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The Republican Party (often referred to as the GOP, for Grand Old Party) is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Democratic Party. The current President of the United States, George W. Bush, is a Republican. During the 109th Congress, the Republican Party was the majority party in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. However, in the 2006 midterm elections, Republican incumbents were defeated and open seats were won by Democrats, as the Republicans lost control of both the House and the Senate. In the 110th Congress, the Republican Party will hold minority status in both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. The two independents in the Senate have announced they will caucus with the Democrats giving them a 51-49 majority. Majority status in the House or Senate means the majority controls all the committees and controls the agenda, but does not guarantee success on any specific roll-call vote. The GOP will control 22 governorships (down from 28) and a minority of state legislatures in 2007.

Since 1856, Republicans have won 23 of the 38 presidential elections in which they have contested, including 7 of the last 10; eighteen of the twenty-eight U.S. Presidents since then have been Republicans. In addition to controlling the Executive Branch since 2001, the Republican Party had held majorities in the United States Senate almost continuously since the 1994 elections. They won the United States House of Representatives from the 1994 elections until eventually defeated in the 2006 elections.

Organization

The Republican National Committee (or RNC) is responsible for promoting presidential goals when the party controls the White House or articulating Republican policies when the Democrats have the White House. The chairman of the RNC is chosen by the President when the Republicans have the White House or otherwise by the state committees. President George W. Bush selected Ken Mehlman as the chairman of the Republican National Committee in January 2005. In presidential elections, the committee, under the direction of the presidential candidate, supervises the national convention, raises funds, and coordinates campaign strategy. 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.

The Republican House and Senate have powerful fundraising and strategy committees. The National Republican Congressional Committee assists in House races, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Senate races. They each raise over $100 million per election cycle, and play important roles in recruiting strong state candidates. The Republican Governors Association is a discussion group that seldom funds state races. In each instance, the Democrats have similar organizations.

Current ideology

The Republican Party is comprised of many informal factions, which often overlap but do not necessarily agree. For example, there are Fiscal Conservatives, Evangelicals, Social Conservatives, Neoconservatives, Paleoconservatives, Libertarians, Moderates (sometimes derided as Republican In Name Only, or RINOs, by more conservative Republicans), and Log Cabin Republicans.

The Republican Party is the more socially conservative and economically libertarian of the two major parties, and has closer ties to both Wall Street (large corporations) and Main Street (locally owned businesses) but has little support among labor unions. The party supports lower taxes, limited government on economic issues, and favors business; it supports government intervention in some social issues such as abortion. In his 1981 inaugural address, Republican President Ronald Reagan summed up his belief in limited government when he said, "In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Since 1980, the GOP has contained what George Will calls "unresolved tensions between, two flavors of conservatism -- Western and Southern." The Western brand, says Will, "is largely libertarian, holding that pruning big government will allow civil society -- and virtues nourished by it and by the responsibilities of freedom -- to flourish." The Southern variety, however, reflects a religiosity based in evangelical and fundamentalist churches that is less concerned with economics and more with moralistic issues, such as opposition to abortion and homosexuality. There is of course a strong Christian evangelical Republican movement in the Western United States; and in no way should these two movements—economic libertarianism and social conservatism—be considered mutually exclusive, since, especially within the Republican Party, they often overlap.

Separation of powers and balance of powers

The Republican Party believes that making law is the province of the legislature and that judges, especially the Supreme Court, should not use their power of interpreting the constitution to create laws. (Many conservative pundits say these are people who "legislate from the bench") Some anti-abortion Republicans point to Roe v. Wade as a case of judicially created law, where the court expanded individual rights based on the Bill of Rights. Some Republicans denounce such actions as judicial activism, and have actively sought to block judges who they see as being "judicial activists" and to appoint Republican judges who will practice "judicial restraint".

Other Republicans, in the tradition of William Howard Taft, argue that it is the job of judges to enforce fairness, interpret the Constitution, and protect the rights of citizens against state legislatures. Chief justice John Roberts at his confirmation hearings in 2006 broke with some conservatives when he said there was indeed a constitutional right to privacy.

Compared with Democrats, many conservatives believe in a more robust version of federalism with greater limitations placed upon federal power and a larger role reserved for the States. Following this view on federalism, conservatives 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 cases, Wickard v. Filburn, a case which held that growing wheat on a farm for consumption on the same farm fell under congressional power to "regulate commerce ... among the several States..."

Economic policies

Republicans emphasize the role of corporate and personal decision making in fostering economic prosperity. They favor free-market policies supporting business, economic liberalism, and limited regulation. Recently, opponents have stated that Republicans are no longer the party of fiscal responsibility, citing the 2006 federal deficit as the largest in US history.

The predominant economic theory held by modern Republicans is Reaganomics. Popularized by Ronald Reagan, this theory holds that reduced income tax rates increase GDP growth and thereby generate more revenue for the government from the taxes on the extra growth. This belief is reflected, in part, by the party's long-term advocacy of tax cuts, a major Republican theme since the 1920s. Republicans believe that a series of income tax cuts since 2001 have bolstered the economy. 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 agree there should be a "safety net" to assist the less fortunate; however, they favor programs that are less expensive, more reliant on private funding and include stricter requirements for eligibility. Republicans strongly supported the welfare reform of 1996, which limited eligibility for welfare and successfully led to many former welfare recipients finding jobs.

The party opposes a single-payer universal health care system, such as that found in Canada or in most of Europe, sometimes referring to it as "socialized medicine" and is in favor of the current personal or employer based system of insurance, supplemented by Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor. The GOP has a mixed record of supporting the historically popular Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs, all of which Republicans initially opposed. On the one hand, congressional Republicans and the Bush administration supported a reduction in Medicaid's growth rate. On the other hand, congressional Republicans expanded Medicare, supporting a new drug plan for seniors starting 2006.

Republicans are generally opposed to labor unions and have supported various legislation on the state and federal levels, including right to work legislation and the Taft-Hartley Act that makes it harder for workers to organize closed shop unions in workplaces. Republicans generally oppose increases in the minimum wage, believing that the minimum wage increases unemployment and cuts the profits of businesses.

Social policies

The majority of the GOP's national and state candidates oppose abortion, oppose the legalization of same sex marriage, and favor faith-based initiatives. They support welfare benefit reductions and oppose racial quotas, but are split regarding the desirability of affirmative action for women and minorities.Most of the GOP's membership favors capital punishment and stricter punishments for crime. Republicans generally strongly support gun ownership rights.

Most Republicans support school choice through charter schools and education vouchers; and 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.

The religious wing of the party tends to support organized prayer in public schools and the inclusion of teaching creationism or intelligent design alongside evolution. Although the GOP has voted for increases in government funding of scientific research, many members actively oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research because it involves the harvesting and destruction of human embryos (which some consider ethically equivalent to abortion), while arguing for diverting research money into adult stem cell research.

International policies

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the party supports neoconservative policies with regard to the War on Terror, including the 2001 war in Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and attempts to spread democracy in the Middle East and around the world. The Bush administration supports the position that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to unlawful combatants, using the premise that they apply to soldiers serving in the armies of nation-states and not terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda.

The party, through U.N. Ambassador Bolton, has advocated reforms in the UN to halt corruption such as that which afflicted the Oil-for-Food Programme. The GOP opposes the Kyoto Protocol, claiming that the treaty would hurt America's economy and do nothing to stop warming from major competitors such as China. The party strongly promotes free trade agreements, most notably NAFTA, CAFTA and now an effort to go further south to Brazil, Peru and Colombia.

Republicans are deeply divided on what to do about illegal immigration, mostly Hispanic. The Bush administration made appeals to Hispanics a high priority long-term political goal, but that goal is not a high priority in most local GOP parties. In general, the business community supports more immigration and social conservatives oppose it. In 2006, the White House supported and Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform that would eventually allow millions of illegal immigrants to become citizens, but the House, taking an enforcement only approach, refused to go along. Though the question became a major issue in the 2006 elections, exit polling showed the issue to be less important to voters than the economy, political corruption, Iraq, and terrorism.

Voter base

Business community. As of the year 2006, the GOP has broad support from business at all levels, from "Main Street" (locally owned business) to "Wall Street" (national corporations).

Gender. Since 1980 a "gender gap" has seen slightly stronger support for the GOP among men than among women. In the 2006 House races, women voted 43% GOP while men voted 47%.

Race. Since 1964, the GOP has been weakly represented among African Americans, winning under 15% of the Black vote in recent national elections (1980 to 2004). The party has nominated African American candidates for senator or governor in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland, but they all lost. Bush has pushed for Hispanic votes, winning 35% in 2000 and 44% in 2004. In 2004 44% of Asian Americans voted for George W. Bush. In the 2006 House races, The GOP won 51% of white votes, 37% asian votes, and 30% hispanic votes, while winning only 10% of African American votes.

Family status. In recent elections, Republicans have found their greatest support among whites from married couples with children living at home. Unmarried and divorced women were far more likely to vote for Kerry in 2004.

Income. The differences in voting among income groups are small, though the poorest voters favor the Democratic Party. 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%.

Education. In terms of education, the GOP is slipping from its traditional position of dominance among the best educated. In 1988, the elder Bush got 52% of the total vote, but won 62% of voters with a bachelor's degree (but no higher degree). In 2004, the younger Bush got 52%. Among voters with a Masters' degree or higher, in 1988 the elder Bush won 50% while in 2004 the younger Bush received 42%. Compensating for this drop were the gains George W. Bush made among voters with 12 to 15 years of school. Bush had a slim advantage with college graduates at 52%, those with some college (54%) and high school graduates (52%). Democrats have majorities among those with post-graduate study (44% for Bush). In 2006 the best Republican showing was 49% among voters with a bachelor degree.

Age. The Republicans and Democrats are about equally strong in different age groups, with Democrats doing slightly better among younger Americans and Republicans among older Americans. In 2006 The GOP won only 38% of the voters aged 18-29.

Sexual Orientation. Exit polls conducted in 2000, 2004 and 2006 indicate that 23-25% of gay and lesbian Americans voted for the GOP. In recent years the party has been hostile to gay marriage and unenthusiastic about gay rights.

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 1960, with Catholics, Jews, and the Protestant white South heavily Democratic and Northeastern Protestants heavily Republican. Most of the old differences faded away in the Sixth Party System after 1968. Today, however, a different dimension of religion has become important at the voting booth. Voters who attend church weekly gave 61% of their votes to Bush in 2004; those who attend occasionally gave him only 47%, while those who never attend gave him 36%. 59% of Protestants voted for Bush, along with 52% of Catholics (even though Kerry was Catholic). Since 1980, large majorities of evangelicals have voted Republican; 70-80% voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, and 70% for GOP House candidates in 2006. Although American Jews have traditionally voted 70-80% Democratic, a larger percentage of more observant, Orthodox Jews, have been voting Republican since the 1980s. Democrats have close links with the African American churches, especially the National Baptists and some Episcopalian, while their historic dominance among Catholic voters has eroded to 50-50. The main line traditional Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians... have dropped to about 55% Republican (in contrast to 75% before 1968). Their church membership have dropped in that time as well, and the conservative evangelical breakaway lines have grown.

Region. Since 1980, geographically the Republican "base" ("red states") is strongest in the South and West, and weakest in the Northeast and the Pacific Coast. The Northeast actually does well for the GOP in state contests (with GOP governors like Mitt Romney in states like Massachusetts) but not in presidential ones (except New Hampshire). The Midwest has been roughly balanced since 1854, with Illinois becoming more Democratic and Minnesota & Wisconsin more Republican since 1990. Since the 1930s the Democrats have dominated most central cities, the Republicans now dominate rural areas, and the majority of suburbs.

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. In 2004 Bush led Kerry by 70%-30% among Southern whites, who comprised 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.

Conservatives and Moderates. The Republican coalition is quite diverse, and numerous factions compete to frame platforms and select candidates. The "conservatives" are strongest in the South, where they draw support from religious 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 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. As of 2006, the very early polls of voters evaluating 2008 candidates show that three candidates are dominant: Rudy Giuliani, Condoleezza Rice and John McCain, chiefly because of their appeal to independents. More conservative Republicans like Sam Brownback, George Allen, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich trail far behind, seldom reaching 10% in polls among Republicans.

Since the 1980s, talk radio audiences and successful hosts have tended to be conservative, and typically favor the Republicans. Some well known include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Michael Reagan, and Howie Carr.

Future trends

Republicans have controlled the White House for 26 of the previous 38 years, and they maintained majorities in both houses of Congress from 1995 through 2006, except for 18 months in the Senate while it was controlled by the Democrats from January 3-20, 2001 and June 6, 2001 – November 12, 2002. However, as a result of the 2006 midterm elections, the Democratic Party is set to become the majority party in the House of Representatives as well as the United States Senate when the 110th Congress convenes in 2007. Karl Rove and other commentators have speculated about a permanent political realignment along the lines of the presidential election of 1896, in which Mark Hanna helped William McKinley construct a Republican majority that lasted for the next 36 years. However, the reality is that in light of strong partisanship and party polarization the American political sphere is relatively evenly divided.

Two approaches to projecting future trends give opposite results. Additionally, Republican commentators point to the growth of suburbs, particularly in the Sun Belt where the Republicans dominate politics, and the population decline of the historically liberal Rust Belt cities of the Northeast. (Population shifts gave Bush six more electoral votes between 2000 and 2004.) President Bush's victory in 2004 in ninety-seven of the hundred fastest-growing counties in the country was solid evidence of Republican strength in quickly growing exurbs and in the booming metropolitan areas of the South. By 2010, the Census projections show that states that voted for President Bush in 2004 will gain six Congressional seats and electoral votes, while states that voted for John Kerry will lose six.

Democratic commentators Ruy Teixeira and John Judis, on the other hand, say non-geographic social indicators show a trend toward Democrats. They point to the rapid increase in college graduates (who are trending Democratic), and the possible decrease in white and rural Republican bases. In the New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2005, Democrat Jon Corzine captured a sweeping 77% of the Latino vote, reducing the Republican party's share of the Latino vote to little more than half its share in the Presidential election the year before.

Despite the 2004 election results, the 2006 midterm elections signaled a moderate shift toward the Democratic Party as they won the House gained a one-seat majority in the Senate. The most important factors leading to this shift were opposition to the Iraq War and Republican corruption and scandals (involving Tom DeLay, Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff. The split inside the GOP on immigration hurt the party; the very good economic conditions did not help much.

Skeptics ask whether the Republican Party can simultaneously contain both libertarians and social conservatives, or whether it can contain both elements that want to remove illegal immigrants and a business community that uses them as necessary employees. Republican optimists point to the success of Roosevelt's Democratic coalition, which held together even more disparate elements. For the most part, the Republican Party has remained fairly cohesive, as both strong economic libertarians and strong social conservatives are opposed to the Democrats, who they see as both the party of bigger and more secular government.

2008 outlook

Current President George W. Bush will be ineligible to seek another term and current Vice Present Dick Cheney has announced that he will not seek the nomination. This leaves the field wide open for potential nominees. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain are currently seen as the most likely 2008 Republican Party presidential nominee although neither has formally announced their candidacy.

Illinois businessman John H. Cox and Michael Charles Smith of Oregon are currently the only candidates to have officially announced their intentions to seek the nomination. Former Mayor Giuliani, Senator McCain, California Representative Duncan Hunter, and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback have all formed exploratory committees to raise money and explore the possibility of a potential run.

Other possible candidates include outgoing Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, outgoing New York Governor George Pataki, Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo, and former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson.

Historical trends

For more detailed history & bibliography until 1980, see History of the United States Republican Party.

Third party system: 1854-1896

Establishment

The Republican Party was established in 1854 by a coalition of former Whigs, Northern Democrats, and Free-Soilers who opposed the expansion of slavery and held a vision for modernizing the United States.

The new party was created as an act of defiance against what activists denounced as the Slave Power—the powerful class of slaveholders who were conspiring to control the federal government and to spread slavery nationwide. The party founders adopted the name "Republican," echoing the 1776 Republicanism values of civic virtue and opposition to aristocracy and corruption. The new party emphasized a vision of modernizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry, and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers.

The party initially had its base in the Northeast and Midwest, but in recent decades it has increasingly shifted to the inland West and the South. Since the party fielded its first presidential candidate, in 1856, 18 of the 29 United States Presidents have been Republicans, including current President George W. Bush.

John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee for President, using the slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont lost, his 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 very little support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-1860 as a divisive force that threatened civil war.

The Civil War and an era of Republican dominance: 1860-1896

The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 began a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial Northeast and agricultural Midwest. Republicans still often refer to their party as the "party of Lincoln." Lincoln proved brilliantly successful in uniting all the factions of his party to fight for the Union. However, he often disagreed with the Radical Republicans who demanded harsher measures toward the South. In Congress, the party passed major legislation to promote rapid modernization, including a national banking system, high tariffs, the first temporary income tax, many excise taxes, paper money issued without backing ("greenbacks"), a huge national debt, homestead laws, and land grants to aid higher education, railroads and agriculture.

The Republicans denounced the northern anti-war Democrats as disloyal Copperheads and won enough War Democrats to maintain their majority in 1862, and reelect Lincoln by a landslide in 1864. During Reconstruction, 1865-1877, how to deal with the ex-Confederates and the freed slaves or Freedmen were the major issues. President Andrew Johnson, never a Republican, broke with the Radicals in 1866. 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 Johnson's vetoes. The Radicals imposed Republican rule on the South -a coalition of Freedmen, Scalawags, and Carpetbaggers, who were deeply resented by the conservative ex-Confederates.

Elected in 1868, Ulysses S. Grant supported radical reconstruction programs in the South, the Fourteenth Amendment, equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen; most of all, Grant was the hero of the war veterans, who marched to his tune. Reconstruction came to an end when the contested election of 1876 was awarded 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.

As the Northern post-war economy boomed with 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. The Democratic Party was largely controlled by pro-business Bourbon Democrats until 1896. The GOP supported big business generally, hard money (i.e., the gold standard), high tariffs, and generous pensions for Union veterans. 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. Civil service reform was a bipartisan program that eliminated most patronage by 1900. Foreign affairs seldom became partisan issues (except for the annexation of Hawaii, which Republicans favored and Democrats opposed). Much more salient were cultural issues. The GOP supported the pietistic Protestants (especially the Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Scandinavian Lutherans) who demanded Prohibition. That angered wet Republicans, especially German Americans, who broke ranks in 1890-1892, handing power to the 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 Roman Catholicism, especially the Irish, who staffed the Democratic Party in the large cities, 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 mostly Democrats, and outnumbered the British and Scandinavian Republicans. During the 1880s, elections were remarkably close. The Democrats usually lost, but won in 1884 and 1892). In the 1894 Congressional elections, the GOP scored the biggest landslide in its history, as Democrats were blamed for the severe economic depression 1893-1897 and the violent coal and railroad strikes of 1894.

Fourth party system: 1896-1932

The Progressive Era

The election of William McKinley in 1896 marked a new era of Republican dominance and is sometimes cited as a realigning election. He relied heavily on finance, railroads, industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of business. His campaign manager, Ohio's Marcus 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.

Theodore Roosevelt was the most dynamic personality of the era. After promising to continue McKinley's policies, he won reelection in 1904. He then veered left, attacking big business and busting the trusts. Roosevelt anointed William Howard Taft in 1908, but Taft worked more with the conservatives led by Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, although more trusts were broken up under Taft than Roosevelt. The Payne-Aldrich tariff angered Midwestern insurgents. The widening division between progressive and conservative forces in the party resulted in a third-party candidacy for Roosevelt on the Progressive, or "Bull Moose" ticket in the election of 1912. He finished ahead of Taft, but the split in the Republican vote resulted in a decisive victory for Democrat Woodrow Wilson, temporarily interrupting the Republican era.

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 1920, 1924, and 1928 respectively. 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.

In October 1929, the stock market crashed, giving rise to the Great Depression. Hoover, by nature an activist, attempted to do what he could to alleviate the widespread suffering caused by the Depression, but his strict adherence to what he believed were Republican principles precluded him from establishing relief directly from the federal government. The Democrats made major gains in the 1930 midterm elections, giving them congressional parity (though not control) for the first time since Woodrow Wilson's presidency.

Fifth party system: 1933-1980

Opposing the New Deal Coalition: 1933-1953

In 1932, Hoover was swamped in a landslide defeat to Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal Coalition, which became a dominant fact of American political life for the middle third of the century. Democrats also gained large majorities in both houses of Congress.

After Roosevelt took office in 1933, New Deal legislation sailed through Congress at lightning speed. In the 1934 midterm elections, ten Republican senators went down to defeat, leaving them with only 25 against 71 Democrats. The House of Representatives was also split in a similar ratio. The "Second New Deal" was heavily criticized by the Republicans in Congress, who likened it to class warfare and socialism. The volume of legislation, as well as the inability of the Republicans to block it, soon made the opposition to Roosevelt develop into bitterness and sometimes hatred for "that man in the White House."

Little known Governor Alfred Landon of Kansas ran an ineffective moderate campaign as the Roosevelt landslide of 1936 swept 46 states. The GOP was left with only 16 senators and 88 representatives to oppose the New Deal.

Roosevelt alienated many conservative Democrats, in 1937, by his unexpected plan to "pack" the Supreme Court. Following a sharp recession that hit early in 1938, major strikes all over the country, and Roosevelt's failed efforts to purge the conservatives from the court, the GOP gained 75 House seats in 1938. Conservative Democrats, mostly from the South, joined with Republicans led by Senator Robert A. Taft to create the conservative coalition, which dominated domestic issues in Congress until 1964.

From 1939 through 1941, there was a sharp debate within the GOP about support for Britain in World War II. Internationalists, such as Henry Stimson and Frank Knox, wanted to support Britain and isolationists, such as Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg, strongly opposed these moves as unwise, if not unconstitutional. The America First movement was a bipartisan coalition of isolationists. In 1940, a total unknown Wendell Willkie at the last minute won over the party and the delegates and was nominated. He crusaded against the inefficiencies of the New Deal and Roosevelt's break with the strong tradition against a third term. Pearl Harbor ended the isolationist-internationalist debate. The Republicans further cut the Democratic majority in the 1942 midterm elections. With wartime production creating prosperity, the Conservative coalition terminated most New Deal relief programs.

As a minority party, the GOP had two wings: The "left wing" supported most of the New Deal while promising to run it more efficiently. The "right wing" opposed the New Deal from the beginning and managed to repeal large parts during the 1940s in cooperation with conservative southern Democrats in the conservative coalition. Liberals, led by Dewey, dominated the Northeast. Conservatives, led by Taft, dominated the Midwest. The West was split, and the South was still solidly Democratic. 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 the early years of the war.

In 1944, a clearly frail Roosevelt defeated Dewey, who was now governor of New York, for his fourth term, but Dewey made a good showing that would lead to his selection as the candidate in 1948.

Roosevelt died in office in 1945, and Harry S. Truman became president. With the end of the war, unrest among organized labor led to many strikes in 1946, and the resulting disruptions helped the GOP. With the blunders of the Truman administration in 1945 and 1946, the slogans "Had Enough?" and "To Err is Truman" became Republican rallying cries, and the GOP won control of Congress for the first time since 1928, with Joseph Martin as Speaker of the House. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 was designed to balance the rights of management and labor. It was the central issue of many elections in industrial states in the 1940s and 1950s, but the unions were never able to repeal it.

In 1948, with Republicans split left and right, Truman boldly called Congress into a special session, and sent it a load of liberal legislation consistent with the Dewey platform, and dared them to act on it, knowing that the conservative Republicans would block action. Truman then attacked the Republican "Do-Nothing Congress" as a whipping boy for all of the nation's problems. Truman stunned Dewey and the Republicans with a plurality of just over two million popular votes (out of nearly 49 million cast), but a decisive 303-189 victory in the Electoral College.

Eisenhower and Nixon: 1953-1974

After the war the isolationists in the conservative wing opposed the United Nations, and were half-hearted in exercising opposition to the expansion of Communism around the world. Dwight Eisenhower, a NATO commander, defeated Taft in 1952 on foreign policy issues. The two men were not far apart on domestic issues. Eisenhower was an exception to most presidents in that he usually let Nixon handle party affairs (controlling the national committee and taking the roles of chief spokesman and chief fundraiser). Richard Nixon was defeated in 1960 in a close election, dooming his liberal wing of the party. The conservatives made a comeback in 1964 as Barry Goldwater defeated Nelson Rockefeller in the primary. 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. He was defeated by Lyndon Johnson in a landslide that brought down many senior Republican Congressmen across the country. Goldwater blamed the magnitude of his defeat on the assassination of John F. Kennedy a year before the election, and on Johnson running a campaign of smears.

The New Deal Coalition collapsed in the mid 1960s in the face of urban riots, the Vietnam war, the opposition of many Southern conservatives to desegregation and the Civil Rights movement and disillusionment that the New Deal could be revived by Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. Nixon defeated both Hubert Humphrey and George C. Wallace in 1968. When the Democratic left took over their party in 1972, Nixon won reelection by carrying 49 states. His involvement in Watergate brought disgrace and a forced resignation in 1974. The Democrats made major gains in Congress, and in 1976 defeated Gerald Ford in a close race.

Sixth party system: 1980-present

The Reagan era

Ronald Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980, the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democratic losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984, Reagan won nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried every state except his Democratic 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, meaning Reagan came within less than 3,800 votes of winning in all fifty states.

Political commentators, trying to explain how Reagan had won by such a large margin, used the term "Reagan Democrat" to describe a Democratic voter who had defected to vote for Reagan. The Reagan Democrats were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterwards, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H. W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white, blue-collar, lived in traditionally Democratic areas, and were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion, and to his hawkish foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not generally used to describe those southern whites who permanently changed party affiliation from Democratic to Republican during the Reagan administration. Stan Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, analyzed white, largely unionized auto workers in suburban Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63% for Kennedy in 1960 and 66% for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and social liberals. Democrat Bill Clinton targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996. Also significant in those years was the entrance of Ross Perot into the presidential race; almost all of the Republican voters who deserted Bush moved to Perot. With Perot taking 30% of the independent vote in 1992 (along with 17% of the Republican vote and 13% of the Democratic vote), Clinton was able to win the presidency with the votes of only 43% of the electorate. Perot ran again in 1996 and won only 8% of the popular vote.

Reagan reoriented American politics. He claimed credit in 1984 for an economic renewal—“It's morning in America again!” was the campaign slogan. Income taxes were slashed 25% and the punitive rates abolished. The frustrations of stagflation were resolved, as no longer did soaring inflation and recession pull the country down. Deregulation, handled in bipartisan fashion, removed the last traces of the New Deal, with the exception of Social Security. Working again in bipartisan fashion, the Social Security financial crises were resolved for the next 25 years.

In foreign affairs, bipartisanship was not in evidence. Most Democrats doggedly opposed Reagan's efforts to support the Contra guerrillas against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, and to support the dictatorial governments of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador against Communist guerrilla movements. He took a hard line against the Soviet Union, alarming Democrats who wanted a nuclear freeze, but he succeeded in increasing the military budget and launching the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)—labeled "Star Wars" by its opponents—that the Soviets could not match. When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in Moscow, many conservative Republicans were dubious of the growing friendship between him and Reagan. Gorbachev tried to save communism in Russia first by ending the expensive arms race with America, then (1989) by shedding the East European empire. Communism finally collapsed in Russia in 1991. President George H. W. Bush, Reagan's successor, tried to temper feelings of triumphalism lest there be a backlash in Russia, but the palpable sense of victory in the cold War was a success that validated for Republicans the aggressive foreign policies Reagan had taught them. As Haynes Johnson, one of his harshest critics admitted, "His greatest service was in restoring the respect of Americans for themselves and their own government after the traumas of Vietnam and Watergate, the frustration of the Iran hostage crisis and a succession of seemingly failed presidencies." Yet the restoration of faith in the government was an ironic twist for the man who personally distrusted government so much.

The capture of the House and Senate in 1994

After the election of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1992, the Republican Party, led by House Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich campaigning on a Contract With America elected majorities to both houses of Congress in the Republican Revolution of 1994. It was the first time since 1952 that the Republicans secured control of both houses of U.S. Congress, which, with the exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, was retained through 2006. This capture and subsequent holding of Congress represented a major legislative turnaround, as Democrats controlled both houses of Congress for the forty years preceding 1995, with the exception of the 1981-1987 Congress in which Republicans controlled the Senate.

In 1994, Republican Congressional candidates ran on a platform of major reforms of government with measures such as a balanced budget amendment and welfare reform. These measures and others formed the famous Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in an off-year election. The Republicans passed some of their proposals, but failed on others such as term limits. 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. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives failed to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress. In 1995, a budget battle with 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 the Reform Party ticket), once again draining away a large percentage of the Republicans' support.

Since 2000

With the victory of George W. Bush in the close 2000 election against the Democratic candidate, Vice President Al Gore, the Republican party gained control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952, only to lose control of the Senate by one vote when Vermont Senator James Jeffords left the Republican party to become an independent in 2001 and chose to vote with the Democratic caucus. In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore by a margin of 543,816 votes, marking the first time since 1888 that a candidate who did not receive a majority of the popular vote received the majority of the electoral college.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Bush pursued the War on Terrorism that included the invasion of Afghanistan, USA PATRIOT Act, and the invasion of Iraq. By November 2001, the radical Islamist Taliban regime was removed from power in Kabul, Afghanistan, although al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has yet to be captured. In March 2003, Bush chose to invade Iraq with a coalition of allied countries after a lengthy diplomatic effort through the United Nations.

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 war in Iraq. This marked just the first time since 1934, 1902, and the civil war that the party in control of the White House gained seats in a midterm election in both houses of Congress. Bush was renominated without opposition for the 2004 election and titled his political platform "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America" (PDF). 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. Bush won the election with 286 electoral votes with Senator John F. Kerry receiving 251. Bush also received 62.0 million popular votes to 59.0 million for Senator John F. Kerry. With 51% of the popular vote, Bush achieved the first popular majority since his father was elected in 1988.

Bush told reporters "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style." He announced his agenda in January 2005, but as his popularity in the polls waned, his troubles mounted. His campaign to add personal savings accounts to the Social Security system and make major revisions of the tax code were postponed. He succeeded in selecting conservatives to head four of the most important agencies, Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States and Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. He failed to win conservative approval for Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, replacing her with Samuel Alito, whom the Senate confirmed in January 2006. He secured additional tax cuts and blocked moves to raise taxes. Through 2006, Bush strongly defended his policy in Iraq, saying the Coalition was winning. He secured the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act, stating that it is significant that there has not been another terrorist attack on American soil since 11 September 2001.

In September, 2005 Hurricane Katrina destroyed large sections of New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana. The Bush Administration's response to this crisis was widely viewed as inadequate, and the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was forced to resign. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay went to a criminal trial in Texas for alleged campaign funding abuses, and had to step down as Majority Leader in October 2005 and resign his Congressional seat in June 2006. In 2006 two other Republican Congressmen went to prison for corruption, as the Democrats highlighted the scandals.

In the November 2005 off-year elections, New York City, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg won a landslide re-election, the fourth straight Republican victory in what is otherwise a Democratic stronghold. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger failed in his effort to use the ballot initiative to enact laws the Democrats blocked in the state legislature.

In the 2006 Republican caucus leadership elections, Republicans chose Rep. John Boehner of Ohio for House Minority Leader. Senate Republicans chose Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for United States Senate Minority Leader. Those elected would assume these roles in the 110th Congress.

In September 2006, as a result of a sex scandal with Congressional pages involving sexually-explicit instant messages, Mark Foley stated that he was gay and an alcoholic and would be stepping down from his seat in the House of Representatives.

In November 2006, Democrats defeated Republicans in the 2006 midterm elections giving the Democrats control of the House and Senate.

Presidential tickets

Symbols and name

Although the Democratic Party is older, the term Grand Old Party is a traditional nickname for the Republican Party, and the acronym G.O.P. is a commonly used designation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the first known reference to the Republican Party as the "grand old party" came in 1876. The first use of the abbreviation G.O.P. is dated 1884.

The mascot symbol, historically, is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on 7 November 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol. 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 donkey. This symbol still appears on Indiana ballots.

Lincoln Day is the primary annual fundraising celebration held by many state and county organizations of the Republican Party. It is named after President Abraham Lincoln.

After the 2000 election, the color red became associated with the GOP although it has not been officially adopted by the party. On election night 2000, for the first time ever, all major broadcast networks utilized the same color scheme for the electoral map: red for Republicans and blue for Democrats. Although the color red is unofficial and informal, it is widely recognized by the media and the public to represent the GOP. Partisan supporters now often use the color red for promotional materials and campaign merchandise.

See also

• Democratic Party (United States)
• History of the United States Republican Party
• International Democrat Union, of which the Republican Party is a member
• List of African American Republicans
• List of Latino Republicans
• List of notable Republicans
• List of Republican National Conventions
• List of state Republican Parties in the U.S.
• Presidential nominees
• Red state vs. blue state divide
• Republican In Name Only
• Republican National Convention
• Potential Republican candidates in the 2008 United States presidential election

• Subgroups (see Factions in the Republican Party (United States))

• College Republicans
• Log Cabin Republicans
• Republicans Abroad
• Republicans for Choice
• Republican National Coalition for Life
• Republican Liberty Caucus
• Ripon Society
• South Park Republicans
• Teenage Republicans
• Young Republicans

• Historical Subgroups

• Radical Republican
• Rockefeller Republican

Notes

1. "Republican Party Platform of 1980". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
2. "Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address, January 20th, 1981". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
3. Will, George (2006-10-05). "What Goeth Before the Fall". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-10-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Roe v. Wade, Cornell Law School Supreme Court Collection
5. Crane (2004)
6. John Podhoretz, Bush Country: How Dubya became a great president while driving liberals insane (2004) p. 116.
7. "New Report Shows Welfare Reform Success in Increasing Work and Raising Incomes" (Press release). House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources. 2003-04-07. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. Wachino, Victoria (2005-03-10). "The House Budget Committee's Proposed Medicaid and SCHIP Cuts Are Larger Than Those The Administration Proposed". Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Crane (2004)
10. See Juliet Eilperin, "Watts Walks a Tightrope on Affirmative Action," Washington PostTuesday, May 12, 1998; Page A17, online at
11. ^ "Exit Polls". CNN. 2006-11-07. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. See National Black Republican Association at
13. ^ "Exit Polls". CNN. 2004-11-02. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Affordable Family Formation–The Neglected Key To GOP’s Future by Steve Sailer
15. Unmarried Women in the 2004 Presidential Election (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."
16. Data based on exit polls reported in The New York Times, November 10th, 1988, p. 18.
17. Crane (2004) pp 258-66.
18. Robert Booth Fowler et al, Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices (2004)
19. Earl Black and Merle Black. Politics and Society in the South (2005)
20. "Public Sours on Government and Business". Pew Research Center. 2005-10-25. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
21. Franklin, Will (2005-06-08). "Checking In On That Emerging Democratic Majority". Retrieved 2006-10-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
22. Judis, John B. (2005-01-04). "Movement Interruptus". The American Prospect. Retrieved 2006-11-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
23. "Corzine's Big Gains with Hispanics Have National Significance". NDN PAC. 2005-12-07. Retrieved 2006-10-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
24. "1984 Presidential Election Results - Minnesota". Retrieved 2006-11-18.
25. Nichols, David K. "Lessons of the Bush Defeat: The Conservative Electorate of 1992". Retrieved 2006-10-12.
26. Johnson, Haynes (1989). Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years. 28.
27. Cartoon of the Day: "The Third-Term Panic"

References

• Gould, Lewis. Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans (2003)
• Jensen, Richard. Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983 (1983)
• Kleppner, Paul, et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), applies party systems model
• Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854-1966. 2d ed. (1967)
• Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996)
• Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001).
• 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:
  • 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). Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)
• Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2006: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2005).
• Aistrup, Joseph A. The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South (1996)
• Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002)
• 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)
• Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2005)
• Frum, David. What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America (1996)
• Judis, John B. and Ruy Teixeira. The Emerging Democratic Majority (2004) two Democrats project social trends
  • "Movement Interruptus: September 11 Slowed the Democratic Trend That We Predicted, but the Coalition We Foresaw Is Still Taking Shape" The American Prospect Vol 16. Issue: 1. January 2005
• Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
• 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) textbook.
• 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
• Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983)
• Mel Steely. The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich Mercer University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-86554-671-1.
• Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America (2004).

External links

• 1854 establishments
• Conservative parties
• International Democrat Union
• Political parties in the United States
• Republican Party (United States)
• Anti-communist political parties