Republican Party (United States)

This article is about the modern United States Republican Party. For the earlier Republican Party which flourished 1790s-1820, see Democratic-Republican Party (United States).

{{Infobox_American_Political_Party | party_name = Republican Party | party_logo = Image:Republicanlogo.png | party_wikicolourid = Republican | chairman = Ken Mehlman | president = George W. Bush | senateleader = Bill Frist | houseleader = Dennis Hastert
John Boehner | foundation = February 28, 1854 | ideology = Conservatism, Neolibertarianism | international = International Democrat Union | colours = Red^{1 | headquarters = 310 First Street SE
Washington, D.C.
20003 | website = http://www.gop.com | footnotes = 1Red became the party's color in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election. Previously, there was no color used universally to represent the Republican party. (However, Blue was used in many, but not all, media outlets.) }} The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Democratic Party. It was established in 1854 by Northerners who opposed the expansion of slavery and held a Hamiltonian vision for modernizing the nation. In the modern political era, the Republican Party is usually considered the more socially conservative and economically neoliberal of the two major parties.}

The current party Chairman is Ken Mehlman. Since 2002, the Republican Party has held a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It also holds a majority of governorships, and is tied with Democrats in the number of state legislatures it controls.

The official symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol [1]. In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican Party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic rooster. This symbol still appears on Indiana ballots.

Grand Old Party is a traditional nickname, and the initials G.O.P. are commonly used as a shorthand political designation.

Ideological Base

Republicans believe the private sector and/or the individual are better suited than the government to control their own lives. In his first Inaugural Address, Republican President Ronald Reagan summed up his belief in limited government when he said, "[G]overnment is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." [2]

The outstanding difference between the mind set and political ideals of the Republican Party and that of the Democratic Party is that the Republican tends to put forth the ideal that all things are earned and nothing is owed. The Republican Party holds the mindset that anything can be achieved but nothing is given. This mindset is seen most often in the party's push for equal tax rates, as well as minimized social assistance programs. This is fought for in an attempt to treat all citizens equally despite income, race, sex, or religion. Meanwhile Democrats seek to raise taxes so that government can provide services such as health insurance and housing assistance to everyone. Republicans wish to minimize these social democratic ideals because of the modern failure of governments that attempted to invoke them.

The party tends to hold both conservative and libertarian stances on social and economic issues respectively. Major policies that the party has recently supported include a neoconservative foreign policy, including the War on Terror, invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and strong support for democracy especially in the Middle East. It has demanded radical reforms in the UN and opposes the Kyoto Protocol. It generally supports free trade, especially NAFTA. In domestic policy it boasts that a series of across-the-board tax cuts since 2001 have bolstered the economy and reduced the punitive aspect of the income tax. It has sought business deregulation, reduction of environmental restrictions, enterprise zones, and other policies that are pro-business. It supports gun ownership rights. On social issues its national and state candidates usually favor the death penalty, call for restricted access to abortion, oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage, favor faith-based initiatives, support school choice and homeschooling, and social welfare benefit reform. In recent years the party has called for much stronger accountability in the public schools. Although it has endorsed some increases in government funding of scientific research, many members openly oppose the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research that involves the cloning and destruction of human embryos. Historically, Republicans have had a strong belief in individualism, limited government, and business entrepreneurship. In 2006 the party appears to be split on issues of illegal immigration, deficit spending and States' rights.

Voter Base

Republicans have strong support from business at all levels, including "Main Street" (locally owned business) and "Wall Street" (national corporations). Lately they have slipped among professionals and college educated voters. Since 1980 a "gender gap" has made the Republicans stronger among men, and Democrats stronger among women. They are weakly represented among ethnic minorities; however, in the 2004 Presidential election, the Republican Party claimed a large number of Hispanic votes. The Republicans and Democrats are about equally strong in different age groups with Democrats doing somewhat better among younger Americans and Republicans among older Americans. Judeo-Christians voters who are more religiously active identify more with the Republican Party while secular and less religiously active citizens identify more with the Democratic Party. Since 1980 geographically the Republican "base" (currently mapped as "red states") is strongest in the South and West, and weakest in the Northeast. Until the 1970s, the South was solidly Democratic, and the rural West leaned Democratic. That has since reversed. Today the Democrats dominate in urban areas and in the Northeast, where the Republicans were dominant before 1932. The Midwest has remained evenly balanced.

The Republican coalition is quite diverse, and numerous factions compete to frame platforms and select candidates. The "conservatives" are strongest in the South, where they draw support from religious conservatives. The "moderates" tend to dominate the party in New England, and used to be well represented in all states. From the 1940s to the 1970s under such leaders as Thomas Dewey, Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller and Richard Nixon they usually dominated the presidential wing of the party. Since the 1970s they have been less powerful, though they are always represented in the cabinets of all Republican presidents. As of early 2006, the very early polls of voters evaluating 2008 candidates show three moderates are dominant: Rudy Giuliani, Condoleezza Rice and John McCain, chiefly because they do much better among independents than do conservatives like Bill Frist. [3]

History and trends

Birth: 1854-1860

The new party was created in 1854 as an act of defiance against what activists denounced as the Slave Power--the powerful class of Southern slaveholders who were conspiring to control the federal government and to spread slavery nationwide. Gould asks: "Why did the name "Republican" gain such favor [in 1854]?" He explains: "Simply as a title it connected voters with the original political organization of Thomas Jefferson in the 1790s." Thus the leaders drew upon the tradition of the National Republican Party of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay, as well as Jefferson's Republican Party. The party founders adopted the name "Republican" to indicate it was the carrier of "republican" beliefs about civic virtue, and opposition to aristocracy and corruption. Ripon, Wisconsin and Jackson, Michigan, claim the birthplace honors, but many other cities had similar meetings at about the same time. Delegates in Jackson, Michigan on July 6, 1854 declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories, as permitted by the proposed Kansas-Nebraska Act. They selected a state-wide slate of candidates. Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a vision of modernization--emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers. The Republicans absorbed the previous traditions of its members, most of whom had been Whigs, and some of whom had been Democrats or members of third parties especially the Free Soil Party and American Party. Many Democrats who joined up were rewarded with governorships: (Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin) or seats in the US Senate (Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.) Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party, but the amount of flow back and forth of prominent politicians between the two parties was quite high from 1854 to 1896.

Image:Lincoln.png

John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee for President in 1856, using the political slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont's bid was unsuccessful, the party showed a strong base. It dominated in New England, New York and the northern Midwest, and had a strong presence in the rest of the North. It had almost no support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-60 as a divisive force that threatened civil war. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 ended the domination of the fragile coalition of pro-slavery southern Democrats and conciliatory northern Democrats which had existed since the days of Andrew Jackson. Instead, a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial and agricultural north ensued. Republicans still often refer to their party as the "party of Lincoln" in honor of the first Republican President.

See also American election campaigns in the 19th Century

1860-1896

Lincoln proved brilliantly successful in uniting all the factions of his party to fight for the Union. However he usually fought the Radical Republicans who demanded harsher measures. Most Democrats at first were War Democrats, and supportive until the fall of 1862. When Lincoln added the abolition of slavery as a war goal, many war Democrats became "peace Democrats.". All the state Republican parties accepted the antislavery goal except Kentucky. In Congress the party passed major legislation to promote rapid modernization, including a national banking system, high tariffs, an income tax, many excise taxes, paper money issued without backing ("greenbacks"), a huge national debt, homestead laws, and aid to education and agriculture. The Republicans denounced the peace-oriented Democrats as Copperheads and won enough War Democrats to maintain their majority in 1862, and reelect Lincoln easily in 1864.

In Reconstruction how to deal with the ex-Confederates and the freed slaves or Freedmen were the major issues. By 1864 Radical Republicans controlled Congress and demanded more aggressive action against slavery, and more vengeance toward the Confederates. Lincoln held them off just barely. Republicans at first welcomed president Andrew Johnson; the Radicals thought he was one of them and would take a hard line in punishing the South. Johnson however broke with them and formed a loose alliance with moderate Republicans and some Democrats. The showdown came in the Congressional elections of 1866, in which the Radicals won a sweeping victory and took full control of Reconstruction, passing key laws over the veto. Johnson was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate. With the election of Ulysses S. Grant in 1868 the radicals had control of Congress, the party and the Army, and attempted to build a solid Republican base in the South using the votes of Freedmen, Scalawags and Carpetbaggers, supported directly by U.S. Army detachments.

Grant supported radical reconstruction programs in the South, the 14th Amendment, equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen; most of all he was the hero of the war veterans, who marched to his tune. The party had become so large that factionalism was inevitable; it was hastened by Grant's tolerance of high levels of corruption. The "Liberal Republicans" split off in 1872 on the grounds that it was time to declare the war finished and bring the troops home. Many of the founders of the GOP joined the movement, as did many powerful newspaper editors. They nominated Horace Greeley, who gained unofficial Democratic support, but was defeated in a landslide. The depression of 1873 energized the Democrats. They won control of the House, and formed "Redeemer" coalitions which recaptured control of each southern state, in some cases using threats and violence.

Reconstruction came to an end when the contested election of 1876 was handed to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes who promised, through the unofficial Compromise of 1877 to withdraw federal troops from control of the last three southern states. The region then became the Solid South, giving overwhelming majorities of its electoral votes and Congressional seats to the Democrats until 1964. The GOP, as it was now nicknamed, split into "Stalwart" and "Half-Breed" factions; they fought over patronage and civil service reform, but other policy differences were slight. In 1884, "Mugwump" reformers rejected James G. Blaine as corrupt and helped elect Democrat Grover Cleveland.

As the Northern post-bellum economy boomed with heavy and light industry, railroads, mines, and fast-growing cities, as well as prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to keep the fast growth going. They supported big business generally, hard money (i.e. the gold standard), high tariffs, and high pensions for Union veterans. By 1890, however, the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers.

From 1860 to 1912 the Republicans took advantage of the association of the Democrats with "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion". Rum stood for the liquor interests and the tavernkeepers, in contrast to the GOP, which had a strong dry element. "Romanism" meant the Catholics, especially the Irish, who staffed the Democratic party in every big city, and whom the Republicans denounced for political corruption. "Rebellion" stood for the Confederates who tried to break the Union in 1861, and the Copperheads in the North who sympathized with them.

Demographic trends aided the Democrats, as the German and Irish Catholic immigrants were Democrats, and outnumbered the English and Scandinavian Republicans. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republicans struggled against the Democrats' efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to Grover Cleveland (in 1884 and 1892). See also American election campaigns in the 19th Century Image:Troosevelt.gif

Early twentieth century

The election of William McKinley in 1896 is widely seen as a resurgence of Republican dominance and is sometimes cited as a realigning election. He relied heavily on industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of business; his campaign manager, Ohio's Marcus Hanna, developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world, and McKinley outspent his rival William Jennings Bryan by a large margin. This emphasis on business was in part mitigated by Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley's successor after assassination, who engaged in trust-busting. McKinley was the first president to promote pluralism, arguing that prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups.

Roosevelt did not seek another term in 1908, instead endorsing Secretary of War William Howard Taft as his successor, but the widening division between progressive and conservative forces in the party resulted in a third-party candidacy for Roosevelt on the Progressive, or "Bull Moose" ticket in the election of 1912. He finished ahead of Taft, but the split in the Republican vote resulted in a decisive victory for Democrat Woodrow Wilson, temporarily interrupting the Republican era.

The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a platform of opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in 1920, 1924, and 1928 respectively. Although the party did very well in large cities and among ethnic Catholics in presidential elections of 1920-24, it was unable to hold those gains in 1928. By 1932 the cities--for the first time ever--had become Democratic strongholds. The African American vote held for Hoover in 1932, but started moving toward Roosevelt. By 1940 the majority of northern blacks were voting Democratic. Southern blacks who could vote (in border states) were split; disenfranchised blacks in the South probably preferred the Republicans.

The Great Depression cost Hoover the presidency with the landslide election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican Dwight Eisenhower.

Second half of the twentieth century

Image:Nixon.jpg

The post-war emergence of the United States as one of two superpowers and rapid social change caused the Republican Party to divide into a conservative faction (dominant in the West and Southeast) and a liberal faction (dominant in New England) – combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Republicanism active throughout the century. A Republican like U.S. Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose New Deal reforms and continued to champion isolationism. Thomas Dewey represented the Northeastern wing of the party. Dewey did not reject the New Deal programs, but demanded more efficiency, more support for economic growth, and less corruption. He was more willing than Taft to support Britain in 1939-40. After the war the isolationists wing strenuously opposed the United Nations, and was half-hearted in opposition to world Communism. Dwight Eisenhower, a NATO commander, defeated Taft in 1952 on foreign policy issues. The two men were not far apart on domestic issues. The conservatives made a comeback under the leadership of Barry Goldwater who defeated Nelson Rockefeller as the Republican candidate in the 1964 presidential convention. Goldwater was strongly opposed to the New Deal and the United Nations, but he rejected isolationism and containment, calling for an aggressive anti-Communist foreign policy.

One element of the New Deal coalition was the "Solid South", a term describing the Southern states' reliable support for Democratic presidential candidates. Goldwater's electoral success in the South, and Nixon's successful Southern strategy in 1968 and 1972, represented a significant political turnabout, as Southern whites began moving into the party. Later, the Democratic Party's support for liberal social stances such as abortion, criminal law issues such as abolition of the death penalty, and same-sex marriage drove many former Democrats into a Republican party that was embracing the conservative views on these issues. Conversely, liberal Republicans in the northeast began to join the Democratic Party. In The Emerging Republican Majority, Kevin Phillips, then a Nixon strategist, argued (based on the 1968 election results) that support from Southern whites and growth in the Sun Belt, among other factors, was driving an enduring Republican electoral realignment. Today, the South is still solid, but the reliable support is for Republican presidential candidates, and no Democratic presidential candidate who wasn't from the South has won a presidential election since 1960.

Any enduring Republican majority, however, was put on hold when the Watergate Scandal forced Nixon to resign under threat of impeachment. Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon under the 25th Amendment and struggled to forge a political identity separate from his predecessor. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, a Washington outsider.

Moderate Republicans of 1940-80

The term Rockefeller Republican was used 1960-80 to designate to a faction of the party holding "moderate" views similar to those of the late Nelson Rockefeller, governor of New York from 1959 to 1974 and vice president under President Gerald Ford in 1974-77. Before Rockefeller, Tom Dewey, governor of New York 1942-54 and GOP presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948 was the leader. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon reflected many of their views. An important leader in the 1950s was Connecticut Republican Senator Prescott Bush, father and grandfather of presidents. After Rockefeller left the national stage in 1976, this faction of the party was more often called "moderate Republicans," in contrast to the conservatives who rallied to Ronald Reagan. Historically Rockefeller Republicans were moderate or liberal on domestic and social policies. They favored New Deal programs, including regulation and welfare. They were very strong supporters of civil rights. They were strongly supported by big business on Wall Street (New York City). In fiscal policy they favored balanced budgets and relatively high tax levels to keep the budget balanced. They sought long-term economic growth through entrepreneurships, not tax cuts. In state politics, they were strong supporters of state colleges and universities, low tuition, and large research budgets. The favored infrastructure improvements, such as highway projects. In foreign policy they were internationalists, and anti-Communists. They felt the best way to counter Communism was sponsoring economic growth (through foreign aid), maintatining a strong military, and keeping close ties to NATO. Geographically their base was the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine. Barry Goldwater crusaded against the Rockefeller Republicans, beating Rockefeller narrowly in the California primary of 1964. That set the stage for a conservative resurgence, based in the South and West, in opposition to the Northeast. Ronald Reagan continued in the same theme, but George H. W. Bush was more closely associated with the moderates.

Today there are very few Rockefeller Republicans left in power, although a handful remain in the senate such as U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, and control a few governorships, such as Jim Douglas of Vermont. Many Rockefeller Republicans came from the New England states but gradually left the Republican party throughout the 1970s and the 1980s as they began to feel alienated due to the increasingly socially conservative direction of the party as it formed a growing bond with the religious right. To be sure, the term "Rockefeller Republican" today sounds somewhat dated, and such Republicans are probably more apt to call themselves "moderate Republicans." The recent usage of the term South Park Republicans would seem to be a contemporary version of the term Rockefeller Republican. Image:Official Portrait of President Reagan 1981.jpg

Reagan Era, 1980-1992

The trends Phillips described, however, could be seen in the 1980 and 1984 elections of Ronald Reagan - the latter being a landslide in which Reagan won nearly 59% of the popular vote and carried 49 of the 50 states (a statistic that illustrates the even distribution of Democrat and Republican voters during that era).

The Reagan Democrats were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterwards, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H. W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white, lived in the Northeast, and were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion, and to his hawkish foreign policy. They did not continue to vote Republican in 1992 or 1996, so the term fell into disuse except as a reference to the 1980s. The term is not generally used to describe those southern whites who permanently changed party affiliation from Democrat to Republican during the Reagan administration.

Stan Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, analyzed white, largely unionized auto workers in suburban Macomb County, Michigan, just north of Detroit. The county voted 63 percent for Kennedy in 1960 and 66 percent for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Democrat Bill Clinton targeted the Reagan Democrats with considerable success in 1992 and 1996.

Capture the House 1994

House Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich-led "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and its Contract With America. It was the first time since 1952 that the Republicans secured control of both houses of U.S. Congress, which, with the exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, has been retained through the present time. This capture and subsequent holding of congress represented a major legislative turnaround, as Democrats controlled both houses of congress for the forty years preceeding 1994, with the exception of the 1981-1987 congresses (in which Republicans controlled the Senate).

In 1994, Republican Congressional candidates ran on a platform of major reforms of government with measures such as a balanced budget amendment and welfare reform. These measures and others formed the famous Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in an off-year election. The Republicans passed some of their proposals, but failed on others such as term limits. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed some of the social agenda initiatives but he co-opted the proposals for welfare reform and a balanced federal budget. The result was a major change in the welfare system, which conservatives hailed and liberals bemoaned. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives also failed to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress. In 1995, a budget battle with Clinton led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election. That year the Republicans nominated Bob Dole, who was unable to transfer his success in Senate leadership to a viable presidential campaign. Ross Perot ran again as an independent, draining away some of Dole's support.

2000 to Present

Image:George-W-Bush.jpeg

With the victory of George W. Bush in the closely contested 2000 election, the Republican party gained control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952, only to lose control of the Senate by one vote when Vermont Senator James Jeffords left the Republican party to become an independent in 2001 and chose to vote with the Democratic caucus. In the wake of the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, however, Bush's popularity rose as he pursued a "War on Terrorism" that included the invasion of Afghanistan and the USA PATRIOT Act.

The Republican Party fared well in the 2002 midterm elections, solidifying its hold on the House and regaining control of the Senate, in the run-up to the war in Iraq. This marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934). Bush was renominated without opposition for the 2004 election and titled his political platform "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America". It expressed Bush’s commitment to winning the War on Terror, ushering in an Ownership Era, and building an innovative economy to compete in the world. Bush won the election with 62.0 million popular votes to 59.0 million for Senator John F. Kerry. The Senate voted 71-1 to dismiss Green Party complaints about alleged voting irregularies. Bush received 51% of the popular vote, the first popular majority since his father was elected in 1988. Republicans gained additional seats in both houses of Congress.

Bush told reporters "I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style." He announced his agenda in January 2005, but as his popularity in the polls waned, his troubles mounted. His campaign to add personal savings accounts to the Social Security system failed, and major revisions of the tax code were postponed. He succeeded in selecting conservatives to head four of most important agencies, Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, John Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States and Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. He failed to win conservative approval for Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, replacing her with Samuel Alito, who the Senate confirmed in January 2006. He secured additional tax cuts and blocked moves to raise taxes. His administration’s response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster was not well received. As 2005 ended Bush strongly defended his policy in Iraq, saying the Coalition was winning, and pushed for the renewal of the Patriot Act, stating that it is no mistake there has not been another terrorist attack on American soil since September 11, 2001.

In Congress, 2005 was a year of troubles for the GOP, though another large tax cut was passed. In the Senate the Democrats held only 44 seats to the GOP’s 55, their weakest position in 80 years. The new minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, threatened to filibuster Bush’s more conservative nominees to the court of appeals. Majority leader Bill Frist threatened the “nuclear option” of changing the rules to prevent filibusters on judicial nominees. The Democrats threatened in that case to shut down the Senate and allow no business of any sort to go forward. Senator John McCain found a compromise, whereby 7 Republicans and 7 Democrats agreed to stick together. In the compromise the 7 Democrats rejected the filibuster (in normal circumstances) and allowed a vote on the court nominees (they all were approved). The 7 Republicans promised the “nuclear option” would not be used. In the House, Tom DeLay held tight control of procedure and effectively used his slim 232-203 majority. However, in September, DeLay came under criminal indictment in Texas for campaign funding abuses, and was forced to step down as Majority Leader, while keeping his seat. The interim leader, Roy Blunt of Missouri, in early 2006 was replaced by John Boehner. High profile Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-California) pleaded guilty to bribery charges in late November, resigned, and is facing a long prison term.

In the states, trouble was developing for the GOP in Ohio, where Governor Bob Taft was involved in scandals, and in New York, where Republican Governor George Pataki announced his retirement amidst considerable confusion in the state GOP. Early polls predicted landslides for the Democrats Hillary Clinton and Eliot Spitzer in New York in 2006. In November’s off year elections, Democrats retained the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarznegger failed in his effort to use the initiative to enact laws the Democrats blocked in the state legislature. In New York City, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg won a landslide reelection, the fourth straight Republican victory in what is otherwise a Democratic stronghold.

The "Republicanism" of the direction in which Bush has taken the Republican Party has been questioned by some Republicans: for example, he has presided over the largest ever expansion in the federal bureaucracy, and replaced balanced budgets with deficits, which some Republicans do not consider consistent with Republican advocacy of "small government". However much critics may grumble, they have not broken with the President; no major fissure has appeared in the Bush coalition as of early 2006.

Current structure and composition

Further information: Politics of the United States#Organization of American Political Parties

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is responsible for promoting presidential goals (when the party controls the White House) or articulating Republican policies (when the Democrats have the White House). In presidential elections it supervises the national convention and, under the direction of the presidential candidate, it raises funds and coordinates campaign strategy. There are similar state committees in every state and most large cities, counties, and legislative districts, but they have far less money and influence than the national body. The chairman of the RNC (currently Ken Mehlman) is chosen by the President when the Republicans have the White House. Otherwise the chairman is chosen by the state committeemen.

The Republican Party in House and Senate have powerful fundraising and strategy committees. The National Republican Congressional Committee assists in House races, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Senate races. They raise over $100 million per election cycle, and play important roles in recruiting strong candidates. The Republican Governors Association is a discussion group that seldom funds state races. In each instance the Democrats have similar organizations.

Factions

Main article: Factions in the Republican Party (United States)

Image:Birthplace of the US Republican Party 1.jpg

As a major party the GOP is comprised of many informal factions, which often overlap. For example there are social conservatives, Republican In Name Only, paleoconservatives, neoconservatives, moderates, fiscal conservatives, Log Cabin Republicans, and libertarians.

Future trends, realignment?

Republicans have controlled the White House for 26 of the previous 38 years, and both houses of Congress since 1994 (except for over a year in the Senate). Karl Rove and other commentators have speculated about a permanent political realignment along the lines of the presidential election of 1896, in which Mark Hanna helped William McKinley construct a Republican majority that lasted for the next 36 years.

Two approaches to projecting future trends give opposite results. Many see that the Republicans' geographical red map is growing faster than the Democrats' blue map. Geographically favorable indicators include the growth of suburbs, particularly in the Sun Belt where the Republicans dominate politics, and the population decline of the historically liberal Rust Belt inner cities. President Bush's victory in 2004 in ninety-seven of the hundred fastest-growing counties in the country was solid evidence of Republican strength in quickly growing exurbs and in the booming metropolitan areas of the South. By 2010, the Census projections show that states that voted for President Bush in 2004 will gain six Congressional seats and electoral votes, while states that voted for Kerry will lose six. [4]

Democratic commentators Ruy Teixeira and John Judis, on the other hand, say non-geographic social indicators show a trend toward Democrats. They point to the rapid increase in college graduates (who are trending Democratic), and the possible decrease in white and rural Republican bases. Whether Bush's gains in the Hispanic vote will continue, is a matter of debate. Democrats suggest that contradictions in the views held within the Republican Party raise the possibility of a party split of the sort Ross Perot stimulated in 1992 and 1996. The question remains whether a majority party can simultaneously contain both anti-government libertarians and social conservatives, some of whom hold to a more populist view of government, or both elements that support tougher enforcement of immigration laws and a business community that supports using illegal immigrants as low-wage workers.

Presidential tickets

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Other nationally prominent Republicans

Present-day: active

• George Allen, Senator from Virginia, possible presidential candidate in 2008
• Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi and former chair of the Republican National Committee.
• Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City
• Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), House Majority Whip (#3 role)
• John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) House Majority Leader (#2 role)
• Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida.
• Tom DeLay, (R-TX) former House Majority Leader; his criminal trial is underway in Texas
• Elizabeth Dole, Senator from North Carolina, former cabinet member and presidential candidate in 2000
• John Engler, former Governor of Michigan and current head of National Association of Manufacturers.
• Bill Frist, Senate Majority Leader (#1 role), from Tennessee, possible presidential candidate in 2008
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, from Georgia.
• Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York, possible presidential candidate in 2008
• Dennis Hastert, (R-IL) Speaker of the House (#1 role)
• Mike Huckabee, current Governor of Arkansas.
• Jim Kolbe, US Congressman, openly gay, serving 8th District from Arizona.
• Trent Lott, Senator from Mississippi; former Majority Leader,
• John McCain, Senator from Arizona; presidential candidate in 2000; possible presidential candidate in 2008
• Mitch McConnell Senator from Kentucky; GOP Whip (#2 role)
• Ken Mehlman chair of the Republican National Committee.
• Bill Owens, Governor of Colorado.
• George Pataki, Governor of New York, possible presidential candidate in 2008
• Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota.
• Ron Paul Representative from Texas.
• Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee
• Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State.
• Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, possible presidential candidate in 2008
• Karl Rove, president Bush's chief political strategist and deputy chief of staff.
• Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense.
• Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina.
• Rick Santorum, Senator from Pennsylvania and chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California.
• Arlen Specter, Senator from Pennsylvania, chair Judiciary Committee
• Ted Stevens, president pro tempore of the U.S. senate, U.S. Senator from Alaska

Active in 1970-2000; alive but less active in politics today

• Howard Baker, Ambassador to Japan and former senator.
• Phil Gramm, former Senator from Texas.
• Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State, presidential candidate in 1988
• Jesse Helms, former Senator from North Carolina.
• Colin Powell, former Secretary of State.
• Dan Quayle, former Vice President.
• George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State, Treasury and Labor
• Caspar Weinberger. former Secretary of Defense.
• Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey and former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
• Pete Wilson, former Governor of California.

Historical

• James G. Blaine (1830 - 1893), Senator from Maine and Presidential candidate
• Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836 - 1926), Speaker of the House
• Charles Curtis (1860 - 1936), Vice President, a Native American
• Charles G. Dawes (1865 - 1951), Vice President
• Tom Dewey (1902-1971), governor of New York; presidential candidate 1944 and 1948
• Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), elected President 1952, 1956
• Mark Hanna (1837-1904), Senator from Ohio; manager of 1896 campaign
• George Frisbie Hoar (1826 - 1904), Senator from Massachusetts
• Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), elected President 1928; defeated 1932
• Charles Evans Hughes, governor of New York, nominee for president in 1916, Secretary of State, Chief Justice of the United States
• Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924) Senator from Massachusetts
• Joseph McCarthy (1908 - 1957), Senator from Wisconsin and noted anti-communist
• William McKinley (1843-1901), elected President 1896, 1900
• Thomas Brackett Reed (1839 - 1902), Speaker of the House
• Nelson Rockefeller (1908 - 1979), Vice President, Governor of New York, repeatedly defeated for presidential nomination
• Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), elected VP 1900, President 1904; defeated on third party ticket 1912
• Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868), (R-PA) leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
• Charles Sumner, (1811-1874), Senator from Massachusetts; leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
• Henry Stimson, Secretary of War for Taft and FDR; Secretary of State for Hoover
• Robert Alphonso Taft (1889 - 1953), Senator and presidential hopeful
• Strom Thurmond (1902 - 2003), the oldest serving Senator in history (from South Carolina)
• Arthur H. Vandenberg (1884 - 1951), Senator from Michigan
• Earl Warren (1891 - 1974), Governor of California and Chief Justice of the United States

Lists

• List of African American Republicans
• List of Latino Republicans
• List of state Republican Parties in the U.S.
• List of Republican National Conventions
• List of Republican celebrities

See also

• Republican National Convention
• Democratic Party (United States)
• College Republicans
• List of Republican Party Presidential nominees
• Republicans for Choice
• Republican Liberty Caucus
• Log Cabin Republicans
• Ripon Society
• South Park Republicans
• Rockefeller Republican
• Radical Republican
• International Democrat Union, of which the Republican Party is a member
• Teenage Republicans

References

Primary Sources

• Cantril, Hadley and Mildred Strunk, eds. Public Opinion, 1935-1946 (1951), massive compilation of many public opinion polls from USA and elsewhere.

• Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes brief scholarly history and selection of primary documents.

Scholarly Secondary Sources

Surveys

• American National Biography (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries.
• Burnham, Walter Dean, ed. Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York, 1970.
• Gould, Lewis. Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans (2003), the best overview.
• Jensen, Richard. Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983 (1983)
• Kleppner, Paul, et al. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983), applies party systems model
• MacNeil, Neil. Forge of Democracy: The House of Representatives (1963)
• Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854-1966. 2d ed. (1967), older, well-balanced narrative.
• Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996), popular history
• Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period:
  • includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
• Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)

1854 to 1932

• Dearing, Mary. Veterans in Politics: The Story of the GAR 1952.
• DeSantis, Vincent P. Republicans Face the Southern Question: The New Departure Years, 1877-1897 1959.
• Donald, David. Lincoln (1999)
• Edwards, Rebecca. Angels in the Machinery: Gender in American Party Politics from the Civil War to the Progressive Era (1997)
• Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970) highly influential history of ideas and ideology
• Garraty, John. Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography 1953. powerful 1890-1924
• Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (1987). dense scholarly study
• Gienapp, William E. "Nativism and the Creation of a Republican Majority in the North Before the Civil War", Journal of American History 72 (Dec. 1985): 529-59, in JSTOR
• Gosnell, Harold F. Boss Platt and His New York Machine: A Study of the Political Leadership of Thomas C. Platt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Others (1924)
• Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant: Politician (1935)
• Hoogenboom, Ari. Outlawing the Spoils: A History of the Civil Service Reform Movement, 1865-1883. 1968.
• Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President 1995.
• Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (1971)
• Jordan, David. Roscoe Conkling of New York: Voice in the Senate 1971.
• Kehl, James A. Boss Rule in the Gilded Age: Matt Quay of Pennsylvania (1981)
• Keller, Morton. Affairs of State: Public Life in Late Nineteenth Century America 1977.
• Kleppner, Paul. The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures (1979) in-depth analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class.
• McKinney, Gordon B. Southern Mountain Republicans, 1865-1900: Politics and the Appalachian Community 1978.
• Marcus, Robert. Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880-1896 1971.
• Morgan, H. Wayne. From Hayes to McKinley; National Party Politics, 1877-1896 (1969)
• Morgan, H. Wayne. William McKinley and His America 1963.
• Muzzey, David Saville. James G. Blaine: A Political Idol of Other Days 1934.
• Paludin, Philip. A People's Contest: The Union and the Civil War, 1861-1865 1988.
• Polakoff, Keith Ian. The Politics of Inertia: The Election of 1876 and the End of Reconstruction 1973.
• Pringle, Henry F. Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography (1931)
• Rhodes, James Ford. The History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 8 vol (1932), a grand narrative
• Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War (1997)
• Robinson, William A. Thomas B. Reed, Parliamentarian 1930.
• Sherman, Richard B. The Republican Party and Black America from McKinley to Hoover 1973.
• Silbey, Joel H. The American Political Nation, 1838-1893 (1991)
• Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884 (2000)
• Van Deusen, Glyndon G. Horace Greeley, Nineteenth-Century Crusader (1953)
• Welch, Richard E. George Frisbie Hoar and the Half Breed Republicans 1971.
• Williams, R. Hal. Years of Decision: American Politics in the 1890s. 1978.

1932 to 2006

• Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2006: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2005) covers all the live politicians with amazing detail.

• Aistrup, Joseph A. The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South (1996)
• Black, Earl and Merle Black. The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002)
• Brennan, Mary C. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP (1995)
• Ehrman, John, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan (2005)
• Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2005), an insightful but unflattering appraisal by a liberal Democrat.
• Frum, David. What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America (1996)
• Jensen, Richard. "The Last Party System, 1932-1980," in Paul Kleppner, ed. Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1981)
• Judis, John B. and Ruy Teixeira. The Emerging Democratic Majority (2004) two Democrats project social trends
  • "Movement Interruptus: September 11 Slowed the Democratic Trend That We Predicted, but the Coalition We Foresaw Is Still Taking Shape" The American Prospect Vol 16. Issue: 1. January 2005. pp 23+
• Ladd Jr., Everett Carll with Charles D. Hadley. Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s 2d ed. (1978).
• Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
• Parmet, Herbert S. Eisenhower and the American Crusades (1972) good biography of post 1945 years
• Patterson, James T. Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft (1972)
• Patterson, James. Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933-39 (1967)
• Perlstein, Rick. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (2002) well written, broad account of 1964
• Reinhard, David W. The Republican Right since 1945 (1983)
• Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005), scholarly.
• Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future (2001) scholarly textbook.
• Shafer, Byron and Richard Johnston. The End of Southern Exceptionalism (2006), uses statistical election data & polls to argue GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change
• Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983)
• Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983)
• Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004).

External links

• Republican National Committee
  • 2004 Platform (HTML format)
  • 2004 Platform (PDF format)
• College Republican National Committee
• SavetheGOP.com
• Grand Order of Pachyderm Clubs
• National Federation of Republican Assemblies
• Republican Main Street Partnership
• Republican Liberty Caucus
• Republican Issues Campaign
• Americans for a Republican Majority
• Republican Leadership Coalition
• GOPinion, conservative news from around the web
• Young Republican National Federation
• Thomas Frank, New Statesman, 30 August 2004, "Bush, the working class hero" - How the Republicans captured the working class vote

GOP

The Republican party is known as the GOP. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the first known reference to the Republican party as the "grand old party" came in 1876. The first use of the abbreviation G.O.P. is dated 1884.

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