A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism

How did American conservatism, little more than a collection of loosely related beliefs in the late 1940s and early 1950s, become a coherent political and social force in the 1960s? What political strategies originating during the decade enabled the modern conservative movement to flourish? And how did mainstream and extremist conservatives, frequently at odds over tactics and ideology, each play a role in reshaping the Republican Party? In the 1960s conservatives did nothing less than engineer their own revolution. A Time for Choosing tells the remarkable story behind this transformation. Where previous accounts of conservatism's rise tend to speed from 1964 through the start of the Reagan era in 1980, A Time for Choosing explores in dramatic detail how conservatives took immediate action following the Goldwater debacle. William F. Buckley, Jr.'s 1965 bid for Mayor of New York City and Reagan's 1966 California governor's campaign helped turn the tide for electoral conservatism. By decade's end, independent "splinter groups" vied for the right to bear the conservative standard into the next decade, demonstrating the movement's strength and vitality. Although conservative ideology was not created during the 1960s, its political components were. Here, then, is the story of the rise of the modern conservative movement. Provocative and beautifully written, A Time for Choosing is a book for anyone interested in politics and history in the postwar era.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ; 1. The Birth of Postwar Conservatism ; 2. The Cold War Hits Home ; 3. A New Kind of Conservatism: The John Birch Society ; 4. The Case of Edwin A. Walker ; 5. Creating Conflagration: Barry Goldwater and the Republican Party ; 6. Buckley for Mayor ; 7. A New Kind of Conservative: Ronald Reagan ; 8. Passing the Torch: Organizations and Issues, 1968-1972 ; Conclusion

About the Author :
Jonathan M. Schoenwald is a Lecturer in the Humanities at Stanford University. Previously he taught at the College of Wooster.

Review :
"Elegantly written and persuasively argued, A Time for Choosing is destined to become a standard work in the study of modern conservatism. It is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the decline of liberalism and the dramatic shift to the right since 1960."--Steven M. Gillon, University of Oklahoma "Jonathan Schoenwald has given us a well-researched and thoroughly fair account of the growth of the modern conservative movement from 1950 to 1972, centering on the struggle between its more responsible protagonists and its extremist fringes. In so doing, he is leading the way in giving the movement the serious historical attention it has long deserved. Future students of the movement will find his book indispensable."--William A. Rusher, The Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy "Carefully argued, well researched, and far ranging, A Time for Choosing successfully reconceptualizes the rise of the modern conservative movement. Jonathan Schoenwald has clearly demonstrated that the conservative capture of the Republican party in 1964 was only the beginning of a dynamic process of taming extremists, attracting moderates, and integrating grassroots organizations into a viable electoral alliance that would eventually vanquish the New Deal coalition of President Franklin Roosevelt."--Robert Alan Goldberg, University of Utah "In this crowded field, Schoenwald has accomplished a remarkable feat: rooting around the boxes in the conservative attic and recovering some of the more forgotten moments and figures from the movement's past."--Washington Monthly "Amid the many recent books on the rise of American conservatism in the 1960s and 1970s, Jonathan Schoenwald's volume stands out for its depth of research, clarity of writing, and--above all--for its admirably balanced understanding of the dilemmas and divisions that confronted conservatives in those years."--James T. Patterson, Brown University