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The rise of modern Texas conservatism experienced a critical turning point in 1976. That year, in the midst of a heated primary contest between Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, what can best be described as a political civil war broke out within the Texas GOP. The war was essentially a split between the established party leadership, still committed to making Texas a two-party state, and a populist conservative grass roots energized by surging antiliberalism, a nationally reinvigorated antistatism, and the emergence of several new and politically active conservative special interest groups. Though this brief but significant intraparty conflict was initially divisive, its ultimate outcome accelerated the process of partisan realignment based on ideological polarities, which, in the years following 1976, became increasingly connected with national issues and icons. Yet, in the short run, the only thing the Texas GOP experienced was defeat. Reagan, the candidate most Texas conservatives supported, won the state’s primary but eventually lost the party’s nomination. Texans then rejected Gerald Ford in the general election, choosing instead to support a southern Democrat running as a Washington outsider, a born-again Christian , and a relative moderate. It is unlikely that many Texans realized in November 1976 that Jimmy Carter would be the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry Texas in the twentieth century. Why that happened cannot be understood without carefully examining the state’s political culture and the state GOP’s intraparty conflicts during the mid-1970s. “God is very big in Dallas” The state and national political culture that allowed for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 bid for the presidency cannot be understood without recognizing the rapidly expanding influence of politically mobilized evangelical Christians. This was especially true in Dallas, where growing suburbs became hotbeds of activity for like-minded middle class and churchgoing conservatives. Civil War Chapter 6 Populist Conservatism and the 1976 Campaigns 155 156 Cowboy Conservatism The most significant shot fired in the early stages of the American culture wars landed, ironically, on January 22, 1973—the same day that Lyndon Johnson died. That day, though the event was not at the time deemed significant enough to steal LBJ’s final headline, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade. Though Johnson’s death temporarily overshadowed the news of the court’s decision, the long-term impact of Roe—a case originally filed in Dallas—contributed to the infusion of evangelicals into Texas politics and, more specifically, to the growing tide of grassroots activism that added to Reagan’s momentum in 1976. Interestingly, neither religion broadly nor religious issues specifically played a significant role in Texas politics prior to Roe. In 1971, for instance, Texas Republicans underscored the RNC’s endorsement of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), an issue many evangelical religious groups would take up with great fervor in the coming years. The ERA passed the Texas legislature in 1972, without much debate and with the support of prominent Texas Republicans, including George Bush and John Tower.1 Meanwhile, abortion played virtually no role in state or local campaigns in 1970 or 1972. For many young conservatives still evolving out of the Goldwater school, religion had no place in politics. Carol Reed of Dallas, for instance, who began her political education by joining a local Republican Women’s Club in the 1960s before serving as vice president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women until 1975, when she became vice chairman of the Dallas County Republican Party, considered herself a committed libertarian—unwilling to promote government’s involvement in most social issues, including abortion.2 Republican state representative Betty Andujar of Fort Worth agreed, citing her fear that outlawing abortion would lead to the slippery slope of population growth and, eventually, a military dictatorship.3 Even the Baptist General Convention of Texas remained libertarian on social issues. In 1971, responding to House Joint Resolution 191—also known as the “prayer amendment”—the Baptist General Convention of Texas voiced its support for the separation of church and state, saying that it was dangerous to allow government any say on what was or was not acceptable prayer. “The right to pray is safe now,” wrote the convention. “The best thing that government can do for religion is to let it alone.”4 Yet by 1976, both Stop-ERA and pro-life advocates had developed strong voices in state politics. Roe rallied those whose dissatisfaction with liberal Supreme Court rulings on issues like school...

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