Before 1936 blacks voted republican, after 1932, blacks voted democrat.
Posted on 04/18/2013 2:14:07 PM PDT by Epsdude
Sorry for this unusual post. I'm probably the youngest one this site so you can imagine I've got a lot to learn in politics, but one thing has always puzzled me.
I know that Republicans broke away from the Whigs to oppose the pro-slavery Democrats but the change in party demographics since then has perplexed me.
I recently saw this picture: http://manwiththemuckrake.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/slavery-2012.jpg
I'm just curious, what caused such a radical shift in the solid south? Some people accredit this to an 'ideological party switch' but that seems rather implausible to me. So what did cause this arbitrary shift and, also why did the black vote slowly drift over to the Democrats?
Thanks.
BTW, without Republican votes none of the civil rights laws of that era would have passed.
The BIG reason white Souvrn'rs moved to Republicans was the Republicans began running Republicans for office for every position ~ and that was because the Democrats had quit murdering Republican candidates.
Only Democrat 'historians' believe the Souf' was as solidly Democrat as it seemed to be ~ more reliable and rational political analysts believe the Republican demiurge always existed and it was just a matter of time until the Republicans would tap into it.
Cool. Who did we get sold to? Am I a Fascist now?
Yes, and let's not forget his support for the inflationist "free silver" movement.
Before 1936 blacks voted republican, after 1932, blacks voted democrat.
The rise of the social conservative movement as the pro-life and family values elements coalesced as a political force in the late 70s/early 80s. Prior to that time, socially conservative voters were distributed more evenly between the parties. After Roe v Wade, the Republicans were able to pull southern social conservatives out of the Democrat party as the parties took sides in the culture war.
The shift came because the democrat party that supplied money to the farmers to keep them loyal became very anti-Christian. The Bible belt could not vote for what they considered evil (abortion, gay issues, etc.) they were forced to chose between God or farm subsidies and God won.
The majority of southerners are God fearing, gun toting, pro-life, and religious people. When the Democrat party became the big government, welfare party, the south changed to the GOP. It really took off with the election of Ronald Reagan.
Yeah, I’m making a very rough estimate, given that, Teddy’s proclivities, Wilson’s proclivities, Repub pres in the ‘20s, and everywhere else!
You said it.
Did blacks really change that much for FDR? I assumed, but wasn’t sure. Always mentioned is LBJ but I think he just solidified it and made it 95%.
I’ll have to get hammered on margaritas and channel his spirit then.
They bring their dysfunctional BS with them.
Not true. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was drafted by Republicans at Eisenhower’s request in the 1950’s. It was defeated by the Democrat majority Congress. After violence erupted in the 1960’s, Kennedy quietly asked the Republicans to resurrect it. It finally passed under Johnson with 80% support from Republicans and only 60% support from Democrats. The switch is the result of successful lies by the Democrats and their taking all of the credit for the Civil Rights Act. Of course, there is more to it, but I wanted to correct the key point.
There are lots of reasons but, first, thanks for asking, it’s a great question.
We can discuss what happened after the Civil War and you will probably get as many different responses as there are members of FreeRepublic. I can pick things up in the 50’s and bring you forward from there.
In the deep South, in particular, segregation ran rampant. You may not recall the forced school integration that occurred in Arkansas with Gov. Faubus and Alabama with then Gov. George Wallace blocking the doors of Unversity of Alabama until he was “persuaded” by the federal troops protecting the first black kids to enter the school. That was the South that I mostly grew up in.
In those days, even public water fountains were segregated into “white only” and “black only” water fountains. When I was 4 or 5, my mom and I were in a bus station and I went to get a drink from one of the fountains. A gentleman approached my mom and told her that I was drinking out of the “black only” fountain. My mom replied that it was ok, I couldn’t read!
Attitudes like that gradually eased the racial segregation of the South, but it took decades. The 60s saw some of the most violent clashes between blacks and whites, usually following a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King. And, as blacks tried integrating white neighborhoods, it gave rise to something called “white flight” in which whites moved from those neighborhoods into other all white neighborhoods. This eventually led to a Supreme Court suit that brought busing to the South in which kids were bused from all black neighborhoods to all white schools.
It was all very ugly. At the voting booth, blacks were generally charged a “poll tax” of ~$2 so they could vote in a given election. Others were forced to take literacy tests or other means that were intended to keep them from voting. This ultimately led us to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Also, during this time, most southern states were dominated by Democrats who went out of their way to convince blacks that they were on their side. They did a good job of what I call “show ‘n tell” in presenting a facade to southern blacks of actually caring about them. History (and 20/20 hindsight) proves that the opposite was true. The Democrats gave the blacks table scraps and made them think they were getting a sumptuous meal while, at the same time, the Democrats were portraying Republicans as evil racists.
Over time, however, the demographics in the South changed a lot. More people from northern states began migrating into the South and control of the state houses eventually changed from Democrat to Republican. In addition, Hispanics from countries such as Cuba also spread across the South bringing conservative ideas with them, having experienced in Cuba the “nirvana” that the Democrats wanted. So, while more and more states changed hands to become Republican, the Democrats stepped up their rhetoric that they are the protectors of the blacks and Republicans were evil racists.
So, what has happened is that enough Republicans either migrated to the South or they saw the handwriting on the wall and switched parties. The Democrat’s “tax ‘n spend” policies were killing southern industries, many of which catered to black workers. Where the Republicans were trying to save or attract industries, the Democrats were running them off.
Today, as you have seen from the graphic, much of the South is held by Republicans. However, many southern blacks still vote hardcore Democrat, believing their rhetoric, rather than seeing the advantages the Republicans have brought right before their eyes.
But, look closely at the graphic you noted. How many of the northern Democrat strongholds today are corrupt and in financial ruin (or on the verge thereof) versus how many southern states? Ultimately, that tells you the whole story. The South after the Civil War resembled many northern Democrat strongholds today.
When the Democrat party officially became the party of LSD and Abortion in the early 70’s. The landslide for Nixon in 1972 (as you can see by election maps) was the final official shift for the south.
Prior to that they were having a tough time making that switch; always trying to vote for Wallace (a former Democrat turned independent).
The Blacks started to leave thanks to Johnson and the War on poverty.
‘I think that we are going in a new direction when any Mid Eastern teror group WILL not brag about taking credit, so as to keep everyone guesing.’
Didn’t LBJ make some comment concerning blacks voting for Dems for 100 years or something?
Free money. You can’t beat Santa Clause. The Democrats knew that poor people, especially they targeted blacks, would vote for them if they illegally gave out welfare.
When asked this question, liberals sneer in reply that racist white Southerners, the real Ku Kluxers, left the newly `progressive’ Democrat Party because they couldn’t stomach its sudden excessive solicitousness toward blacks, and turned instead toward the party of the `hellish Nixon’ which stood for war, reflexive anti-communism, and trusting narrow-minded white citizens with their guns.
However, the worst of the Southern racist politicians were Democrats, every last one. Not just Herman Talmadge and Pitchfork Ben Tillman, but the execrable Jimmah Carter who ran for governor in 1970 & defeated his opponent by depicting him as too liberal & pro-black for Georgia.
The Democrat party was McGovernized in 1972 and has been extremely liberal ever since. Without the slavish support of the black vote it would have become marginalized by now into the party of the coastal urban elites.
Oh, I know. I’m a Philly area guy, but conservative. I was referring to the last map in which only FL didn’t have a color.
Yankees. Millions of them.
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