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The silent majority is an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly.

The term was popularized ( though not first used ) by U. S. President Richard Nixon in a November 3, 1969, speech in which he said, " And so tonight — to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans — I ask for your support.

" 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, and who did not participate in public discourse.

Nixon along with many others saw this group of Middle Americans as being overshadowed in the media by the more vocal minority.