Summary: History of the Republican party after FDR’s Passing
Timestamp 4:46: In 1948 the Republican party chose to cut loose the “Dewey Republicans” who stood behind the New Deal. Shortly after, In 1949 the Communist party took over China, and it is believed that it happened so quickly that they must be getting help from the American government. This is met with animosity as the war had just ended to fight against Fascist countries. Since the Democrats took over congress that year, Republicans took the communist rhetoric and implied that Congress was being filled with communists.
Timestamp 13:29: on February 9th 1950 Joe McCarthy is tasked with giving a speech for a Women's group in Wheeling WV in commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday. During this speech, he claims that there are 205 communists working in the state department, and the Democrats are aware of this and refuse to investigate. He pledges to the Chicago Tribune that he will share the names of 57 specific ones, under the condition it would be permitted to investigate the loyalties of the people within the departments.
Timestamp 17:11: Atchinson also helped make NATO, where European nations and Turkey helped hold back the expansion of the USSR into Europe. Republicans, mainly Taft, feel like NATO is a waste of time, as they feel it more important to focus on Asia rather than Europe and Russia. This labels the Democrats bedfellows of communism. This coins the term “sewer politics” where non-factual information is publicized. This began the trend of manipulating the media to fabricate “news” that spreads quickly before the fact checkers can debunk it.
Timestamp 24:35: Margaret Chase Smith, Senator of Maine, gave a speech dubbed the Declaration of Conscience, where she states the Republican Party cannot claim victory of fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear.
Timestamp 26:44: Taft expects to be the Republican candidate in the 1952 election. China expands into Korea during the same time, which pushes communism into the North of Korea. Eisenhower feels this is a distraction to put an increased amount of troops to Asia while they invade Europe to become a communist continent. The series of events in lKorea presented an opportunity for Eisenhower to voice his opinion on the matter, and therefore run for office.
Timestamp 35:12: Eisenhower is sent to Panama and interacts with General Connor. During his time there, they reviewed combat tactics in preparation for another World War, as well as Soft Skills. During his tour of a concentration camp, he saw the aftermath and decided the problem is not the world, not economics, but rather extremists. He worked to squash extremism and create stability to avoid a world that can destroy itself with the introduction of Atomic weapons
Timestamp 41:17: Eisenhower wanted to make sure that America is dispersing Aid and humanitarian support throughout the world to undercut potential for a dictator in those countries.
Timestamp 42:43: Eisenhower goes to the presidents of Columbia University to gather some of the great minds to solve the challenges that America faced post World War 2. Republicans in Massachusetts and New York support Eisenhower to run the Republican ticket, which essentially takes Taft out of the game. Eisenhower plays on his war service by Travelling by plane, using television, and having “parades” to include the people more.
Timestamp 49:45: Eisenhower's running mate is Richard Nixon of California. Eisenhower is not pleased with his running mate, specifically after the slush fund is discovered that later Nixon has to defend. In the process of defending it, he goes to great lengths to defend himself as a normal man with normal expenses.
Timestamp 52:41: Eisenhow wins Presidential office, but the Republicans also win Congress. His goals during his term are to balance the budget, which he achieved, in addition to lowering taxes and inflation. He also wants to expand social services and housing as well, which he later coins the “Middle way”.
Timestamp 57:02: Stalin dies, which makes Eisenhower think he can mend the relationship between the two countries. He believes the tools that will make that country better are not ammunition and arms, but rather schools, hospitals and homes. He attempts to stop Totalitarianism In Cambodia and Iran. He negotiates a peace of Sorts in Korea
Timestamp 1:00: Domestically, Eisenhower works on the financial system. He proceeds to push back the regulations put in place by FDR. He pushes for federal funding for schools and highways, and expands social welfare programs as well as Social Security. By focusing on the highway system, he creates jobs not only on an infrastructure level but also for the new diners and gas stations that are built on them. Paired with the effects of the GI Bill, the United States reached a level of prosperity.
[From wikipedia] Richardson’s first book, The Greatest Nation of the Earth (1997), stemmed from her dissertation at Harvard University. Inspired by Eric Foner’s work on pre-Civil War Republican ideology, Richardson analyzed Republican economic policies during the war. She contended that their efforts to create an activist Federal Government during the Civil War marked a continuation of Republican free labor ideology. These policies, such as war bonds and greenbacks or the Land Grant College Act and the Homestead Act, revolutionized the role of the Federal Government in the U.S. economy. At the same time, these actions laid the groundwork for the Republican Party’s shift to Big Business after the Civil War.
In this 2001 book, Richardson "focused on the “Northern abandonment of Reconstruction.” Building on the earlier work of C. Vann Woodward, she argued that a more complete understanding of the period required appreciation of class, not only race. As Reconstruction continued into the 1870s and especially the 1880s, Republicans began to view African Americans in the South more from a class perspective and less from the perspective of race that had driven their earlier humanitarianism. In the midst of the labor struggles of the Gilded Age, Republicans came to compare “the demands of the ex-slaves for land, social services, and civil rights” to the demands of white laborers in the North. This ideological shift was the key to Republican abandonment of Reconstruction, as they chose the protection of their economic and business interests over their desire for racial equality." [From wikipedia]
In this 2007 book, "Richardson presented Reconstruction as a national event that impacted all Americans, not just those in the South. She incorporated the West into the discussion of Reconstruction as no predecessor had. Between 1865 and 1900, Americans re-imagined the role of the federal government, calling upon it to promote the well-being of its citizens. However, racism, sexism, and greed divided Americans, and the same people who increasingly benefited from government intervention—white, middle-class Americans—actively excluded African-Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, and organized laborers from the newfound bounties of their reconstructed nation." [from wikipedia]
In this book, published in 2010, Richardson "focused on the U.S. Army’s slaughter of Native Americans in South Dakota in 1890. She argued that party politics and opportunism led to Wounded Knee. After a bruising midterm election, President Benjamin Harrison needed to shore up his support. To do so, he turned to The Dakotas, where he replaced seasoned Indian agents with unqualified political allies, who incorrectly assumed that the Ghost Dance Movement presaged war. The Army responded by sending one third of its force in order to avoid spending cuts from Congress. After the event, Republicans tried to paint the massacre as a heroic battle to stifle the resurgent Democrats." [wikipedia]
In this 2014 book, Richardson "extended her study of the Republican Party into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This book studied the entire life of the GOP, from its inception in the 1850s through the presidency of George W. Bush. The party’s founders united against the “slave power,” a small group of wealthy white men who controlled all three branches of government. These Republicans articulated a new vision of an America in which all hardworking men could rise. But after the Civil War, Republicans began to emulate what they originally opposed. They tied themselves to powerful bankers and industrialists, sacrificing the well-being of ordinary Americans. A similar process took place after World War II, when Republicans sought to dismantle successful New Deal policies and prop up the wealthy. However, in both cases, reformers within the party were able to return the GOP to its founding vision of equality of opportunity, first Theodore Roosevelt during the Progressive Era, and then Dwight D. Eisenhower, who enforced integration and maintained the New Deal. The Nixon and Reagan administrations have represented yet another fall from the GOP’s founding purpose. It's ironic, Richardson points out, that Republicans treated Barack Obama with an unprecedented level of disrespect, as Obama's rise from humble beginnings to the highest office in the nation embodied the vision of the original Republicans." [wikipedia]
In her most recent publication, Richardson argues "that America was founded with contradicting ideals, with the ideas of liberty, equality, and opportunity on one hand, and slavery and hierarchy on the other. United States victory in the American Civil War should have settled that tension forever, but at the same time that the Civil War was fought, Americans also started moving into the West. In the West, Americans found and expanded upon deep racial hierarchies, meaning that hierarchical values survived in American politics and culture despite the crushing defeat of the pro-slavery Confederacy. Those traditions--a rejection of democracy, an embrace of entrenched wealth, the marginalization of women and people of color--have found a home in modern conservative politics, leaving the tremendous promise of America unfulfilled." [wikipedia]
