Just in time for the November election, New York History, published by Cornell University Press, is featuring an article by historian Marsha E. Barrett titled "Millionaires are More Democratic Now: Nelson Rockefeller and the Politics of Wealth in New York." Dr. Barrett is assistant professor of history at the University of Illinois where she specializes in the political and social history of the United States during the twentieth century. Barrett is particularly interested in how public sentiment, racial dynamics, and social movements have influenced modern American politics, policy, and political culture after 1945. Her work explores the policy agendas and rhetoric of elected officials and bureaucrats in an effort to understand how politics shapes the lives of Americans of varied backgrounds.
Barrett's current book project, tentatively titled, The Politics of Moderation: Nelson Rockefeller's Failed Fight to Save the Party of Lincoln, is a political study of the New York governor and vice president under Gerald Ford. Rockefeller's career serves as a lens for examining the fate of moderate Republicanism and the broader transformation of the political landscape after the successful passage of 1960s federal civil rights legislation.
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