UC Davis
Historian at UC Davis; Author of Right Out of California
PROFILE
Kathryn Olmsted
Guest
FROM Kathryn Olmsted
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The early roots of GOP talking points Donald Trump spent a week at the Republican National Convention repeating his campaign promise to “make America great again.” But it’s not a new message; Republican Herbert Hoover built his 1932 presidential campaign around the same idea. Hoover was campaigning hard against his Democratic rival, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and FDR’s so-called New Deal. Hoover warned that the government had grown too big, that freedom was under attack and that the American way of life was under attack -- all conservative talking points that survive today. In fact, UC Davis historian Kathryn Olmsted’s latest book argues that the fight against the New Deal launched modern conservatism and today’s Republican Party as we know it. The book is called Right Out of California, and Madeleine Brand spoke with Kathryn Olmsted earlier this year. We revisit the conversation today.
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