- 8.01 structural
articulation
- 10, ac9
- There are four main components in
the Republican Party's national organization--a
convention which meets every four years to select the
party's presidential candidate, a national committee
which meets between conventions, a House Campaign
Committee, and a Senate Campaign Committee. The
Republican convention is smaller than the Democrats but
is still large--growing from about 1,200 in 1952 to 1,300
in 1960. During our time period, delegates to the
convention were selected in a variety of ways. Ranney and
Kendall report that about 38 percent of the Republican
delegates were picked by state and territorial
conventions, 14 percent by district conventions, 44
percent by primaries, and only 3 percent by state and
territorial committees (297). The party also uses a
variety of methods to choose national committeemen.
Sorauf finds that 48 percent are chosen by state
conventions, 32 percent by delegates to the national
convention, 14 percent by the state central committee,
and only 6 percent by primaries (p.116). The House
Campaign Committee is composed of one representative from
each state with Republican representation in the house,
and the Senate Campaign Committee is chosen by the
chairman of the party's caucus. While variegated in
procedure, the selection processes are relatively clearly
specified. Less clear, however, are the functional
responsibilities of these committees and their
interrelationships. The national convention has sole
responsibility for nominating the party's presidential
candidate, but its monopoly over the formulation of party
policy is not as complete. The national committee seldom
operates as a committee, and it has no authority over the
house and senate committees, which are also independent
of the national convention and of each other.
- 8.02 intensiveness of
organization
- 5, ac7
- Statistics concerning the various
sizes and distribution of local party organizations in
the United States are not readily available. It appears,
however, that the Republican Party would parallel the
Democrats and be organized mainly on the basis of
precincts which encompass 1,000 or fewer
voters.
- 8.03 extensiveness of
organization
- 5, ac5
- Information on extensiveness of
organization, like that of the intensiveness of
organization, is not good. But it would seem that the
Republican Party during our time period would have less
extensive coverage than the Democrats, particularly in
the south, where Republican precinct organizations would
be scattered at best.
- 8.04 frequency of local
meetings
- 2, ac4
- Republican precinct organizations,
like their Democratic counterparts, are likely to meet
only at campaign times.
- 8.05 frequency of national
meetings
- 3, ac6
- Cotter and Hennessy state that the
Republican National Committee typically meets only twice
a year. An executive committee of 15, commonly drawn from
the membership of the whole committee but not so
required, also meets infrequently, perhaps once or twice
more per year (pp.36-37).
- 8.06 maintaining
records
- 12, ac9
- The Republican Party publication
program varies according to campaign years, availability
of funds, and orientations of staff members. A biweekly
newsletter, "Battle Line," had a regular existence during
our time period, and the party issued manuals for party
leaders and workers. The party also publishes research
reports and policy statements on an occasional basis. The
research division of the Republican Party is far more
active than its Democratic counterpart and produces work
that has drawn acclaim from journalists and academics.
The party certainly maintains lists of contributors for
purposes of fund raising, but these lists are poor as
membership lists.
- 8.07 pervasiveness of
organization
- 3, ac9
- The Republicans have a women's
division and a National Federation of Republican Women.
Cotter and Hennessy say that the national committee
finances the women's division completely and about
two-thirds the expenses of the NFRW office (p.152). A
Young Republican National Federation became allied with
the national committee in 1946 and has been financed by
the committee since (p.155). The party has also had
divisions to court the ethnic and minorities vote, but
these sectors of the society were not associated to the
party through ancillary organizations. Thus, the party's
organization only penetrated to women and the youth, and
only small proportions of both groups were involved in
party activities.
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