How did they do it? They had total control of the news media and are experts, even in 1950, in propaganda.
BTTTT
BTTT
From Texapedia:
The most infamous element of the 1948 Texas Senate race centered on “Box 13,” a ballot box from Jim Wells County, Precinct 13. Johnson gained an additional 202 votes from this precinct in the final count, all added after the initial returns. These votes were highly uniform—reported in alphabetical order, cast at the end of the day, and almost exclusively for Johnson. This sudden bump provided the margin Johnson needed to overtake Stevenson.
While no court ever found Johnson personally responsible for fraud, his campaign’s coordination with local operatives in these counties raised persistent questions about the boundaries between machine politics and outright manipulation.
Add in Dem control of the courts and see what happens ...
Politics was less partisan overall, and there was more ticket-splitting. Democrats had their key core constituents, union, big city, and rural farmers, and they could deliver locally. Reps had their suburbs and business. The south was solid Dem, although conservative.
So, Ike, and Nixon could run string nationally, house and senate were still splitting over to dems on local and name recognition. The south started trending republican beginning in the 60s. Reagan swept in the republican Senate because Carter was an inept fool.
And then Clinton hit a bad economy on top of bad economy in 1994, Oval Office stunts, and a wife who tried to take over healthcare Bob Novak was the first I heard to say the reps would pick up 45. - 50 seats, in what was a stunning prediction. 54 was actual net pickup.
Since FDR Democrats were perceived as a working man’s party...and there was much less liberal nonsense to get in the way of that.
Plus, as I understand it House elections were *very* locally focused back then. They weren’t so much about national politics but what the Congressman could bring back home to his district. Democrats with their spendy ways were always naturally going to fare better in that situation.
The brilliance of the Newt Gingrich revolution in the mid-1990s was that he nationalized the House races by writing a Contract with America and saying if you voted for Republicans this is what we are going to for the country *as a whole*. He flipped the focus from local politics to national politics (and I think we see that still continuing today with, for example, Democrat House candidates running against Trump).
Since 1900, the Democratic Party has controlled both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate during these periods:
Periods of Dual Democratic Control
1913–1919: Democrats held both chambers during the Woodrow Wilson presidency (63rd–65th Congresses).
1931–1947: The New Deal era saw Democrats control the House and, from 1933, also the Senate (72nd–79th Congresses).
1949–1953: Democrats controlled both during the Truman presidency (81st–82nd Congresses).
1955–1981: A lengthy stretch, starting in the Eisenhower years and continuing through Carter—House (1955–1994), Senate (1955–1981)—so both were Democratic-majority for 26 straight years.
1987–1995: Democrats controlled both chambers during Reagan’s last term and the Bush/Clinton transition (100th–103rd Congresses).
2007–2011: Democrats regained both chambers during the 110th and 111th Congresses, through the first Obama years.
2021–2023: Democrats narrowly controlled both after the 2020 elections, with a 50–50 Senate and the Vice President’s tie-breaking vote (117th Congress).
(source: perplexity)
Newt Gingrich earned his place in conservative history, if you don’t remember his epic accomplishment, you might wonder about the Gingrich you know, and wonder what is so great about him, but when historian PHD Gingrich brought his plan together in 1994, he earned his place in the Reagan Hall of Fame for his breaking down that barrier, and evidently shattering it.
Here is a description of how things went on in NYC at the beginning of last century:
1992 Texas.
Texas 2025.
Solid South
Let’s not forget Rush Limbaugh and his influence. I see it in Trump, MAGA and elsewhere.
But today many,many voters understand that it's the Rats who are the party of the rich and that the GOP is the party of the middle class and the working class.
In 1993 the Liberals took over the Democrats nationwide on social issues. Up until then they were more Big Tent, especially in the South. Ever since then they have become quite Purist about their Liberal views without tolerance for diverse opinions. However, this purity approach of theirs offended the Dem conservatives, especially in the South. And we saw numerous Dems switch sides.
Tip O’Neill often equipped how all politics was local. That is because his Big Tent of Dems in the House during his decade as speaker was genuinely full of conservatives, moderates, and Liberals.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the Dems controlled the US Senate for 24 years straight from 1957 to 1981.
Yesterday I visited the Dallas Sixth Floor Museum with a friend visiting from out of town. The purpose of JFK’s Texas trip in Nov 1963 well illustrates the BIG tent challenges that the Dems faced in the South. Texas had been super close for Kennedy vs Nixon in 1960 and there was an open rift between the Conservatives led by the Texas Governor and US Senator Yarborough & Liberals. Kennedy’s goal was to heal the rift & this involved parades everywhere he went. They did this in Fort Worth earlier in the day and then in Dallas with that parade where he then got shot & killed. Back then the Liberal Dems were still trying to keep the Big Tent together. But the Liberals still expected to control the party agenda and they did.
By 1993 they were emboldened to go overboard. By then the New Deal coalition that had brought them all together had it’s memories faded away. And the key for the GOP to take the South was to have southern leaders and make their agenda national. It worked.
Since then the Dems have a theme of 3 words to describe their approach - Power & UltraLiberal & Purity. There is no room for diversity of thinking. Everyone must be aligned to the agenda. And they are obsessed with getting power.
They did it incrementally thru legislation. They didn’t try to change the world in one fell swoop. They made their changes subtly and over a period of time and before you know it, they were in the majority for a long time. A number of them were also masters of constituent service. remember Tom Daschle? he was out and out of a liberal as they come. But he was diligent in looking out for South Dakota. I remember hearing stories of him visiting small towns and asking the town barber about his great aunt Ethel and how she was recovering from her hip surgery.
They, like it or not, learned the legislative process and how to manipulate it to their benefit. Remember Robert Byrd of West Virginia? Like him or not, the guy was a genius when it came to knowing the rules of the Senate and the legislative process. he knew how to add money to a bill here and a little bit more there.
Some on Free Republic would disagree - but the GOP in Congress needs more people who know how to campaign and how to legislate. The Dems built their pre-1994 empire that way. it wouldn’t hurt us to emulate some of that.
Back then, the Democrats had a Conservative Wing, and the GOP had a Liberal Wing.
It was a different time then. You had liberal Democrats and Republicans, you had moderate Democrats and republicans, and you had conservative Democrats and Republicans.
It wasn’t unusual to see bipartisan votes all the time along ideological line, not party lines.
Rockefeller Republicans were the liberal (in social issues) Republicans but were much more conservative on fiscal ones.
Now, most democrats are just communists, extreme liberals, racial hucksters, and social justice warriors.
Bill Clinton was the best President of modern times. He has the top three Presidential accomplishments.
#3: After two years of very hard work. (from 1993 to Nov 1994) Clinton gave us the first Republican Senate in 8 year on a massive EIGHT seat swing. {from 44-56 to 52-48}
#2: After two years of very hard work. Clinton gave us the first Republican House in FORTY (40) years on a massive fifty four (54) vote swing. {from 176-267 to 230-204}
#1: And finally, the top accomplishment, after eight years of very hard work, he gave us the first Republican President in eight years, George Bush. {2000 271 to 255 - such a near thing, but had he stepped down and let Gore become President, we may have lost}
Well, Republicans mostly had control after the Civil War 1860 to 1933.
From 1932 to 1998 democrats mostly had control.
In 1932, the democrats gained 97 seats in the House (117 to 313) 54.48% to 42.05%
In 1932, the democrats gained 12 seats in the Senate (36 to 59)
In 1932, the democrats gained the Presidency, with Franklin D Roosevelt defeating Herbert Hoover. 472-59 (57.4% to 39.6%)
They have been tough to dislodge every since.