The Roots of Modern Conservatism

Dewey, Taft, and the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party

Michael Bowen

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781469618968, 9780807834855
• eBook ISBN: 9780807869192
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Between 1944 and 1953, a power struggle emerged between New York governor Thomas Dewey and U.S. senator Robert Taft of Ohio that threatened to split the Republican Party. In The Roots of Modern Conservatism, Michael Bowen reveals how this two-man battle for control of the GOP — and the Republican presidential nomination — escalated into a divide of ideology that ultimately determined the party’s political identity.

Initially, Bowen argues, the separate Dewey and Taft factions endorsed fairly traditional Republican policies. However, as their conflict deepened, the normally mundane issues of political factions, such as patronage and fund-raising, were overshadowed by the question of what “true” Republicanism meant. Taft emerged as the more conservative of the two leaders, while Dewey viewed Taft’s policies as outdated. Eventually, conservatives within the GOP organized against Dewey’s leadership and, emboldened by the election of Dwight Eisenhower, transformed the party into a vehicle for the Right. Bowen reveals how this decade-long battle led to an outpouring of conservative sentiment that had been building since World War II, setting the stage for the ascendancy of Barry Goldwater and the modern conservative movement in the 1960s.

Index

• Acheson, Arthur, 90
• Adams, John, 181
• Adams, Sherman, 120, 122, 142, 143;
  • as Eisenhower’s chief of staff, 154–88 passim
• African Americans, 15, 17, 179, 180;
  • and the Dewey campaign, 24, 28;
  • and the Republican Party, 28, 37, 41, 43;
  • and the Taft campaign, 28, 41, 74, 89–90, 95, 107–8. See also Civil rights policy;
  • Fair Employment Practices Committee
• Agricultural policy, 44, 159, 194
• Aiken, George, 98
• Alsop, Joseph, 106–7, 111–12, 123–24, 128, 134–35, 137, 138, 140, 155, 160, 163
• Alsop, Stewart, 78, 99, 106–7, 111–12, 123–24, 138, 140, 155, 160, 163
• Amerasia, 39
• America First Committee, 19
• American Bar Association, 177
• American Enterprise Association, 92
• American Federation of Labor (AFL), 51, 70, 101, 160, 167, 169
• analysis, 219 (n. 19)
• Anderson, Alton, 58
• Anti-Communism, 11, 12, 84, 131, 173–75, 183, 184, 187–88, 198;
  • Taft faction’s use of, 39, 41–43;
  • and Joseph McCarthy, 92–94, 99–100, 111, 115, 134–35, 163–64, 180–82, 188
• Army-McCarthy hearings, 180–81
• As We Go Marching (Flynn), 82
• Atlantic, 24, 30
• Bailey, Josiah, 18
• Baker, Joseph, 29
• Ball, Joseph, 48
• Bank of New York, 30
• Barron’s, 132, 219 (n. 19)
• Beck, Axel, 86
• Bender, George, 47, 155
• Bennett, James Gordon, Sr., 63
• Bennett, John Gordon, 63, 82–83, 84
• Benson, Ezra Taft, 166
• Bermingham, Edward, 171
• Bilbo, Theodore, 45, 48
• Bliss, Ray, 201, 211 (n. 31)
• Boorstin, Daniel, 203
• Bozell, L. Brent, 181, 196, 198
• Bricker, John, 22, 145, 177–78, 201, 210 (n. 13)
• Bricker Amendment, 177–78, 202
• Briggs, W. C., 64, 124–25
• Brown, Clarence, 36, 37, 82, 197, 198;
  • as head...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• The Roots of Modern Conservatism
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Introduction
• ONE Thirst for Power and Self-Perpetuation, 1944–1946
• TWO Communism vs. Republicanism, 1946–1948
• THREE Opportunity Wasted, 1948
• FOUR A Nation of Morons, 1949–1950
• FIVE The Great Republican Mystery, 1951–1952
• SIX If We Sleep on This, We Are Really Suckers, 1952
• SEVEN Prelude to a Purge, 1952–1953
• EIGHT Moderating Republicanism, 1953–1964
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index