W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1984 The New Right Elizabeth Julia Reiley College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Reiley, Elizabeth Julia, "The New Right" (1984). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539625286. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-mnnb-at94 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE NEW RIGHT 'f A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Sociology The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Elizabeth Reiley 1984 This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Elizabeth Approved, May 1984 Edwin H . Rhyn< Satoshi Ito Dedicated to Pat Thanks, brother, for sharing your love, your life, and for making us laugh. We feel you with us still. Presente! iii. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................... v ABSTRACT.................................... vi INTRODUCTION ................................ s 1 CHAPTER I. THE NEW RIGHT . '............ 6 CHAPTER II. THE 1980 ELECTIONS . 52 CHAPTER III. THE PRO-FAMILY COALITION . 69 CHAPTER IV. THE NEW RIGHT: BEYOND 1980 95 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION ............... 114 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................. 130 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer wishes to express her appreciation to all the members of her committee for the time they gave to the reading and criticism of the manuscript, especially Dr. Edwin Rhyne for chairing the thesis committee, and Dr. Satoshi Ito for keeping the project alive during its difficult beginning stages. ABSTRACT This paper examines the leadership, organizational base and ideology of the New Right and analyzes its rapid rise to political prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The New Right’s impact on American electoral politics is also probed through studying its role in the 1980 and 1982 elections. It is argued that it is its political pragmatism, coupled with its emphasis on social issues which most distinguishes the New Right from the ’’old Right." While economic conservatism and anticommunism have not diminished in importance for the New Right, it is its social conservatism which most defines the New Right outlook. By bringing together the constituencies of the anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-ERA and pro-school prayer groups, the New Right was able to broaden its base of support and reach sectors of the population not attracted to older right-wing movements. The New Right gave leadership to, and drew together into a "pro-family" coalition, these single-issue groups that arose in the 1970s, many of which represent the backlash against the political and cultural radicalism of the 1960s. In the Conclusion, some of the weaknesses as well as the strengths of modern Sociology’s understanding of right-wing movements are pointed out. It is argued that where liberal Sociology is lacking, feminist theory offers an analysis that better provides an understanding of the centrality of the politics of family, sexuality, and reproduction to the New Right’s ideology and political program. THE NEW RIGHT INTRODUCTION When Ronald Reagan was elected to the Presidency in 1980 and the Republican Party— for the first time in twenty-six years— gained control of the Senate, New Right leaders confidently claimed that conservatism had come of age. Gary Jarmin, Washington director of the Christian Voice/Moral Government Fund (which contributed money to several winning candidates) said that the election wave "points to the beginning of a new era." (Ellerin, 1981:55) New Right direct-mail wizard Richard Viguerie said, "The simple truth is that there is a new majority in America— and itTs being led by the New Right." (Viguerie, 1981:4) John "Terry" Dolan, Chairperson of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC) said, "The 1980 election gave the conservative movement the most massive political victory in its history." (Conservative Digest, 11/80:7) With the conservative victory in 1980, the New Right also had come of age. As early as 1977., the former executive director of the Republican National Committee commented on the political strength of the New Right: "If you ranked political institutions in this country, organized labor would be first, the Democratic Party would be second, the Republican Party is third. The Viguerie 2. 3. network is unquestionably fourth." (Conservative Digest, 6/77:12) The "Viguerie network" refers to the New Right apparatus. By 1980 the New Right had proved itself to be a major political force in American politics. And by 1980, "moral majority"— which is now used as a shorthand term for the whole religious Right— had become a household word. Conservative Alan Crawford (former aide to Senator James Buckley and former assistant editor of Conservative Digest) offers an "insider’s" account of the New Right in his book,, Thunder on the Right (1980) . He describes it as an institutionalized, disciplined, well-organized, and well-financed movement which capitalizes on the passions behind single-issue causes. The New Right, he says, feeds on discontent, anger, insecurity and resentment and flourishes on backlash politics. Through its interlocking network it seeks to veto whatever it perceives to threaten its way of life— busing, women’s liberation, gay rights, pornography, loss of the Panama Canal— and promotes a beefed- up defense budget, lower taxes, and reduced federal regulation of small business. (Crawford, 1980:5) Crawford views the New Right as a political movement which has already proved its potential as a political force to be taken seriously in that it has already reshaped, in significant ways, the face of Congress, stalled legislation in its tracks, and pushed through initiative and referenda. It has its eye on the presidency in coming years, vowing, as one New Right 4. leader told me, ’to take control of the culture.’ Unlike right-wing zealots of the recent past, the New Right has built the organizational structure to make good that promise. (Crawford, 1980:4) In his introduction to Richard Viguerie’s book, The New Right: We’re Ready to Lead (1981) Moral Majority's leader, Jerry Falwell, describes those people who make up the New Right: Mr. Viguerie uses the term the 'New Right' to speak of those moral citizens who now must come together to let their voices be heard, those he has described as the backbone of our country - those citizens who are pro-family, pro-moral, pro-life and pro-American, who have integrity and believe in hard work, those who pledge allegiance to the flag and proudly sing our national anthem. (Viguerie, 1981: Introduction) Conservative Kevin Phillips, who first coined the term "New Right" in the mid-70s, contends that the basic premise behind the New Right is the idea that the present two-party system is not effective and that the federal government does not represent "the people." A new conservative coalition which would join conservative Democrats, Republicans and Independents, he maintained, was needed to: displace the existing governmental elite and restore fiscal responsibility, military preparedness, global purpose and a more family-church-neighborhood-oriented culture. (Conservative Digest, 3/79:21) Allen Hunter, in the leftist journal Radical America, describes New Right ideology as an expression of a political and cultural backlash against the social 5. movements and liberal policies of the 1960s. New Right ideology, he says, is a defense of the male-headed family against its alternatives; of America against its external and internal enemies; of capitalist free enterprise against its socialist and welfare-state alternatives. It is a defense of hard work and virtue against moral lassitude and sexual freedom, of whites against blacks, of men against women, of parents against children. It is a politics that seeks to regain control of America for the white middle strata of America, Tthe people' who felt they were bypassed and put down by the changes of the 1960s. (Hunter, 1981:113-14) This paper will describe the rise of the New Right. I will identify its leadership and discuss its organizational base and its ideology. I will argue that the New Right's pragmatism (coupled with its organizational base and resources), and its emphasis on social issues, distinguish it from the "old" Right. I will detail the New Right's "pro-family movement." I will focus on the pro-family movement because: a) it is its focus on social issues, particularly family and sex-related issues, which makes the New Right new; b) the pro-family movement played a significant role in the New Right's rise to political prominence, and c) it was through the pro-family coalition that the secular Right and the religious Right established a working relationship. Finally, after describing the New Right's perceived setback at the polls in 1982, I will discuss its present articulation of a "new populism" politics. CHAPTER I THE NEW RIGHT Ronald Reagan, writes New Right columnist William Rusher, did not "spring full-blown from the brow of Jove in 1980...and the conservative movement whose triumph he symbolizes has been around for quite awhile." (Rusher, 1982:3) The origins of the New Right can be traced back to the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater. "The seeds of the contemporary New Right," says Paul Weyrich "were sown by the Goldwater campaign. Most of us can, in our personal histories, mark that campaign as the beginning of the motivation that has never left us." (Weyrich, 1982:51) The Goldwater campaign introduced the conservatives of America to one another.