Eastern Establishment

Cultural  

1. The elite universities and financial institutions of major cities in the northeastern United States. These institutions, by virtue of their long-standing economic and social dominance, are often believed to exert an influence out of proportion to their size. In American politics, the Eastern Establishment often takes a liberal Republican stand. (See also Ivy League, Madison Avenue, power elite, and Wall Street.)

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Example Sentences

Both were self-made men, politically ambitious loners disaffected from their party’s elite Eastern establishment, Nixon hailing from California.

From New York Times

Long after leaving college, he carried a lingering disdain of Ivy Leaguers and the Eastern establishment elite.

From Washington Post

In a memo to Pat Buchanan, a White House adviser, Nixon called this bit of grandiose earnestness “the last burp of the Eastern establishment.”

From Slate

With the West Texas city at the center of the oil boom, young George functioned as a crucial link between the Eastern Establishment, the next Republican administration, and Midland’s oil-based new wealth.

From Salon

Nixon wrote in his diary after a later, revelatory Post scoop about Watergate that this was “the last burp of the Eastern Establishment,” recalls Evan Thomas in a recent book.

From Washington Post