The New Right Insurgent Movement, Ronald Reagan, and The
Hostile Takeover: The New Right Insurgent Movement, Ronald Reagan, and the Republican Party, 1977-1984 A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Stephen T. Pfeffer December 2012 © 2012 Stephen T. Pfeffer. All Rights Reserved. 2 This dissertation titled Hostile Takeover: The New Right Insurgent Movement, Ronald Reagan, and the Republican Party, 1977-1984 by STEPHEN T. PFEFFER has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by Chester J. Pach Associate Professor of History Robert Frank Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT PFEFFER, STEPHEN T., Ph.D., December 2012, History Hostile Takeover: The New Right Insurgent Movement, Ronald Reagan, and the Republican Party, 1977-1984 Director of Dissertation: Chester J. Pach, Jr. The debates involved in the post-World War II period concerning the growth of the conservative movement center on factors such as race, a shift in public thinking to the right, a divided Democratic party, demographics, and cultural issues as a way to explain the success of conservatism in the latter half of the twentieth century. Some historians credit grassroots movements for their impact on conservatism, while others believe that influential intellectuals and conservative leaders changed the perception of the Republican brand. This dissertation examines the contentious relationship between the New Right and the Ronald Reagan’s first presidential administration. Led by Richard Viguerie, Paul Weyrich, Terry Dolan, and Howard Phillips, the New Right arose during the 1970s as an insurgent movement within the Republican Party that had become disillusioned with party elites and its moderate positions.
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