Goldwater, Rockefeller, and the Young Republicans

The Young Republicans of America, meeting at Boston’s Hotel Statler in June 1951, chose Herbert Warburton of Delaware as their national chairman. Because Warburton represented what was to develop as the “Eisenhower wing” of the party, and because his opponent was strongly backed by elements close to the late Senator Robert Taft, the result was prophetic of what was to happen a year later in the senior party.

In 1959, when there was again some question as to who would be the next GOP nominee, a similar clash occurred. Ned Cushing of Kansas, a strong backer of Richard Nixon, was elected Young Republican chairman. The delegation from New York, trailing the tattered banner of Nelson Rockefeller, stood forlornly on the outside looking in. Once more the YR convention prefigured that of the senior party; Rockefeller’s weakness among the YRs was, by year’s end, equally apparent among their elders.

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M. Stanton Evans

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The Young Republicans of America, meeting at Boston’s Hotel Statler in June 1951, chose Herbert Warburton of Delaware as their national chairman. Because Warburton represented what was to develop as the “Eisenhower wing” of the party, and because his opponent was strongly backed by elements close to the late Senator Robert Taft, the result was prophetic of what was to happen a year later in the senior party.

In 1959, when there was again some question as to who would be the next GOP nominee, a similar clash occurred. Ned Cushing of Kansas, a strong backer of Richard Nixon, was elected Young Republican chairman. The delegation from New York, trailing the tattered banner of Nelson Rockefeller, stood forlornly on the outside looking in. Once more the YR convention prefigured that of the senior party; Rockefeller’s weakness among the YRs was, by year’s end, equally apparent among their elders.