Ronald Reagan gives a televised address from theOval Office outlining his plan for tax reductions in July 1981 (excerpt).
Thistimeline of modern American conservatism lists important events, developments and occurrences that have affectedconservatism in the United States. With the decline of the conservative wing of theDemocratic Party following 1960, the movement is most closely associated with theRepublican Party (GOP).Economic conservatives favor less government regulation, lower taxes and weaker labor unions whilesocial conservatives focus on moral issues and neoconservatives focus on democracy worldwide. Some conservatives generally distrust the United Nations and Europe and, apart from thelibertarian wing, favor a strong military.[1]
Although conservatism has much older roots inAmerican history, the modern movement began to solidify in the mid-1930s when intellectuals and politicians collaborated with businessmen to oppose the liberalism of theNew Deal led by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, newly energizedlabor unions and big-city Democratic machines. After World War II, thatcoalition gained strength from new philosophers and writers who developed an intellectual rationale for conservatism.[2]
Richard Nixon's victory in the1968 election is often considered a realigning election inAmerican politics. From 1932 to 1968, the Democratic Party was the majority party as during that time the Democrats had won seven out of nine presidential elections and their agenda gravely affected that undertaken by RepublicanDwight D. Eisenhower administration, which was altered completely with Nixon's 1968 electoral victory. Democrats were largely split over whether to support or oppose theVietnam War, and many whites felt the national Democratic Party had deserted them, leading many of them to vote Republican at the presidential level since the 1950s and at the state and local level since the 1990s.[citation needed]
As the nation plunged into itsdeepest depression ever, Republicans and conservatives fall into disfavor in 1930, 1932 and 1934, losing more and more of their seats. Liberals (mostly Democrats with a few Republicans and independents) come to power with thelandslide 1932 election of liberal Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. In his first 100 days Roosevelt pushes through a series of dramatic economic programs known as theNew Deal.[4]
President Roosevelt calls his opponents "conservatives" as a term of abuse, they reply that they are "true liberals".[11]
Most publishers favor Republican moderateAlf Landon for president. In the nation's 15 largest cities the newspapers that editorially endorsed Landon represented 70% of the circulation, while Roosevelt won 69% of the actual voters.[12]
Rooseveltcarries 46 of the 48 states and liberals gain in both theHouse and theSenate, thanks to newly energized labor unions, city machines, and the WPA.[13] Since 1928 the GOP has lost 178 House seats, 40 Senate seats, and 19 governorships; it retains a mere 89 seats in the House and 16 in the Senate.[14]
1937
Roosevelt's plan topack the Supreme Court alienates conservative Democrats; most newspapers which supported FDR in 1936 oppose the plan, with many warning it was a prelude to dictatorship.[15]
Conservative Republicans (nearly all from the North) and conservative Democrats (most from the South), form theConservative Coalition and block most new liberal proposals until the 1960s.[16]
The liberalAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL) and more leftistCongress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) labor federations are both growing and both support FDR. Their bitter feud over jurisdiction, however, produces numerous strikes, angers public opinion and weakens their political power.[18]
1938
Opponents of conservatism weaken sharply. FDR's allies in theAFL andCIO battle each other; his court-packing plan is rejected; his attempt to purge the conservatives from the Democratic Party fails and strengthens them; the sharprecession of 1937–1938 discredits his argument that New Deal policies would lead to full recovery.[19]
The Republicans make major gains in theHouse andSenate in the 1938 elections.[20]
As Republican senator from Ohio (1939–53),Robert A. Taft leads the conservative opposition to liberal policies (apart from public housing and aid to education, which he supported). Taft opposed most of the New Deal, entry intoWorld War II,NATO, and sending troops to theKorean War. He was not so much an "isolationist" as a staunch opponent of the ever-expanding powers of the White House. The growth of this power, Taft feared, would lead to dictatorship or at least spoil American democracy,republicanism and civil virtue.[22]
Medical missionaryWalter Judd (1898–1994) enters Congress (1943–63) and defines the conservative position on China as all-out support for theNationalists underChiang Kai-shek and opposition to theCommunists underMao. Judd redoubled his support after the Nationalists in 1949 fled to Formosa (Taiwan).[23]
TheAmerican Enterprise Institute (AEI) is founded in Washington "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate."[24]
1944
Party change of House seats in 1946 showcasingGOP landslide
March:Friedrich Hayek, an Austrian-born British economist, publishesThe Road to Serfdom, which is widely read in America and Britain. He warns that well-intentioned government intervention in the economy is a slippery slope that will lead to tight government controls over people's lives, just as medieval serfdom had done.[25]
Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973), having fled the Nazis, becomes professor of economics at New York University (1945–1969) where he disseminatesAustrian School libertarianism.[29]
November 5: Republicans score landslide victories in theHouse andSenate in off-year elections and set about enacting a conservative agenda in the80th Congress.[32]
Warning against communism, 1947
1947
June: Congress passes theTaft-Hartley Act, designed by conservatives to create what they consider a proper balance between the rights of management and the rights of labor. Unions call it a slave labor law; Truman vetoes it and both houses override the veto.[33]
1948
Deep South Democrats led byStrom Thurmond split from the National Democratic Party to form the pro-segregationStates' Rights Democratic Party or Dixiecrat party. They are protesting support for civil rights legislation in the party platform and make Thurmond their nominee for president in the1948 election. Nearly all return to the Democratic party in 1949.[34]
The intellectual reputation of conservatism reaches a low ebb;Lionel Trilling observes that "liberalism is not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition" and dismisses conservatism as a series of "irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas."[39]
February: Republican SenatorJoseph McCarthy gives a speech saying, "While I cannot take the time to name all the men in the State Department who have been named as members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring, I have here in my hand a list of 205." The speech marks the beginning of McCarthy's anti-communist pursuits.[40]
1951
Political philosopherFrancis Wilson inThe Case for Conservatism (1951) defines conservatism as "a philosophy of social evolution, in which certain lasting values are defended within the framework of the tension of political conflict. And when given values are at stake the conservative can even become a revolutionary."[41][42]
Four major works of intellectual history that would influence conservatism are published:Daniel J. Boorstin'sThe Genius of American Politics,Peter Viereck'sConservatism: From John Adams to Churchill,Russell Kirk'sThe Conservative Mind, andRobert Nisbet'sQuest for Community[45]
Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) is founded by libertarian journalistFrank Chodorov (1887–1966) to counter the growing spread of collectivism; its original name wasIntercollegiate Society of Individualists.[46]
1953
President Eisenhower works closely with Senator Taft, the new GOP majority leader, on domestic issues; they differ on foreign policy.[47]
InThe Liberal Tradition in American,Louis Hartz claims that there has never been a European-style conservative tradition in America and that the sole mainstream tradition is Lockean liberalism.[49]
1957
Russian-born philosopherAyn Rand (1905–1982) publishes her novelAtlas Shrugged; it attracts the libertarian wing ofAmerican conservatism by promoting aggressiveentrepreneurship and rejectingreligion andaltruism. She influences even those conservative intellectuals who reject her ethical system such as Buckley and Whittaker Chambers.[50][51]
Vermont C. Royster (1914–1996) becomes editor of the editorial page ofThe Wall Street Journal (1958 to 1971). He wins two Pulitzer Prizes for his conservative interpretation of economic and political news.[52]
Conservatives try economic populism to appeal to blue collar workers forced to join labor unions. The GOP pushes "right-to-work" laws in California and elsewhere, but the unions counter-organize for the Democrats. Conservatives try again in 2011.[53][54]
December: BusinessmanRobert W. Welch, Jr. (1899–1985) and twelve others found theJohn Birch Society, an anti-communist advocacy group with chapters across the country. Welch uses an elaborate control system that enables him to keep a very tight rein on each chapter. Its major activities are circulating petitions and supporting the local police. It becomes a favorite target of attack from the left and is disowned by many of the prominent conservatives of the day.[58]
1959
As late as 1959 William Buckley complains that conservatives were "bound together for the most part by negative response to liberalism," and that, philosophically, "there [is] no commonly-acknowledged conservative position."[59]
Liberalism made major gains after the assassination ofJohn F. Kennedy in 1963, asLyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) pushed through his liberalGreat Society as well as civil rights laws. An unexpected bonanza helped conservatism in the late 1960s as liberalism came under intense attack from theNew Left, especially in academe. This new element, says liberal historianMichael Kazin, worked to "topple the corrupted liberal order."[60] For the New Left "liberal" became a nasty epithet. Liberal commentatorE. J. Dionne finds that, "If liberal ideology began to crumble intellectually in the 1960s it did so in part because the New Left represented a highly articulate and able wrecking crew."[61]
"A Time for Choosing" Speech
In support of Goldwater in 1964, Reagan delivers the TV address "A Time for Choosing", a speech which made Reagan the leader of movement conservatism.
Movement conservatism emerges as grassroots activists react to liberal andNew Left agendas. It develops a structure that supports Goldwater in 1964 andRonald Reagan in 1976–80. By the late 1970s, local evangelical churches join the movement.[62][63]Liberalism faces a racial crisis nationwide. Within weeks of the passage of the1964 Civil Rights law, "long hot summers" begin, lasting until 1970, with theworst outbreaks coming in the summer of 1967. Nearly 400 racial disorders in 298 cities saw blacks attacking shopkeepers and police, and looting stores.[64] Meanwhile, the urban crime rates shoot up. Demands for "law and order" escalate and the backlash causes disillusionment among working class whites with the liberalism of the Democratic Party.[65]
In the mid-1960s the GOP debates race and civil rights intensely. Republican liberals, led byNelson Rockefeller, argue for a strong federal role because it was morally right and politically advantageous. Conservatives call for a more limited federal presence and discount the possibility of significant black voter support. Nixon avoids race issues in 1968.[66]
Conservatives are angered when GOP presidential nomineeRichard Nixon strikes a deal with liberal leader Nelson Rockefeller. Nixon agrees to put all 14 of Rockefeller's demands in the party platform, including promises that the executive branch be totally reorganized and that Rockefeller's liberal policies on economic growth, medical care for the aged and civil rights be included.[67] Led by Goldwater, conservatives vow to organize at the grass roots and take control of the GOP.[68]
Fall:Frank S. Meyer's article, "Freedom, Tradition, Conservatism", is published inModern Age, argues that traditional conservatism and libertarianism share a common philosophical heritage. The concept comes to be known as "fusionism" and unites the two strands of thought.[70]
September: William F. Buckley, Jr., forms a youth group called theYoung Americans for Freedom; it helps Goldwater win the 1964 nomination but is otherwise ineffective and collapses in internal bickering.[71]
May: Texas elects SenatorJohn Tower; he is the first Republican from the former Confederacy ever to win popular election and begins the growth of the GOP in that state.[74]
1962
Buckley and theNational Review launch denunciations of the John Birch Society; Goldwater agrees; the attack limits its influence to the conspiracy-minded.[75]
1963
The controversial "Daisy" Johnson TV commercial in 1964 attacks Goldwater foreign policy as inviting nuclear war.[76]
January: Governor of Alabama, DemocratGeorge Wallace, electrifies the white South by proclaiming "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" Wallace's angry populist rhetoric appeals to the poor farmers and workers who comprise a major part of theNew Deal Coalition. He does well in Democratic primaries in the industrial North as well as the rural South. He exploits distrust of government, racial fear, anti-communism and a yearning for "traditional" American values.[77]
In support of Goldwater, Reagan delivers the address, "A Time for Choosing", which speech launches Reagan to national prominence.[78]
1964
June: SenatorEverett Dirksen (R-IL) plays a key role in passage of the1964 Civil Rights Act to end segregation, but Goldwater joins Southern Democrats in voting against it.[79]
Jul: George Wallace gives a speech condemning theCivil Rights Act of 1964, claiming that it would threaten individual liberty, free enterprise and private property rights and that "The liberal left-wingers have passed it. Now let them employ some pinknik social engineers in Washington, D.C., to figure out what to do with it."[80]
July: Goldwater defeats liberal Republicans Rockefeller to win theGOP presidential nomination and launch a conservative crusade.
July: Under attack as an "extremist," Goldwater lashes back in his speech accepting the GOP nomination:
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue![81]
November: In thepresidential election, Goldwater is defeated in a landslide, and many GOP congressmen are defeated with him.[82]
December: TheAmerican Conservative Union, the oldest conservative lobbying organization in the United States, is founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.[83]
April: SocialistNorman Thomas appears on the premiere episode ofFiring Line with host William F. Buckley. The program remains on the air for 33 years and is the longest running television program with the same host.[85]
New Left students hold highly publicized rallies chanting, "Hey– Hey– LBJ– How many kids did you kill today?". Their confrontational rhetoric and efforts to disrupt the draft alienates millions of voters who move to the right.[88]
1968 presidential election results in whichred denotes states won by Nixon/Agnew,blue denotes those won by Humphrey/Muskie andorange denotes states won by Wallace/LeMay
Liberalism collapses politically as the Democratic Party splits into five factions over issues of Vietnam, race and attacks from New Left.[92]Richard Nixon iselected president overHubert Humphrey and George Wallace (American Independent Party), emphasizing the need for law and order.[93] The New Left denounced Humphrey as awar criminal, Nixon attacked him as the New Left's enabler—a man with "a personal attitude of indulgence and permissiveness toward the lawless."[94] Beinart observes that "with the country divided against itself, contempt for Hubert Humphrey was the one thing on which left and right could agree."[95]
1969
Libertarian economists, especially Milton Friedman andWalter Oi, lead the intellectual charge against the draft. Nixon abolishes it as the Vietnam War ends in 1973.[96]
Young Americans for Freedom splits into competing, irreconcilable factions.[97] The libertarians, influenced by Ayn Rand, split from the traditionalists and form theSociety for Individual Liberty.[98]
HistoriansMeg Jacobs andJulian Zelizer argue that the 1970s were characterized by "a vast shift toward social and political conservatism," as well as a sharp decline in the proportion of voters who identified with liberalism.[99]Neoconservatism emerges as liberals become disenchanted with Lyndon B. Johnson'sGreat Society welfare programs. They increasingly focus on foreign policy, especially anti-communism, and support for Israel and for democracy in the Third World.[100]
While Nixon continues to antagonize and anger liberals, many of his programs upset conservatives. His foreign policy withHenry Kissinger focuses on détente with the USSR and China, and becomes a main target of conservatives. Nixon is uninterested in tax cuts or deregulation, but he does use executive orders and presidential authority to impose price and wage controls, expand the welfare state, require Affirmative Action, grow theNational Endowment for the Humanities and theNational Endowment for the Arts, and create theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA).[101]
Richard Nixon wins alandslide reelection, carrying 49 states against anti-war liberalGeorge McGovern. Suspicious of Democratic trickery, Nixon sends agents to bug the Democratic National Headquarters, then covers up his tracks when they are caught in theWatergate scandal.
Robert L. Bartley (1937–2003) becomes editor of the editorial page ofThe Wall Street Journal; he retires in 2002 after writing and supervising tens of thousands of editorials taking a conservative position on economic and political issues. He is called "the most influential editorial writer" of his day.[107]
1973
Traditional conservativeJesse Helms of North Carolina takes his Senate seat; he retires in 2002. As long-time chairman of the powerfulSenate Foreign Relations Committee, he demands a staunchly anti-communist foreign policy that would reward America's friends abroad, and punish its enemies. His relations with the State Department are often acrimonious, and he blocks numerous presidential appointees. HisNational Congressional Club uses state-of-the-art direct mail operation to raise millions for conservative candidates and for Helms' own sharply contested reelections.[108]
Robert Grant founds the American Christian Cause as an effort to institutionalize theChristian right as a politically active social movement.[112]
January: The firstMarch for Life attracts 20,000 supporters in Washington.[113]
August: Conservatives, led by Goldwater, desert Nixon when the "smoking gun" is discovered that proves Nixon covered up the crimes of theWatergate scandal. Nixon resigns in disgrace, but his Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger stays on in the moderately conservative administration ofGerald R. Ford.[114]
William F. Buckley Jr. (left) and Ronald Reagan, two of the most visible conservatives of the 1970s and 1980s
November: Liberal Democrats attack Watergate and score major victories in theoff-year elections.[115]
1976
Commentary, a monthly Jewish magazine on politics, foreign policy, society and cultural issues that began as a liberal voice in the 1940s moves sharply to the right in the 1970s under editorNorman Podhoretz. It becomes an influential voice for Israel, anti-communism and neoconservatism by 1976, and supports Reagan in the 1980s.[116]
George H. Nash publishesThe Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, arguing that Buckley'sNational Review fused together the traditional, libertarian and anti-Communist traditions to forge a conservative intellectual movement.[117]
June: California unleashes a tax revolt, withProposition 13 to limit property taxes, promoted byHoward Jarvis (1903–1986), a long-time activist. The movement was backed by the United Organizations of Taxpayers, the Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association and realtors' associations.[122] Preconditions included steadily rising property taxes, "stagflation" and growing anger at government waste. California's tax revolt was followed by 30 other states.[123]
1979
In reaction against liberal and presidential support for the UN'sInternational Women's Year, conservative women meet in Houston to coordinate their grass roots work. Led by Phyllis Schlafly, they block passage of the ERA and work to nominate Ronald Reagan as the Republican candidate for president.[124]
Beverly LaHaye and eight other women foundConcerned Women for America (CWA) to oppose the Equal Rights Amendment. It later expands its scope to address socially conservative issues.[125] CWA has been described as "a key player in conservative evangelical politics" and according to CWA it is the largest women's organization in the United States.[126]
February:Irving Kristol is featured on the cover ofEsquire under the caption, "the godfather of the most powerful new political force in America –neoconservatism."[127]
Reagan promotes "supply side economics", arguing that tax cuts will stimulate the economy, which suffers high unemployment and high inflation (called "stagflation").[135]
The Cold War heats up as Reagan pursues arollback strategy in Latin America and Africa. He supports the anti-Communist "Contra" rebels who attempt to overthrow the pro-CommunistSandinista regime in Nicaragua.[137] Liberal Democrats in Congress try to block his moves and undercut the Contras, leading to a series of battles in the halls of Congress in which Reagan (mostly) prevails.[138] The Sandinistas are forced to hold fair elections in 1990, which they lose by 41%–55%.[139]
1982
June: President Reagan tells the British Parliament that "the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on theash heap of history"[140] and calls for a "crusade for freedom."[141]
September: Associate JusticeWilliam Rehnquist is confirmed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.[145] Reagan chooses Rehnquist in a deliberate effort to move the Court to the right, knowing he has the conservative constitutional agenda firmly in mind.[146]
Replacing Rehnquist as Associate Justice,Antonin Scalia is confirmed by the Senate 90–0. He has been called "the creative, brilliant, and outspoken intellectual leader of the Court's conservative majority."[147]
October: Congress enacts theTax Reform Act of 1986, the second of the "Reagan Tax Cuts". The act simplifies the tax code, reduces the marginal income tax rate on the wealthiest Americans from 50% to 28%, and increases the marginal tax rate on the lowest-earning taxpayers from 10% to 15%.[148]
November: theIran Contra scandal draws national attention and threatened to derail Reagan's progress. Working with theCIA Reagan had authorizedNational Security Council officials to engage in a complicated sale of missiles to Iran with the goal of funding the Contras fighting Nicaragua. Blame increasingly centered on the key operative,Oliver North. However, in week-long dramatic testimony North emerges a conservative hero. North is convicted on minor counts but the conviction is reversed on appeal because he did not receive a fair trial. Reagan's reputation survives and he leaves office more popular than he began.[149]
November: theBerlin Wall falls as the satellite states free themselves from Soviet control. West Germany absorbs East Germany in 1990, and in late 1991Communism collapses in Russia as the red flag is lowered for the last time. Reagan becomes a hero in Eastern Europe.[155]
Conservative think tanks 1990–97 mobilize to challenge the legitimacy ofglobal warming as a social problem. They challenge the scientific evidence, argue that global warming will have benefits, and warn that proposed solutions would do more harm than good.[156]
1991
October:Clarence Thomas, ablack Republican, is confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court aftercontroversial hearings that focus less on his strongly conservative beliefs than his relationship with one of his aides, Anita Hill, who accuses him of sexual harassment.[157]
1992
November: George H. W. Bush is defeated byBill Clinton in thepresidential election. Bush had alienated much of his conservative base by breaking his1988 campaign pledge: "Read my lips: no new taxes" He also seemed much more interested in remote foreign affairs than the domestic issues that concerned most voters.[158]
September: TheContract with America is released on the steps of the Capitol.[159] Designed by GOP House WhipNewt Gingrich, it had the effect of "nationalizing" the off-year election, as most Republican candidates endorsed it and used it as a template to promote a conservative agenda in economic policy. TheContract avoided divisive social issues.[160]
November: in theRepublican Revolution, Republicanstake control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. The Democrats lose 52 seats in the House and8 in the Senate, giving the GOP margins of 230 to 204 and 53 to 47.[161]
1995
January:Newt Gingrich becomes Speaker of the House. His "Contract with America" scores mixed results in Congress. Its main points (and their fate in Congress) were:[162]
Matt Drudge launches his news website theDrudge Report.[167] His first assistant isAndrew Breitbart (1969–2012), who later becomes a prominent conservative voice on the web.[168] TheDrudge Report achieves national prominence on January 17, 1998, when it publishes a story which comes to be known as theMonica Lewinsky scandal.[167]
September:Christopher W. Ruddy starts conservative news websiteNewsmax. Its hourly updates provided timely ammunition to conservative talk show hosts.[169]
The terror attack on September 11, 2001, reorients the administration towards foreign policy and terrorism issues, providing an opportunity for neoconservatives to have a greater influence on foreign policy. TheBush Doctrine leads to long-term interventions in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and Iraq (2003–2011).[170]
On the domestic front Bush promisescompassionate conservatism and works to improve education, address poverty nationwide, increase financial aid to poor countries and help alleviate AIDS in Africa.[171]
At a joint session of Congress, President Bush pledges to defend America's freedom against the fear of terrorism, a policy known as theBush Doctrine, September 20, 2001 (audio only).
June: President Bush signed his10-year tax cut into law; in 2000 he had promised to return the federal budget surplus through an across-the-board reduction in federal income taxes.[173]
January:Samuel Alito, nominated by George W. Bush, is confirmed as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court on a party-line vote in the Senate.[179]
November: DemocratBarack Obama defeated RepublicanJohn McCain by 53% to 46%. Barack Obama was elected and officiallyinaugurated as president of the United States of America on January 20, 2009. He was re-elected president in November 2012 and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. The national exit poll shows self-identified conservatives comprise 34% of the voters and support McCain 78% to 20%. Liberals comprise 22% of the voters and support Obama 89% to 10%. Moderates comprise 44% of the voters and support Obama 60% to 39%.[185]
November:Proposition 8 which prescribes that marriage is between a man and a woman in California is passed with 52.2% of the vote.[186]
2009
TheTea Party movement is founded, in part emerging fromlibertarian conservativeRon Paul's2008 campaign for the Republican nomination.[187][188][189] The loosely organized conservative movement demands rigorous adherence to the Constitution, lower taxes, lower deficits, restrictions on illegal immigrants, and opposes Obama's health care proposals.[190]
Numerous historians after 1990 re-examined the role of conservatism in recent American history, according it much greater importance than before.[192] One school of thought rejects the older consensus that liberalism was the dominant ethos. Instead it argues conservatism dominated American politics since the 1920s, with the brief exceptions of the New Deal era (1933–36) and the Great Society (1963–66).[193] However Historian Julian Zelizer argues that "liberalism survived the rise of conservatism."[194]
2010
Supreme Court decision inCitizens United v. FEC holds that the free speech clause of the First Amendment applies to political speech during elections, making spending limits unconstitutional in certain cases. The Court majority upheld the libertarian approach to free speech, while the dissenters took an egalitarian approach.[195]
2010 House election results:dark blue denotes Democratic gain,blue denotes Democratic hold,dark red denotes Republican gain andred denotes Republican hold.
November: in the largest GOP gain since 1938, 2010 became one of the most important elections in conservative history[196] as GOP candidates make major gains inmidterm elections across the country for Congress, governorships and state legislatures. Conservative voters (self-identified) comprise 42% of the voters and support GOP House candidates 84% to 13%. Liberals comprise 20% of the voters and support Democrats 90% to 8%. Moderates comprise 38% of the voters and support the GOP 55% to 42%.[197] Republicans gain 63 seats in the House of Representatives and six seats in the U.S. Senate.
2012
A central concern for conservatives in the 2012 GOP primaries was whether front-runnerMitt Romney is conservative enough. Numerous other challengers on the right rose and fell, notablyHerman Cain,Rick Santorum,Newt Gingrich,Rick Perry, andMichele Bachmann.[198] Romney moved sharply to the right and chose deficit hawk RepresentativePaul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate.[199] Obama, however, successfully mobilized his base and won reelection, as Democrats made small gains in the House and Senate.
2014
November: Republicans win majorities in both houses of Congress, and flip several governorships in the2014 midterm elections.
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^Benjamin Balint (2010).Running Commentary: The Contentious Magazine That Transformed the Jewish Left Into the Neoconservative Right. PublicAffairs. passim.
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Congressional Quarterly.Congress and the Nation: 1945–1964 (1965);Congress and the Nation: 1965–1968 (1969); with new volumes every four years, 1973, 1977... etc. Highly detailed nonpartisan timelines of political activity in Washington.
