听力题 The Republican Party is one of the two main political parties of the USA. It was formed in 1854 by groups opposed to slavery. Lincoln became the first Republican president in 1861, and Republicans held the presidency from then until 1913, except for two terms. They returned to power from 1921-1933, but were blamed for the economic crisis of 1929 and the poverty and unemployment that followed. The Party did not win back the presidency until Eisenhower was elected in 1952. The next Republican president was Richard Nixon, elected in 1968. During Nixon''s presidency, as during most of Eisenhower''s, the Republicans failed to win a majority in Congress. The Republican Party tends to be more conservative than the Democratic party; it is associated with free enterprise in the economy, and is most strongly supported in the rural and suburban areas of the North, the Middle West and the West.