Democracy Awakening: Important People

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the 16th President of the United States, holding office from 1861 until his assassination in 1865 at the close of the U.S. Civil War. In Democracy Awakening, Lincoln, a Republican, and his policies are described in relation to the shifting definition of the term conservative. In Civil War era, when the Republican Party declared that the anti-slavery movement supported the conservative principles of the nation’s Founders. During his campaign for president, Republican Lincoln connected the U.S. ideal of equality with a stand against slavery and the belief that the government’s purpose was to provide for the needs of its citizens.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) was the 32nd President of the United States, holding office from 1933 to 1945 during the Great Depression and World War II. Shortly after taking office, Roosevelt set up the New Deal, a set of social programs and financial regulations instituted to lift the country out of the Great Depression, aid the poor and unemployed, and institute safeguards against future financial crashes. Richardson describes how politicians opposed to Roosevelt and his policies formed a coalition and called for tax cuts, the elimination of government-provided social services, and the rights of states to enforce discriminatory laws.

William F. Buckley Jr. and L. Brent Bozell Jr.

Buckley (1925-2008) was a popular conservative author, editor, and commentator during the second half of the 20th century. Bozell (1926-1997) was a conservative author and activist during the same period as Buckley. The two worked together on the conservative journal National Review (which Buckley founded), and in 1954 co-wrote a book defending red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy. In the same year, the two developed the political philosophy of movement conservatism that called for the end of business regulations from government—putting them in the forefront of an effort that has, as Richardson describes in her book, seen numerous victories in the subsequent decades.

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy (1917-1961) was the 35th President of the United States, holding office from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. After winning a very close election against Republican candidate Richard Nixon, Kennedy, strong proponent of organized labor and civil rights, advocated many policies and laws supporting liberal ideals—many of which were enacted under his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, after Kennedy’s assassination.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) was the 36th President of the United States, assuming office upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November of 1963 and then winning election in his own rite by heavily defeating movement conservative icon Barry Goldwater in 1964 and serving until 1969. As President, Johnson oversaw the passage and enactment of two laws that served as cornerstones of liberal policy: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights of 1965. Johnson was also responsible for the Great Society, series of laws and initiatives intended to eliminate poverty and racial injustice while addressing education, healthcare, the environment, poverty, transportation, and the arts.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), was the 40th President of the United States, holding office from 1981 to 1989. After a long career as a Hollywood actor (who had strongly supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his policies), Reagan embraced Republican politics and the ideals of movement conservatism—moves that propelled him first into the governorship of California from 1967 to 1975 and then to the presidency, being elected in 1980 and reelected in 1984. Under Reagan, there was a massive rollback of taxes on corporations and the wealthy and a corresponding reduction in governmental services and support for poorer Americans.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump (b. 1946) was the 45th President of the United States, holding office from 2017 to 2021. While Trump is very much at the center of Richardson’s book (some might say its target), he is also—as the book describes—in some ways just the current beneficiary of a long history of successful conservative and movement conservatism efforts. At the time of the fall 2023 publication of Democracy Awakening, Trump had announced his intention to run for the presidency again, while at the same time, he was facing trial for an assortment of alleged crimes on both the federal and state levels. Richardson believes that efforts by modern conservatives have sought to concentrate power in the hands of a wealthy few and that their success at doing so left the country on the brink of becoming an authoritarian regime under Trump, should he succeed in his quest to return to power.

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