From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich
Tony Castio Aiken
4/22/2008
AHST 202
Mr. Joseph C. Elliott
FROM GEORGE WALLACE
TO
NEWT GINGRICH
From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich is an amazing book. This book by Dan T. Carter is more of a collection of four essays. These essays take a look at the role of race in the development of American politics. The four essays are “Politics of Anger”, “Politics of Accommodation”, Politics of Symbols”, and the “Politics of Righteousness”. Each essay talks about how our politicians handle race and used it and other issues to influence voters. Politics of Anger is the first essay. It goes in to detail about George Wallace and how he used race as a way to gain voters. George Wallace was a very racist man, behind closed doors that is. George Wallace’s inaugural address show how racist he was because of his famous line, “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” George Wallace insists that it was symbolic meaning, “State now! State tomorrow! State forever!”, but he was not fooling anyone. The book state that his campaign adopted a kind of soft porn racism in which fear and hatred could be mobilized without mentioning race itself. He was a racist person but chose not to show it to the public, by doing this along with supporting segregation using state power as a cover story he gained the trust of the people. Second is Politics of Accommodation, in which Richard Nixon and his staff moved from the dark ages to the brave new world. Nixon’s staff was much more calculating in its attempt to craft the shape of his campaign. The book states that voters are basically lazy, basically uninterested in making an effort to understand what candidates are talking about, but television changed all that. The television played a critical role in the reemergence of Nixon. Television gave the lazy voters a chance to see and understand the candidates. Richard Nixon was pulling a Wallace; he basically stated that it’s not what’s there that counts,
4/22/2008
AHST 202
Mr. Joseph C. Elliott
FROM GEORGE WALLACE
TO
NEWT GINGRICH
From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich is an amazing book. This book by Dan T. Carter is more of a collection of four essays. These essays take a look at the role of race in the development of American politics. The four essays are “Politics of Anger”, “Politics of Accommodation”, Politics of Symbols”, and the “Politics of Righteousness”. Each essay talks about how our politicians handle race and used it and other issues to influence voters. Politics of Anger is the first essay. It goes in to detail about George Wallace and how he used race as a way to gain voters. George Wallace was a very racist man, behind closed doors that is. George Wallace’s inaugural address show how racist he was because of his famous line, “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” George Wallace insists that it was symbolic meaning, “State now! State tomorrow! State forever!”, but he was not fooling anyone. The book state that his campaign adopted a kind of soft porn racism in which fear and hatred could be mobilized without mentioning race itself. He was a racist person but chose not to show it to the public, by doing this along with supporting segregation using state power as a cover story he gained the trust of the people. Second is Politics of Accommodation, in which Richard Nixon and his staff moved from the dark ages to the brave new world. Nixon’s staff was much more calculating in its attempt to craft the shape of his campaign. The book states that voters are basically lazy, basically uninterested in making an effort to understand what candidates are talking about, but television changed all that. The television played a critical role in the reemergence of Nixon. Television gave the lazy voters a chance to see and understand the candidates. Richard Nixon was pulling a Wallace; he basically stated that it’s not what’s there that counts,