], adoption by same-sex couples, inclusion of sexual orientation in federal hate crimes laws, the [[Employment Non-Discrimination Act]], while supporting the use of the [[don't ask, don't tell]] policy within the military. Some members of the party, particularly in the Northeast and Pacific coast, support [[civil union]]s and adoption rights for same-sex couples.<ref name=ontheissues2007>{{cite web|url=http://www.ontheissues.org/Republican_Party.htm#Civil_Rights Republican Party on the Issues|title=Civil_Rights Republican Party on the Issues|accessdate=2007-02-21}}</ref> The opposition to gay rights largely comes from the socially conservative wing of the party.<ref name=Slate>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2091413/|title=A Common Missed Conception: Why religious people are against gay marriage.}}</ref>
+[[Image:TeaPartyByFreedomFan.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Tea Party movement March on DC, 2009.]]
+:{{main|Tea Party Movement}}
+The Tea Party movement, which began around 2009 and supports small government, fiscal conservatism, American independence, and border security, made huge gains in the 2010 election, defeating establishment Republicans and RINOs. They continued to make gains in later elections, including the 2014 elections in [[Texas]] and the 2015 [[Kentucky]] elections, and some commentators, including liberals<ref>{{cite web | last1=Chait | first1=Jonathan | title=Donald Trump Hasn’t Killed the Tea Party. He Is the Tea Party | url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/donald-trump-is-the-tea-party.html | date=May 19, 2016 | publisher=''New York'' | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref> and conservatives,<ref>{{cite web | last1=Martin | first1=Jenny Beth | title=How the Tea Party Helped Trump Win the Election | url=https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/11/12/how-tea-party-helped-trump-win-election.html | date=November 12, 2016 | publisher=[[Fox News]] | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Martin | first1=Jenny Beth | title=The Tea Party Movement Is Alive and Well—And We Saw Trump Coming | url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/the-tea-party-movement-is-alive-and-well-and-we-saw-trump-coming-214469 | date=November 19, 2016 | publisher=[[Politico|Politico Magazine]] | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Hayward | first1=John | title=Sarah Palin: Trump Movement Began with the GOP Establishment’s ‘Shocking Betrayals’ of Tea Party Voters | url=https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/11/25/sarah-palin-trump-movement-began-with-the-gop-establishments-shocking-betrayals-of-tea-party-voters/ | date=November 25, 2016 | publisher=[[Breitbart News]] | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref> even believe it was responsible for Donald Trump's 2016 victory.
-===Religion===
+Despite little action on the federal level, GOP-controlled governments at the state level did deliver to voters, such as through tax reductions.<ref>Persons, Sally (May 31, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/31/republican-governors-elected-in-2010-delivering-to/ Republican governors elected in 2010 delivering to their states what Congress hasn’t]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved May 31, 2017.</ref>
-Religion has always played a major role for both parties but, in the course of a century, the parties' religious compositions have changed. Religion was a major dividing line between the parties before [[United States presidential election, 1960|1960]], with Catholics, Jews, and Southern Protestants heavily Democratic, and Northeastern Protestants heavily Republican. Most of the old differences faded away after the realignment of the 1970s and 80s that undercut the New Deal coalition. Voters who attend church weekly gave 61% of their votes to Bush in [[United States presidential election, 2004|2004]]; those who attend occasionally gave him only 47%, while those who never attend gave him 36%. Fifty-nine percent of Protestants voted for Bush, along with 52% of Catholics (even though [[John Kerry]] was Catholic). Since 1980, large majorities of [[evangelism|evangelicals]] have voted Republican; 70–80% voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, and 70% for GOP House candidates in [[United States general elections, 2006|2006]]. Jews continue to vote 70–80% Democratic. Democrats have close links with the African American churches, especially the [[National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.|National Baptists]], while their historic dominance among Catholic voters has eroded to 54-46 in the 2010 midterms.<ref name=pewresearch>{{cite web|author=|url=http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1791/2010-midterm-elections-exit-poll-religion-vote|title=Religion in the 2010 Elections|publisher=Pew Research Center|date=2010-11-03|accessdate=2011-01-30}}</ref> The main line traditional Protestants (Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians) have dropped to about 55% Republican (in contrast to 75% before 1968). Their church memberships have declined in that time as well as the conservative evangelical churches have grown. Members of [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], commonly known as [[Mormon]]s, are overwhelmingly Republican and vote in line with the [[Christian right]] - George W. Bush received 89% of the Mormon vote.<ref name=Fowler>Robert Booth Fowler et al., ''Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices'' (2004)</ref> Bush also received almost 80% of the [[Muslim]] vote in the 2000 Presidential election. However, his support among Muslims declined sharply and, by the 2004 election, at least half of those voters supported [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] candidate John Kerry or a third party candidate.<ref name=Beutler>{{cite web|author=Brian Beutler|url=http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/republican-muslims-to-gop-youre-on-thin-ice.php|title=GOP Muslims Fear Failure Of Bush Outreach Efforts After Anti-Mosque Furor &#124; TPMDC|publisher=Tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com|date=2010-08-18|accessdate=2010-08-29}}</ref>
-[[File:2004prescountymap2.PNG|thumb|300px|This map shows the vote in the 2004 presidential election by county. All major Republican geographic constituencies are visible: red dominates the map, showing Republican strength in the rural areas, while the denser areas (i.e., cities) are blue. Notable exceptions include the Pacific coast, New England, the [[Black Belt (U.S. region)|Black Belt]], areas with high [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] populations, and the [[:File:New 2000 hispanic percent.gif|heavily Hispanic]] parts of the Southwest.]]
+====Trump Era====
+:''For further information, see [[2016 U.S. presidential election#General election results]]''
+Republican businessman [[Donald Trump]] won the [[United States presidential election, 2016|2016 presidential election]] in a major and historic upset that took the [[establishment]], pollsters and analysts completely by surprise, even winning states such as [[Wisconsin]], [[Michigan]], and [[Pennsylvania]], which Republicans had not won for years.<ref>[https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/08/first-polls-close-in-2016-race-trump-projected-to-win-ind-ky-clinton-wins-vt.html Trump wins presidency, defeats Clinton in historic election upset]. ''Fox News''. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Blake, Aaron (November 9, 2016). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/08/donald-trumps-path-to-victory-is-suddenly-looking-much-much-wider/ Donald Trump just blew up the electoral map]. ''The Washington Post''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> The Republican Party kept control of the House and Senate, outperforming expectations.<ref>Bresnahan, John (November 9, 2016). [https://www.politico.eu/article/republicans-on-cusp-of-keeping-the-senate/ Republicans hold the Senate in a stunner]. ''Politico''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Hughes, Siobhan (November 9, 2016). [https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-are-confident-about-retaining-control-of-the-house-1478634160 Democrats Gain Seats in House, But GOP Retains Majority]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref>
+[[File:Donald Trump (29273256122) Phoenix.jpg|225px|thumb|right|The public's fascination with [[Donald Trump]] dominated the first half of 2016 more than any candidate of either party. Trump spent virtually nothing on media advertising.]]
+In addition, the Republican Party performed well—much better than expected—in state races, winning trifectas in [[Kentucky]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], and [[New Hampshire]], and Democrats only had six trifectas and total control in five states, a record low.<ref>Greenblatt, Alan (November 9, 2016). [http://www.governing.com/topics/elections/gov-republicans-add-dominance-state-legislatures.html Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures]. ''Governing''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Siegel, Josh (November 9, 2016). [http://dailysignal.com/2016/11/09/republicans-maintain-strong-control-of-state-capitols-what-that-means/ Republicans Maintain Strong Control of State Capitols. Here’s What That Means.] ''The Daily Signal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> The GOP won 25 trifectas, the largest since 1952.<ref name="ReshapeLaws">Lieb, David A. (December 29, 2016). [https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-tribune/20161229/281822873464433 GOP-Controlled States Aim to Reshape Laws]. ''Chicago Tribune'' (from the Associated Press). Retrieved December 30, 2016.</ref> After the election, the GOP controlled the highest amount of governorships since 1922,<ref>Lieb, David A. (November 9, 2016). [https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-11-09/republicans-expand-control-of-governorships-legislatures Republicans governorships rise to highest mark since 1922]. ''U.S. News & World Report''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> and it controlled the most state legislative chambers in history.<ref>Bosman, Julie & Davey, Monica (November 11, 2016). [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/republicans-expand-control-in-a-deeply-divided-nation.html Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved November 14, 2016.</ref> After [[West Virginia]] Governor [[Jim Justice]] left the Democratic Party and joined the GOP, the GOP had 34 Republican governors, the most since 1922.<ref>Leahy, Michael Patrick (August 7, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/07/34-states-have-republican-governors-most-since-1922/ 34 States Have Republican Governors, Most Since 1922]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved August 7, 2017.</ref>
-===Location===
+While the GOP increased its vote share across the entire nation, Trump made the largest gains in the rural [[Midwest]] and [[Rust Belt]], traditionally a Democrat blue collar stronghold.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/08/us/elections/how-trump-pushed-the-election-map-to-the-right.html How Trump Reshaped the Election Map]. ''The New York Times''. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.</ref>
-Since 1980, geographically the Republican "base" ("[[Red states and blue states|red states]]") is strongest in the [[Southern United States|South]], the Midwest, and [[Mountain States|Mountain West]]. While it is currently weakest on the West Coast and Northeast, this has not always been the case; historically the northeast was a bastion of the Republican Party with [[Vermont]] and [[Maine]] being the only two states to vote against [[Franklin Roosevelt]] all four times. The [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] has been roughly balanced since 1854, with [[Illinois]] becoming more Democratic and liberal because of the city of Chicago (see below) and [[Minnesota]] and [[Wisconsin]] more Republican since 1990. [[Ohio]] and [[Indiana]] both trend Republican. Since the 1930s, the Democrats have dominated most central cities, while the Republicans now dominate rural areas and the majority of suburbs.<ref name="CNN.com Election 2004">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html|title=Election 2004|accessdate=2007-06-01|work=CNN}}</ref>
-The South has become solidly Republican in national elections since 1980, and has been trending Republican at the state level since then at a slower pace.<ref name=Black2005>Earl Black and Merle Black. ''Politics and Society in the South'' (2005)</ref> In 2004, Bush led Kerry by 70%-30% among Southern whites, who made up 71% of the Southern electorate. Kerry had a 70-30 lead among the 29% of the voters who were black or Hispanic. One-third of these Southern voters said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80-20; but were only 72% Republican in 2006.<ref name=2006cnnexitpolls/><ref name=2004cnnexitpolls/>
+Because of the large gains, the GOP had a massive opportunity to pass [[Conservative|common sense conservative]] legislation and repeal leftist social and economic quagmires.<ref name="ReshapeLaws"/> At the beginning of 2017, Congressional Republicans were also more united during Trump's presidency than in any other time in recent U.S. political history.<ref>Stucky, Phillip (April 2, 2017). [https://dailycaller.com/2017/04/02/trump-smashes-records-with-party-unity/ Trump Smashes Records With Party Unity]. ''The Daily Caller''. Retrieved April 2, 2017.</ref> However, despite these opportunities, the 115th U.S. Congress saw many missed opportunities to advance conservative policies and priorities.<ref>Sherfinski, David; Dinan, Stephen (January 3, 2019). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/3/republicans-relinquish-congress-whimper-more-misse/ Republicans relinquish Congress with whimper: 'More missed opportunities than anything']. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved January 13, 2019.<br>See also:
+*Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary/item/31175-gop-controlled-house-adds-nearly-8-trillion-to-national-debt GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt]. ''The New American''. Retrieved January 13, 2019.</ref>
-The Republican Party's strongest focus of political influence lies in the [[Great Plains]] states, particularly [[Oklahoma]], [[Kansas]], [[Nebraska]], [[South Dakota]], and [[North Dakota]], and in the [[Mountain states]] of [[Idaho]], [[Wyoming]], and [[Utah]] (Utah gave George W. Bush more than 70% of the popular vote in 2004). These states are sparsely populated with few major urban centers, and have majority white populations, making it extremely difficult for Democrats to create a sustainable voter base there. Unlike the South, these areas have been strongly Republican since before the party realignments of the 1960s. The Great Plains states were one of the few areas of the country where Republicans had any significant support during the [[Great Depression]].
+In May 2017, the RNC raised a record $10.8 million,<ref>Kew, Ben (June 21, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/21/rnc-raises-more-dems/ Dems Fundraising Lowest Since May 2003; RNC Raises Record $10.8 Million]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved June 21, 2017.</ref> while the DNC raised $4.29 million, the lowest raised in the month since 2003.<ref>Persons, Sally (June 21, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/21/dnc-hits-another-fundraising-low/ DNC hits another fundraising low]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved June 21, 2017.</ref><ref>Bowden, John (June 21, 2017). [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/338864-democrats-only-raised-43-million-in-may-worst-fundraising-since-2003 Democrats raised just $4.3M in May]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved June 22, 2017.</ref> The RNC broke another record in June 2017, raising $13.4 million,<ref>Kew, Ben (July 20, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/20/rnc-breaks-another-fundraising-record-raises-record-13-4-million-in-june/ RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record, Raises Record $13.4 Million in June]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved July 20, 2017.</ref><ref>Siegel, Josh (July 20, 2017). [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/rnc-announces-it-raised-135-million-in-june-a-record-for-a-month-in-a-non-presidential-year/article/2629300 RNC announces it raised $13.5 million in June, a record for a month in a non-presidential year]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved July 20, 2017.</ref> as well as July.<ref>Kew, Ben (August 21, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/21/rnc-breaks-another-fundraising-record-as-democrats-struggle/ RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record as Democrats Struggle]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved August 22, 2017.</ref> In 2017 overall, the RNC raised over $130 million, a large amount for an off-election year,<ref>Multiple references:
+*Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/27/rnc-set-raise-over-100-million-2017-after-leadersh/ RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
+*Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/28/rnc-set-raise-record-130-million-2017/ RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
+*Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/371650-rnc-announces-record-off-year-fundraising-haul-in-2017 RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
+*Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/01/rnc-raises-record-off-year-132-5-million-2017/ RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved February 1, 2018.</ref> and the National Republican Congressional Committee also raised a record $85 million in 2017.<ref>Moran, Sean (January 15, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/01/15/nrcc-raised-record-85-million-ahead-contentious-2018-midterm-elections/ NRCC Raised a Record $85 Million Ahead of Contentious 2018 Midterm Elections]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved January 15, 2018.</ref> The Republican Party and the Trump campaign continued raising large sums of money.<ref>Singman, Brooke; Dorman, Sam (January 3, 2020). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-campaign-gop-raised-nearly-a-half-billion-dollars-in-2019 Trump campaign, GOP raised nearly a half-billion dollars in 2019]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved January 3, 2020.</ref>
-===Conservatives and moderates===
+A September 2018 Gallup poll found that the GOP's favorability rating reached the highest level since 2011.<ref>Multiple references:
-Republican "conservatives" are strongest in the South, Mountain West and Midwest, where they draw support from [[Social_conservatism_in_the_United_States|social conservatives]]. The moderates tend to dominate the party in New England, and used to be well represented in all states. From the 1940s to the 1970s under such leaders as [[Thomas E. Dewey]], Dwight D. Eisenhower, [[Nelson Rockefeller]], and Richard Nixon, they usually dominated the presidential wing of the party. Since the 1970s, they have been less powerful, though they are always represented in the cabinets of Republican presidents. In [[Vermont]], [[Jim Jeffords]], a Republican Senator became an [[independent (politician)|independent]] in 2001 due to growing disagreement with President Bush and the party leadership. In addition, moderate Republicans have recently held the governorships in several [[New England]] States, while [[Lincoln Chafee]], a former moderate Republican senator is currently the independent governor of Rhode Island. Senators [[Olympia Snowe]] and [[Susan Collins]], both of Maine, and Senator [[Scott Brown]] of [[Massachusetts]] are notable moderate Republicans from New England. From 1991 to 2007, moderate Republicans served as Governor of Massachusetts.
+*Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). [https://news.gallup.com/poll/242906/republican-party-favorability-highest-seven-years.aspx Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years]. ''Gallup''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/09/24/gallup-with-donald-trump-at-helm-gop-rises-to-highest-approval-rating-in-nearly-a-decade/ Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/30167-gop-s-favorability-rating-highest-in-seven-years GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years]. ''The New American''. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
+*Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). [https://thehill.com/homenews/house/408123-republican-partys-favorability-rating-comparable-with-democrats-gallup GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/gops-favorability-rating-hits-highest-point-since-2011 GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). [https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/24/republican-party-favorability-gallup/ Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years]. ''The Daily Caller''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.</ref>
-Some well-known conservative radio hosts, including national figures such as [[Rush Limbaugh]], [[Sean Hannity]], [[Glenn Beck]], [[Neal Boortz]], [[Laura Ingraham]], [[Michael Reagan]], [[Howie Carr]], and [[Michael Savage (commentator)|Michael Savage]], as well as many local commentators, support Republican causes, while vocally opposing those of the Democrats.<ref name=Dagnes>Alison Dagnes, ''Politics on demand: the effects of 24-hour news on American politics'' (2010) p 53</ref>
+In [[Kentucky]], voters overwhelmingly rejected the Democrats' racist agenda, electing the state's first black [[Attorney General]] and first Republican in 70 years, [[Daniel Cameron]]. Four years earlier, Kentucky voters elected conservative Republican Jenean Hampton as the state's first black statewide elected official, and the Republican governor they elected, [[Matt Bevin]], had adopted four children from Ethiopia.
-==Trends==
+===Latinos===
-{{As of|2004}}, the Republican Party had remained fairly cohesive, as both strong [[Economic liberalism|economic libertarians]] and [[Social_conservatism_in_the_United_States|social conservatives]] opposed the Democrats, whom they saw as the party of bloated and more secular, liberal government.<ref name=Wooldridge>Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. ''The Right Nation'' (2004).</ref> Yet, some libertarians have argued that the GOP's policies have grown increasingly restrictive of personal liberties, and has contributed to increasing [[corporate welfare]] and [[national debt]].<ref name=ABC273>{{cite web|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2730251|title=Evans, B. (December 15, 2005). Ex-Rep. Barr Quits GOP for Libertarians. ''The Associated Press''|accessdate=2007-07-11}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> Some social conservatives have expressed dissatisfaction with the party's support for economic policies that they see as sometimes in conflict with their moral values.<ref name="scare">[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/12/huckabees_rebellion.html How Huckabee Scares the GOP]. By [[E. J. Dionne]]. [[Real Clear Politics]]. Published December 21, 2007. Retrieved August 22, 2008.</ref>
+Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Republicans are slowly winning over Latino voters.<ref>[https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23327900/latino-hispanic-voters-republican-2020 Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Will the midterms be worse?], ''Vox'', Sep 20, 2022.</ref>
-==State and territorial parties==
+== Contemporary Party ==
-{{Col-begin}}
+The contemporary Republican Party represents a wide array of interests such as the conservative evangelicals, economic libertarians, and anti-globalists. The party has had some internal conflict over attitudes about how governments should run and how large they should be, what the party stands for, and what the party's attitude towards [[neo-conservatism]] should be especially in regard to foreign policy. The party is also divided over immigration issues with some members (such as George W. Bush) favoring workers visas and permits and some other members favoring strict control of immigration and strong action against illegal immigration.  Unlike the Democrat Party, the Republican Party routinely allows dissenting factions such as the [[Log Cabin Republicans]] to speak at National Conventions.
-{{Col-2}}
-* [[Alabama Republican Party]] [http://www.algop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Alaska]] [http://alaskarepublicans.com/]
-* [[Arizona Republican Party]] [http://www.azgop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Arkansas]] [http://www.arkansasgop.org/]
-* [[California Republican Party]] [http://www.cagop.org/]
-* [[Colorado Republican Party]] [http://www.cologop.org/]
-* [[Connecticut Republican Party]] [http://www.ctgop.org/]
-* [[Republican State Committee of Delaware]] [http://www.delawaregop.com/]
-* [[Republican Party of Florida]] [http://www.rpof.org/]
-* [[Georgia Republican Party]] [http://www.gagop.org/]
-* [[Hawaii Republican Party]] [http://www.gophawaii.com/]
-* [[Idaho Republican Party]] [http://www.idgop.org/]
-* [[Illinois Republican Party]] [http://www.ilgop.org/]
-* [[Indiana Republican Party]] [http://www.indgop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Iowa]] [http://www.iowagop.org/]
-* [[Kansas Republican Party]] [http://www.ksgop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Kentucky]] [http://www.rpk.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Louisiana]] [http://www.lagop.com/]
-* [[Maine Republican Party]] [http://www.mainegop.com/]
-* [[Maryland Republican Party]] [http://www.mdgop.org/]
-* [[Massachusetts Republican Party]] [http://www.massgop.com/]
-* [[Michigan Republican Party]] [http://www.migop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Minnesota]] [http://www.mngop.com/]
-* [[Mississippi Republican Party]] [http://www.msgop.org/]
-* [[Missouri Republican Party]] [http://www.mogop.org/]
-* [[Montana Republican Party]] [http://www.mtgop.org/]
-* [[Nebraska Republican Party]] [http://www.negop.org/]
-* [[Nevada Republican Party]] [http://www.nevadagop.org/]
-{{Col-2}}
-* [[New Hampshire Republican State Committee]] [http://www.nhgop.org/]
-* [[New Jersey Republican State Committee]] [http://www.njgop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of New Mexico]] [http://www.gopnm.org/]
-* [[New York Republican State Committee]] [http://www.nygop.org/]
-* [[North Carolina Republican Party]] [http://www.ncgop.org/]
-* [[North Dakota Republican Party]] [http://www.ndgop.com/]
-* [[Ohio Republican Party]] [http://www.ohiogop.org/]
-* [[Oklahoma Republican Party]] [http://www.okgop.com/]
-* [[Oregon Republican Party]] [http://www.orgop.org/]
-* [[Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania]] [http://www.pagop.org/]
-* [[Rhode Island Republican Party]] [http://www.rigop.org/]
-* [[South Carolina Republican Party]] [http://www.scgop.com/]
-* [[South Dakota Republican Party]] [http://www.southdakotagop.com/]
-* [[Tennessee Republican Party]] [http://www.tngop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Texas]] [http://www.texasgop.org/]
-* [[Utah Republican Party]] [http://www.utgop.org/]
-* [[Vermont Republican Party]] [http://www.vtgop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Virginia]] [http://www.vagop.com/]
-* [[Washington State Republican Party]] [http://www.wsrp.org/]
-* [[West Virginia Republican Party]] [http://www.wvgop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of Wisconsin]] [http://www.wisgop.org/]
-* [[Wyoming Republican Party]] [http://www.wygop.org/]
-* [[Republican Party of American Samoa]] <ref>{{cite web|url=http://as.gop.com/StatesMapPage.aspx |title=Republican • National • Committee |publisher=As.gop.com |date= |accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref>
-* [[District of Columbia Republican Committee]] [http://www.dcgop.com/]
-* [[Republican Party (Guam)|Guam Republican Party]] <ref>{{cite web|url=http://gu.gop.com/StatesMapPage.aspx |title=Republican • National • Committee |publisher=Gu.gop.com |date= |accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref>
-* [[Republican Party (Northern Mariana Islands)|Northern Mariana Islands Republican Party]] <ref>{{cite web|url=http://mp.gop.com/StatesMapPage.aspx |title=Republican • National • Committee |publisher=Mp.gop.com |date=2007-09-01 |accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref>
-* [[Republican Party of Puerto Rico]] <ref>[http://www.goppr.org/index.php.en ]{{dead link|date=January 2012}}</ref>
-* [[Republican Party of the Virgin Islands]] <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.virepublicanwomen.com/id2.html |title=The Republican Party of the Virgin Islands |publisher=Virepublicanwomen.com |date= |accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref>
-{{Col-end}}
-==See also==
+In the past, the Republican voter coalitions have generally comprised businessmen, military veterans and evangelical Protestants. Some groups have realigned: blacks went from the GOP to the Democrats beginning in the 1930s, while some white Southerners became Republicans in the 1980s. Catholics switched from 80% Democratic in 1960 to 50-50 in recent years, primarily due to the embrace of [[abortion]] by the Democrats (though the Hispanic community still votes predominantly Democrat due to its support for illegal immigration and sanctuary cities).  Extremely wealthy businessmen (such as [[Bill Gates]] and [[Warren Buffett]]) have switched to the Democrat party, though small businessmen generally remain in the Republican party.  In recent years youth (influenced by [[Hollywood values]]) and better educated professionals (influenced by [[professor values]]) have moved to the Democrats, while blue collar workers have become more Republican, due mainly to Democrats support for globalist ideals at the expense of manufacturing job losses.
-{{Portal|Politics|Conservatism|United States}}
-{{div col|2}}
-* [[Factions in the Republican Party (United States)]]
-* [[List of African American Republicans]]
-* [[List of United States Republican Party presidential tickets]]
-* [[Political party strength in U.S. states]]
-* [[Republican In Name Only]]
-* [[South Park Republican]]
-* [[Libertarian Republican]]
-* [[International Democrat Union]]
-{{div col end}}
-{{College Republicans}}
+==Republican Presidents==
+# [[Abraham Lincoln]] (1861–1865)
+# [[Ulysses S. Grant]] (1869–1877)
+# [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] (1877–1881)
+# [[James Garfield]] (1881)
+# [[Chester A. Arthur]] (1881–1885)
+# [[Benjamin Harrison]] (1889–1893)
+# [[William McKinley]] (1897–1901)
+# [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (1901–1909)
+# [[William Howard Taft]] (1909–1913)
+# [[Warren G. Harding]] (1921–1923)
+# [[Calvin Coolidge]] (1923–1929)
+# [[Herbert Hoover]] (1929–1933)
+# [[Dwight Eisenhower]] (1953–1961)
+# [[Richard Nixon]] (1969–1974)
+# [[Gerald Ford]] (1974–1977)
+# [[Ronald Reagan]] (1981–1989)
+# [[George H. W. Bush]] (1989–1993)
+# [[George W. Bush]] (2001–2009)
+# [[Donald Trump]] (2017–2021)
-==Footnotes==
+==Notable Republicans (Non-presidential)==
-{{Reflist|30em}}
+An incomplete list of notable Republican leaders and politicians who were not elected president:
-==References==
+*[[Frederick Douglass]] (1818–1895): Abolitionist and suffragist from [[Maryland]]
-{{Main|Bibliography of the Republican Party}}
+*[[James G. Blaine]] (1830–1893): Senator from [[Maine]], presidential nominee
-<!-- alphabetical order please -->
+*[[Joseph Gurney Cannon]] (1836–1926): [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]]
-{{Refbegin|2}}
+*[[Charles Curtis]] (1860–1936): United States [[Vice President]], a Native American
-* ''American National Biography'' (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries.
+*[[Charles G. Dawes]] (1865–1951): United States Vice President, [[Nobel Peace Prize]] winner
+*[[Tom Dewey]] (1902–1971): Governor of [[New York]]; presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948
+*[[Everett Dirksen]] (1896–1969): Senate minority leader, instrumental in passing the [[Civil Rights Act]]
+*[[John C. Frémont]] (1813–1890): First Republican candidate for president
+*[[Rudy Giuliani]]: Mayor of [[New York City]] (1994–2001)
+*Mark Hanna (1837–1904): Senator from [[Ohio]], manager of 1896 campaign
+*[[Jesse Helms]] (1921–2008): Senator from [[North Carolina]]
+*[[George Frisbie Hoar]] (1826–1904): U.S. representative and senator from [[Massachusetts]]
+*[[Charles Evans Hughes]]: Governor of New York; presidential nominee in 1916, United States Secretary of State, [[Chief Justice of the United States]]
+*[[Perry W. Howard, II]] (1877–1961), Republican National Committee delegate from Mississippi who supported Robert Taft in 1952
+*[[Jackie Robinson]] (1919–1972): first [[African American]] major league baseball player
+*[[William F. Knowland]] (1908–1974), Senator from [[California]], Senate Majority Leader from 1953–1955, Senate Minority Leader from 1955–1959
+*[[Henry Cabot Lodge]] (1850–1924): Senator from [[Massachusetts]], foreign policy spokesman
+*[[Joseph McCarthy]] (1908–1957): Senator from [[Wisconsin]] and noted anti-communist
+*Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902): Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
+*[[Nelson Rockefeller]] (1908–1979): Vice President, Governor of New York, considered representative of the liberal wing of the party
+*[[Thaddeus Stevens]] (1792–1868): Senator from [[Pennsylvania]], leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
+*[[Charles Sumner]] (1811–1874): Senator from Massachusetts, leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
+*[[Henry Stimson]]: Secretary of War for Taft and FDR, Secretary of State for Hoover
+*[[Robert A. Taft]] (1889–1953): Senator from Ohio and presidential hopeful, leader of conservatives
+*[[Arthur H. Vandenberg]] (1884–1951): Senator from Michigan, leader of internationalism in 1940s
+*[[Scott Walker]]: Governor of [[Wisconsin]], presidential candidate in 2016
+*[[Earl Warren]] (1891–1974): Vice presidential nominee, [[Governor of California]], and [[Chief Justice of the United States]]
+*[[Barry Goldwater]] (1909–1998): Senator from [[Arizona]], presidential nominee in 1964
+*[[Antonin Scalia]] (1936–2016): Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1986–2016)
+*[[Clarence Thomas]]: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1991–present)
+*[[John McCain]]: Senator from [[Arizona]], presidential nominee in 2008
+*[[Sarah Palin]]: Governor of [[Alaska]], vice-presidential nominee in 2008
+*[[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]: Governor of [[California]]
+*[[Mitt Romney]]: Governor of [[Massachusetts]], presidential nominee in 2012
+*[[Mike Pence]]: Vice President (2017–2021), Governor of [[Indiana]] (2013–2017)
+==See also==
+*[[List of political parties in the United States]]
+*[[RINO]] – '''R'''epublicans '''i'''n '''N'''ame '''O'''nly
+*[[Previous Breaking News/Republicans|Articles about '''Republicans''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
+*[[List of African-American Republicans]]
+==Bibliography==
+===Historical===
+*''American National Biography'' (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries.
+* Abramson, Paul R.  et al. ''Change and Continuity in the 2004 and 2006 Elections'' (2007) [https://www.amazon.com/Change-Continuity-2004-2006-Elections/dp/0872894150/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221785751&sr=8-10 excerpt and text search]
+* Batchelor, John Calvin.  ''"Ain't You Glad You Joined the Republicans?" A Short History of the GOP.'' 1996. 399 pp.  well-written popular history, well illustrated
+* Chace, James. ''1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs - The Election That Changed the Country.'' (2004). 323 pp.
+* ''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'' (4th ed 2003) 1600pp, vast compilation of data, esp., since 1945
+* Foner, Eric. ''Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970), influential history of ideas and ideology; [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=90104191 online edition]
+*Gienapp, William E. ''The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856'' (1987), quantitative voting studies, by state
+* Goldberg, Robert Alan. ''Barry Goldwater'' (1995),
+*Gould, Lewis. ''Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans'' (2003), the best scholarly overview.
+* Hodgson, Godfrey. ''The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America'' (1996). by British journalist
+*Jensen, Richard. ''Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=15326916 online edition]
+*Jensen, Richard. ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896'' (1971)
+*Kleppner, Paul, et al. ''The Evolution of American Electoral Systems'' (1983), applies party systems model
+*Kleppner, Paul. ''The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures'' (1979), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24451028 online edition]
+*Marcus, Robert. ''Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880-1896'' 1971.
+*Morgan, H. Wayne. ''From Hayes to McKinley; National Party Politics, 1877-1896'' (1969) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94446383 online edition], good survey of era
+*Mayer, George H. ''The Republican Party, 1854-1966.'' 2nd ed. (1967), narrative.
+*Parmet, Herbert S. ''Eisenhower and the American Crusades'' (1972) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14967951 online edition]
+* Patterson, James T. ''Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft'' (1972)
+*Perlstein, Rick. ''Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus'' (2002) well written, broad account of 1964
+*Perlstein, Rick. ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008), 896pp; covers 1965 to 1972
+* Reinhard, David W. ''The Republican Right since 1945'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=91954887 online edition]
+*Rutland, Robert Allen. ''The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush'' (1996) popular narrative
+*Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000'' (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period: [https://www.amazon.com/Contesting-Democracy-Substance-Structure-Political/dp/0700611398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221785707&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
+**includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
+*Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. ''History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000'' (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, ''The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history'' (1972)
+* Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography.
+*Summers, Mark Wahlgren. ''Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884'' (2000) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104865169 online edition]
+* Sundquist, James L. ''Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=29223022 online edition]
+* Thelen, David. ''Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit'' 1976. short interpretive biography
+===Since 1980===
+*Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, ''The Almanac of American Politics 2008: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts'' (2007) covers all incumbent Congressmen and governors with amazing detail.  New edition published every two years since 1975.
 * Aistrup, Joseph A. ''The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South'' (1996)
-* [[Michael Barone (pundit)|Barone, Michael]]. ''The Almanac of American Politics 2010: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts'' (2009).
+* Black, Earl and Black, Merle.  ''The Rise of Southern Republicans.'' (2002). 442 pp.
-* Black, Earl and Merle Black. ''The Rise of Southern Republicans'' (2002)
+* Cannon, Lou. ''President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime'' (2000), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=88989671 online edition]
-* Brennan, Mary C. ''Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP'' (1995)
+*  Critchlow, Donald T. ''The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History'' (2007), by a leading conservative historian
-* Conger, Kimberly H. ''The Christian Right in Republican State Politics'' (2010) 202 pages; focuses on Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri
+* Edwards, Lee.  ''The Conservative Revolution: The Movement That Remade America.'' (1999). 391 pp.  by a conservative
-* Crane, Michael. ''The Political Junkie Handbook: The Definitive Reference Books on Politics'' (2004) covers all the major issues explaining the parties' positions
+*Ehrman, John, ''The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan'' (2005) by a conservative historian
-* Critchlow, Donald T. ''The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America'' (2nd ed. 2011)
+* Frank, Thomas. ''What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America'' (2005), a liberal attack  [https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Matter-Kansas-Conservatives-America/dp/B000FTWB3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072365&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
-* Donald, David. ''Lincoln'' (1999)
+* Green, John Robert. ''The Presidency of George Bush.'' (2000). 1989-1993
-* Ehrman, John, ''The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan'' (2005)
-* {{cite book|last=Fried|first=J|title=Democrats and Republicans—Rhetoric and Reality|publisher=Algora Publishing|location=New York|year=2008|isbn=|url=}}
-* Frank, Thomas. ''What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America'' (2005)
-* [[David Frum|Frum, David.]] ''What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America'' (1996)
-* {{cite book|last=Gould|first=Lewis|title=Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans|publisher=|location=|year=2003|isbn=0375507418|url=}}
-* , Richard. ''Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854–1983'' (1983)
-* [[John Judis|Judis, John B.]] and [[Ruy Teixeira]]. ''The Emerging Democratic Majority'' (2004) two Democrats project social trends
-* Kleppner, Paul, et al. ''The Evolution of American Electoral Systems'' (1983), applies party systems model
 * Lamis, Alexander P. ed. ''Southern Politics in the 1990s'' (1999)
-* Levendusky, Matthew. ''The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans'' (Chicago Studies in American Politics) (2009)
+* Layman, Geoffrey. ''The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics.'' (2001). 435pp.
-* Mayer, George H. ''The Republican Party, 1854–1966.'' 2d ed. (1967)
+* Levy, Peter B. ''Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years'' Greenwood Press, 1996 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=77341841 online edition]
-* Perlstein, Rick. ''Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus'' (2002) broad account of 1964
+* Lublin, David.  ''The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change.'' Princeton U. Press, 2004. 272 pp.  [https://www.amazon.com/Republican-South-Democratization-Partisan-Change/dp/0691130477/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072384&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
-* Perlstein, Rick. ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2009)
+* Patterson, James T. ''Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore.'' (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
-* Reinhard, David W. ''The Republican Right since 1945'' (1983)
+* Pemberton, William E. ''Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan'' (1998) favorable biography by historian; [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=49534236 online edition]
-* Rutland, Robert Allen. ''The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush'' (1996)
+* Reeves, Richard. ''President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination'' (2005) detailed analysis by conservative historian
-* [[Larry Sabato|Sabato, Larry J.]] ''Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election'' (2005)
+* Rymph, Catherine.  ''Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage through the Rise of the New Right.'' U. of North Carolina Press, 2006. 338 pp.
-*Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. ''The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future'' (2001) textbook.
+* Sabato, Larry J. ed. ''The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency'' (2007), in-depth essays by scholars
-* [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.|Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr.]] ed. ''History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2000'' (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, ''The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history'' (1972)
+*Sabato, Larry J. ''Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election'' (2005).
-* Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775–2000'' (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period:
+* Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. ''The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future'' (2001).
-** includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
+* Schaller, Michael and Rising, George.  ''The Republican Ascendancy: American Politics, 1968-2001.'' Harlan Davidson, 2002. 210 pp.  Short survey by liberal scholars
-* Shafer, Byron and Richard Johnston. ''The End of Southern Exceptionalism'' (2006), uses statistical election data & polls to argue GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change
+* Steely, Mel.  ''The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich.'' Mercer U. Press, 2000. 431 pp.
-* Steely, Mel. ''The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich'' Mercer University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-86554-671-1.
+* Taylor, Andrew J.  ''Elephant's Edge: The Republicans as a Ruling Party.''  2005. 336 pp. academic study of how GOP turned small advantages into power [https://www.amazon.com/Elephants-Edge-Republicans-Ruling-Party/dp/0275985369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072452&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
-* Sundquist, James L. ''Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States'' (1983)
+* Wilentz, Sean. ''The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008'' (2008) by a liberal historian. [https://www.amazon.com/Age-Reagan-History-1974-2008/dp/0060744804/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221786281&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
-* Swirski, Peter. Ars Americana Ars Politica. Montreal, London: McGill Queen's University Press (2010). ISBN 978 0773537668
+*Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. ''The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America'' sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004). [https://www.amazon.com/Right-Nation-Conservative-Power-America/dp/B000F71124/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072420&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
-* Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. ''[[The Right Nation]]: Conservative Power in America'' (2004).
-{{Refend}}
+==External links==
+*[http://www.gop.com/ Official GOP Site]
+*[https://www.youtube.com/@GOP/videos Republican Party], YouTube channel
+'''Historical:'''
+*[https://www.jacomo.gop/history_of_the_republican_party History of the Republican Party], Republican Jackson County website
+:
+*[http://platform.gop.com/2008Platform.pdf 2008 Republican Platform (pdf download)]
+*[http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/doc/rsc_action_plan.pdf The RSC’s Action Plan for House Republicans], Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008
+*[http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/doc/rsc_action_plan_(broad).pdf A Detailed Action Plan For House Republicans: Bold, Simple, and Different than the Democrats], Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008
+'''Regional:'''
+*[http://nyyrcrecord.blogspot.com/ New York Young Republican Record]
+== Notes ==
+<references/>
+[[Category:Republican Party|!]]
+[[Category:United States]]
+[[Category:United States Political Parties]]
+[[Category:United States Political Organizations]]
+[[Category:Featured articles]]
+[[Category:Modernization]]
+[[Category:Conservatism]]
+[[Category:Black History]]
+[[Category:Civil Rights]]
+[[Category:Member of the International Democrat Union]]
+[[Category:Liberal Conservatism]]
+[[Category:Conservative Political Parties]]