Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right

Sean P. Cunningham

Jul. 2010 · University Press of Kentucky

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“Cunningham provides a vivid, informative, and frequently insightful chronicle of Texas politics between 1963 and 1980.” —Journal of American History

During the 1960s and 1970s, Texas was transformed by a series of political transitions. After more than a century of Democratic politics, the state became a Republican stronghold virtually overnight, and by 1980, it was known as “Reagan Country.” Ultimately, Republicans dominated the Texas political landscape, holding all twenty-seven of its elected offices and carrying former governor George W. Bush to his second term as president with more than 61 percent of the Texas vote.

In Cowboy Conservatism, Sean P. Cunningham examines the remarkable origins of Republican Texas. Utilizing extensive research drawn from the archives of four presidential libraries, gubernatorial papers, local campaign offices, and oral histories, Cunningham presents a compelling narrative of modern conservatism as it evolved in one of the nation’s largest and most politically important states.

Cunningham analyzes the political changes that took place in Texas during the tumultuous seventeen-year period between John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the election of Ronald Reagan. He explores critical issues related to the changing political scene in Texas, including the emergence of “law and order,” race relations and civil rights, the slumping economy, the Vietnam War, and the rise of a politically active Christian Right, as well as the role of iconic politicians such as Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, John Connally, and John Tower.

Cowboy Conservatism demonstrates Texas’s distinctive and vital contributions to the transformation of postwar American politics, revealing a vivid portrait of modern conservatism in one of the nation’s most fervent Republican strongholds.

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Sean P. Cunningham is Associate Professor of History at Texas Tech University. He holds a Ph.D. in Modern American History from the University of Florida and teaches broadly in twentieth-century U.S. history, while specializing in the history of post-1945 American political culture. His geographic emphasis is on the American Sunbelt, Texas in particular. His first book, Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right, was published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2010. His second book, American Politics in the Postwar Sunbelt: Conservative Growth in a Battleground Region, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2014.