Editing Silent majority (section)

{{about|the political phrase}}
{{short description|Concept in politics}}
The '''silent majority''' is an unspecified large group of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110131090929/http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/silent-majority "Silent majority"] Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (1995), accessed 22/2/2011.</ref> The term was popularized by U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] in a televised address on November 3, 1969, in which he said, "And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.watergate.info/nixon/silent-majority-speech-1969.shtml|title=Nixon's "Silent Majority" speech}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/november-3-1969-address-nation-war-vietnam|title=Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam |date=November 3, 1969|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs}}</ref> In this usage it referred to those Americans who did not join in the large [[demonstrations against the Vietnam War]] at the time, who did not join in the [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]], and who did not participate in [[public discourse]]. Nixon, along with many others, saw this group of [[Middle America (United States)|Middle Americans]] as being overshadowed in the media by the more vocal minority.

Preceding Nixon by half a century, it was employed in 1919 by [[Calvin Coolidge]]'s campaign for the [[1920 Republican National Convention|1920 presidential nomination]]. Before that, the phrase was used in the 19th century as a euphemism referring to all the people who have died, and others have used it before and after Nixon to refer to groups of voters in various nations of the world.