Среди тех, кто в 1977 по наводке "New Right" собирал подписи под письмами против договора с Панамой, был безработный историк Ньют Гингрич (собравший в итоге 50 тысяч подписей). Зарекомендовав себя этой деятельностью, на следующий год он изберется в Конгресс, а, став спикером в 1994, принесет в американскую политику стиль межпартийной непримиримости.
Gingrich narrowly lost two consecutive congressional elections in 1974 and 1976 (two very bad years for Georgia Republicans) after running distinctly to the left of a crusty conservative Democratic incumbent named Jack Flint. Combined with his earlier gig as southern regional director for Nelson Rockefeller’s 1968 presidential bid, and the liberals and environmentalists conspicuous in his circle of associates at West Georgia College, Newt was badly mispositioned in Georgia Republican politics. It was his leadership of an anti-Panama-Canal-Treaty group in Georgia that sanitized him, just in time to take advantage of Flint’s retirement in 1978 by running as a newly rechristened Fighting Conservative against a more moderate Democratic candidate. Next thing you knew, ol’ Newt was rising star in the national GOP firmament, and the rest is history. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2013/08/08/picking-a-losing-battle-to-win-the-war/
Gingrich narrowly lost two consecutive congressional elections in 1974 and 1976 (two very bad years for Georgia Republicans) after running distinctly to the left of a crusty conservative Democratic incumbent named Jack Flint. Combined with his earlier gig as southern regional director for Nelson Rockefeller’s 1968 presidential bid, and the liberals and environmentalists conspicuous in his circle of associates at West Georgia College, Newt was badly mispositioned in Georgia Republican politics. It was his leadership of an anti-Panama-Canal-Treaty group in Georgia that sanitized him, just in time to take advantage of Flint’s retirement in 1978 by running as a newly rechristened Fighting Conservative against a more moderate Democratic candidate. Next thing you knew, ol’ Newt was rising star in the national GOP firmament, and the rest is history.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2013/08/08/picking-a-losing-battle-to-win-the-war/
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