Rockefeller Republican

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Rockefeller Republican refers to a faction of the United States Republican Party who held moderate to liberal views similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller. The term largely fell out of use by the end of the twentieth century, and has been replaced by the derisive term RINOs.

Contents 1 History 2 Disuse of the term 3 References 4 Further reading 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] History

Thomas E. Dewey, governor of New York from 1942 to 1954 and the Republican presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948, was the leader of the moderate wing of the Republican Party in the 1940s and early 1950s, battling conservative Republicans from the Midwest led by Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, known as "Mr. Republican." With the help of Dewey, General Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Taft for the 1952 presidential nomination and became the leader of the moderates. Eisenhower coined the phrase "Modern Republicanism" to describe his moderate vision of Republicanism.

After Eisenhower, Rockefeller emerged as the leader of the moderate wing of the Republican party, running for President in 1960, 1964 and 1968. Rockefeller Republicans suffered a crushing defeat in 1964 when conservatives captured control of the Republican party and nominated Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona for President.

Other leaders include Pennsylvania governor Raymond P. Shafer.

After Rockefeller left the national stage in 1976, this faction of the party was more often called "moderate Republicans" or Nixonians, in contrast to the conservatives who rallied to Ronald Reagan.

Historically Rockefeller Republicans were moderate or liberal on domestic and social policies. They typically favored New Deal programs, welfare, and civil rights—usually promising to run them more efficiently than the Democrats. They were strong supporters of big business. In fiscal policy they favored balanced budgets and relatively high tax levels. They sought long-term economic growth through entrepreneurship, not tax cuts. In state politics, they were strong supporters of state colleges and universities, low tuition, and large research budgets. They favored infrastructure improvements, such as highway projects.

Barry Goldwater crusaded against the Rockefeller Republicans, beating Rockefeller narrowly in the California primary of 1964. That set the stage for a conservative resurgence, based in the South and West in opposition to the Northeast. As time went on moderate and liberal Republicans began to make up less and less of the GOP. Gerald Ford was the last moderate Republican to be his party's presidential nominee. In the 1976 campaign he dropped Rockefeller from the ticket and replaced him with the more conservative Kansas Senator Bob Dole. In the 1980 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses, George H.W. Bush ran as a moderate against the conservative Ronald Reagan, famously coining the term "voodoo economics", but later adopted many of Reagan's policies when he ran for President in 1988.

The "Rockefeller Republican" label is sometimes applied to such modern-day politicians as Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine.^{[citation needed]} Another is former Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island^[1], a liberal in cultural as well as international respects. The departure of U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords from the Republican party in 2001 dramatized the still-existing tension between the liberals of the party and what is today its generally more influential socially-conservative wing. Some conservative and libertarian critics of his policies sometimes refer to former President George W. Bush as a liberal Republican.^{[2] [3] [4]} The 2006 elections—including the defeat of many moderate Republicans such as Lincoln Chafee, Rob Simmons of Connecticut, Charlie Bass of New Hampshire, and Jim Leach of Iowa—saw the prominence of Rockefeller Republicans dwindle even further. The 2009 departure of Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter from the Republican party further reduced their numbers.

Ethnic changes in the Northeast may have led to the eclipse of the Rockefeller Republican. Many Republicans associated with this title were WASPs. As time went on, the local Republican parties tended to nominate Catholic candidates who appealed to middle class concerns, such as George Pataki, Al D'Amato, and Tom Ridge.

[edit] Disuse of the term

The term "Rockefeller Republican" is now somewhat archaic, and Republicans with these views are now generally referred to as simply "moderate Republicans," "liberal Republicans" or, in a more derogatory term, Republicans in Name Only (RINOs). Colin Powell is a noted modern person who referred to himself as a "Rockefeller Republican" as recently as 1995.^[5][6]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Burns, James MacGregor. The Deadlock of Democracy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: 1967.
• Conrad Joyner. The Republican Dilemma: Conservatism or Progressivism (1963)
• Kristol, Irving. "American Conservatism 1945-1995." Public Interest 94 ( Fall 1995): 80-91.
• David W. Reinhard. The Republican Right since 1945 (1983)
• Rae, Nicol. Decline and Fall of the Liberal Republicans: 1952 to The Present. 1989.
• Reichley, A. James. Conservatives in an Age of Change: The Nixon and Ford Administrations. 1981.
• Reiter, Howard. "Intra-Party Cleavages in the United States Today." Western Political Quarterly 34 ( 1981): 287-300.
• Sherman, Janann. No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith (2000)

[edit] See also

• Nixonian
• Gypsy moth Republican
• Factions in the Republican Party (United States)
• Republican In Name Only
• South Park Republican
• Red Tory, in Canada
• Wets, in the United Kingdom

[edit] External links

• Republican Main Street Partnership - Republican group interested in building a pragmatic center in the GOP.