Empire of Direct Mail:How Conservative Marketing Persuaded Voters and Transformed the Grassroots

2022·1.5 MB·English

by  Takahito Moriyama

Empire of Direct Mail

Empire of Direct Mail
How Conservative Marketing Persuaded Voters and
Transformed the Grassroots
•
Takahito Moriyama
University Press of Kansas
© 2022 by the University Press of Kansas
All rights reserved
Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas 66045), which was
organized by the Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia
State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State
University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Moriyama, Takahito, author.
Title: Empire of direct mail : how conservative marketing persuaded voters
and transformed the grassroots / Takahito Moriyama.
Description: Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, 2022 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021050479
ISBN 9780700633418 (paperback)
ISBN 9780700633425 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Viguerie, Richard A. | Republican Party (U.S. : 1854– )—History. |
Advertising, Political—United States—History—20th century. | Advertising, Direct-
mail—United States—History—20th century. | Direct-mail fund raising—United
States—History—20th century. | Campaign literature—United States—History—
20th century. | Conservatism—United States—History—20th century. | Political
consultants—United States. | United States—Politics and government—1945–1989.
Classification: LCC JF2112.A4 M66 2022 | DDC 324.7/30973—dc23/eng/20220118
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021050479.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover image: An employee taking reel of computer tape off shelves at the Richard A.
Viguerie Company in the 1970s. (Courtesy of U.S. News & World Report Magazine
Photograph Collection, Library of Congress)
For my grandparents

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Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Chapter One
The Rise of Political Consultants 12
Chapter Two
The Development of Political Direct Mail 35
Chapter Three
The Presidential Election of 1964 56
Chapter Four
After Goldwater 79
Chapter Five
Debates over Campaign Finance Reform 106
Chapter Six
The Formation of the New Right 126
Epilogue 162
Notes 171
Bibliography 209
A photo gallery follows page 78
ix