Conservative Counterrevolution

About this book

"Milwaukee in the 1950s seemingly embodied the postwar liberal consensus that subscribed to a continuation of the New Deal order. However, beneath this superficial consensus bubbled an ideological ferment of conservatism. Despite the widespread national acceptance of economic policies advanced in response to the Depression, conservatives staged a grassroots resurgence during the 1950s that went beyond the intellectual movement of that time. Fueled first by opposition to government involvement in shaping economic priorities and then by resistance to employee challenges for broader workplace rights, this response preceded and at times became indistinguishable from the race-based reaction identified by many scholars as launching the conservative movement in the 1960s. Through an examination of the major challenges facing a midcentury urban mayor, Milwaukee Mayor Frank Zeidler, this study explores how historical trends often documented at the national level--reemergence of a conservative movement, the evolution from class politics to rights politics, the question of race, the struggle by public-sector employees to attain bargaining rights, the role of corporate-led efforts to influence public opinion--took shape at the local level"--Provided by publisher.