Class Divide in America during the Vietnam War Era

During the 1960s and early 1970s, both George Wallace and Richard Nixon adroitly exploited the tensions between the so-called “Elite doves,” or the upper class, and the “reactionary hardhats,” or the working class, for their political advantage. In the chapter “Hardhats Versus Elite Doves” by Penny Lewis, it is stated that these were the feelings felt by individuals from the lower-middle class and the working class:“… Alienation, defensive feelings about traditional values, anger at economic instability, an aggrieved sense that the system was not treating them fairly, and a growing distrust of government- these sentiments, culled from polls and interviews, could go in many directions…”. Thus, George Wallace tapped into these insecurities felt by the lower-middle and working class while also enticing himself as a defender of Middle Americans to garner support. In contrast, Richard Nixon used the “Silent Majority” strategy to garner support from blue-collar workers. He successfully displayed himself as a supporter of the middle class and the urban working class and succeeded in portraying the anti-war protestors as coming from elitist backgrounds (Lewis).

The antagonism felt by the white working-class Americans was not solely restricted to the anti-war left; it had its roots in a multitude of cultural, political, and economic shifts. In the case of economic shifts, the economic conditions, as mentioned in “Hard hats Versus Elite Doves,” had stagnated since the peak of the baby boom. This increased the insecurity of workers, and they blamed the political elites and social movements for their current circumstances. Moreover, as aforementioned, both George Wallace and Richard Nixon used the class divide between the upper class and lower middle class plus the working class to their advantage, creating tensions between these classes, which was one of the reasons why the white working-class Americans felt antagonized. In addition, mass media also further exacerbated the situation by using the term “hard-hats” to describe working-class Americans and “elite doves” to describe the elite. Penny Lewis wrote, “… the media more commonly contributed to the construction of an image of workers as the war’s strongest supporters… These “hard hats” or “rednecks” were frequently portrayed as “Joe-six-pack,” a flag-waving blue collar anti-intellectual who, on top of everything else, was assumed to be a bigot.”.  In summation, the democratic party couldn’t have possibly prevented the emerging political alignment because, during the 1960s, the Democrats were losing their support in the South, primarily because of their support of civil and voting rights. Moreover, the Republican party’s ability to appeal to the working and lower-middle class masses and their exploitation of the economic insecurities felt by the less-well-off people (e.g., Richard Nixon and George Wallace) made it harder for the Democrats to grab the attention of the people (Lewis).
 
In conclusion, it is reasonable to say that Democrats would not have been able to prevent the emerging political realignment simply because the Republicans were more successful in realigning, mostly due to their exploitation of the class division and them framing themselves as the defender of traditional values and stability.