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Stetson's avatar

Have you read Michael Knox Beran's book? I believe he identifies Vietnam (i.e. fumbled political legitimacy) as the end of the WASPS rather than the expansion of immigrant communities (and subsequent machine politics and organized crime) from Southern and Eastern Europe.

Alternatively, Adrian Wooldridge argues WASPs largely voluntarily surrendered political power by creating the modern meritocracy.

I think your thesis here believes too much in the inter-ethnic conflict and the relationship between traits and ethno-cultural groups. WASPs themselves, as an American phenomenon, are themselves an ethnogenesis that isn't only British and there were of course substantial regional differences between WASP elite. For isntance, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun were all dissimilar WASP elite.

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Terrance's avatar

Really enjoyed the article, however I think your analysis may overlook the subtle but ongoing influence and endurance of established old money WASP families like the Rockefellers, Du Ponts, Mellons, etc.

Unlike today's celebrity politicians and super-billionaire tycoons like Musk and Bezos, who dominate headlines, these older lineages have cultivated a patrician style of wealth and influence dispersed across many foundations, trusts, political and corporate boards, and policy networks.

Their approach to power has always been more understated and diffuse, circulating through high-level policy organizations (Council on Foreign Relations), philanthropic entities (Rockefeller Foundation), premier cultural institutions (museums, universities, think tanks), and centuries-old social networks. You are correct that over time, these institutions have partially “de-ethnicized,” diluting any overt identification with an ancestral Protestant lineage, yet the underlying influence mechanisms and connections remain very much intact.

This more understated, institutional approach means the old WASP elite retains significant behind-the-scenes influence—just not in a way that’s as publicly visible or tied to individual celebrity.

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