Nixon's "Silent Majority"

The election of 1968 saw Richard Nixon come into power as President of the United States, defeating the incumbent Vice President, Hubert Humphrey. Nixon won by advocating towards what he called the "silent majority." Specifically, in a 1969 speech, he said, "And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support." In using this phrase, Nixon was referring to those Americans who usually chose not to voice their opinions on the issues that were prevalent at the time. These people were mostly members of the middle class, the largest part of the social hierarchy at the time, and also mainly consisted of white, blue collar workers who were not active in politics.

Much of the purpose of appealing to a "silent majority" had to do with the Vietnam War, an issue of large controversy at the time. At the time, there was a large hippie counterculture and many anti-war demonstrators who were opposed to the fighting and ongoing violence that was unpopular with many citizens of the United States, who were shocked by violent portrayals of the war in all kinds of news and media. Nixon argued that the radical people who voiced their opinion opposing the war were, in fact, in the minority, and that withdrawing all U.S. troops from Vietnam would result in disaster.

Naturally, this act of appealing to the silent majority was controversial in nature, particularly amongst journalists. Some saw this as Nixon's way of appealing to the Southern states through racial motives. Others thought that Nixon was attempting to dismiss the protests that were quite obviously going on to oppose the war, by telling the American public, consisting largely of the "silent majority," not to listen to those in the "vocal minority." Whatever the purpose, Nixon's strategy worked convincingly, winning him 49 out of 50 states.

The President's main motive was to keep U.S. forces fighting in Vietnam until the communists came to an agreement about a "fair and honorable peace." Through the Vietnamization process, he was also attempting to increase the capability of the South Vietnamese in combat to fight off the communists. Because of this perspective, he called on the silent majority for support, saying that he had already withdrawn substantial amounts of troops from Vietnam. A poll following the speech showed an almost 80% support rate among the public in favor of Nixon's policies in Vietnam. As such, the silent majority was an incredibly significant portion of the American public that Nixon did well to appeal to.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-calls-on-the-silent-majority
https://chnm.gmu.edu/hardhats/silent.html