The Other Side of the Sixties: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of Conservative Politics (Perspectives on the Sixties) [Paperback]

John Andrew (Author)

Book Description

Series: Perspectives on the Sixties | Publication Date: June 1, 1997

"It's a curious fact of contemporary politics that conservatives have emerged as keepers of the 1960s flame. Although the '60s-that great blob of a decade most expansively defined as beginning with Kennedy's inauguration and ending Nixon hopping a helicopter to San Clemente-were arguably the high-watermark of liberalism, contemporary liberals seem content to skip over the period.In this context, John A. Andrew III's The Other Side of the Sixties is a particularly interesting act of historical recovery. Not only does Andrew, a liberal historian at Franklin & Marshall College, document just what young conservatives were up to in the '60's (activity largely ignored by previous historians), his identification of YAF as one of the era's three major student groups (along with Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee) suggests a reading of the decade that provocatively complicates conservative castigations of student 'radicals.' In recovering an ignored part of an important decade, The Other Side of the Sixties documents the tensions that existed at an early stage in the once-strong alliance; the institutional history of YAF suggests that the conflict will only become more heated." -Reason "There are good histories of post-WW II conservative thought such as George H. Nash's The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America, since 1945 (CH, Oct '76), but there has long been a need for more serious scholarship on postwar American conservative movements. Andrew (history, Franklin & Marshall College) expertly fills this need for one movement-Young Americans for Freedom-which, as he points out, was the most controversial youth movement in US politics in the first half of the 1960's. Andrew is especially sharp in providing a rewarding look inside YAF in these years, explaining its organizational dynamics, its leadership and their interpersonal conflicts, and the factional struggles over distinguishing YAF from both liberal Republicans and John Birchers." -Choice "Andrew makes a significant contribution to sixties' historiography by refocusing scholarly and public attention on the activities of conservative youth during that tumultuous decade."-Mary C. Brennan, author of Turning Right in the Sixties "Professor Andrew's book fills a gaping hole in the social/political history of the sixties. He tells us now of the spirited movement of young people that peaked in the election of Ronald Reagan."-William F. Buckley, Jr. "A fascinating account of a too long overlooked aspect of the 1960s: the counterattack of America's young conservatives who battled the left courageously and ultimately won the war."-William A. Rusher, Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute What were young conservatives doing in the 1960s while SDS and SNCC were working to move the political center to the left? The Other Side of the Sixties offers a gripping account of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), an organization that became a leading force in promoting conservative ideas and that helped lay the groundwork for today's conservatism. John Andrew has mined unique archival material to document YAF's efforts to form a viable organization, define a new conservatism, attack the liberal establishment, and seize control of the Republican party, all while battling voter hostility and internal factionalism. The author also uncovers the Kennedy administration's use of the IRS to subvert YAF and other right-wing organizations through tax audits and investigations. By painting a more balanced portrait of political thinking in the sixties, Andrew offers a new and much needed look at the ideological atmosphere of a vibrant decade.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Meticulously researched, with often repetitive detail, this monograph analyzes the rise and development during the 1960s of the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), a group of politically active college-age students that claimed to represent politically conservative ideas ("the New Right") just as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) attempted to promote politically liberal ideas ("the New Left"). Andrew (history, Franklin & Marshall Coll.) sets his study in a narrow context, focusing on the factionalism between adherents of antistatist libertarianism and statist anticommunism. He also shows how this intraorganization struggle affected the group's reaction to JFK, LBJ, and the activities of the New Left on the one hand and the movement to elect Barry Goldwater and defeat the Eisenhower-Rockefeller moderate wing of the Republican Party on the other. Although Andrew uncovers a great deal of new information on the subculture of the New Right and how the movement's political opponents reacted to it, he ignores the larger picture. JFK's assassination and LBJ's campaign against Goldwater are only alluded to, and the social ferment of the decade emerges only as a backdrop to what was taking place within the YAF. For academic collections.?Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The Other Side of the Sixties: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of Conservative Politics is a particularly interesting act of historical recovery. Not only does Andrew, a liberal historian at Franklin & Marshall College, document just what young conservatives were up to in the '60s (activity largely ignored by previous historians), his identification of YAF as one of the era's three major student groups (along with Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee) suggests a reading of the decade that provocatively complicates conservative castigations of student "radicals." -- Reason, Nick Gillespie

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813524016
• ISBN-13: 978-0813524016
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly look at the often-forgotten "Early Sixties"., March 18, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Lawrence King) (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Other Side of the Sixties: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of Conservative Politics (Perspectives on the Sixties) (Hardcover)

In this volume, Dr. John Andrew of Franklin & Marshall College provides an in-depth, scholarly look at the conservative and right-wing youth movements of the early 1960's. While innumerable volumes have been dedicated to the left-wing movements of 1964-1973, the legacy of such conservative groups as Young Americans for Freedom has often been neglected by historians of the "Sixties".

Yet Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) began organizing campus youth sympathetic to its "Sharon Statement" in 1960, two years before Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) wrote its "Port Huron Statement" as a left-wing counter to YAF. Indeed, YAF twice filled Madison Square Gardens in the early 1960's, and conservative youth formed a key element of Barry Goldwater's support in his 1964 nomination by the Republican Party.

But there is more to YAF's history then their public activism, and Andrew has carefully researched his subject. The Kennedy Administration's "Ideological Organizations Project" directed the IRS to target right-wing groups unfriendly to his policies, and YAF did not escape their scrutiny. Moreover, both moderate Republicans (such as Nixon and Eisenhower) and liberal Republicans (such as Rockefeller and Scranton) viewed the rise of a conservative youth movement -- dedicated to "abolition, not reform, of the welfare state" and "victory over, rather than coexistence with, communism" with alarm. When the Republican Party in 1964 rejected twenty-four years of moderation and nominated Senator Barry Goldwater, an ideological conservative, their worst fears were realized.

Professor Andrew's volume is based on detailed interviews with the principals in Young Americans for Freedom and their "mentors" (such as National Review's William F. Buckley and William Rusher). He has perused a huge amount of archives in reseaching this book, and the result is a truly original historical monograph.

To keep his book focused, Andrew deals solely with the early era of YAF -- from its founding on Buckley's estate in 1960 until the aftermath of the Goldwater election in 1964. One can only hope that future volumes will focus on the later years of YAF. During the Vietnam War, YAF was turned around from the pre-eminent campus group to a reactive group, trying to counter the vast left-wing sentiment generated by the war and the counter-culture. Both YAF and SDS were split at their 1969 conventions, but whereas SDS' stepchildren were the dogmatic "Progressive Labor" Maoists and the bizarrely violent Weathermen, one faction of YAF's 1969 convention went on to found the Libertarian Party, while the other faction continued to work within YAF to promote new conservative politicians such as Ronald Reagan. In the middle and late 1980's, YAF enjoyed another era of growth, as public protests on issues such as Contra Aid and nuclear disarmament pitted YAF activists against leftists once again.

"The Other Side of the Sixties" is a valuable contribution to the history of the Sixties youth rebellion in America. When 18-year-olds were allowed to vote in the 1970's, many pundits were surprised that half of these new voters were leaning to the right of center. Had John Andrew's book been available then, this might not have come as such a surprise!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally Out of the Haze, December 11, 1999

By 

wayne thorburn - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Other Side of the Sixties: Young Americans for Freedom and the Rise of Conservative Politics (Perspectives on the Sixties) (Paperback)

John Andrew provides a much-needed history of the early 1960s and the development of Young Americans for Freedom as a political force. What most historians forget (and Andrew's title confuses)is that there were two distinct aspects to that decade - perhaps generally described as pre and post Vietnam buildup.

Having graduated from college in 1965 and then attended grad school for the rest of the decade - it was clear these were two different worlds. The beanie I wore as a freshman in 1961 was alien to the college students of the late 60s. Andrew's book is about that early 1960s, culminating with the Goldwater campaign of 1964, the focal point of all early YAF efforts.

Like many historians, Andrew is engrossed in minute details (his Chapter 5 on internal YAF politics will put even former YAF members to sleep), providing a valuable reference source for future research. He accurately reflects much of the mood and enthusiasm of the period, a time when "the bright young men who want to go back to 1910" believed they were the cadre of a movement to turn America around.Little did we know what would await us in the late 1960s - or, for that matter, in 1980 as the triumph of Ronald Reagan brought the potentiality of conservatism into the White House.

Basically, Andrew's work stops with the aftermath of the Goldwater defeat and fails to carry forth the impact of YAF as an organization and as a molder of future leaders into the present day. Hopefully, there are libraries out there across this vast land that are buying Andrew's book to place it as the lone counter to their shelf of works on the 60s by the Haydens, Gitlins, Flacks, and other leftist activists of the time.