Lecture 15: Nixonland
- 1. LIBERALISM AND CONSERVATISM IN THE 1960S
- 2. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOUTH?
- 3. THE “SUNBELT” Population growth Industrial shift This map shows population increases between 1950 and 1990
- 4. This map shows the changes between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. But back in 1948, New York had 45 seats, Florida had 6, Texas had 21, California had 23, and Arizona and New Mexico each had 2. DISTRICTING SHIFTS SOUTH
- 7. ALABAMA CONGRESSIONAL SEATS, 1948 AND 2012
- 8. MISSISSIPPI CONGRESSIONAL SEATS, 1948 AND 2012
- 9. GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL SEATS, 1948 AND 2012
- 10. Between 1950 and 2000, the South steadily moved from Democrat to Republican. Why? Race The Cold War (hawk v. dove) Fiscal conservatism Evangelical religion Why did the South embrace fiscal conservatism? States’ rights Racial coding Cold War anticommunism Economic change The South shaped the direction of the country. The New Deal coalition fell apart The Democratic and Republican parties realigned THE SOUTH MATTERS
- 11. THE DEMOCRATS AND CIVIL RIGHTS
- 12. The New Deal For the first time in history, blacks felt that the federal government actually cared about them and what happened to them. Integration of defense industries, 1941 Under FDR Integration of the armed forces, 1948 Under Harry Truman The Cold War Republicans tended to be more hardline anticommunist, and they often viewed the civil rights movement as a Communist plot. BLACKS AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
- 13. “...It ought to be possible… for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops. ...It ought to be possible for American consumers of any color to receive equal service in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and restaurants and theaters and retail stores, without being forced to resort to demonstrations in the street, and it ought to be possible for American citizens of any color to register and to vote in a free election without interference or fear of reprisal. ~ John F. Kennedy, June 11, 1963 JFK AND CIVIL RIGHTS
- 14. Long political career, senator from South Carolina, 1956 to 2003 Leader of the “Dixiecrats” in 1948 “All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, into our schools, our churches and our places of recreation and amusement.” Opposed the Civil Rights Act Switched from Democrat to Republican in 1964 Ultimately moved away from racial rhetoric to embrace the rhetoric of fiscal conservatism STROM THURMOND’S AMERICA
- 16. The New Conservatism Small government conservatism Strident anticommunism Evangelical Christianity Backlash against 1960s movements BARRY GOLDWATER’S 1964 CAMPAIGN
- 21. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 Medicare (1965) and Medicaid (1966) The Social Security Amendments of 1967 The National Endowment for the Arts (1965) Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 The War on Poverty Head Start Job Corps Neighborhood Youth Corps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) Food Stamp Act of 1964 LYNDON JOHNSON’S “GREAT SOCIETY”
- 27. RICHARD NIXON’S “LAW AND ORDER”
- 28. THE 1968 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION
- 32. “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.” ~ Nixon Strategist Kevin Phillips, 1970 THE SOUTHERN STRATEGY
- 33. “I have the greatest affection for them but I know they're not going to make it for 500 years. They aren't. You know it, too. I mean, all this, uh, Julie, I asked her about the black studies program at Smith. You know, and she said, the trouble is they didn’t find anything to study. Yet you’ve got outstanding negroes. You’ve got to help them. You’ve got to find the Booker T. Washingtons and the George Washington Carvers. That’s all. Now the Mexicans are a different cup of tea. They have a heritage, but at the present time they steal, they're dishonest, but they do have some concept of family life at least. They don't live like a bunch of dogs, which the Negroes do live like.” RICHARD NIXON ON RACE
- 34. THE HARD HAT RIOT, 1970
- 35. CONCLUSION
- 36. The Democrats: LBJ fails to balance the Great Society and Vietnam The New Deal coalition falls apart The Republicans: The Southern Strategy Nixon’s appeal to “law and order” To some it seemed as though America was being torn in two. And then came the 1970s . . . TO SUMMARIZE
Editor's Notes
- #5: Texas had 21, New York 45, Arizona and New Mexico 2 each, California 23