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Witness History

Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority

Witness History

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture, History

4.51.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1979, the Moral Majority was launched and changed the course of US politics.

It was set up to promote family values by religious conservatives from Catholic, Jewish and evangelical Christian communities.

It urged Protestants, in particular, to go against the tradition of separating politics and religion. It encouraged them to vote Republican.

Richard Viguerie was one of the driving forces behind the movement.

He spoke to Claire Bowes in 2016.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Richard Viguerie and Ronald Reagan. Credit: courtesy of ConservativeHQ.com)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello, you're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service. We're marking

0:11.2

50 years since Richard Nixon became the first and only US president to resign in office. We're

0:18.1

bringing you that and other key moments in US presidential history.

0:23.2

Today, Claire Bose takes us back to 1979 and the launch of an organisation that changed

0:30.5

the course of American politics. The moral majority was set up by religious conservatives

0:36.5

to promote family values, and it urged

0:39.9

Protestants in particular to vote Republican. Richard Vigory was one of the driving forces

0:46.7

behind the movement, which played a role in helping Ronald Reagan win the presidency in 1980.

0:54.1

Dr. Johnson said nothing focuses on the mine like an impending hanging.

0:59.4

Richard Vigory, a lifelong Republican.

1:01.7

We felt in those days we were not far away from being hanged, literally, and not figuratively,

1:07.5

but literally by the communist, because if they took over the world,

1:12.3

we were going to be on a short list to be executed.

1:15.8

The fear of communism had hung over Richard Vigory for his whole lifetime.

1:20.3

Playing games with children in the neighborhood outside of Houston,

1:24.6

cowboys and Indians, I wasn't with the other kids shooting Indians or shooting

1:29.5

robbers. Didn't tell anybody, but I was shooting communists.

1:33.1

And it wasn't just the issue of communism. In 1979, he and other conservatives felt that

1:39.4

the USA was going in the wrong direction.

1:42.2

There was frustration with America losing its place we felt in the world.

1:48.6

With the Iran hostages, we were impotent, losing one country after another to the Soviet Union.

1:55.5

The Supreme Court gave the right to abortion.

...

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