Installing loyalists for personal gain has proved ruinous in the past.
Then-President Donald Trump listens as Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel speaks during a campaign rally on Nov. 5, 2018, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. | Jeff Roberson/APWilliam Hershey is a former Washington correspondent for the Akron Beacon Journal and Columbus bureau chief for the Dayton Daily News.
But it’s also a rough approximation of President Richard Nixon’s RNC housecleaning more than a half-century ago. His decision to oust Bliss, widely regarded as one of the best RNC chairs in history, shocked the political establishment at the time. Bliss was a master of nuts-and-bolts politics — strengthening the party organization, raising money and getting out the vote. He was a political innovator, pioneering the successful use of television advertising and opinion polling in campaigns.
After Bliss became national chair in 1965, he helped mend the bitter intraparty divisions left over from conservative Barry Goldwater’s losing 1964 presidential campaign against Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson. And he applied the Big Cities report effectively in the 1966 congressional and 1968 presidential campaigns.
Thomas Roeser, a Republican political operative, later recalled Nixon’s reaction to this rejection: “He expressed the thought that if he ever, ever got near the presidential nomination much less the presidency, Ray Bliss would be hiking his ass back to Ohio.” That may have been wishful thinking, as Bliss himself suggested. But the events surrounding his ouster as party chair offer a few lessons that the party would do well to heed today.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
GOP rep apologizes after telling GOP colleague ‘go f--- yourself’Steve Benen is a producer for 'The Rachel Maddow Show,' the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of 'The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics.'
Read more »
Why That GOP State of the Union Rebuttal Was So BizarreWell, that sure was a Republican response to the State of the Union.
Read more »
GOP firebrands reveal why they aren’t planning on taking away Johnson’s gavelSeveral GOP firebrands are disgruntled with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) after the passage of a spending bill, but they are not looking to replace him.
Read more »
Why it matters that the GOP’s Ken Buck is resigning from CongressSteve Benen is a producer for 'The Rachel Maddow Show,' the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of 'The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics.'
Read more »
Here’s Why GOP’s Biden Impeachment Appears To Be UnravelingI cover national politics, with a focus on elections and the White House. Prior to joining Forbes, I wrote about New York politics for City & State magazine and The New York Post. I am based in New York City.
Read more »
Why You Really Do Need Eclipse Glasses—and Why You Should Buy Them Right NowAlso, here’s why you can't look directly at the sun.
Read more »