Can any modern GOP practices/policies/philosophy be traced back to Eisenhower? (user search)
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  Can any modern GOP practices/policies/philosophy be traced back to Eisenhower? (search mode)
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Author Topic: Can any modern GOP practices/policies/philosophy be traced back to Eisenhower?  (Read 1069 times)
Orser67
Junior Chimp
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Posts: 5,947
United States


« on: November 22, 2022, 11:36:15 PM »

I would say Eisenhower's biggest impact on the party was probably in foreign policy, specifically moving the GOP in a more interventionist direction. Eisenhower certainly wasn't the sole person responsible for the GOP's shift towards interventionism post-WW2, but his win over the more isolationist Taft in the 1952 Republican primaries, his subsequent defeat of the Bricker Amendment, and his general continuation of Truman's Cold War containment policies (including his strong support for NATO) all represented a sharp break with previous Republican administrations. Despite some of Trump's recent moves, I think there's still at least a wing of the Republican Party that generally continues the interventionist Republican tradition that Eisenhower helped create.
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Orser67
Junior Chimp
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Posts: 5,947
United States


« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2022, 12:15:18 PM »

The Southern Strategy started with him not Goldwater or Nixon

IMO the earliest seeds of it go back to the 20s.

First GOP presidential campaign to actively try to appeal to Southern whites was 1896.

We could really go all the way back to 1864; Republicans wrote off the South in 1856 and 1860, but in 1864 they actively went after Southern white unionists, as reflected in part by the selection of Andrew Johnson as Lincoln's running mate. The lily white movement that began in 1896 is a lot more relevant to the Southern strategy, but the same basic question of how to balance Southern whites and African American voters has been around since the Civil War.

Bringing this back to Eisenhower's impact on the modern Republican Party, while he wasn't an active opponent of the civil rights movement, nor was he a strong proponent of it, and his hand was often forced by courts and/or public opinion. So despite the fact that he appointed Earl Warren and did continue the integration of the military, Eisenhower was an important link in the shift of Southern whites into the Republican and the shift of African Americans into the Democratic Party.
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Orser67
Junior Chimp
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Posts: 5,947
United States


« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2022, 05:02:45 PM »

of performative preoccupation with budgetary discipline

Maybe I'm not clear on what you're trying to say, but I disagree that the current Republican "performative preoccupation with budgetary discipline" can be traced back to Eisenhower. Federal debt as a percentage of GDP went down substantially during his presidency, and Eisenhower resisted tax cuts proposed by others in the party in favor of a balanced budget. Obviously Eisenhower was helped by a growing economy, but I can't imagine Reagan, Bush II, or Trump would have passed up the chance to pass a major tax cut (and in fact, Democrats cut taxes substantially after Eisenhower left office).

I'd argue that the current Republican approach to the budget can be traced to the Reagan Era, when Republicans began emphasizing tax cuts above all else, and when debt as a percentage of GDP almost doubled (from 1981 to 1993).
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Orser67
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 5,947
United States


« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2022, 09:45:25 PM »

of performative preoccupation with budgetary discipline

Maybe I'm not clear on what you're trying to say, but I disagree that the current Republican "performative preoccupation with budgetary discipline" can be traced back to Eisenhower. Federal debt as a percentage of GDP went down substantially during his presidency, and Eisenhower resisted tax cuts proposed by others in the party in favor of a balanced budget. Obviously Eisenhower was helped by a growing economy, but I can't imagine Reagan, Bush II, or Trump would have passed up the chance to pass a major tax cut (and in fact, Democrats cut taxes substantially after Eisenhower left office).

I'd argue that the current Republican approach to the budget can be traced to the Reagan Era, when Republicans began emphasizing tax cuts above all else, and when debt as a percentage of GDP almost doubled (from 1981 to 1993).

I was trying to express that Eisenhower had a genuine aversion to deficit spending that later Republican Presidents have performatively aped, and I wasn't really able to communicate that well succinctly.

Ah that totally makes sense then, fully agreed
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