Choice Reviews Online · 2006 · 214 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesPolitical ScienceAmerican PoliticsPolitical HistoryPublic OpinionHistory Of CrimeWhite SupremacySocial UnrestStreet CrimeUrban Unrest
Law and Order traces how the 1960s surge in street crime and civil unrest bolstered conservative appeal, weakened liberal credibility, and reshaped American politics, ultimately curtailing the Great Society agenda. Flamm investigates how conservatives blamed liberals for rising crime and leveraged law‑and‑order rhetoric to tie white voters’ fears to civil‑rights, urban disorder, and anti‑war protests. Conservatives framed law and order as a necessary response to crime, linking it to civil‑rights upheaval and anti‑war unrest, while liberals either ignored the crisis, denounced the rhetoric as racist, or blamed social programs, failing to offer a compelling alternative. The rhetoric helped conservatives defeat Johnson and secure Nixon’s 1968 victory, whereas liberals’ inability to craft a persuasive message contributed to their electoral decline.
Law and Order offers a valuable new study of the political and social history of the 1960s. It presents a sophisticated account of how the issues of street crime and civil unrest enhanced the popularity of conservatives, eroded the credibility of liberals, and transformed the landscape of American politics. Ultimately, the legacy of law and order was a political world in which the grand ambitions of the Great Society gave way to grim expectations.In the mid-1960s, amid a pervasive sense that American society was coming apart at the seams, a new issue known as law and order emerged at the forefront of national politics. First introduced by Barry Goldwater in his ill-fated run for president in 1964, it eventually punished Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats and propelled Richard Nixon and the Republicans to the White House in 1968. In this thought-provoking study, Michael Flamm examines how conservatives successfully blamed liberals for the rapid rise in street crime and then skillfully used law and order to link the understandable fears of white voters to growing unease about changing moral values, the civil rights movement, urban disorder, and antiwar protests.Flamm documents how conservatives constructed a persuasive message that argued that the civil rights movement had contributed to racial unrest and the Great Society had rewarded rather than punished the perpetrators of violence. The president should, conservatives also contended, promote respect for law and order and contempt for those who violated it, regardless of cause. Liberals, Flamm argues, were by contrast unable to craft a compelling message for anxious voters. Instead, liberals either ignored the crime crisis, claimed that law and order was a racist ruse, or maintained that social programs would solve the root causes of civil disorder, which by 1968 seemed increasingly unlikely and contributed to a loss of faith in the ability of the government to do what it was above all sworn to do-protect personal security and private property.