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7 Chaos Is Come Again ith th e inauguratio n o f Richar d Nixo n a s president i n 1969 , th e sympathy African-America n right s ha d attracte d i n th e Kenned y and Johnson year s seemed to evaporate. Nixon's hard-hearted approac h to studen t demonstration s an d civi l right s activist s wa s designe d t o exploit the white backlash agains t violent protests. He made it clear tha t he woul d no t activel y promot e th e doctrin e o f racia l equalit y o r th e programs o f th e Grea t Society . Nevertheless , Richar d Nixo n di d pro mote some advances fo r civi l rights by way of job opportunities, includ ing goal s an d timetable s fo r al l companie s doin g busines s wit h th e federal government , a s well as continuing to promote the dismantling of dual school systems in the South. A Silent Majority While th e majorit y o f American s wer e profoundl y trouble d b y the wa r in Vietnam , th e vexe d stat e o f rac e relations , urba n problems , an d poverty, the y di d no t ofte n agre e wit h th e remedie s propose d b y th e New Left : immediat e withdrawa l fro m Indochina ; a syste m o f redistri butive taxes ; an d th e busin g o f schoo l children . Th e mos t significan t political allianc e o f th e lat e 1960 s an d thereafte r wa s th e unio n o f th e populist "silen t majority " o f middl e American s fro m th e Protestan t South o r Catholi c ethnic groups i n the Northeast an d Midwes t with th e w 2 1 6 CHAOS I S COM E AGAI N conservative plutocrac y o f th e great corporations . Bot h wer e indifferen t to socia l problems . Liberal s ha d erroneousl y though t the y coul d eradi cate segregatio n i n th e Sout h withou t changin g America n societ y a s a whole, notabl y it s politica l institution s an d socia l relations . Whe n the y became awar e o f thei r mistake , the y trie d t o eliminat e discriminatio n and povert y i n th e North , als o withou t disturbin g th e statu s quo . Thu s they los t th e trus t o f th e whit e majority . Th e electora l victorie s o f Republican presidentia l nomine e Richar d Nixo n i n 196 8 an d 197 2 o n behalf of a conservative elite were not an aberration fro m th e continuou s procession o f victorie s fo r libera l president s startin g wit h Frankli n De lano Roosevel t i n 1932 . Kevin Philips argued i n The Emerging Republican Majority (1969 ) tha t th e Democrati c majorit y boun d b y th e Grea t Depression an d th e Ne w Dea l wa s bein g transforme d int o a natura l Republican majority . Thi s was partl y o n accoun t o f sociologica l factor s in which a new suburba n middl e clas s was developin g fro m ne w immi grant an d working-clas s stoc k wh o ha d passe d fro m th e depressio n o f poverty through th e threshold o f comfort. I t was also partly due to mor e general geographi c an d demographi c factors , wit h th e developmen t o f sunbelt citie s and suburb s fro m Florid a an d th e South acros s Texas an d the Southwes t an d thenc e t o souther n California . Th e advocate s o f corporate planning fo r welfare , argue d Kevi n Philips, were just as muc h a self-perpetuatin g oligarch y a s th e financier s an d industrialist s o f th e 1920s. Kevin Philip s describe d...

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