Conservative Intellectuals and Richard Nixon: Rethinking the Rise of the Right

Sarah Katherine Mergel, PhD ’07, explores the relationship between postwar conservatives and President Richard Nixon from 1968 to 1974. Mergel uses the Nixon years as a window into the conservative Right’s effort to turn ideology into successful politics. Her book combines an assessment of Nixon’s presidency through the eyes of conservative intellectuals with an attempt to understand what the Right gained from its experience with Nixon.