Jeff Hirsh Read: December 2024
Inspiration: Saw on Barack Obama’s list of book recommendations; interested to learn more about ’80/’90’s American politics
Summary
Written with the help of ChatGPT, below is a brief summary to understand what is covered in the book.
“When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up”, published in 2024 by journalist and author John Ganz, delves into the tumultuous period of the early 1990s in the United States. He examines how the end of the Reagan era and the rise of figures like David Duke and Patrick Buchanan signaled a shift towards extremism and conspiracy theories in American politics. Ganz highlights the social and political upheavals of the time, including gang wars, economic changes, and the growing influence of radical conservatism. The book connects these historical events to the present-day political landscape, showing how the seeds of today’s divisive politics were sown during this period. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Ganz provides a thought-provoking analysis of America’s political and social fragmentation.
Unedited Notes
Direct from my original book log, below are my unedited notes (abbreviations and misspellings included) to show how I take notes as I read.
1980s colored by Reagan and his world view, trickle down reaganonimcs touted though reality less pretty in the 80s, wealth gap soared and soured attitudes, middle class struggled and faded, reaganism 80s economy ran on debt, corporate raiders, etc, created bubbles with $3Tn debt piled up, then George HW Bush came in as the bubble began to burst and simply was too much of a “wimp” to be the leader needed, focused instead on Saddam and Kuwait which helped his approval to 87% but didn’t address issues at the core of american society, 1990 saw unemployment and bankruptcy rise at home and voters became apathetic in cases but also more anarchist/nihilist—gave way for extremists to capitalize on discontent, populism came into vogue and those who fed on fear/unhappiness, David Duke began his spread of hatred early on from college days at LSU, consistently tried to find his way into louisiana politics to no avail as had an ego that conflicted with his Klan organization efforts as turned members off, however continue his push in louisiana politics and benefit from sheer division and number of candidates in LA, plus had economic hardship of oil collapse in early 80s, Duke made his way into state legislature, then made a US Senate run that rocketed him into public image, lost senate race but got 39% vote and publicity (often times very soft on his nazi/klan affiliation), Duke claimed as introducing “respectable racism” that was allegedly lighter than klan racism but really he held Klan views (simply savvy in public), increasingly Duke grabbed disenchanted americans attention (beyond louisiana), James Burnham was influential 30s/40s journalist who outlined democracy as a disguised oligarchy—dominated by managerial-bureaucratic regime, inspired the thoughts of Sam Francis who defined the New Right of the 70s, Francis publish about MARs (middle american radicals)—often white members of lower middle class or skilled/semi skilled blue collar, not a class as much as a distinguished temperament of feeling exploited and condenscended to by the rich, consisted of those who voted for George Wallace 68/72 + nixon’s silent majority + reagan dems, want to displace elite, interestingly Francis intepret Burnham’s ideas in more revolutionary sense vs Burnham was pretty moderate like Nelson Rockefeller or Charles de Gaulle, the Right was unified somewhat by USSR as common enemy but once fall then saw split into neoconservatives (relatively liberal) vs paleoconservatives (rigid conservatives), Pat Buchanan was an offshoot of David Duke political fervor but more savvy, Buchanan announced presidential bid dec 1991, saw a void to the right of reagan, same thematic of representing middle america/silent majority but was openly antisemetic, Buchanan ran of “America First”, opposed Bush’s focus on the Far East vs issues at home, president bush was out of touch during ’91 campaign and Buchanan seized on this, did very poorly with women though but in NH primary was neck and neck with Bush, us vs them and Bush was “them” to the “silent majority” who supported Buchanan, Buchanan also made great rounds on tv/radio, had backing of Rush Limbaugh who was most listened to radio host at the time (“shockjock”) along with Howard Stern, Limbaugh was voice of middle america, part of rise of inflammatory talk radio was “lonliness” challenges of late 80s as divorces skyrocketed and to escape being alone, american tuned into talk radio, was a sort of yearning for connection, media broke down family/social ties as could do many more things in solitude but feel connected to hosts, daytime talk shows for women and talk radio for men, people call in and feel connected, FCC also loosened restriction early 90s so Limbaugh and others could reach national airways/broader reach, then came H Ross Perot as challenger via third party to bill clinton on Dem side in 1992–”people’s billionaire”, Howard Stern supported Perot, Limbaugh spoke well of Perot as voice of the people with less baggage than Buchanan, Perot was synonomous with “revolt” of the people, LA race riots of early 90s we central to dynamics of bush clinton perot ’92 election campaign, LAPD corruption and violence spark riots and uprising, Sister Souljah was revolutionary voice of black community but also hateful towards whites (even say to kill), Clinton was struggling to gain support as Perot consumed media attention, but Clinton capture race riots moment to speak out vs hate speech of Sister Souljah and caputred media attention, Clinton become savvy in that moment of campaign to steer attention from Perot, gain white voters, also gain some black voters upset by Souljah rhetoric, Bush wasn’t inspiring much enthusiasm so set the scene for Arkansas Governor Clinton to exploit, Buchanan thumped bush in CA but buchanan struggled to gain traction nationally and remained fringe firebrand, Sam Francis articulate “new nationalism” he wanted Buchanan to lean into—old nationalism was dominant theme of 20th C as centralized large gvt and managerial class and large corporations “mass organizations” control society, economy, and culture, new nationalism mobilize the masses who became dependent and subjugated to these mass orgs, incumbent Bush hurt by economic malaise of 1992 summer, Perot’s surge tapered as Perot ego take hold and refuse to delegate—grew more conspiratorial, Bush highlight how Perot hired PIs on Bush children and other dirty tactics, Perot increasingly viewed as more conservative than reagan and voters/campaign lose enthusiasm as Perot’s personality diluted prior strength, farmers one demo leaned into new nationalism, devastated by Farm Crisis on 1980s which was a function of Volcker int rate hikes of late 70s and early 80s which made farmers int payments so high (bought equipment on credit) and made usd so strong that no longer could export crops—double whammy crushed farmers in midwest through the 1980 decade, 1 in 6 iowans fell under poverty line, 1989 thru early 90s saw nyc split along race lines and vs police—spark rise of Rudy Guiliani, Guiliani took on Gotti mob and ally of nypd, Trump rose in this early 90’s nyc period of tumult, Trump became favorite of crime bosses as acquired lots of buildings, nyc democratic mayoral machine crumble under race pressure vs police, 1992 economy under bush in disarray, Perot had dropped out but remained in public eye—focused on corruption, debt spending and getting “financial house in order”, then oct 1992 Perot re-enter race, then Iran Contra memo released showing Bush complicit and knew about selling arms—huge hit to Bush image just before election, seen as Bush cover up, Bush turned defensive and blame others’ dirty tricks incl Perot, Perot turned to infomercials—Perot sat in desk and held charts/pointer to explain to america issues on economy, advisers warned this thirty minute infomercial would be awful but huge hit with public (turned deficit/debt into proxy for general economic state), really pulled voters from Bush, Clinton meanwhile steadied—seemed stable and reasonable, Perot did fade as near election day, so really bush v clinton, and then indictment of former sec of defense Weinberger for lying about iran contra—bush supported sale of anti tank missile for iran for 5 hostages, issue of bush truthfulness came full force and campaign knew was lost, clinton blew out bush 370 to 168 electoral, clinton won back reagan dems, however as clinton presidency begin still face discontent and clinton fail on many of initial plans/priorities as economy struggle, and this simmering discontent would persist with a common purpose to “take back the country and culture”
