Continuity and Change in the Rhetoric of the Moral Majority

The persuasive strategies employed by the Moral Majority in the early 1980s reassured and calmed a segment of the American population left confused and uncertain by recent national events. David Snowball's analysis of this powerful movement reveals that, while the fundamental message of the Moral Majority remained constant, its subsequent changing popular image and maturing rhetoric, which initially added momentum to its rapid rise, may have been at the root of its swift decline by the end of the decade.

Although the study's primary focus is on the organization itself, the analysis also provides valuable insight into the nature of the American political system's response to counter-elite movements in general.