Graduation Year
Spring 2014
Document Type
Campus Only Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Second Department
History
Reader 1
Professor Pitney
Reader 2
Lily Geismer
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2014 Nicholas Herzeca
Abstract
This thesis explains how the Hard Hat Riot provides a link between two of the most significant developments in postwar American history: the decline of the white working-class and the rise of the Reagan Democrat. The Hard Hat Riot was the culmination of two decades of local demographic and economic transformations as well as five years of political neglect that marginalized New York City’s white working-class. The influence of the riot, however, extended beyond the city’s five boroughs. The Hard Hat Riot prompted Richard Nixon’s administration to develop a blue-collar strategy for the 1972 election. Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaigns in 1980 and 1984 emulated Nixon’s plan to successfully court the white working-class voters who would be later called Reagan Democrats.
Recommended Citation
Herzeca, Nicholas, "The Hard Hat Riot: The Decline of New York City's White Working-Class and the Origins of the Reagan Democrat" (2014). CMC Senior Theses. 901.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/901
This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.
