In this study, data-processed averages of the congressional voting ratings of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE), and Americans for Constitutional Action (ACA) were utilized comparatively for the thirteen consecutive 1947-1972 postwar American Congresses. ADA, COPE, and ACA rating averages served as tracers to plot the 1947-1972 ideological dispositions, differentials and directions of the American Congress, congressional parties, House and Senate, geopolitical regions, demographic, and religious groupings. ADA, COPE, and ACA averages consistently corroborated 1947-1972 ideological trends.Congress experienced four ideological epicycles during 1947-1972. Following a 1947-1949 conservative reactionism, a 1949-1958 liberalizing moderation climaxed in a 1959-1966 crescendo of epic liberalism, succeeded by a 1967-1972 moderating liberalism. The 1947-1972 congressional parties manifested changing degrees of ideological polarity.The ideologically divergent postwar congressional parties converged during the 1949-1958 era of liberalizing moderation as urbanizing congressional Republicans moderated appreciably. During the 1959-1966 liberal surge, congressional Republicans fashioned a conservative pro-Southern strategy in order to achieve power. From 1967 to 1972, the parties converged ideologically; Southern congressional Democrats rapidly conservatized and social-issue conscious urban congressional Democrats ideologically moderated while suburbanizing congressional Republicans liberalized.The 1947-1972 House and Senate changed ideological positions. The House was ideologically superseded by a belatedly more urban and, therefore, more liberal post-1961 Senate. Urban liberal Senate Republicans accounted for the greater liberalism of the Senate; the urbanized House Democracy continued to exceed the liberalism of the Senate Democracy.Rural, suburban and urban groupings displayed greater degrees of liberalism from the least to the greatest density of population. Rural congressional district and state averages were conservative, and suburban and urban averages were moderate and liberal respectively. The 1969-1972 suburban and urban averages moderated. Protestant, Catholic and Jewish congressional district averages were conservative, liberal and strongly liberal respectively.The standard geopolitical regions of East, South, Midwest and West experienced dramatic 1947-1972 ideological and partisan transition. The East realigned from a congressional Republican bastion to a congressional Democratic bastion and revolved from the most conservative to the most liberal region. The South shifted from the most liberal to the most conservative region and began a rapid, pro-Republican realignment. The Midwest liberalized and realigned Democratically and the West conservatized and gravitated toward the GOP.Thus, congressional Democrats were becoming the liberal party of the North and congressional Republicans were becoming the conservative party of the Heartland. These 1947-1972 ideological and partisan transitions were apparent in the behavior of the Yankee Zone and Sun Belt geopolitical subregions. The conservative Republican Yankee Zone revolved into a bastion of liberal Democracy while the solidly Democratic Sun Belt conservatized and trended Republican.The depopulation of rural areas and cities and the population plurality of suburbia were disclosed in the 1970 census. The 1966-1972 emergence of congressional Republicans to majority control of suburban constituencies suggests the advent of a suburban political cycle of ideological moderation and Republican supremacy. The depopulation of the liberalizing and Democratizing East and Midwest and the population of the conservatizing and Republicanizing South and Sun Belt corroborate this projection.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/178063 |
| Date | January 1973 |
| Creators | Martin, Glenn Richards |
| Contributors | Hamilton, Herbert H. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | xxiii, 379 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
| Coverage | n-us--- |
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