The Breakdown of Democratic Party Organization, 1940-1980

The local democratic party organizations in America dramatically deteriorated between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s. This is the first major study of organizational decay at the local level, the level from which American parties traditionally drew their strength. The book concentrates on three areas: New York City, the East Bay in California, and Denver. Ware rejects two commonly-held views about the local party decline: that the parties in the 1950s were so weak that the candidates had to turn to campaign consultants, and that reforms in the presidential selection process were a major factor in party organization collapse. His findings show that the collapse was caused by the complex interaction of three main factors: the availability of new campaign technologies; long-term social, economic, and political change in the nation; and the political crises of the 1960s.