Goodbye, Catholics

How One Man Reshaped the Democratic Party

Mark Stricherz October 31, 2005 - 6:44am

In mid-1971, a short book called Changing Sources of Power: American Politics in the 1970s argued that the Democratic Party should loosen its historic ties with Catholics. The book acknowledged that “the Catholic vote” had consistently supported Democratic presidential candidates since the 1930s. Even so, it contended, the “party’s political self-interest” lay in appealing to other constituencies.

“The net effect of these groups...

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Topics: 
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About the Author

Mark Stricherz, a writer in Washington, D.C., is working on a book about how secular, educated elites took the Democratic Party away from Catholics and the working class.