White suburban antibusing parents weaponized the Silent Majority trope against Nixon

Evidence

The suburban parents in Charlotte’s antibusing movement sent a deluge of letters and telegrams to the White House, following the CPA’s directive to “write the President every day.” During the first two weeks of February alone, Richard Nixon received more than five thousand pieces of correspondence from residents of metropolitan Charlotte, many of whom directed the Silent Majority trope back at the politician they had voted for two years earlier. These white parents combined racial and class anxieties into a volatile outpouring of frustration, anger, confusion, and despair. — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 72

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s reading purpose: how a rationalizing ideology recycles its own vocabulary under pressure, here the ‘silent majority’ trope being turned against its author. — connects to: The Nixon White House privately allied with local anti-busing activists. — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 69; The Nixon administration nationalized the suburban color-blind stance against busing in 1970. — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 76; The 1960s upheavals polarized Americans and drove many toward Nixon’s authoritarianism — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1145 (+3 more)
• SHARE: People writing to make civil-rights claims about ‘fairness’ in this vein often surprise history buffs.

Related

• Anti-busing parents weaponized Nixon’s ‘Silent Majority’ rhetoric against him. (similarity 0.89)
• The Nixon White House privately allied with local anti-busing activists. (similarity 0.85)
• The Nixon administration nationalized the suburban color-blind stance against busing in 1970. (similarity 0.82)
• Nixon’s 1970 desegregation stance adopted the suburban antibusing movement’s color-blind ideology. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The Nixon administration nationalized the suburban color-blind stance against busing in 1970. #expands (0.90) — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 76
• Racial innocence ideology let white suburbanites fail to consider government culpability #corroborates (0.80) — Matthew D. Lassiter, The Suburban Origins of “Color-Blind”…, 42
• The 1960s upheavals polarized Americans and drove many toward Nixon’s authoritarianism #qualifies (0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1145
• Every president since Nixon has legitimized and redirected racist resentments #expands (0.72) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1220