December 17, 2004 Robert Mason To Discuss His Book on Richard Nixon on Jan. 13

Press Contact: Helen Dalrymple (202) 707-1940
Public Contact: Robert Saladini (202) 707-2692

Robert Mason, Library of Congress Kluge Fellow and lecturer in history at the University of Edinburgh, will discuss his book "Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority" at noon on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005, in Room LJ-119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event, which is sponsored by the Library's John W. Kluge Center, is free and open to the public; no reservations are required.

Recently published by the University of North Carolina Press, "Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority" is the study of an effort by Nixon to orchestrate political change in the United States at a potentially crucial moment in recent history -- the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mason's thesis is that Richard Nixon, president during this time of opportunity, developed a plan to exploit it.

At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, many people believed that the era of Democratic dominance, which began in a period of economic crisis in the first administration of Franklin Roosevelt, was about to change and that the country stood on the verge of a conservative realignment that would completely transform American politics.

"Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New Majority" looks at the reasons that these beliefs became widespread and investigates how the Nixon administration responded to this perception of a significant political opportunity.

Mason is working on a book about the Republican Party between the 1920s and the 1980s during his residence at the Kluge Center as a Kluge Fellow.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world's best thinkers to distill wisdom from the Library's rich resources and to stimulate and energize interaction with policymakers in Washington. For more information about any of the fellowships, grants and programs offered by the center, contact the Office of Scholarly Programs, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC 20540-4860; telephone (202) 707-3302, fax (202) 707-3595, or visit the Web at www.loc.gov/kluge/.

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PR 04-208
2004-12-17
ISSN 0731-3527