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February , R 1 II C- 1 I" q ... ~,... ) l 0 1 t; February , r 1 II c- 1" , I 1979 Volume xv, Number 2 Price Sl.50 1. Abraham Lincoln 2. Charles Sumner 3. William H. Seward 4. Alvan Bovay 5. Salmon P. Chase 6. John C. Fremont 7. Frederick Douglass RIPON fORCJM COMMENTARY COMMENTARY Nelson A. Rockefeller 2 Rediscovering Our Roots 3 RIPON ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1978 4 VIEW FROM HAWKINS GORE The Republican Birthday Party 6 1854 REPUBLICAN CALENDAR 7 Nelson A. Rockefeller 12Sth ANNIVERSARY CALE NDAR 8 ADDENDA AND ERRATA 8 ince its founding in December, 1962 the Ripon Society has shared the hopes, the exhilaration and the frustra­ SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY- Early Republican Party Leaders S tion that marked Nelson Rockefeller's political life. 8 Li ke "the Governor", proud of our party's long tradition of THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM civil righ ts advocacy, we rejoiced in the mid-sixties as the OF 1854 8 nation swept away the remnants of the Jim Crow system, but grieved that our party temporized at this great moment of THE REPUBLICAN PLATfORM moral crisis. Nelson Rockefeller, a man born to privilege, OF 1860 9 was the champion of those who believed that our party THE BIRTH OF THE should represent not only the comfortable majority but also REPUBLICAN PARTY 11 the non-white and the underprivileged. ANATIONALREPUBLICAN 17 Despite the tendency of the media to create a shorthand LEADER IS BORN term "Rockefelle r Republicanism", the measure of Nelson LI NCOLN'S PEORIA SPEECH 20 Rockefeller could not be found in an ideology or political philosophy. Never a stirring orator, "Rocky" as he was THEFUTURE OF THE GOP 23 called by the man in the st reet, was instead a person to be known by his deeds. His zest for life and his genuine love for people shone through even at the end of a long day of campaigning. In the spirit of a family which has done much to shape America, Rocky poured enormous energy into his RIPON FOR~M public service and undertook to accomplish Bunyanesque Editor: Arthur M. 1I i11 11 tasks. The huge and sometimes overambitious scale of Nel­ E .~ec uti ve Editor: Steven D. Li ve ngood son Rockefeller's projects was an occasional source o f dis­ Art Director: Eli ~atJ.cth Lee (The Graphic Tun a) appointment. TH E RIPON FOR UM is pubUshcd monthly by the Ripon Society. Inc. One of the most natural campaigners in the twentieth cen­ In the publica tion, the Society hopes to proYide a forum for fresh ideas, we I! researched prOP'Osa ls, and:l spirit of creative tury, Nelson Rockefeller could never master the presidential criticism and innovation in Ih e Republican Party. Manu· nominating process of his own party. This, undoubtedly scripts and ph otographs arc so li cited , but do not represent the vie ws of the Society unless so stated. the greatest disappointmenl of his public life , could be at­ Contcnts are copyrightcd C 19 78 by the Ripon Society, Inc .• tributed to a combination o f ill·timing, bad luck and a lack 800 18th St reet, N.W. , Wa shington, D.C. 20006. of stomach for the tedious chores of organization building Second class postage and fees paid at Wa shington, D.C. and between elections, a knack developed by Richard Nixon. additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: 515 per year, 57.50 for students, service· Rockefeller's disappointments were not merely personal, men, Peace Corps. Vi sta and other volunteers. Overseas, they profoundly shaped the course of Ame rican politics. add $6. Please allow five weeks for address changes. Had Nelson Rockefe ller somehow secured his party's presi· The Ripon Society, Inc., John C. Topping, Jr., President, is a Republica n rese arch and policy organization whose members dential nomination in 1960, the Republican Party would arc business, academic, and profe ssional men and women. probably, as Robert Kennedy later suggested, have handily It is headquart ered in Washington, D.C .• with fi ft ee n chap· won the Presidency. The Civil Ri ghts revolution of the nine­ ters, several affi liatcd subchapters, and National Associate members throughout the United States. Th e Society is su p­ teen sixties would have been carried out largely under Re­ port ed by chapter dues, individual contributions, and reve­ publican auspices and the GOP might again have enjoyed nues from its publications and contract work. the allegiance of a majority of America's blacks, many union 2 Ripon Forum families and a large portion of the intellectual community. and most innovative capitalist industrial economy ever seen. While one can speculate endlessly about what might have Despite its much longer history, the Democratic Party has been had Nelson Rockefeller achieved his ultimate politi­ few achievements that can come close to the undeniably Re· cal ambition, this son of Dartmouth, Pocantico Hills and publican Emancipation Proclamation, Thirteenth, Four­ Manhattan left an impact on his country more enduring than teenth and Fifteenth Amendments, the Homestead Act, the that of most twentieth century Presidents. As perhaps the land Grant Act or the Sherman Anti·Trust Act. outstanding governor of the second half of the twentieth century, Rockefeller showed that creative state government In contrast to these achievements which have undergirded was an alternative to expansion of the Federal leviathan. He the growth of a free and competitive enterprise system, the re cruited int o public service some of the ablest Ameri cans of Democrats have offered often only a curious amalgam of our time. Henry Ki ssinger is the best known Rockefeller reo slogans and acronyms. In case our yearning for novelty was cruit, but Nelson Rockefeller attracted hundreds of other not slaked by the New Deal or the New Frontier, Jimmy Car· able Americans into public service , from whence many went ter offers us a New Foundation. His Administration has not on to serve Presidents and governors of both parties. Left yet been able to produce a coherent energy policy, but he and right wing conspiracy theorists have delighted in tieing and his feUow Democrats have given us a DOE. We can ex· such appointments to some sinister Rockefeller conspiracy. pect a similar stroke of Democratic ingenuity to solve the Instead Rocke feller's ability to funnel brilliant people into crisis of rampant illiteracy , crime and truancy in our public public life was more a testament to "the Governor's" guts, schools. Before the year is out the Democrats undoubtedly personal drive and commitment to excellence. will have given us a second DOE and the quality of educa· tion will have slipped only a little bit more. During the past year the nation and the Rockefeller family have been saddened by the death of two remarkable bro­ There is a circus·like atmosphere to that coUection of politi· thers. John D. Rockefeller III , as private a personality as his cians who parade under the label of Democrats, "friends of younger brother Nelson was a public personage, provided the common man". Jerry Brown seems to have concluded worldwide leadership in such areas as population planning that what this country yearns fo r is strong followership. and private philanthropy. Both brothers in their own way Carter appears to curry popular favo r by firing his own fulfilled to the best of their ability the sense of duty incul­ appointees. More and more he looks like the craftsman who cated in them by their parents. In so doing they have greatly blames his shoddy work on his tools. enriched ou r world . The Democratic Party is today. just as it was in the eighteen fifties , a disparate collection of interest groups, politicians and ideologues. It is a party incapable of a unifying vis ion and bound together only by a desire to cling to the levers of Rediscovering power. Our Roots In this setting Republicans can redirect the poli tical des· tiny of this nation. particularly if they emulate the example of early party Jeaders. The passion for human freedom that motivated such early RepUblicans as Charles Sumner, Wil­ us t a year ago many political pundits and quite a few liam Seward, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln can Republicans were questioning whether the Republican be manifested today in a sustained defense of individual J Party would go the way of the Whigs. Yet now , as righ ts against bureaucratic encroachment. Rather than fol· the GOP begins to celebrate the 1251h anniversary of its lowing the sterile "stoke the bureaucracy" urban policy ap­ birth, our party has regained its self confidence. Under the proach of today's Democrats our party can, in the spirit of brilliant leadership of Bill Brock the Republican Party has be­ the Homestead Act , promote neighborhood empowerment. gun to reverse a generation long erosion in its strength at the grass roots. This Re publican resurgence is not merely the The "free labor" concept so dear to ea rly Republican think· product of superbly executed "nuts and bolts" politics. in ­ ing can translate into a sustained party commitment to max· creaSingl y the RepUblican Party is seizing the intellectual imize the opportunity for the entrepreneur, the inventor or high ground and demorali zed Democrats, inheritors or a the risk·taker. A tax policy that encourages innovation and series of shopworn and anachronistic cliches, are in disarray. risk·taking should be pursued vigorously. From its founding in 1854 in the Midwestern Heartland until These radical concepts that gave birth to our party can pro· the dawn of the New Deal , the RepUblican Party dominated vide some guide as we prepare to emancipate our country the political agenda of America.
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