The Breakdown of Democratic Party Organization, 1940-1980 Book

The local democratic party organizations in America dramatically deteriorated between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s. This is the first major study of organizational decay at the local level, the level from which American parties traditionally drew their strength. The book concentrates on three areas: New York City, the East Bay in California, and Denver. Ware rejects two commonly-held views about the local party decline—that the parties in the 1950s were so weak that the candidates had to turn to campaign consultants, and that reforms in the presidential selection process were a major factor in party organization collapse—and demonstrates that the collapse was caused by the complex interaction of three main factors: the availability of new campaign technologies; long-term social, economic and political change in the nation; and the political crises of the 1960s.

"Intellectually stimulating and exceptionally well-informed..excellent empirical work."--Political Science Quarterly.