Ranch Hand Clyde
| 🤠| |
| Era | The Sixties |
|---|---|
| Age | 50-65 |
| Home | Miles City, MT |
| Demographic | rural, white, rancher |
| Lean | small_govt_conservative |
| Race | white |
A third-generation Montana cattle rancher who grazes his herd on federal land and resents the agency that leases it to him. He represents the Mountain West's small-government conservatism, pays little attention to Washington's wars, and watches closely for any new regulation.
Who they stand for
The federal government owns most of the land in the Mountain states, and the stock growers who lease grazing rights under the Taylor Grazing Act have been in conflict with its managers since the Bureau of Land Management was formed in 1946. Conservationists became a further concern during the 1960s. The Wilderness Act of 1964 closed tracts of land to grazing and mining over the objection of every stockmen's association, and the Interior Department under Secretary Stewart Udall came to be seen, like the Forest Service, as opposed to ranchers' interests. The Meat Import Act of 1964, by contrast, was a form of protection this bloc had asked for and received.
Montana voted for Nixon in 1960, for Johnson in 1964, and for Nixon again in 1968, while also sending Mike Mansfield to lead the Senate Democrats. This means the ranch vote is Republican in presidential elections but more pragmatic in other races. The Gun Control Act of 1968, passed after that year's assassinations, gives this bloc a further cause for grievance. Prairie Ruth shares his politics, expressed through church and party organisation. Clyde belongs to neither institution. His connection is only to the land.
Playing to them
He responds well to a president who leaves grazing leases unchanged, keeps the grazing fee steady, limits beef imports, signs no wilderness bill, proposes no gun registration, and keeps taxes low. Foreign policy affects him only through its effect on cattle prices, so a war neither wins nor loses his support unless it takes away his farmhands or raises his taxes. He is kept as a supporter mainly by inaction, and he cannot be won over by a new government programme, because every programme brings a new government office with it.
He does not forgive a new wilderness designation, a reclassification by the Bureau of Land Management, a rise in the grazing fee, a gun registration bill, or an Interior Secretary who speaks for hikers rather than ranchers. Winning his support loses the support of Faculty Eleanor and Campus David, who want the wilderness protected, and of Reservation Mary, whose land claims and water rights compete with his grazing leases. He tends to vote the same way as Prairie Ruth, Goldwater Barry Jr and Texas Oil Jack, and a president who satisfies all four has governed the Mountain West without needing to intervene there directly.
Where they live
The five states where Ranch Hand Clyde makes up the largest share of the electorate in the sixties:
- Wyoming
- Montana
- Idaho
- Utah
- North Dakota