In American politics, the Southern strategy refers to methods of winning elections in the South in the latter decades of the 20th century by exploiting racial anxiety among white voters. Politics of the United States takes place in the framework of a presidential, Federal republic where the President of the United States (the Head of The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive

Although the phrase "Southern strategy" is often attributed to Richard Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips, he did not originate it,^[1] but merely popularized it. Kevin Phillips (born November 30, 1940) is an American writer and commentator largely on Politics, Economics ^[2] In an interview included in a 1970 New York Times article, he touched on its essence:

From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that. . . but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats. "^[3]

While Phillips was concerned with polarizing ethnic voting in general, and not just with winning the white South, this was by far the biggest prize yielded by his approach. Its success began at the presidential level, gradually trickling down to statewide offices, the Senate and House, as legacy segregationist Democrats retired or switched to the GOP. The strategy suffered a brief apparent reversal following Watergate, with broad support for the Southern Democrat Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election. The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard M But with Ronald Reagan kicking off his 1980 Republican presidential campaign proclaiming support for "states' rights" in Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site of the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964's Freedom Summer, it appeared the Republican Party was going to build on the Southern Strategy again. The Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders involved the 1964 slayings of three political activists during the American Civil Rights Movement. Freedom Summer (also known as the Mississippi Summer Project) was a campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register to vote as Although another Southern Democrat Bill Clinton was twice elected President, winning a handful of Southern states in 1992 and 1996, he won more votes outside the South and could have won without carrying any Southern state. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States

From 1948 to 1984 the Southern states, traditionally a stronghold for the Democrats, became key swing states, providing the popular vote margins in the 1960, 1968 and 1976 elections. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The United States presidential election of 1960 marked the end of Dwight D Please DO NOT flip the colors -->The United States presidential election of 1968 was a wrenching national experience and included the assassination of Democratic candidate The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard M During this era, several Republican candidates expressed support for states' rights, which was a signal of opposition to federal enforcement of civil rights for blacks and intervention on their behalf, including passage of legislation to protect the franchise. States' rights refers to the idea in US politics and constitutional law, that U ^[4]

In recent years, the term has been used in a more general sense, in which cultural themes are used in an election — primarily but not exclusively in the American South. In the past, phrases such as "busing" or "law and order" or "states' rights" were used as code words. Today, appeals to conservative values name cultural issues such as gay marriage, abortion, and religion.

Contents 1 Disfranchisement and the Solid South 2 WWII and population changes 3 Roots of the Southern strategy 4 Evolution 5 Failure 6 Modern appraisal in the Republican party 7 Use during the 2008 Democratic primary 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading

Disfranchisement and the Solid South

Main article: Solid South

After the American Civil War, Southern states gained additional seats in the House of Representatives and representation in the Electoral College because freedmen were granted full citizenship. Solid South refers to the electoral support of the Southern United States for Democratic Party candidates for nearly a century from 1877 the end of the Reconstruction Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. An electoral college is a set of many electors who are empowered to elect a candidate to a particular Office. They were also granted suffrage. Southern white resentment stemming from the Civil War and the Republican Party’s policy of Reconstruction kept most southern whites in the Democratic Party, but the Republicans could compete in the South with a coalition of freedmen, Unionists and highland whites.

Rising intimidation and violence by white paramilitary groups such as the White League and Red Shirts during the mid to late-1870s contributed to turning out Republican officeholders and suppressing the black vote. A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force but which are not regarded as having the same status The White League was a white Paramilitary group which was established in 1874 in Louisiana and operated during Reconstruction. The Red Shirts or Redshirts of the Southern United States were a white Paramilitary group in the 19th century active primarily after formal Reconstruction After the North agreed to withdraw federal troops under the Compromise of 1877, white Democrats used a variety of tactics to reduce voting by African Americans and poor whites. The Compromise of 1877 was an informal unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U In the 1880s they began to pass legislation making election processes more complicated.

From 1890 to 1908, the white Democratic legislatures in every Southern state enacted new constitutions or amendments with provisions to disfranchise most blacks and many poor whites. Provisions required complicated processes for poll taxes, residency, literacy tests and other requirements which were subjectively applied against blacks and poor whites. A poll tax, head tax, or capitation is a Tax of a uniform fixed amount per individual (as opposed to a percentage of income Literacy Test refers to the government practice of testing the literacy of potential citizens at the federal level and potential voters at the state level As blacks lost their vote, the Republican Party lost its ability to effectively compete. ^[5] The feature "Turnout for Presidential and Midterm Elections" at the University of Texas Politics: Historical Barriers to Voting article shows the dramatic drop in voter turnout as these measures took effect, and also their longevity in Texas and across the South. It also shows the comparison of Texas and southern voting compared to the rest of the US. [2]

The South became solidly white Democratic until past the middle of the 20th century. Effectively, Southern white Democrats controlled all the votes of the expanded population by which Congressional apportionment was figured. Many of their representatives achieved powerful positions of seniority in Congress, giving them control of chairmanships of Congressional committees. African Americans could not elect one person to represent their interests and filled no local elected offices, where government was closest to the people. Because they could not be voters, they were also prevented from being jurors and serving in local offices. Services and institutions for them in the segregated South were chronically underfunded.

During this period, Republicans held only a few House seats from the South. Between 1880 and 1904, Republican presidential candidates in the South received between 35 and 40 percent of that section's vote (except in 1892, when the 16 percent for the Populists knocked Republicans down to 25 percent). From 1904 to 1948, Republicans received more than 30 percent of the section's votes only in the 1920 (35. The United States presidential election of 1920 was dominated by the Aftermath of World War I and the hostile reaction to Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic president 2 percent, carrying Tennessee) and 1928 elections (47. The United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. 7 percent, carrying five states). The only important political role of the South in presidential elections came in the 1912 election, when it provided the delegates to select Taft over Theodore Roosevelt in that year's Republican convention. The United States presidential election of 1912 was fought among three major candidates two of whom had previously won election to the office

During this period, Republicans occasionally supported anti-lynching bills, which were filibustered by Southern Democrats in the Senate, and appointed a few black placeholders. Lynching is an Extrajudicial punishment meted out by a mob Lynching an enumerated Felony in some states in the United States, is defined by some The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives In the 1928 election, the Republican candidate Herbert Hoover rode the issues of prohibition and anti-Catholicism to carry five former Confederate states, with 62 of the 126 electoral votes of the section. The United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10 1874 &ndash October 20 1964 was the thirty-first President of the United States (1929–1933 Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, also known as Noble Experiment, refers to a Sumptuary law which prohibits Alcohol Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for Discrimination, hostility or Prejudice directed at the Roman Catholic Church or its followers After his victory, Hoover attempted to build up the Republican Party of the South, transferring patronage away from blacks and toward the same kind of white Protestant businessmen who made up the core of the Northern Republican Party. With the onset of the Great Depression, which severely impacted the South, Hoover soon became extremely unpopular. The gains of the Republican Party in the South were lost. In the 1932 election, Hoover received only 18. 1 percent of the Southern vote for re-election.

WWII and population changes

The subsequent policies of Franklin Roosevelt provided much needed financial help and development welcomed in the South, precluding Republican growth in the region. In the 1948 election, after Truman had desegregated the Army, a group of Southern Democrats known as Dixiecrats split from the Democratic Party in reaction to the inclusion of a strong civil rights plank in the party's platform. The United States presidential election of 1948 is considered by most Historians as the greatest election Upset in American history. The States' Rights Democratic Party (commonly known as the Dixiecrats) was a segregationist, socially conservative Political party This followed a floor fight led by Minneapolis Mayor (and soon-to-be Senator) Hubert Humphrey. The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr ( May 27, 1911 &ndash January 13, 1978) was the thirty-eighth Vice President of the United States, serving

The disaffected Democrats formed the States' Rights Democratic, or Dixiecrat, Party, and nominated Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president; he won four Southern states. The States' Rights Democratic Party (commonly known as the Dixiecrats) was a segregationist, socially conservative Political party James Strom Thurmond ( December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. The main plank of the States' Rights Democratic Party was maintaining segregation and Jim Crow in the South. The Dixiecrats, failing to deny the Democrats the presidency in 1948, soon dissolved, but the split lingered. The States' Rights Democratic Party (commonly known as the Dixiecrats) was a segregationist, socially conservative Political party In 1964, Thurmond was one of the first conservative southern Democrats to switch to the Republicans.

In addition to the splits in the Democratic Party, the population movements associated with World War II had a significant effect on the makeup of the South. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including From 1940-1970, more than 5 million African Americans migrated from the South to the North and West in the second Great Migration. They moved for better jobs, education for their children, and quality of life, including the chance to vote. Starting before WWII, many took jobs in the defense industry in California and major industrial cities of the Midwest.

Changes in industry, growth in universities and the military establishment in turn attracted Northern transplants to the South, and bolstered the base of the Republican Party. In the post-war Presidential campaigns, Republicans did best in the fastest-growing states of the South with the most Northern settlers. In the 1952, 1956 and 1960 elections, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida went Republican all three times, while Louisiana went Republican in 1956, and Texas twice voted for Eisenhower and once for Kennedy. The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was in one of its most tense Please DO NOT flip the colors --> The United States presidential election of 1956 saw a popular Dwight D The United States presidential election of 1960 marked the end of Dwight D Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of In 1956, Eisenhower received 48. 9 percent of the Southern vote, becoming only the second Republican in history (after Grant) to get a plurality of Southern votes.

The states of the Deep South remained loyal to the Democratic Party, which had not officially repudiated segregation. Indeed, the "Yankee transplant" does not explain the Republican rise in the "Deep South" states. Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina actually lost population and Congressional seats from the 1950s to the 1970s, while Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana remained static. From the turn of the century, Mississippi's constitution was hostile to industry.

The racial turmoil in the Deep South states during the Civil Rights Movement precluded many businesses from relocating there. The "Year of Birmingham" in 1963 highlighted racial issues in Alabama. Through the spring, there were marches and demonstrations to end legal segregation. The Movement's achievements in settlement with the local business class were overshadowed by bombings and murders by the Ku Klux Klan, most notoriously in the deaths of four girls in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. ^[6]

After George Wallace was elected as Governor of Alabama, he helped link the concept of states' rights and segregation, both in speeches and by creating crises to provoke Federal intervention. He opposed integration at the University of Alabama, and collaborated with the Ku Klux Klan in disrupting court-ordered integration of public schools in Birmingham in 1963. ^[7]

Many of the so-called states' rights Democrats were attracted to the 1964 presidential campaign of Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. States' rights refers to the idea in US politics and constitutional law, that U Please DO NOT flip the colors -->The United States presidential election of 1964 was one of the most lopsided presidential elections in the history of the United States The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Goldwater was notably more conservative than previous Republican nominees, such as Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general Goldwater's principal opponent in the primary election, Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was widely seen as representing the more moderate (and pro-Civil Rights), Northern wing of the party (see Rockefeller Republican, Goldwater Republican). A primary election ( nominating primary) also referred to simply as a primary, is an election in which voters in a Jurisdiction select candidates Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller ( July 8, 1908 January 26, 1979) was the forty-first Vice President of the United States, the forty-ninth New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous In the politics of the United States of America the Rockefeller Republican s were a faction of Republicans who held liberal views similar to those of the late Rockefeller's defeat in the primary is often seen as a turning point towards a more conservative Republican party. Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour Tradition, where tradition refers to various religious cultural or nationally defined It was the beginning of a long decline for moderate and especially liberal Republicans. Liberalism in the United States is a broad political and philosophical mindset favoring individual Liberty, and opposing restrictions on liberty whether they come from Goldwater’s primary victory is also seen as a shift of the center of Republican power to the West and South.

In the 1964 presidential campaign, Barry Goldwater ran a conservative campaign, part of which emphasized "states' rights. Please DO NOT flip the colors -->The United States presidential election of 1964 was one of the most lopsided presidential elections in the history of the United States " Goldwater's 1964 campaign was a magnet for conservatives. Goldwater broadly opposed strong action by the federal government. Although he had supported all previous federal civil rights legislation, Goldwater made the decision to oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Origins The bill was introduced by President John F Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11 1963, in which he asked for legislation "giving His stance was based on his view that the act was an intrusion of the federal government into the affairs of states and, second, that the Act interfered with the rights of private persons to do business, or not, with whomever they chose. In addition, Goldwater's primary delegate slate from the South had no blacks, but was filled instead with white segregationists.

All this appealed to white Southern Democrats, and Goldwater was the first Republican to win the electoral votes of the Deep South states (Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina) since Reconstruction. However, Goldwater's vote on the Civil Rights Act proved devastating to Goldwater’s campaign everywhere outside the South (besides Dixie, Goldwater won only in Arizona, his home state), contributing to his landslide defeat in 1964. A Lyndon B. Johnson ad called "Confessions of a Republican," which ran in the North, associated Goldwater with the Ku Klux Klan. Ku Klux Klan ( KKK) is the name of several past and present secret domestic terrorist organizations in the United States, generally in the southern states that are At the same time, Johnson’s campaign in the Deep South publicized Goldwater’s full history on civil rights. The Deep South is a descriptive category of cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. In the end, Johnson swept the election.

Senator Goldwater’s position was at odds with most of the prominent members of the Republican Party, dominated by so-called Eastern Establishment and Midwestern Progressives. A higher percentage of the Republican Party supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than did the Democratic Party, as they had on all previous Civil Rights legislation. Origins The bill was introduced by President John F Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11 1963, in which he asked for legislation "giving The Southern Democrats mostly opposed their Northern Party mates--and their presidents (Kennedy and Johnson) on civil rights issues. Southern Democrats are members of the US Democratic Party who reside in the U

Roots of the Southern strategy

Lyndon Johnson knew that his endorsement of Civil Rights legislation would endanger his party in the South, but he did it anyway. The national Democratic party supported integration and passage of civil rights legislation to correct injustices. In the election of 1968, Richard Nixon saw the cracks in the Solid South as an opportunity to tap into a group of voters who had long been beyond the reach of the Republican Party. Please DO NOT flip the colors -->The United States presidential election of 1968 was a wrenching national experience and included the assassination of Democratic candidate Solid South refers to the electoral support of the Southern United States for Democratic Party candidates for nearly a century from 1877 the end of the Reconstruction

Against the background of the long Vietnam War, in 1968 social turbulence and volatility continued. On April 4, 1968, Dr. Events 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr ( January 15, 1929 April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, Activist and prominent leader Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, he was the most well-known national leader of the Civil Rights Movement. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC) is an American Civil rights organization His death was followed by rioting by despairing African Americans in inner-city areas in major cities throughout the country. King’s policy of non-violence had already been superseded by activities of more radical blacks and by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC, pronounced "snick" was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement There were also protests, often violent, against the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia The drug subculture caused alarm among many adults. Drug subcultures are examples of Countercultures primarily defined by Recreational drug use.

With the aid of Harry Dent and South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who had switched parties in 1964, Richard Nixon ran his 1968 campaign on states' rights and "law and order. Harry S Dent Jr (born 1950 is an American economist and Writer. South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives James Strom Thurmond ( December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and States' rights refers to the idea in US politics and constitutional law, that U " Many liberals accused Nixon of pandering to Southern whites, especially with regard to his "states' rights" and "law and order" stands. Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal ^[8]

The independent candidacy of George Wallace, former Democratic governor of Alabama, partially negated the Southern strategy. George Corley Wallace Jr (August 25 1919 September 13 1998 was a Democratic Governor of Alabama for four terms (1963-1967 1971-1979 and 1983-1987 and ran for Alabama (formally the State of Alabama;) is a State located in the southern region of the United States of America. With a much more explicit attack on integration and black civil rights, Wallace won all of Goldwater's states (except South Carolina), as well as Arkansas and one of North Carolina's electoral votes. South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States Nixon picked up Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, while Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey won only Texas in the South. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr ( May 27, 1911 &ndash January 13, 1978) was the thirty-eighth Vice President of the United States, serving Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. In the 1972 election, Nixon swept the South, winning more than 70 percent of the popular vote in the Deep South states and Florida, and over 60 percent in all the other states of the former Confederacy. The Confederate States of America (also called the Confederacy, the Confederate States, and CSA) formed as the government set up from 1861

Despite his appeal to Southern whites, Nixon parlayed a wide perception as a moderate into wins in other states, and he took a solid majority in the electoral college. In Politics and Religion, a moderate is an individual who holds an intermediate position between two viewpoints neither to be extreme or radical by those applying He was able to appear moderate to most Americans because the Southern strategy often used code words -- "states' rights," "busing" -- and others that meant little to most Americans, but were emotionally charged for voters in the South.

Evolution

As civil rights grew more accepted throughout the nation, basing a general election strategy on appeals to "states' rights" as a naked play against civil rights laws would have resulted in a national backlash. In addition, the idea of "states' rights" was subsumed within a broader meaning than simply a reference to civil rights laws, eventually encompassing federalism as the means to forestall Federal intervention in the culture wars. Political federalism is a Political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together (Latin foedus, covenant) with a governing The culture war (or culture wars) in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting values

On August 4, 1980, Ronald Reagan began his presidential campaign with a speech near Philadelphia, Mississippi at the annual Neshoba County Fair. Events 70 - The Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans. Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent Ronald Reagan Philadelphia is the County seat of Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States. During the speech, Reagan told the crowd, "Programs like education and others should be turned back to the states and local communities with the tax sources to fund them. I believe in states’ rights. I believe in people doing as much as they can at the community level and the private level. "^[9] He went on to promise to "restore to states and local governments the power that properly belongs to them. " Philadelphia was the scene of the June 21, 1964 murder of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, and Reagan's critics alleged that the presidential candidate was signaling a racist message to his audience. Mississippi civil rights workers murders James Earl "JE" Chaney ( May 30, 1943 – June 21, 1964) was one of three American Mississippi civil rights workers murders Andrew Goodman ( November 23, 1943 &ndash June 21, 1964) was one of three American Mississippi civil rights workers murders Michael Henry Schwerner ( November 6, 1939 – June 21, 1964) was one of three CORE field ^[10] Reagan's defenders disagree and point out that he spoke to the National Urban League, a civil rights organization, a few days later. The National Urban League ( NUL) formerly known as the National League of black men and women, is a Civil rights organization based in New York City ^[11]

In addition to presidential campaigns, charges of racism have been made about subsequent Republican campaigns for the House of Representatives and Senate in the South. The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives The Willie Horton commercials used by supporters of George H. W. Bush against Michael Dukakis in the election of 1988 were considered by some to be racist. William R Horton (born August 12, 1951 in Chesterfield, South Carolina) is a convicted Felon who was the subject of a Massachusetts George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12 1924 served as the forty-first President of the United States from 1989 to 1993 Michael Stanley Dukakis (born November 3, 1933) is an American Democratic politician former Governor of Massachusetts, and was the Democratic -->The United States presidential election of 1988 featured an open primary for both major parties The 1990 re-election campaign of Jesse Helms attacked his opponent's alleged support of "racial quotas," most notably through an ad in which a white person's hands are seen crumpling a letter indicating that he was denied a job because of the color of his skin. Jesse Alexander Helms Jr (October 18 1921 – July 4 2008 was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman Some professional academics (historians, political scientists, sociologists, culture critics, etc. ) and most Democratic Party supporters argue that support for what conservative acolytes depict as a new "Federalism" in the Republican Party platform is, and always has been, nothing but a code word for the politics of resentment, of which racism provides the fuel.

Bob Herbert, a New York Times columnist, reported a 1981 interview with Lee Atwater, published in Southern Politics in the 1990s by Prof. Robert “Bob” Herbert (born March 7 1945 is an American journalist Op-ed Columnist for The New York Times. Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater ( February 27, 1951 &ndash March 29, 1991) was an Alexander P. Lamis, in which Lee Atwater discussed politics in the South:

You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger. Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater ( February 27, 1951 &ndash March 29, 1991) was an Nigger is a Noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a derogatory context to refer to Black people, and also as an informal " By 1968 you can't say "nigger"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger. ". ^[12]

Herbert wrote in the same column, "The truth is that there was very little that was subconscious about the G. O. P. 's relentless appeal to racist whites. Tired of losing elections, it saw an opportunity to renew itself by opening its arms wide to white voters who could never forgive the Democratic Party for its support of civil rights and voting rights for blacks. "^[13]

Failure

There are many people who challenge the opinion that the Southern Strategy was responsible for large GOP political gains in the South. Several facts appear to support this challenge, such as:

• Democrat Jimmy Carter's victory in every Southern state except for Virginia and Oklahoma in the 1976 Presidential election, years after the emergence of the Southern Strategy. James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr (born October 1 1924 was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 2002 Many Southerners voted for him because he was from Georgia and had crossover appeal.
• Democrat Bill Clinton, also due to his southern roots and crossover appeal, was able to win five southern states twice (Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia) and two states once (Georgia in 1992 and Florida in 1996). William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. The Commonwealth of Kentucky ( is a state located in the East Central United States of America. West Virginia ( is a state in the Appalachian Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by The State of Georgia ( is a state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Virginia, Texas and North Carolina were won by the Republican candidates by significantly smaller margins than usual. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States
• The first Southern state to give the GOP control of both its governorship and its legislature was Florida. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the It did not do this until 1998. ^[14] However, the Southern Strategy was always directed chiefly at electing presidential candidates. Southern Democrats at the state level were much more conservative than Northerners such as George McGovern, Michael Dukakis or John Kerry. George Stanley McGovern Michael Stanley Dukakis (born November 3, 1933) is an American Democratic politician former Governor of Massachusetts, and was the Democratic } John Forbes Kerry (born December 11 1943 is an American Politician who is currently serving his fourth term as the junior United States Senator
• Georgia did not elect its first post-Reconstruction GOP governor until 2002. The State of Georgia ( is a state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule
• Until 2005, Louisiana had been represented since Reconstruction only by Democratic Senators. The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America
• Arkansas has two Democratic Senators, a Democratic governor, three out of four of their U. Arkansas ( is a state located in the southern region of the United States. S. representatives are Democrats, every statewide office is held by a Democrat, and their state legislature is Democratic.
• Tennessee and North Carolina have a majority Democratic delegation in the U. Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. North Carolina ( is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States S. House of representatives. Mississippi has a house delegation that is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans . Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States

In addition, some claim that Southern whites' move to the Republican Party had more to do with whites voting for their economic interests than racism. Clay Risen wrote in a review of The End of Southern Exceptionalism, a scholarly work by Richard Johnston and Byron Shafer, "In the postwar era. . . the South transformed itself from a backward region to an engine of the national economy, giving rise to a sizable new wealthy suburban class. This class, not surprisingly, began to vote for the party that best represented its economic interests: the Republican Party. "^[15]

Modern appraisal in the Republican party

The Southern Strategy was used as recently as the 2000 election. The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Democratic candidate Al Gore, then Vice President, and Republican During this election, a push poll suggested to conservative Republican South Carolina primary voters that primary opponent John McCain had fathered an "illegitimate black child. A push poll is a Political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. " McCain was defeated. ^[16]

Following the 2004 re-election of President George W. Bush, in which few African Americans voted for Bush and other Republicans, Ken Mehlman, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee and Bush's campaign manager, delivered several speeches at meetings with African-American business, community, and religious leaders in which he apologized for his party's use of the Southern Strategy in the past. George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. Kenneth Brian Mehlman (born August 21, 1966, Baltimore Maryland) is an American attorney who is now Managing Director and head of Global Public Affairs The Republican National Committee (RNC provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. Said Mehlman, "By the '70s and into the '80s and '90s, the Democratic Party solidified its gains in the African-American community, and we Republicans did not effectively reach out. Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong. "^[17] However, many prominent Republican and conservative commentators denounced Mehlman for his apology, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity among them. Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951) is an American radio host and conservative Political commentator. Sean Hannity (born December 30 1961 is an American radio and television host, conservative Political commentator, and ^[18]

In the 2006 campaign for Tennessee's Senate seat, a controversial political advertisement paid for by the Republican National Committee featured a series of characters facetiously offering their support for black Democratic candidate Harold Ford, Jr. One character was a white woman -- wearing a strapless dress which made her appear naked -- who claimed to have met Ford at a Playboy party. The Tennessee United States Senate election of 2006 was held on November 7, 2006. The Republican National Committee (RNC provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. "Harold Ford" redirects here For his father the congressman from Tennessee from 1975 to 1997 see Harold Ford Sr At the end of the ad, she requested that Ford call her. Critics accused the RNC of race baiting by playing on negative views of mixed-race relationships. Race baiting is an act of using racially derisive language actions or other forms of communication to anger intimidate or incite a person or groups of people or to make those ^[19]

Use during the 2008 Democratic primary

Pundits such as Rush Limbaugh and Roland Martin have suggested that the campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton would use a "Southern strategy" to suggest that African-American support in South Carolina for rival Barack Obama was related to his race and not his individual appeal to voters. Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951) is an American radio host and conservative Political commentator. Roland Martin can refer to Roland S Martin, American journalist nationally syndicated columnist Roland Martin (fisherman, host of Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26 1947 is the junior United States Senator from South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. Limbaugh said they will be "[g]iving nothing to Obama, blaming it all on racial identity politics, or crediting it for that. You watch. They'll do something. " ^[20] In this view, subsequent primaries would be affected by the introduction of race and follow the pattern of the Southern strategy.

Following Obama's victory in the South Carolina primary on January 26, analysts on CNN described statements made by former President Bill Clinton on behalf of Senator Clinton's campaign as part of Senator Clinton's "Southern strategy". South Carolina ( is a state in the southern region ( Deep South) of the United States of America. Events 1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France. Cable News Network, usually referred to by its Initialism CNN, is a major English language Television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States They noted former President Clinton's comparison of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign to those of Jesse Jackson in 1980 and 1984. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr (born October 8 1941 is an American Civil rights activist and Baptist minister. ^[21] In his interview with George Stephanopoulus, Barack Obama pointed out that Clinton was referring to history more than 20 years old and contended that his campaign and win were different.

Geraldine Ferraro, a former vice-presidential candidate and an honorary member of Clinton's finance committee, did not resign for more than a week after stating more than once that Obama had achieved his position only because he was African American. Geraldine Anne Ferraro (born August 26 1935) is an attorney and a Democratic politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives Initially Clinton "regretted" Ferraro's comments, but did not ask her to leave. When controversy continued, Ferraro resigned but did not apologize for her remarks. She went on to complain that she was being attacked because she was white. ^[22]

See also

• Reconstruction
• Red state vs. blue state divide
• Politics of the Southern United States
• Conservative coalition

References

Further reading

• The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South, by Joseph A. Aistrup.
• The Rise of Southern Republicans, by Earl Black and Merle Black.
• From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution, 1963-1994 (ISBN 0-8071-2366-8), by Dan T. Carter.
• The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, The Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of Southern Politics (ISBN 0-8071-2597-0), by Dan T. Carter.
• A Stone of Hope: Prophetic Religion and the Death of Jim Crow (ISBN 0-8078-2819-X), by David L. Chappell.
• The Emerging Republican Majority (ISBN 0-87000-058-6), by Kevin Phillips.
• Nixon's Southern strategy 'It's All In the Charts' by James Boyd, New York Times, May 17, 1970
• RNC Chief to Say It Was 'Wrong' to Exploit Racial Conflict for Votes by Mike Allen of the Washington Post
• GOP:'We were wrong' to play racial politics by Richard Benedetto of USA TODAY
• Why The GOP's Southern Strategy Ended
• White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism (ISBN 0-691-09260-5) by Kevin M. Kruse.
• Dixie Rising: How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics, and Culture (ISBN 0-15-600550-6) by Peter Applebome.

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