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Tuesday Night Massacre
Four Senate Elections and the Radicalization of the Republican Party
By: Marc C. Johnson
Paperback | 25 February 2021
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The turnover of these seats not only allowed Republicans to gain control of the Senate for the first time since 1954 but also fundamentally altered the conduct of American politics. The incumbents were politicians of national reputation who often worked with members of the other party to accomplish significant legislative objectives - but they were, Johnson suggests, unprepared and ill-equipped to counter nakedly negative emotional appeals to the 'politically passive voter.'
Such was the campaign of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), the organization founded by several young conservative political activists who targeted these four senators for defeat. Johnson describes how such groups, amassing a great amount of money, could make outrageous and devastating claims about incumbents - 'baby killers' who were 'soft on communism,' for example - on behalf of a candidate who remained above the fray. Among the key players in this sordid drama are NCPAC chairman Terry Dolan; Washington lobbyist Charles Black, a top GOP advisor to several presidential campaigns and one-time business partner of Paul Manafort; and Roger Stone, self-described 'dirty trickster' for Richard Nixon and confidant of Donald Trump.
Connecting the dots between the Goldwater era of the 1960s and the ascent of Trump, Tuesday Night Massacre charts the radicalization of the Republican Party and the rise of the independent expenditure campaign, with its divisive, negative techniques, a change that has deeply - and perhaps permanently - warped the culture of bipartisanship that once prevailed in American politics.
Industry Reviews
"Johnson's well-researched and elegantly written contribution gives the reader much to contemplate about the state of modern political discourse and finance."--Montana: The Magazine of Western History
"Tuesday Night Massacre: Four Senate Elections and the Radicalization of the Republican Party, journalist and politician Marc C. Johnson provides a missing element of the story of the momentous 1980 congressional elections...[It] is an important work in understanding the American electorate's abandonment of New Deal liberalism and the ascendancy of contemporary conservatism and the rise of bitter partisanship that shapes contemporary American politics."-- Indiana Magazine of History
"..this book is a valuable contribution to the study of political campaigns, polarization, and the rise of the New Right. Johnson effectively shows how the development of PACs fundamentally altered the strategies conservatives used, which ultimately polarized the party. Additionally, his engagement with the broader social science, and history, ensures a nuanced narrative of a compelling argument."-- South Dakota History
"Anyone who wants to understand the Republican Party's radicalization should read Marc C. Johnson's excellent chronicle of the four U.S. Senate races in 1980 that introduced revolutionary campaigning methods and set the stage for the party's far-rightward tilt. Tuesday Night Massacre is a fascinating, well-written account."--Robert Mann, author of Daisy Petals and Mushroom Clouds: LBJ, Barry Goldwater, and the Ad That Changed American Politics
"Politics has always been rough-and-tumble, but few would dispute that it has gotten nastier and much more polarized in recent years. In this revealing, well-written book, Marc C. Johnson skillfully traces the origin and development of this disturbing trend. The consequences have been far-reaching. The U.S. Senate no longer functions as it was intended, Americans are more deeply divided, and the old tradition of bipartisanship in the national interest has become practically obsolete."--Larry J. Sabato, author of A More Perfect Constitution--Why the Constitution Must Be Revised: Ideas to Inspire a New Generation
ISBN: 9780806168548
ISBN-10: 0806168544
Published: 25th February 2021
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 256
Audience: Professional and Scholarly
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 23 x 15.5 x 2
Weight (kg): 0.4
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This product is categorised by
- Non-FictionPolitics & GovernmentPolitical Parties
- Non-FictionHistoryRegional & National HistoryHistory of the Americas
- Non-FictionPolitics & GovernmentPolitical Ideologies & MovementsConservatism & Right-of-Centre Democratic Ideologies
- Non-FictionPolitics & GovernmentPolitical Structure & ProcessesElections & Referenda