Books in Brief: Academics, Politics, and the 1972 Election

Academics, Politics, and the 1972 Election, by Everett Carll Ladd Jr. and Seymour Martin Lipset (American Enterprise Institute, 99 pp., $3).

What are the chief “political dynamics” in the nation in general and on the campus in particular? Professors Lipset of Harvard and Ladd of Connecticut use opinion polls and the findings of other political scientists in their answer. In the nation, the main dynamics are the’ decline of party loyalty (more ticket-splitting) and the rise of the “new politics” (the ascendancy of the ideological amateur or “reformer” over the compromising professional or “regular”). The new politics increases the chance that an “extremist” may be nominated by a major party and later defeated in a landslide, as in ’64 and ’72. On campus, the major dynamic is leftism, with one exception. Academics preferred McGovern to Nixon 56 per cent to 43 per cent. McGovern fared best among young teachers, and social scientists, and at the better universities. Vietnam was a key issue. The exception to leftism was the dismay many liberal professors felt at student radicalism. Nixon might have won over these professors, had the GOP not treated the campus as enemy territory. All in all, in both the nation and academia during 1972, enthusiasm waned and negativism prevailed. Thus neither the people nor the professor bestowed mandates.

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Presidential Election

Academics, Politics, and the 1972 Election, by Everett Carll Ladd Jr. and Seymour Martin Lipset (American Enterprise Institute, 99 pp., $3).

What are the chief “political dynamics” in the nation in general and on the campus in particular? Professors Lipset of Harvard and Ladd of Connecticut use opinion polls and the findings of other political scientists in their answer. In the nation, the main dynamics are the’ decline of party loyalty (more ticket-splitting) and the rise of the “new politics” (the ascendancy of the ideological amateur or “reformer” over the compromising professional or “regular”). The new politics increases the chance that an “extremist” may be nominated by a major party and later defeated in a landslide, as in ’64 and ’72. On campus, the major dynamic is leftism, with one exception. Academics preferred McGovern to Nixon 56 per cent to 43 per cent. McGovern fared best among young teachers, and social scientists, and at the better universities. Vietnam was a key issue. The exception to leftism was the dismay many liberal professors felt at student radicalism. Nixon might have won over these professors, had the GOP not treated the campus as enemy territory. All in all, in both the nation and academia during 1972, enthusiasm waned and negativism prevailed. Thus neither the people nor the professor bestowed mandates.