Described by Professor of History Maurice Isserman as the anti-Arthur Schlessinger, author Rick Perlstein presented a lecture at Hamilton on April 26 titled "Hell in the City of Angels: the Watts Riot of August 1965, and the End of the Liberal Consensus." Perlstein shared the manuscript of the prologue to his new book, a sequel to the New York Times bestseller Before the Storm. He explained that the sequel will be much like the original except the red-thread, or the "anti-red thread," of this book will be the story of Richard Nixon.
Perlstein claimed to be inspired to write a book about Nixon after he was assigned by Slate magazine to review the Nixon Watergate manuscripts in 1996 and 1997. "The tapes didn't really read like a conspiracy," he said. "These people really believed that they were saving humanity."
Perlstein said he was truly captivated by the idea that Nixon was not only handed a landslide majoring election after Watergate broke, but he also was "articulating the American public's ideas in his ideas." He explained how he hoped to tell the story of the "silent majority" of the 60's in his new book.
In his manuscript, Perstein described the events leading up to the infamous Watt's Riots, the worst urban violence in American history, which took place in Los Angeles in 1965. He discussed the complexity of such an event; as it was shown live onto local and subsequently national television for four days straight, it had a serious impact on both public opinion and American politics.
He then set the violence in a historical context, describing in depth LBJ's liberal reform of the mid-1960's. Although it appeared that the United States had reached a "liberal consensus," there were serious political and social issues brewing underneath the surface. Johnson's political star was beginning to fall, and Richard Nixon was on the rise. Perlstein finished his reading describing the desperation Nixon had to obtain political power and become the leader of the free world, setting the rest of the book up to focus on Nixon's political career.
Perlstein earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Chicago. His articles and criticism have appeared in The Nation, The New York Observer, The New York Times, and Slate. He most recently covered the 2004 presidential campaign for the Village Voice.
Rick Perlstein's lecture was sponsored by the Departments of History and American Studies.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
