Rivalry and Reform

The pivotal relationship between Lincoln and the abolitionists was among the first to reveal that presidential-movement alliances could be a critical dimension of American political development.

The uneasy collaboration between Lyndon Johnson and the civil rights movement marked a development more than 50 years in the making, thanks to the advent of the modern presidency during the Progressive Era.

Ronald Reagan and the new Christian Right viewed their alliance as the vanguard of a campaign to rally conservative Democrats to their side.