Richard Nixon

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: GOP-Union Outreach
There is nothing new about Republican politicians trying to court labor bosses. Before the second Trump administration, the Eisenhower, Nixon, and Ford administrations all appointed Big Labor supporters as Labor…
by Michael Watson on July 2, 2025

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: Wagner and Taft-Hartley
The outreach to organized labor by Republicans essentially became irrelevant after the election of President Franklin Roosevelt and massive congressional majorities with a mandate to enact his “New Deal” of…
by Michael Watson on July 2, 2025

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: The Two Minds of Tricky Dick
In 1960, Robert Kennedy’s brother John F. Kennedy was elected president, bringing labor’s liberal wing into the White House, as UAW leader Walter Reuther was an ally of the Kennedys.
by Michael Watson on July 2, 2025

Labor Watch
Republicans and Big Labor: Reagan–Bush and Beyond
In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president over union-backed incumbent President Jimmy Carter. While Reagan himself had been the actors’ union president during his Hollywood career, his labor secretaries deviated…
by Michael Watson on July 2, 2025

Organization Trends
The Unspoken Cause of “California Disease”
Theories of demographic change driving political change are overstated. California is often pointed to as an example, but California was a progressive state, not a red state. Using these theories…
by Michael Watson on July 17, 2024

Organization Trends
League of Women Voters: A Legacy of Liberal Issues and Causes
(PDF here) Summary: The 95-year-old League of Women Voters isn’t quite what it seems. It has long enjoyed an enviable reputation as a nonideological, nonpartisan, good-government group, but contrary…
by John Gizzi on November 6, 2015