Republican party 1854-1966

On its publication in 1964, Mr. Mayer's book at once established itself as a basic history of a uniquely American institu tion. This new, revised edition carries for ward through the Goldwater Presidential campaign and the 1966 congressional elections, and discusses in detail the ef fects on national politics of advances in public-relations techniques and in travel and communication.

The Republican party has for more than a century expressed America's as pirations as faithfully as have its eco nomic and religious institutions, and its art and literature. Born at the peak of America's "golden age" of politics, when in Tocqueville's words to take part in government and to discuss its measures was "almost the only pleasure" Americans knew, it remained the party in power for most of the period between the Civil War and the New Deal. Of all third parties that have appeared in the United States during the past century, it alone has sur vived the transition from an agricultural to a technological society. In telling the complete story of the Republican party for the first time, Mr. Mayer examines its major policies and beliefs, assesses its Presidents and the records of its congress men, and weighs the impact upon it of Mocial and economic forces. More than a review of campaigns and elections, his perceptive account abounds in lively Sketches of Republican Presidents from Lincoln to Eisenhower; of congressional and party leaders from Greeley, Seward and Weed, to Rockefeller and Romney; and of the issues that have united or divided Republicans over the year.

Especially noteworthy are Mr. Mayer's interpretations of the explosive abolition and Reconstruction periods; of Theodore Roosevelt "that damned cowboy" to his fellow Republican Mark Hanna-and the Progressive Era; of the struggle between Lodge and Wilson over the League of Nations; and of the bitter division within the party that began during the New Deal and culminated in the battle of the 1964 primaries and convention. Included, too, are descriptions of how campaigns have been conducted, from the spe..binding oratory of pre-Civil War days through the "front porch" campaigns to the radio and TV appearances that have made for fun damental changes in campaign strategy

and financing. Mr. Mayer uses the history of a single political party as a means of understand ing the place of party politics in American life and its effects on national policy, as well as on the party itself. He has based his book on the letters and papers of leading politicians, and has examined manuscript collections from all over the country. Events, therefore, are often pro jected as they appeared to the people involved, which lends an immediacy to his work and reinforces its interest for citizen, voter, politician, and educator,

George H. Mayer, Professor of American History at Purdue University, has been on the staff at Purdue since 1946. He was Fulbright Lecturer in American History in India, 1953-54, and Smith-Mundt Lec turer in American History, University of Malaya, 1961. He is the author of The Political Career of Floyd B Former Labor Governor of M Fuster of the United States and the Twentieth century.