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Georgia's Beloved Congressman John Lewis Diagnosed With Pancreatic Cancer
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<blockquote data-quote="Box Ox" data-source="post: 4557872" data-attributes="member: 48469"><p>Don't play dumb and act like the Democratic Party of today is the same as it was then.</p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.history.com/news/how-the-party-of-lincoln-won-over-the-once-democratic-south" target="_blank">How the ‘Party of Lincoln’ Won Over the Once Democratic South</a></p><p></p><p>"Up until the post-World War II period, the party’s hold on the region was so entrenched that Southern politicians usually couldn’t get elected unless they were Democrats. But when <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/harry-truman" target="_blank">President Harry S. Truman</a>, a Democratic Southerner, introduced a pro-civil rights platform at the party’s 1948 convention, a faction walked out.</p><p></p><p>These defectors, known as the “Dixiecrats,” held a separate convention in Birmingham, Alabama. There, they nominated South Carolina Governor <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/former-u-s-senator-strom-thurmond-dies" target="_blank">Strom Thurmond</a>, a staunch opposer of civil rights, to run for president on their “States’ Rights” ticket. Although Thurmond lost the election to Truman, he still won <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1948" target="_blank">over a million popular votes</a>.</p><p></p><p>It “was the first time since before the Civil War that the South was not solidly Democratic,” Goldfield says. “And that began the erosion of the southern influence in the Democratic party.”</p><p></p><p>After that, the majority of the South still continued to vote Democratic because it thought of the Republican party as the party of Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction. The big break didn’t come until President Johnson, another Southern Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act" target="_blank">Voting Rights Act</a> in 1965.</p><p></p><p>Though some Democrats had switched to the Republican party prior to this, “the defections became a flood” after Johnson signed these acts, Goldfield says. “And so the political parties began to reconstitute themselves.”</p><p></p><p>The change wasn’t total or immediate. During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, white Southerners were still transitioning away from the Democratic party (newly enfranchised black Southerners voted and continue to vote Democratic). And even as Republican <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/richard-m-nixon" target="_blank">Richard Nixon</a> employed a “Southern strategy” that appealed to the racism of Southern white voters, former Alabama Governor <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-wallace-inaugurated-as-alabama-governor" target="_blank">George Wallace</a> (who’d wanted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C-kBVggFrs" target="_blank">“segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever”</a>) ran as a Democrat in the 1972 presidential primaries.</p><p></p><p>By the time <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan" target="_blank">Ronald Reagan</a> became president in 1980, the Republican party’s hold on white Southerners was firm. Today, the Republican party remains the party of the South. It’s an ironic outcome considering that a century ago, white Southerners would’ve never considered voting for the party of Lincoln."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Box Ox, post: 4557872, member: 48469"] Don't play dumb and act like the Democratic Party of today is the same as it was then. [URL='https://www.history.com/news/how-the-party-of-lincoln-won-over-the-once-democratic-south']How the ‘Party of Lincoln’ Won Over the Once Democratic South[/URL] "Up until the post-World War II period, the party’s hold on the region was so entrenched that Southern politicians usually couldn’t get elected unless they were Democrats. But when [URL='http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/harry-truman']President Harry S. Truman[/URL], a Democratic Southerner, introduced a pro-civil rights platform at the party’s 1948 convention, a faction walked out. These defectors, known as the “Dixiecrats,” held a separate convention in Birmingham, Alabama. There, they nominated South Carolina Governor [URL='http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/former-u-s-senator-strom-thurmond-dies']Strom Thurmond[/URL], a staunch opposer of civil rights, to run for president on their “States’ Rights” ticket. Although Thurmond lost the election to Truman, he still won [URL='http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1948']over a million popular votes[/URL]. It “was the first time since before the Civil War that the South was not solidly Democratic,” Goldfield says. “And that began the erosion of the southern influence in the Democratic party.” After that, the majority of the South still continued to vote Democratic because it thought of the Republican party as the party of Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction. The big break didn’t come until President Johnson, another Southern Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the [URL='http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act']Voting Rights Act[/URL] in 1965. Though some Democrats had switched to the Republican party prior to this, “the defections became a flood” after Johnson signed these acts, Goldfield says. “And so the political parties began to reconstitute themselves.” The change wasn’t total or immediate. During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, white Southerners were still transitioning away from the Democratic party (newly enfranchised black Southerners voted and continue to vote Democratic). And even as Republican [URL='http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/richard-m-nixon']Richard Nixon[/URL] employed a “Southern strategy” that appealed to the racism of Southern white voters, former Alabama Governor [URL='http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/george-wallace-inaugurated-as-alabama-governor']George Wallace[/URL] (who’d wanted [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C-kBVggFrs']“segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever”[/URL]) ran as a Democrat in the 1972 presidential primaries. By the time [URL='http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan']Ronald Reagan[/URL] became president in 1980, the Republican party’s hold on white Southerners was firm. Today, the Republican party remains the party of the South. It’s an ironic outcome considering that a century ago, white Southerners would’ve never considered voting for the party of Lincoln." [/QUOTE]
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