Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s

The Center for Presidential History welcomes Nicole Hemmer (Vanderbilt University) as she discusses her new book Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s . Hemmer offers a bold new history of modern conservatism that finds its origins in the populist right-wing politics of the 1990s.

Ronald Reagan has long been lionized for building a conservative coalition sustained by an optimistic vision of American exceptionalism, small government, and free markets. But as historian Nicole Hemmer reveals, the Reagan coalition was short-lived; it fell apart as soon as its charismatic leader left office. In the 1990s — a decade that has yet to be recognized as the breeding ground for today’s polarizing politics — changing demographics and the emergence of a new political-entertainment media fueled the rise of combative far-right politicians and pundits. These partisans, from Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich to Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham, forged a new American right that emphasized anti-globalism, appeals to white resentment, and skepticism about democracy itself.

Nicole Hemmer is associate professor of history and director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the Study of the Presidency at Vanderbilt University. She is a columnist at CNN, and hosts the podcasts Past Present and This Day in Esoteric Political History. In 2017, she co-founded Made by History, the historical analysis section of the Washington Post, where she was an editor until 2020.


This recording is the property of the SMU Center for Presidential History and may only be used for research and teaching purposes. It cannot be copied or reproduced for profit. © 2016

[themanwhoownsman]

Need to post more long speeches like these‼️

[madams]

Conservatives used to be about measured, medium change, almost by definition. 😊

Now, so-called conservatives are about abrupt, jarring change. 😜