Summary
The Republican Party, it was widely assumed, would revert to control by its long-dominant and relatively liberal Eastern Establishment, now led by New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, and America's future would resume being disputed between this version of the GOP and a Democratic Party well to its left. Most important of all, just two years after the disaster of 1964 an outspokenly conservative and highly attractive newcomer to politics, Ronald Reagan, defeated the re-election bid of incumbent Democratic governor Pat Brown by a million votes in America's largest state, and at once replaced Barry Goldwater as conservatism's premier national spokesman.
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Extract
The Blunder of 1968
THE LANDSLIDE DEFEAT OF BARRY GOLDWATER by Lyndon Johnson in 1964 appeared, at first, to put an end to the conservative movement's dream of becoming a major force in American politics. The Republican Party, it was widely assumed, would revert to control by its long-dominant and relatively liberal Eastern Establishment, now led by New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, and America's future would resume being disputed between this version of the GOP and a Democratic Party well to its left.
But signs were not long in coming that this vision of the future might be contested. The conservative movement, though bloodied, seemed remarkably unbowe...See the full content of this document
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