directly linked to the “Reagan Revolution” of 1980.
Reagan’s election in 1980 was a seminal event in pol-
itics, one that saw the national triumph of a candi-
date who emphasized states’ rights, low taxes, and a
small federal government. Despite Reagan’s sweep-
ing successful bids for the White House in 1980 and
1984, the House of Representatives remained in
Democratic Party hands, and the Republicans were
nicknamed by political pundits as the “permanent
minority” (referring to their status of not having
control of the legislative branch of government).
Refusing to stand idly by, Republican politicians
tried for years to transplant Reagan’s national elec-
toral success into a legislative platform that would re-
gain the reins of congressional power for their party.
At first, the Contract with America was developed in
a nearly scientific manner by professional pollsters
and Republicans. Notably, pollster Frank Luntz is
credited with being the sage behind the scenes who
midwifed the broad legislative agenda for the Re-
publicans. The agenda not only included specific
policy proposals that were popular in themselves but
also linked them together into a coherent national
plan, giving Republican candidates crowd-pleasing
talking points while conveying the image of revolu-
tionary political reform. The platform appealed to
voters who were tiring of the Bill Clinton White
House. By 1994, Clinton had been drawn into a
seemingly endless war in the Balkans, had failed to
institute a national health care plan, and had backed
the befuddling “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy
regarding homosexuals, which irked conservatives
and civil rights advocates alike.
The Contract Comes to Life There is little doubt
that without the guile and rhetorical courage of
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, there would have
been no vaunted Contract with America. With
Clinton faltering and with the nation’s conservative
movement gaining steam on the backs of the vigor-
ous right-to-life and evangelical movements, the
longtime politician from Georgia masterminded a
Republican call to arms. Republican powerbrokers
such as Dick Armey, John Boehner, and Tom DeLay
also played a role in the development of the con-
tract. However, this was Gingrich’s brainchild deliv-
ered with Luntz’s scientific expertise.
When the Republicans gained control of both
houses of Congress in 1994, they ended four de-
cades of Democratic Party rule. Despite this momen-
tum, the electoral triumph did not translate into leg-
islative success. Some measures of the contract
passed, but most did not. The usual culprits in Wash-
ington gridlock reared their heads. Failed bills ei-
ther were tied up in conference committees, where
disagreements between the lower and upper cham-
bers were hashed out, or were voted down by either
the Senate or the president himself. In the case of
the Citizen Legislature Act, which proposed an
amendment to the Constitution, the bill failed to
receive the required two-thirds majority in the
House.
Much like the contract itself, Gingrich briefly
burned brightly as a vanguard politician but then
ran out of oxygen. In 1996, Gingrich admitted to us-
ing tax-exempt donations to fund his “Renewing
American Civilization’’ college course, which he
taught at two colleges; he was fined $300,000 by the
House Ethics Committee in 1997. Thus, there was a
crisis of confidence in his leadership after the con-
tract fizzled.
Impact The core significance of the contract is not
its legislative nosedive so much as its contribution to
the rise of the Republican Party (though some be-
lieve it made little actual difference in the midterm
elections). Though many of the contract’s provi-
sions did not become law, it still remains in the mem-
ory of political aficionados long after its heyday. Its
lasting impression is reflective of its utter grandios-
ity, but its modest success is a warning to ambitious
politicians not to overreach their power.
Further Reading
Bader, John B.Taking the Initiative: Leadership Agendas
in Congress and the “Contract with America.”Wash-
ington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1996.
Bader’s book lacks historical perspective because
it was written contemporary to the contract, but
it is chock full of details of how the contract was
designed and implemented.
Garrett, Major.The Enduring Revolution: How the Con-
tract with America Continues to Shape the Nation.New
York: Crown, 2005. This work breathes new life
into the platform’s principal ideas. Garrett, an au-
thor and pundit on television news programs, re-
minds readers about the mystique surrounding
the contract.
Gingrich, Newt.To Renew America.New York: Har-
perCollins, 1995. Gingrich outlines his political
philosophy as well as his policy goals.The Nineties in America Contract with America 223