Republican Party (United States), history/Bibliography

The literature on the Republican Party of the U.S. is large. This is a guide to the best resources.

The History of the Republican party of the United States begins in 1854, at the start of the Third Party System. The GOP (or "Grand Old Party" as it was nicknamed after 1880) dominated national politics, including most of the Fourth Party System until 1932. Then the Fifth Party System (or "New Deal Coalition") was dominant until the late 1960s. Since 1968 the GOP has won 7 of 10 presidential elections (losing in 1976, 1992, and 1996).

Third Party System: 1854-1894

The Republican party began as a spontaneous grass roots protests against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed slavery into territories where it had been forbidden by earlier compromises. The party was sectional, with only scattered support in slave states before the Civil War. The first presidential nomination in 1856 when to an obscure western explorer John C. Fremont, as the party crusaded against the Slave Power with the slogan, "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free men, Fremont and victory!" Democrats warned darkly that disunion and Civil War would result. The remnants of the Know Nothing movement prevented the new party from sweeping the North, and the Democrats elected James Buchanan. By 1858 the Know Nothings were gone and the Republicans swept the North. The 1860 election seemed a certain victory, for the party had majorities in states with a majority of the electoral votes. In the event the opposition split three ways, and Abraham Lincoln coasted to an easy victory, carrying 18 states with 190 electoral votes, while the opposition carried 15 states (mostly in the South) with 123 electoral votes. Lincoln had 1.9 million popular votes.

Bibliography

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) online edition
• 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) popular history
• Mayer, George H. The Republican Party, 1854-1966. 2nd ed. (1967), narrative.
• Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996) popular narrative
• 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 1900

• 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), history of ideas and ideology
• Gienapp, William E. The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856 (1987), quantitative voting studies, by state
• 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
• Hesseltine, William B. Ulysses S. Grant: Politician (1935) online edition
• 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) online edition
• 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), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class. online edition
• 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) online edition, good survey of era
• Morgan, H. Wayne. William McKinley and His America 1963.
• Muzzey, David Saville. James G. Blaine: A Political Idol of Other Days 1934.
• Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union 8 vol (1947-77); highly detailed narrative of national politics and Civil War, 1848-65, by leading scholar
• 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.
• Rhodes, James Ford. The History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 8 vol (1932), narrative, 1850-1909
• Richardson, Heather Cox. The Greatest Nation of the Earth: Republican Economic Policies during the Civil War (1997) online edition
• Robinson, William A. Thomas B. Reed, Parliamentarian 1930.
• Silbey, Joel H. The American Political Nation, 1838-1893 (1991)
• Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884 (2000) online edition
• Van Deusen, Glyndon G. Horace Greeley, Nineteenth-Century Crusader (1953) online edition
• Welch, Richard E. George Frisbie Hoar and the Half Breed Republicans 1971.
• Williams, R. Hal. Years of Decision: American Politics in the 1890s. 1978.

1900-1932

• Blum, John Morton The Republican Roosevelt. (1954). essays that examine how TR did politics
• Brands, H.W. Theodore Roosevelt (2001), full biography online edtiion
• Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. (1979).
• Chace, James. 1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs - The Election That Changed the Country. (2004). 323 pp.
• Coletta, Paolo Enrico. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973), standard survey
• Garraty, John. Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography 1953
• 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)
• Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. (1991), standard survey
• Harbaugh, William Henry. The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt. (1963), full scholarly biography
• Hechler, Kenneth S. Insurgency: Personalities and Politics of the Taft Era (1940)
• Lichtman, Allan J. Prejudice and the Old Politics: The Presidential Election of 1928 (1979). quantitative study of voters
• Morris, Edmund. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, to 1901 (1979); vol 2: Theodore Rex 1901-1909. (2001); Pulitzer prize; biography.
• Mowry, George. The Era of Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912. (1954) general survey of era; online
• Karen A. J. Miller; Populist Nationalism: Republican Insurgency and American Foreign Policy Making, 1918-1925. Greenwood Press, 1999
• McCoy, Donald, Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President (1967),
• Mowry, George E. Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Movement. (2001) focus on 1912
• Pringle, Henry F. The Life and Times of William Howard Taft: A Biography. 2 vol (1939); Pulitzer prize; the standard biography vol 1 online
• Pringle, Henry F. Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography (1931) online edition
• Sherman, Richard B. The Republican Party and Black America from McKinley to Hoover 1973.
• Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography.
• David Thelen, Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit 1976. short interpretive biography
• Unger, Nancy C. Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer (2000), full scale biography

1932 to 1980

• Brennan, Mary C. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP (1995)
• Dallek, Matthew. The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics. (2004). Study of 1966 election as governor.
• Firestone, Bernard J. and Alexej Ugrinsky (eds) Gerald R. Ford and the Politics of Post-Watergate America (1992)
• Greenberg, David. Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image (2003). Important study of how Nixon was perceived by media and scholars.
• Greene, John Robert. The Limits of Power: The Nixon and Ford Administrations
• Greene, John Robert. The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford (1995)the major scholarly study
• Hoff, Joan. Nixon Reconsidered (1994); online ediition
• Jensen, Richard. "The Last Party System, 1932-1980," in Paul Kleppner, ed. Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1981)
• Ladd Jr., Everett Carll with Charles D. Hadley. Transformations of the American Party System: Political Coalitions from the New Deal to the 1970s 2nd ed. (1978).
• Mason, Robert. Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority (2004). 289 pp.
• Morris, Roger. Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician (1990).
• Pach, Chester J. and Elmo Richardson. Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1991). Standard scholarly survey.
• Parmet, Herbert S. Eisenhower and the American Crusades (1972) online edition
• Parmet, Herbert S. Richard Nixon and His America (1990).
• 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
• Persico, Joseph E. The Imperial Rockefeller: A Biography of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1982 (The author was a senior aide).
• Reich, Cary. The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer, 1908-1958, 1996.
• Reichley, James; Conservatives in an Age of Change: The Nixon and Ford Administrations, Brookings Institution, 1981. online edition
• Reinhard, David W. The Republican Right since 1945 (1983)
• Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983)
• Smith, Richard Norton. Thomas E. Dewey and His Times. (1982)
• Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983) online edition
• White, Theodore. The Making of the President: 1960 (1961); The Making of the President: 1964 (1965); The Making of the President 1968 (1969) classic narratives
• White, William S. The Taft Story (1954); Pulitzer Prize. online edition

1980 - Present

• 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 incumbent Congressmen and governors 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)
• Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (2000), online edition
• 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)
• Frum, David. What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America (1996)
• Germond, Jack W. and Jules Witcover. Blue Smoke & Mirrors: How Reagan Won & Why Carter Lost the Election of 1980. 1981. Detailed journalism.
• Green, John Robert. The Presidency of George Bush. (2000).
• Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
• Levy, Peter B. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years Greenwood Press, 1996 online edition
• Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
• Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998) biography by historian; online edition
• Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by historian
• Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
• Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future (2001).
• 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
• Steely, Mel. The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich Mercer University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-86554-671-1.
• Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004).

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Primary sources

• Cantril, Hadley and Mildred Strunk, eds. Public Opinion, 1935-1946 (1951), huge compilation of public opinion polls from the United States and elsewhere. online version
• Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes brief history and selection of primary documents.
• The national committees of major parties published a "campaign textbook" every presidential election from about 1856 to about 1932. They were designed for speakers and are jammed with statistics, speeches, summaries of legislation, and documents, with plenty of argumentation. Only large academic libraries have them, but some are online.
  • Democratic National Committee. The Campaign Text Book: Why the People Want a Change. The Republican Party Reviewed... (1876)
  • Campaign Text-book of the National Democratic Party (1896) by Democratic Party (U.S.) National committee this is the Gold Democrats handbook; it strongly opposed Bryan
  • The Republican Campaign Text Book for 1882 by Republican Congressional Committee
  • The Republican Campaign Text Book for 1884
  • The Republican Campaign Text-book for 1888
  • Republican Campaign Text Book, 1894

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