Republican Party — Bunk History

Ronald Reagan preparing for a broadcast on Voice of America.

Whose Ronald Reagan?

Fighting over the legacy of a conservative hero in the era of Trump.

by Susan B. Glasser via Foreign Affairs on October 22, 2024

Sen. Joe McCarthy confers with Roy Cohn during a hearing of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

A Not-So-Hostile Takeover

Long before the rise of Trump, the American conservative mainstream enjoyed a complex partnership with the Far Right.

by Gillis J. Harp via Commonweal on October 4, 2024

Samuel Gompers giving a speech in front of a crowd with his arms open wide.

A Return to Gompers

Samuel Gompers, the Teamsters at the Republican National Convention, and where unions fit into party politics.

by Dustin Guastella via Jacobin on September 27, 2024

A gay couple and their children at a rally in California in 2004.

“Protecting Kids” from Gay Marriage

Leading up to a 2004 debate about same-sex marriage, conservatives shifted their focus away from moral issues and toward arguments about children’s welfare.

by Frederick Delius, Livia Gershon, Stephen Macedo via JSTOR Daily on September 6, 2024

The Little White School House in Ripon, Wisconsin.

Looking Back at Wisconsin's Long History with the Republican Party

The one-room schoolhouse that was one of the birthplaces of the GOP.

by Chuck Quirmbach via WUWM on July 13, 2024

How Conservatives Changed the Whole Point of American Political Parties

The rise of the right remade the GOP—and fundamentally changed how parties operated in American politics.

by Daniel Schlozman, Sam Rosenfeld via Made By History on June 10, 2024

Ronald Reagan campaigns in Houston ahead of the Republican Convention in 1976.

How Abortion Took Over the Republican Party

Ronald Reagan proved instrumental to Southerners bringing their cultural conservatism to center stage for the Republican Party.

by Jonathan Bartho via Made By History on April 12, 2024

Lessons From the 1964 Republican Convention: Declaring War on the Establishment

Donald Trump’s candidacy wasn’t the first time the Republican Party was split by an outsider declaring war on the establishment elite.

via Retro Report on March 13, 2024

Political analyst Kevin P. Phillips in September 1970.

The GOP’s ‘Southern Strategy’ Mastermind Just Died. Here’s His Legacy.

Kevin Phillips help set the Republican Party on the path that led it to Trump.

by Kevin M. Kruse, Bill Kristol, Nicole Hemmer, Corey Robin, Michael Barone, Greg Sargent via Washington Post on October 12, 2023

1988 Republican presidential candidates on the debate stage.

Republicans Didn’t Always Run Far to the Right in Presidential Primaries

The 1988 presidential primary showed it wasn't always like this — and helped guide the GOP to where it is now.

by Robert L. Fleegler via Made By History on June 8, 2023

Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole standing alongside an elephant on Capitol Hill, 1995.

Myths of Doom

Can the origins of today’s right be traced to the 1990s?

by John Ganz via The Nation on November 29, 2022

Mike Lawler, Republican candidate for New York's 17th Congressional District.

The GOP Can Thank Suburban N.Y. For its Slim Control of The House

How a red wave in a solidly blue state helped tip the balance.

by Stacie Taranto via Made By History on November 28, 2022

Black and white photo of Charles Sumner

“A Solemn Battle Between Good and Evil.” Charles Sumner’s Radical, Compelling Message of Abolition

The senator from Massachusetts and the birth of the Republican Party.

by Timothy Shenk via Literary Hub on October 24, 2022

A GOP Elephant locked up in a padded cell.

It Didn’t Start with Trump: The Decades-Long Saga of How the GOP Went Crazy

The modern Republican Party has always exploited and encouraged extremism.

by David Corn via Mother Jones on September 9, 2022

Collage of various Republican faces and symbols.

The Long Unraveling of the Republican Party

Three books explore a history of fractious extremism that predates Donald Trump.

by Kim Phillips-Fein via The Atlantic on September 6, 2022

Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell speaking to each other in the White House.

It Wasn’t the Religious Right That Made White Evangelicals Vote Republican

To understand why evangelicals vote Republican, we shouldn’t focus just on Falwell; we need to look at a century or more of evangelical political culture.

by Daniel K. Williams via Anxious Bench on August 23, 2022

Paul Ryan against a background of graph paper and a dotted line.

The Struggle for the Soul of the GOP

Is the Republican Party compatible with democracy?

by Timothy Shenk via The New Republic on April 12, 2022

Photo collage of Republican men, with Donald Trump at the center.

A Short History of Conservative Trolling

On the laughing emptiness at the center of the Republican Party.

by Rick Perlstein via Intelligencer on October 26, 2021

Tucker Carlson wearing a t-shirt with a photograph of Abraham Lincoln on it.

The Right May Be Giving Up the “Lost Cause,” but What’s Next Could Be Worse

The GOP’s new embrace of Lincoln, emancipation, and Juneteenth is no sign of progress.

by Rebecca Onion, Matthew Karp via Slate on June 25, 2021

Newt Gingrich and applauding Republicans

My Front Row Seat to the Radicalization of the Republican Party

As a political reporter, I've seen four Republican revolutions — Reagan’s, Gingrich’s, the Tea Party’s and Trump’s — each of which took the party farther right.

by Jackie Calmes via Los Angeles Times on June 13, 2021

Mitch McConnell

The Fissure Between Republicans and Business is Less Surprising Than it Seems

Business groups have always worked with both parties to support globalization and free trade.

by Jennifer Delton via Made By History on June 7, 2021

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

House Republicans’ Leadership Fight Signals a New Direction

Leadership battles tell us a lot about where a party is headed.

by Zack C. Smith via Made By History on May 12, 2021

An illustration featuring Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The John Birch Society Never Left

Why it’s foolish to think the modern GOP will ever break with its lunatic fringe.

by Rick Perlstein, Edward H. Miller via The New Republic on March 8, 2021

The GOP elephant depicted as falling apart

What Is Happening to the Republicans?

In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in the past.

by Jelani Cobb via The New Yorker on March 8, 2021

Representatives Young Kim and Michelle Steele

What the Election of Asian American GOP Women Means For the Party

While American conservatism remains largely White, it has slowly but surely become less so.

by Jane H. Hong via Made By History on March 8, 2021

Mitch McConnell wearing a mask

McConnell’s Task: Purging the Crackpots and Bigots

The impeachment exposed the need for Republican leaders to banish the extremists and bigots from their movement.

by Kevin M. Schultz via Made By History on February 15, 2021

Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater at the 1964 Republican National Convention

How the GOP Surrendered to Extremism

Sixty years ago, many GOP leaders resisted radicals in their ranks. Now they’re not even trying.

by Ronald Brownstein via The Atlantic on February 4, 2021

Donald Trump speaks with reporters on Thanksgiving, November 26th, 2020.

“Almost the Complete Opposite of Fascism”

A conversation with Corey Robin on the surprisingly weak presidency of Donald Trump.

by Corey Robin, David Klion via Jewish Currents on December 4, 2020

Joe Biden.

What’s Driving So Many Republicans to Support Joe Biden?

The collapse of the Republican Party.

by Geoffrey Kabaservice via Made By History on October 30, 2020

How the GOP Became the Party of Resentment

Have historians of the conservative movement focused too much on its intellectuals?

by Patrick Iber via The New Republic on August 11, 2020

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