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The New Right had a plan--to bring evangelical Christians together as a voting bloc. But how to do that? They chose a few targets, people with big followings, and courted them. Jerry Falwell was an obvious choice. He was a fundamentalist preacher, televangelist, and the founder of Liberty University. He also had a propensity for the dramatic, seeing the end of days around every corner.

The New Right did not like President Jimmy Carter and did their best to turn evangelicals against him. A big job considering that Carter was an evangelical and often talked about his faith. Still, they wanted Ronald Reagan (a divorced actor with a reputation with the ladies) to be their man.

In this episode, Chris is joined by author and historian Rick Perlstein.

Sources

• Reaganland by Rick Perlstein
• article about Reinhold Niebuhr
• God's Own Party by Daniel K. Williams
• The Evangelicals by Frances Fitzgerald
• Listen, America! by Jerry Falwell

Discussion Questions

• What was the role of the New Right in recruiting religious people?
• Why was Falwell an ideal candidate for the New Right?
• A higher percentage of evangelicals voted for Nixon than for Reagan. So why do we talk so much about Reagan as a turning point?
• What was the Moral Majority? How do we see groups like them operating today?

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