Nixonland: America's Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon 1965-72

by Rick Perlstein

The Establishment hated the gurus. Which was why they went after a far more prominent guru with even greater fury—the guru who was first among equals. “Is Dr. Spock to Blame?” asked the cover of Newsweek, next to an infant wearing buttons reading UP AGAINST THE WALL, MOTHER and DON’T TRUST ANYONE OVER 3. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care was the taproot of the new generation’s insolence, said a friend of Richard Nixon’s, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale: “Feed ’em whatever they want, don’t let them cry, instant gratification of needs.” And now Dr. Spock was fighting off jail. It was all a little fantastic: Dr. Spock’s actual prescriptions were only permissive in the context of a previous generation of baby books (“Infants should be kissed, if at all, upon the cheek or forehead, but the less of this the better” went the typical counsel). People needed scapegoats. “Liberal parenting” fit the bill.