The Conservative Heartland: A Political History of the Postwar American Midwest ed. by Jon K. Lauck and Catherine McNicol Stock

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Conservative Heartland: A Political History of the Postwar American Midwest ed. by Jon K. Lauck and Catherine McNicol Stock Linda Van Ingen Jon K. Lauck and Catherine McNicol Stock, eds., The Conservative Heartland: A Political History of the Postwar American Midwest. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2020. 390 pp. $29.95 (paper). The Conservative Heartland is an ambitious effort to elevate the political significance of midwestern conservatism and revive the historiography of the region with its complicated political landscape. Seventeen essays range from studies of the anti-statist conservatism that emerged following World War II to the impact of religion on politics, the political fallout of economic and demographic dislocations, and the tumultuous politics of race and gender. The need to define both "Midwest" and "conservatism" complicates this effort, and the editors accordingly allow for a broad definition of each. "Conservatism" is a response to New Deal liberalism, and the Midwest is a region of twelve contiguous states (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota) from which scholars can further define the parameters of their respective studies. In a comprehensive introduction, Jon Lauck and Catherine McNicol Stock summarize each essay while also offering an overview of midwestern conservatism that challenges the conventional assumption of a so–called liberal "blue wall" that was supposed to hold for Democrats in 2016. Political strategists, blindsided by Donald Trump's wins in Michigan and Wisconsin, failed to recognize the political volatility of the region. This [End Page 101] book addresses that problem, underscoring the Midwest's competitiveness. Although expanding the scholarship on the breadth and depth of the region's conservatism through their individual essays, the featured authors collectively agree that the Midwest is a political battleground that should not be assumed. The first three articles take different approaches to explore the region's competitiveness. Michael Barone's historical analysis identifies three "heritage factors" (the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and founding of the Republican Party in 1854, and labor strikes in the late 1930s) that shape political alignments and cultural attitudes of midwestern voters. Kyle Kondik applies a statistical analysis of presidential deviation in voting from 1976 to 2016 to reveal a political volatility in the region. Daniel Birdsong and Christopher Devine argue that although the Midwest lost much of what made it historically significant in presidential politics (including the size of its electorate, being home to presidential candidates, and hosting national party conventions) it is still a political battleground when measured in terms of media attention, campaign activity, and a "battleground score" calculated to measure electoral competitiveness. All three articles support the book's overall thesis that the Midwest is politically competitive because of significant variations over time and place. Authors of the remaining essays generally agree that midwestern conservatism grew with deep social and fiscal shifts that help explain Trump's appeal in 2016. For example, A. James Fuller explores how Indiana's Mitch Daniels, governor from 2005 to 2013, pursued a fiscally conservative pragmatism emulated by subsequent governors including future vice president Mike Pence. Daniels privatized many government services including toll roads and state prisons. Demands for more prisons were central to Ian Toller-Clark's racial analysis of Wisconsin's working class following decades of liberal criminal justice reform, a development he calls "carceral populism" with wide appeal to conservative voters. Most striking is Catherine McNicol Stock's analysis of how private investment in North Dakota's public sphere influenced public policy. She details the history of how a wealthy benefactor built an ice hockey arena at the University of North Dakota in the 1990s and subsequently wielded control over many university decisions. Stock connects this example to the state's largely unregulated fracking industry and the power of corporate investment over public policy, including environmental concerns and Indigenous rights. Although Stock does not overtly make the claim, it is not hard to connect her work on the "new" [End Page 102] North Dakota with its pro-business agenda to the state's support of Trump in 2016. Several essays address the impact of feminist and gender issues on midwestern conservatism. Ann Marie Wambeke explores...