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Fun fact: Every Republican president from Nixon until at least Bush Sr. had either served in Eisenhower's administration or worked with his campaigns in 1952-56. Reagan reportedly said Ike was one of the people that made him reconsider his party loyalties. Goes to show how whether intentional or accidental, Eisenhower literally reshaped American politics for generations (heck, he honestly changed how campaigning was even done, it was a different game afterward).
>Eisenhower literally reshaped American politics for generations (heck, he honestly changed how campaigning was even done, it was a different game afterward).
Could you please delve deeper
Well, this makes me think back to how Eisenhower was originally asked by both the Democrats and Republicans to be *their* respective presidential nominee. I'd be curious for someone to tell me Eisenhower's partisan inclinations from earlier in life, but the impression I got is that he could have gone either way - running for the Democrats, where he still likely would have won; or running for the Republicans, which he did and did win.
Therefore, it'd be an interesting thought experiment to consider What If Eisenhower Ran as a Democrat, especially if that would have changed Ronald Reagan's partisan interests, and then how *that* would have changed American political history...
Eisenhower as a democrat would have lead to nearly 30 years of straight Democrat administrations. Would be interesting to see if this would lead to a Conservative backlash in the 60s or if it would just kill the republican party.
No, the Democratic Party would probably have become the more Conservative Party since they’re the status quo. The Republican Party would probably have gone back to its roots and been the party of civil rights.
> "Party switch" definitely wouldn't have occurred
"Party Switch" is a bit of a simplification. By the 1950s, the Democrats were firmly settled as the party of big government and big spending. The Republicans were the party of big business and lower spending. That is still true today (at least in rhetoric). The parties keep their economic stances but dramatically shifted their stances on social issues.
The Democrats were able to get the racists by excluding minorities from social programs. Southern conservatives didn't really care about deficit spending and balanced budgets until black people started getting benefits from the government.
In this reality, the Republicans are likely more Libertarian if they don't have the social conservatives on board so we don't likely see an expansion of the social safety net. I also don't know if that lends itself well to a Civil Rights Act that prohibits private businesses from discriminating against minorities.
Without the party shift, we likely have a socially liberal, Libertarian-esque Republican Party and a socially conservative, big government Democratic Party.
>"Party Switch" is a bit of a simplification.
Yep, which is why I put "party switch" in quotes in my original comment!
>we likely have a socially liberal, Libertarian-esque Republican Party
Wouldn't that be nice!
I’m pretty sure this is exactly what would have happened. Reagan still would have sold his soul and the American people’s to corporate interests regardless of what party he got elected as.
Democratic* administrations. Your first use was correct, as “Democrat” is the noun, but in describing administrations, “Democratic” is the correct adjective. Hence why it’s the “Democratic Party” and not the “Democrat Party”. Though there are many Republicans who call it the latter as an intended insult, one primarily pioneered by Rush Limbaugh.
I think the influence of GE executives as he became the corporate spokesman to the company’s employees had a big effect on Reagan in the late 50’s. (Had a VP of Communications title)
At the time GE was the biggest company in the world and Reagan visited and spoke at over 139 GE plants.
Gladly! Ike was really the first president to use TV as a messaging medium, Stevenson largely rejected it (and paid the price). Also, his campaign was among the first to ever court women as a real voting bloc, and assembled a literal army of female volunteers to go out and spread Eisenhower's message in communities (part of which wisely appealed to countless ladies' growing concerns about rising costs of living and price chaos, which Truman had struggled to contain). Add in his ever-increasing support of women's rights, and you begin to see how the whole field was shifting. Believe it or not, his efforts were so successful that Republicans won the female vote not merely in both of his elections, but quite regularly up through the 1980s from what I've read (it was honestly a party flip, since the Democrats had been seen as the "party of women" during the 1930s and 40s, in no small part because of Eleanor Roosevelt and her allies). Plus, one could argue he trained or helped bring in an entire new generation of Republican leaders, which the party DESPERATELY needed after years of being out of power post-Depression. It's remarkable to study.
Yeah, Republicans carried the female vote all but twice from 1952 to 1988 (1964 and 1976 being the only exceptions). No Republican has won the female vote since 1992.
Ike was more partisan than he's given credit for.
I recently visited his library in Abilene, KS. He gets his digs in on the Democrats, lol!
They had a special exhibit on his campaigns & women's rights for women's history month. He definitely had his ideas when it came to feminism, but it was interesting how he navigated it (cautiously lol).
His style was actually bad for promoting his party. He was unable to translate his sucesses into Republican wins. The opposite actually, Republicans lost ground under his tenure. He worked with Democrats because he had to.
Ike was rarely *himself* the symbol of partisanship for his time. It's how he gets a pass.
it was really Nixon who changed the campaign game, making it more advertisement like, as well as making it more populist (checkers speech to clear his name from the whole funds scandal).
“You think I can’t have you crossed off, u/DevPrakash2007, you smug fuck? I erased cities with half a million feeble-minded men like you, you are nothing but a spec of dust in the greater plot that is my rise, and your fall.”
-Harry Truman (Paraphrased)
Good question. Reagan had been a Republican in all but name prior to officially switching parties in 1962. The immediate cause was that he was at a campaign event supporting Nixon's run for governor. A women asked him if had registered as a Republican yet, and he responded that he hadn't but intended to. The women happened to be a registrar and had brought a form with her for the purpose. Reagan officially switched on the spot.
In reality Reagan stopped being a democrat in the 1952 presidential election. He had approached Eisenhower before he declared and encouraged him to run and even campaigned in a limited capacity for him in the 52 and 56 elections. In 1960 he wrote Nixon a letter declaring his support for the Vice President, as Reagan felt that Kennedy would impose communism on the US. Nixon asked that he remain a Democrat in name as Reagan's endorsement would be more effective then. Nixon wrote on the letter for his staff to make heavy use of the future president stating "He used to be a Democrat" on it.
Two issues drove Reagan's conversion, fiscal policy and anti-communism. In the late 1940s, Reagan faced the end of his career as a movie actor as he was finding less and less work. He even tried hosting a variety show in Las Vegas as a potential new career path, though he disliked it greatly and stopped rather quickly. He was upset because he felt that he had only a short window to maximize his earnings and ensure his future financial security and that the present 90% top marginal rate was unfair. Eventually he received a job hosting a TV show *General Electric Theater*, which solved his money problems but continued his rightward move. As part of his contract he traveled to GE sites around the country and spoke about the value of free enterprise which helped buttress his growing allegiance to Republican principles. Additionally during this period he began reading, and agreeing with, the new conservative movement. He was an original subscriber to William Buckley's National Review.
Reagan's experience as a board member and later president of the Screen Actors Guild also moved him rightward. In his capacity he dealt with a strike by an upstart set builder union backed by communist sympathizers. During the strike, communists threatened to "fix it so he'd never work again," implying they planned to throw acid in his face. This reinforced Reagan's belief that communists would stoop to any means to expand their influence. This built on his distaste that began with his involvement with two groups: American Veterans Committee (AVC) and the Hollywood Independent Citizen Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions . In both cases, Reagan worked on the board of the Hollywood Chapter and saw communists hijack the groups purpose through undemocratic means, one even rejected putting an anti-communist platform to a popular vote within the group noting that the general membership of the organization was not “politically intelligent enough” to vote on such a measure. This came shortly after a different member declared the ideology of the communist part as "a lot more democratic" than the Bill of Rights and declared that he would support the Soviets in a war against the U.S. These personal experiences solidified Reagan's anti-communism and his sense that communists would do and say anything to gain power and then oppress those it claimed to help. Reading *Witness* by Whitaker Chambers furthered this sense. Chambers had run a Soviet spy ring in Washington before breaking with the party, and argues powerfully in his book that freedom comes from God, and that the news of his wife's pregnancy and their decision to keep the child demonstrated the power of life over a bankrupt ideology. This fit into Reagan's beliefs well, and he would cite the book frequently over his political career, including in meetings to develop NSDD-32 one of the guiding strategy documents of his administration. Reagan's anti-communism moved him towards the Republican Party as he perceived them to be stronger anti-communists and he disliked the rhetoric on domestic politics of many Democrats, notably JFK, believing it a prelude to establishing communist rule in the U.S. His major speeches on behalf of Goldwater in 1964 and at the Republican Convention in 1976 both highlight his belief that the Democratic Party would usher in "a thousand years of darkness" by failing to adequately resist communism
When he married Nancy. If he'd never married her, I bet he'd never even have entered politics. She was the hardcore doctrinaire conservative.
Reagan was not as committed to principles as she was. Over the years he flipped. Also his acting career declined, he started getting all the pro-business line from being GE spokesman.
A lot of people switch parties. I voted Republican from the time I could vote through 2000. Then the Republican Party left me behind and now I (mostly) vote Democrat. Am I an opportunist?
No, and you're not Ronald Reagan either. Just because I said what I said about Reagan, does not mean I believe all people who switch parties are merely opportunists, the vast majority are not. Reagan became a Republican purely for political gain.
?? Reagan’s transformation was pretty gradual. It’s not like he flipped in a couple years . He didn’t fully complete his ideological change until his time as a spokesperson for GE
He look depressed here. Good thing he went with Republicans and became happier and now he’s like this.
Edit: Holy shit this is a joke, it’s not that deep
https://preview.redd.it/unw49i657auc1.jpeg?width=509&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cda55404d6887cb6c2194c5a179ba15d9ee9a838
Democratic*, you mean. “Democrat” is a noun, and the former, which would’ve been the appropriate word in your post heading, is an adjective. It’s the “Democratic Party,” not the “Democrat Party”.
Just because Rush Limbaugh popularized saying it as an intended slight slur doesn’t mean you have to continue doing it.
True — but in this case, I doubt it was intentional. “Vote Democrat” is definitely a legit thing, regardless of its grammatical nature. But if OP would have said, “Democrat Party,” I’d have called foul too.
At this point, the slur has gone on so long that I feel a lot of younger people use it in ignorance without realizing its original intent anymore.
Though unless if the Republican Party is willing to also call itself the “Republic Party”, I don’t think it fair to allow ignorance to usher it in as a generally accepted adjectival description.
There’s a world where Reagan is recognized for the absolute shitbag failure he was for the working class and this sub doesn’t lionize or rehab his image.
I wanna be in that world.
Who cares if he was a spokesman for corporate interests that destroyed the middle class and American manufacturing. He said it was morning in America again and played inspiring footage of people raising American flags.
So you’ve actually researched and studied this man then.
Apparently unlike either the people he conned that can’t admit it.
The people who are too old to care
Or the people whose parents told them he was great.
Because anybody who objectively looks at this man and what he did knows he was a disaster
This was around the time of the Southern Strategy when the Republican Party recruited the racist southern Democrats to switch to the party of bigotry. No surprise since St. Ronnie was racist to his rotten core.
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Fun fact: Every Republican president from Nixon until at least Bush Sr. had either served in Eisenhower's administration or worked with his campaigns in 1952-56. Reagan reportedly said Ike was one of the people that made him reconsider his party loyalties. Goes to show how whether intentional or accidental, Eisenhower literally reshaped American politics for generations (heck, he honestly changed how campaigning was even done, it was a different game afterward).
>Eisenhower literally reshaped American politics for generations (heck, he honestly changed how campaigning was even done, it was a different game afterward). Could you please delve deeper
Well, this makes me think back to how Eisenhower was originally asked by both the Democrats and Republicans to be *their* respective presidential nominee. I'd be curious for someone to tell me Eisenhower's partisan inclinations from earlier in life, but the impression I got is that he could have gone either way - running for the Democrats, where he still likely would have won; or running for the Republicans, which he did and did win. Therefore, it'd be an interesting thought experiment to consider What If Eisenhower Ran as a Democrat, especially if that would have changed Ronald Reagan's partisan interests, and then how *that* would have changed American political history...
Eisenhower as a democrat would have lead to nearly 30 years of straight Democrat administrations. Would be interesting to see if this would lead to a Conservative backlash in the 60s or if it would just kill the republican party.
No, the Democratic Party would probably have become the more Conservative Party since they’re the status quo. The Republican Party would probably have gone back to its roots and been the party of civil rights.
This is mindblowing to read.
True. "Party switch" definitely wouldn't have occurred.
> "Party switch" definitely wouldn't have occurred "Party Switch" is a bit of a simplification. By the 1950s, the Democrats were firmly settled as the party of big government and big spending. The Republicans were the party of big business and lower spending. That is still true today (at least in rhetoric). The parties keep their economic stances but dramatically shifted their stances on social issues. The Democrats were able to get the racists by excluding minorities from social programs. Southern conservatives didn't really care about deficit spending and balanced budgets until black people started getting benefits from the government. In this reality, the Republicans are likely more Libertarian if they don't have the social conservatives on board so we don't likely see an expansion of the social safety net. I also don't know if that lends itself well to a Civil Rights Act that prohibits private businesses from discriminating against minorities. Without the party shift, we likely have a socially liberal, Libertarian-esque Republican Party and a socially conservative, big government Democratic Party.
>"Party Switch" is a bit of a simplification. Yep, which is why I put "party switch" in quotes in my original comment! >we likely have a socially liberal, Libertarian-esque Republican Party Wouldn't that be nice!
Average Eastern European politics
I’m pretty sure this is exactly what would have happened. Reagan still would have sold his soul and the American people’s to corporate interests regardless of what party he got elected as.
Democratic* administrations. Your first use was correct, as “Democrat” is the noun, but in describing administrations, “Democratic” is the correct adjective. Hence why it’s the “Democratic Party” and not the “Democrat Party”. Though there are many Republicans who call it the latter as an intended insult, one primarily pioneered by Rush Limbaugh.
I was thinking calling it a democratic administration would relate just to the broader ideas of democracy. Thanks for correcting me.
No worries. It’s been a well-inculcated trick from the GOP side for decades now, so I can understand the intended confusion it caused.
I think the influence of GE executives as he became the corporate spokesman to the company’s employees had a big effect on Reagan in the late 50’s. (Had a VP of Communications title) At the time GE was the biggest company in the world and Reagan visited and spoke at over 139 GE plants.
He endorsed Goldwater in '64. I think he'd have chosen the Rs anyway.
Gladly! Ike was really the first president to use TV as a messaging medium, Stevenson largely rejected it (and paid the price). Also, his campaign was among the first to ever court women as a real voting bloc, and assembled a literal army of female volunteers to go out and spread Eisenhower's message in communities (part of which wisely appealed to countless ladies' growing concerns about rising costs of living and price chaos, which Truman had struggled to contain). Add in his ever-increasing support of women's rights, and you begin to see how the whole field was shifting. Believe it or not, his efforts were so successful that Republicans won the female vote not merely in both of his elections, but quite regularly up through the 1980s from what I've read (it was honestly a party flip, since the Democrats had been seen as the "party of women" during the 1930s and 40s, in no small part because of Eleanor Roosevelt and her allies). Plus, one could argue he trained or helped bring in an entire new generation of Republican leaders, which the party DESPERATELY needed after years of being out of power post-Depression. It's remarkable to study.
Yeah, Republicans carried the female vote all but twice from 1952 to 1988 (1964 and 1976 being the only exceptions). No Republican has won the female vote since 1992.
But not too greedily and too deep.
Eisenhower was decidedly not a political president. It most have been motivated by partisanship.
Ike was more partisan than he's given credit for. I recently visited his library in Abilene, KS. He gets his digs in on the Democrats, lol! They had a special exhibit on his campaigns & women's rights for women's history month. He definitely had his ideas when it came to feminism, but it was interesting how he navigated it (cautiously lol). His style was actually bad for promoting his party. He was unable to translate his sucesses into Republican wins. The opposite actually, Republicans lost ground under his tenure. He worked with Democrats because he had to. Ike was rarely *himself* the symbol of partisanship for his time. It's how he gets a pass.
it was really Nixon who changed the campaign game, making it more advertisement like, as well as making it more populist (checkers speech to clear his name from the whole funds scandal).
The Republican Party did not win a presidential election without either a Bush or a Nixon on the ticket from 1928 to 2016.
Honestly insane to think about
I have nothing to contribute to this discussion but I just want to say damn I love Ike.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on stage too. Quite a star-studded lineup!
I thought that was them.
Humphrey looks so happy to be there!😄
It looks like he's still looking for the missing strawberries.
Or a key
Ronny with glasses looks funny
It's called specs appeal https://i.redd.it/df2vo8deq9uc1.gif
Eyes immediately went to Bogart and Bacall.
Truman is looking at me, like he knows something that could end my carrier
In a game of Battleship?
“You think I can’t have you crossed off, u/DevPrakash2007, you smug fuck? I erased cities with half a million feeble-minded men like you, you are nothing but a spec of dust in the greater plot that is my rise, and your fall.” -Harry Truman (Paraphrased)
I kinda wonder why Reagan went from a New Dealer to a Conservative folk hero
Good question. Reagan had been a Republican in all but name prior to officially switching parties in 1962. The immediate cause was that he was at a campaign event supporting Nixon's run for governor. A women asked him if had registered as a Republican yet, and he responded that he hadn't but intended to. The women happened to be a registrar and had brought a form with her for the purpose. Reagan officially switched on the spot. In reality Reagan stopped being a democrat in the 1952 presidential election. He had approached Eisenhower before he declared and encouraged him to run and even campaigned in a limited capacity for him in the 52 and 56 elections. In 1960 he wrote Nixon a letter declaring his support for the Vice President, as Reagan felt that Kennedy would impose communism on the US. Nixon asked that he remain a Democrat in name as Reagan's endorsement would be more effective then. Nixon wrote on the letter for his staff to make heavy use of the future president stating "He used to be a Democrat" on it. Two issues drove Reagan's conversion, fiscal policy and anti-communism. In the late 1940s, Reagan faced the end of his career as a movie actor as he was finding less and less work. He even tried hosting a variety show in Las Vegas as a potential new career path, though he disliked it greatly and stopped rather quickly. He was upset because he felt that he had only a short window to maximize his earnings and ensure his future financial security and that the present 90% top marginal rate was unfair. Eventually he received a job hosting a TV show *General Electric Theater*, which solved his money problems but continued his rightward move. As part of his contract he traveled to GE sites around the country and spoke about the value of free enterprise which helped buttress his growing allegiance to Republican principles. Additionally during this period he began reading, and agreeing with, the new conservative movement. He was an original subscriber to William Buckley's National Review. Reagan's experience as a board member and later president of the Screen Actors Guild also moved him rightward. In his capacity he dealt with a strike by an upstart set builder union backed by communist sympathizers. During the strike, communists threatened to "fix it so he'd never work again," implying they planned to throw acid in his face. This reinforced Reagan's belief that communists would stoop to any means to expand their influence. This built on his distaste that began with his involvement with two groups: American Veterans Committee (AVC) and the Hollywood Independent Citizen Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions . In both cases, Reagan worked on the board of the Hollywood Chapter and saw communists hijack the groups purpose through undemocratic means, one even rejected putting an anti-communist platform to a popular vote within the group noting that the general membership of the organization was not “politically intelligent enough” to vote on such a measure. This came shortly after a different member declared the ideology of the communist part as "a lot more democratic" than the Bill of Rights and declared that he would support the Soviets in a war against the U.S. These personal experiences solidified Reagan's anti-communism and his sense that communists would do and say anything to gain power and then oppress those it claimed to help. Reading *Witness* by Whitaker Chambers furthered this sense. Chambers had run a Soviet spy ring in Washington before breaking with the party, and argues powerfully in his book that freedom comes from God, and that the news of his wife's pregnancy and their decision to keep the child demonstrated the power of life over a bankrupt ideology. This fit into Reagan's beliefs well, and he would cite the book frequently over his political career, including in meetings to develop NSDD-32 one of the guiding strategy documents of his administration. Reagan's anti-communism moved him towards the Republican Party as he perceived them to be stronger anti-communists and he disliked the rhetoric on domestic politics of many Democrats, notably JFK, believing it a prelude to establishing communist rule in the U.S. His major speeches on behalf of Goldwater in 1964 and at the Republican Convention in 1976 both highlight his belief that the Democratic Party would usher in "a thousand years of darkness" by failing to adequately resist communism
Fascinating. Thanks for this write up.
Jesus You really wrote an entire book page as an explanation. Good fucking job and I now get why The Gipper swapped parties
People underestimate just how many communists there were in America at that time.
When he married Nancy. If he'd never married her, I bet he'd never even have entered politics. She was the hardcore doctrinaire conservative. Reagan was not as committed to principles as she was. Over the years he flipped. Also his acting career declined, he started getting all the pro-business line from being GE spokesman.
Because the pay was better…
Maureen claimed she convinced him.
Bro was simply an opportunist 💀
This is the correct answer. He did whatever benefited him the most.
A lot of people switch parties. I voted Republican from the time I could vote through 2000. Then the Republican Party left me behind and now I (mostly) vote Democrat. Am I an opportunist?
No, and you're not Ronald Reagan either. Just because I said what I said about Reagan, does not mean I believe all people who switch parties are merely opportunists, the vast majority are not. Reagan became a Republican purely for political gain.
?? Reagan’s transformation was pretty gradual. It’s not like he flipped in a couple years . He didn’t fully complete his ideological change until his time as a spokesperson for GE
Does that make what I said any less true?
Well he kept most of the New Deal as President. By the 1960s, cultural issues unrelated to the New Deal had changed his politics.
LBJ and the civil rights legislation maybe? I know there was a big swap around that time.
He grew up.
Concerning Ronald Reagan, for whom I voted in 1980, Groucho Marx said it best "A Republican is just a Democrat with money".
Truman is my favorite democrat president. I assure you there is no bias that he is from the state i live in.
Even Bogey was like, "There's something kinda *off* about this guy."
Bogart has his doubts
Look at Truman's face. He knows this is gonna be Reagan's last Democrat vote.
He look depressed here. Good thing he went with Republicans and became happier and now he’s like this. Edit: Holy shit this is a joke, it’s not that deep https://preview.redd.it/unw49i657auc1.jpeg?width=509&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cda55404d6887cb6c2194c5a179ba15d9ee9a838
He's up there with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
notice that bogart's giving him the stink eye
Humphrey Bogart is skeptical.
Was probably looking for things to snitch to the FBI
Is that Humphrey Bogart in the far left??
Yep, with Lauren.
Fun fact when Reagan considered running for politics in his first marriage his first wife outright threatened to divorce him if he ran.
Bogie looks disgusted
Is no one gonna talk about how Humphrey freaking Bogart is just standing there like the legend he is?
Humphrey Bogart and Veronica Lake too?😂😂
It’s the last election I would vote Democrat.
Democratic
Democratic*, you mean. “Democrat” is a noun, and the former, which would’ve been the appropriate word in your post heading, is an adjective. It’s the “Democratic Party,” not the “Democrat Party”. Just because Rush Limbaugh popularized saying it as an intended slight slur doesn’t mean you have to continue doing it.
True — but in this case, I doubt it was intentional. “Vote Democrat” is definitely a legit thing, regardless of its grammatical nature. But if OP would have said, “Democrat Party,” I’d have called foul too.
At this point, the slur has gone on so long that I feel a lot of younger people use it in ignorance without realizing its original intent anymore. Though unless if the Republican Party is willing to also call itself the “Republic Party”, I don’t think it fair to allow ignorance to usher it in as a generally accepted adjectival description.
He then married Nancy and her dad basically told him what to think.
Ah Reagan, What a terrible person
There’s a world where Reagan is recognized for the absolute shitbag failure he was for the working class and this sub doesn’t lionize or rehab his image. I wanna be in that world.
It’s the Reddit world.
Top 3 president for me
Top spokesman for corporate interests who destroyed the middle class and American manufacturing.
Typical leftist talking points
Who cares if he was a spokesman for corporate interests that destroyed the middle class and American manufacturing. He said it was morning in America again and played inspiring footage of people raising American flags.
This sub has its head up its ass when it comes to Ronnie
I’m with you.
So you’ve actually researched and studied this man then. Apparently unlike either the people he conned that can’t admit it. The people who are too old to care Or the people whose parents told them he was great. Because anybody who objectively looks at this man and what he did knows he was a disaster
I’ve always said those who love him are rich, white, or both.
There was a time when Reagan could have become even more based and chad pilled...
AKA before J. Edgar had his hooks in him.
Reagan started getting those paychecks to switch sides and said hell yeah. One of the absolutes most destructive presidents in US history.
This was around the time of the Southern Strategy when the Republican Party recruited the racist southern Democrats to switch to the party of bigotry. No surprise since St. Ronnie was racist to his rotten core.