Family Policy Past As Prologue: Jimmy Carter,the White House Conference on Families,and the Mobilization of the New Christian Right1

The White House Conference on Families both exemplified the contested nature of “family policy” since the late nineteenth century and inaugurated the latest phase in the venerable invocation of “family values” as a tactic for political mobilization. In 1976 presidential candidate Jimmy Carter proposed a White House Conference on the American Family in order to shore up support among cultural conservatives, especially Roman Catholics. Four years later, after much debate within the Carter administration as well as in the country at large about what constituted a legitimate family, three sessions of a White House Conference on Families were held. Cultural moderates, feminists, gays rights activists, devout Catholics, and evangelical Protestants disagreed vehemently about policies ranging from legalized abortion to family leave. Following a long though little known tradition, women were especially active among grassroots conservatives. Ultimately conservatives mobilized much more effectively than their liberal and moderate opponents, and they quickly made restoration of family values an effective wedge issue for the new Christian right and the Republican party. In many ways, the debate over family policy in the early 21st century still echoes that of the 1970s—or the 1930s or the 1910s.     

The White House as a Black Box: Oral History and the Problem of Evidence in Presidential Studies

Scholars who study the American presidency usually have to rely on indirect evidence for understanding the internal operations of the 'black box' that is a contemporaneous White House. Most of the direct evidence about White House behavior becomes available only after a president has left office, when confidential communications are opened to the public by the presidential libraries. In recent years, however, such direct evidence has become increasingly inaccessible, because of changes in the record-keeping habits of senior executive branch officials and because of the politics of archival release. This article explores the nature and extent of these problems, and how elite oral history interviewing can compensate for them. It further examines the strengths and weaknesses of oral history as a means of learning about the usually hidden workings of the American presidency.     

Redistricting, Candidate Entry, and the Politics of Nineteenth-Century U.S. House Elections

The effects of redistricting on candidate entry patterns in contemporary House races has received growing attention in the scholarly literature, yet virtually no consideration has been given to this question in the context of historical elections. This is unfortunate as the wider variation in congressional redistricting during the nineteenth century gives us increased leverage in terms of understanding strategic candidate behavior. Utilizing a new dataset of candidate quality for nineteenth-century House races, we examine whether candidates with prior electoral experience are more likely to run in districts that are altered during the redistricting process, and provide an account of how differences in the prevalence of redistricting may affect strategic entry decisions of politicians. Our results suggest that entry decisions and electoral outcomes are affected by redistricting in this era. Moreover, our analysis provides an opportunity to use history to test contemporary theories of congressional elections in a broader context .     

Explaining the First Contested Senate Confirmation of a Director of Central Intelligence: John McCone,the Kennedy White House,the CIA and the Senate, 1962

This article explores the first nomination for Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) that was seriously contested in the US Senate. Unlike three previous DCIs who headed the Central Intelligence Agency, John A. McCone faced harsh criticism from some in the news media and 12 negative votes in the US Senate after he was nominated for the position by President John F. Kennedy. The article considers factors, including McCone's personal attributes and recent years' controversies about the CIA, as reasons that provoked some opposition to his confirmation as DCI.