The rise of the New Right within the national GOP brought pressure to bear on Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, and the Republican Party began to back away from its support of minority business in the mid-1970s, a process that was sealed by the election of Ronald Reagan to the White House in 1980.140 In the absence of large-scale private sector involvement, this change in the political climate meant a severe reduction in funds for most CDCs and spelled the end for many others.
