The Ripon Society is an American center-right Republican public policy organization and think tank based in Washington, D.C. It publishes The Ripon Forum, the U.S.'s longest running Republican thought and opinion journal, as well as The Ripon Advance, a daily news publication.
Founded in 1962 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Society's name comes from the 1854 birthplace of the Republican Party—Ripon, Wisconsin. The Society's goals include protecting national security, lowering taxes, and shrinking the size of the government.
The Ripon Society was the first major Republican organization to support passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s. In 1967, it advanced the concept of a negative income tax. In the early 1970s, it called for the normalization of relations with China, and the abolition of the military draft.
History
Founding
Emil Frankel and the Bow Group Emil Frankel was a Harvard law student in the early 1960s. He had studied in England on a Fulbright scholarship. While in England, he met members of a group called the Bow Group. The Bow Group founders had been "dissatisfied with the Conservative Party's image as 'the Stupid Party'." The Bow Group impressed Frankel, particularly regarding the level of detail that its members applied to study public policy problems and the proactive way its members became experts on policy topics.Geoffrey Kabaservice, Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party. Oxford University Press. January 4, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2013 via Google Books
At the same time John S. Saloma III was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Like Frankel, Saloma had studied in England on a Fulbright scholarship. Both Frankel and Saloma became editors at Advance magazine.
In December 1962, Frankel and Saloma "circulated a confidential 'Proposal for an American Bow Group'". Saloma and Frankel held a meeting on December 12, 1962, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Harvard College. The meeting would become the first meeting of the group that eventually became known as the Ripon Society. The name is a reference to Ripon, Wisconsin, the informal birthplace of the Republican Party. (The town's claim was disputed by Jackson, Michigan, where the first official meeting of the Party was held; but a Republican organization was unlikely to name itself "The Jackson Society").
The society's meetings took place monthly at locations around Harvard. Some sixty individuals attended at least one Ripon meeting during its first year, and about half became active members. Most were graduate or professionals students and young professors from Harvard, M.I.T., and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts. The members of the Ripon Society were primarily white, middle-class, and a majority of members were from the Midwest.
A Call to History On November 22, 1963, a group of Ripon Society members were having lunch in a dining hall at Harvard University. During lunch, they were planning a trip to campaign for Nelson Rockefeller for president, who was at that time the Republican governor of New York. Near the end of their lunch meeting, the members got word that President John F. Kennedy had been shot.
Political historian and author Geoffrey Kabaservice writes, "Although they (the Ripon Society members) were Republicans, JFK had been their political inspiration. When the news confirmed that Kennedy had been killed, they were caught between grief for their fallen hero and fear of Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency".
Over the weeks following Kennedy's death, the Ripon members wrote a manifesto, "A Call to Excellence in Leadership: An Open Letter to the New Generation of Republicans." Newspapers around the U.S. published highlights of the manifesto. The New York Herald Tribune published it in full. The media attention given to the "Call to Excellence" thrust Ripon onto the national stage. The Washington Star was one newspaper that editorially hailed the Society as "a new voice in the land ... a voice that ought to be heeded."
Another voice was President (and Republican) Dwight D. Eisenhower, who wrote "my delight that an obviously intelligent group of people has taken the trouble to voice its consensus on this important subject, and also to express my basic agreement in the mainstream of its thinking.""Dwight D. Eisenhower to Walter N. Thayer". Ripon Society Papers 3:177. January 23, 1964.
The Ripon Papers
The Ripon Society wrote its first public statement in the weeks that followed Kennedy's assassination and published the statement on January 6, 1964:"The History of the Ripon Society", Ripon Society website, Accessed 06 June 2013
While we yet sorrow, so must we seize this moment before our thoughts slip away to be lost in the noise of 'life as usual.' It is in this context that we have chosen to speak. We speak as a group of young Republicans to that generation which must bear the responsibility for guiding our party and our country over the coming decades. We speak for a point of view in the Republican Party that has too long been silent.
We believe that the future of our party lies not in extremism, but in moderation. The moderate course offers the Republican Party the best chance to build a durable majority position in American politics. This is the direction the party must take if it is to win the confidence of the "new Americans" who are not at home in the politics of another generation: the new middle classes of the suburbs of the North and West – who have left the Democratic cities but have not yet found a home in the Republican party; the young college graduates and professional men and women of our great university centers – more concerned with "opportunity" than "security", the moderate of the new South – who represent the hope for peaceful racial adjustment and who are insulted by a racist appeal more fitting another generation. These and others like them hold the key to the future of our politics.
We believe that the Republican Party should accept the challenge to fight for the middle ground of American politics. The party that will not acknowledge this political fact of life and courageously enter the contest for power does not merit and cannot possibly win the majority support of the American people.
John Saloma, founding president
The first president of the society was John S. Saloma III, serving from 1963 until 1967.Lindsey Gruson, "John S. Saloma, 48; Specialist in Politics Started Ripon Group", The New York Times, 8 July 1983, Retrieved 06 June 2013 In 1962, Saloma founded the American Bow Group, a society of university intellectuals. In 1963, the American Bow Group became the Ripon Society.
Saloma attended MIT and the London School of Economics. He received his doctorate from Harvard University with his dissertation "British Conservatism and the Welfare State".
In his career, Saloma's work focused mainly on the American political party system. Participating in a project studying the U.S. Congress sponsored by the American Political Science Association and the Carnegie Foundation, he published Congress and the New Politics in 1969 which dealt with the workloads in the offices of members of Congress. This led to an interest in the congressional budget process and the possibilities of computer use in the daily job of a representative. He died on July 6, 1983, in San Francisco, California.
Other founding members include Tom Petri,"Obscure Caucus: The Quiet Men of Congress". Congressional Quarterly News. 9/6/13. Retrieved 1/27/14 through Lexis Nexis. a U.S. congressman, and Lee Huebner.Gavin, William F. "The Art of the Speechwriter: May 1974". The American Spectator. May 1974. Retrieved 1/27/14.
Former leaders Auspitz, Josiah LeeMartin Tolchin, "Rules Panel Recommends G.O.P. Study of Primaries", The New York Times, 15 July 1980, Retrieved 06 June 2013 Frenzel, Bill. Chairman Emeritus. Former U.S. Congressman.Jill Abramson, "The Business of Persuasion Thrives in Nation's Capital", The New York Times, 28 Sep 1998, Retrieved 06 June 2013 via Nexis) Dubke, MichaelSteven Holmes, "POLITICS: THE CENTRISTS; Elbowed Aside in '92, Moderates Expect to Feel Welcome at This G.O.P. Convention", The New York Times, 5 Aug 1996, Retrieved 6 June 2013 via Nexis) Gerstell, Glenn S."New Ripon Society Group To Look for 'Progressives'", Washington Post, 14 Apr 1977, Retrieved 06 June 2013 via Nexis) Gillette, Howard F. National president 1971–1972. Huebner, Lee. Co-founder and former president. Former special assistant to President Nixon. Kellogg, Frederick R.Craig Wolff, "2 Reagan Aides go to Harlem for a Debate on Civil Rights", The New York Times, 18 Mar 1984, Retrieved 06 June 2013 via Nexis) Kessler, Rick. From 2004 to 2009, Rick Kessler served as the Ripon Society's president. When he retired from the position in 2009, he became the group's president emeritus. Kessler began working for the group in 1981 as the executive director. Previously, he worked on the presidential campaign of John Anderson and served on the inaugural committee for newly elected President Ronald Reagan in 1980–1981. Leach, Jim. U.S. Congressman from Iowa.Adam Clymer, "Reagan Holds to the Course that Brought Him This Far", The New York Times, 27 Sep 1981, Retrieved 06 June 2013 via Nexis) Petri, Tom. U.S. Congressman from Wisconsin. Co-founder. Saloma III, John S. Founding President. Smith, Peter, U.S. Congressman from Vermont.Robin Tomer, "THE TRANSITION: The Republicans; Looking to the Future, Party Sifts Through Past", The New York Times, 11 Nov 1992, Retrieved 06 June 2013)
1964 Presidential campaign A Slate article in 1998 attributed the Ripon's founding, in part, to "Republicans put off by the vulgarity of the Goldwater campaign ..." In 1964, conservative activists within the Republican Party nominated Barry Goldwater for president. The Ripon Society argued against Goldwater, writing:We believe that the future of our party lies not in extremism, but in moderation. The moderate course offers the Republican Party the best chance to build a durable majority position in American politics. This is the direction the party must take if it is to win the confidence of the 'new Americans' who are not at home in the politics of another generation: the new middle classes of the suburbs of the North and West – who have left the Democratic cities but have not yet found a home in the Republican party; the young college graduates and professional men and women of our great university centers – more concerned with 'opportunity' than 'security'; the moderates of the new South – who represent the hope for peaceful racial adjustment and who are insulted by a racist appeal more fitting another generation. These and others like them hold the key to the future of our politics.
Journals and publications
Ripon Forum The Ripon Forum, a magazine that features articles from a variety of contributors, is published quarterly by the Ripon Society. It has been described as "... the only national magazine expressing a progressive Republican view."
Ripon Advance The Ripon Advance is a daily publication that provides news and information about public policy and highlights the work of state and federal elected officials.
Summary of major historical events