The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Eight

The nation continued to be terribly divided as antiwar and civil rights protests combined to become more liberal, anti establishment protests,* and Republicans Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew emphasized law and order** as the country moved toward the midterm election of 1970. Vice President Agnew, especially, went around the country criticizing the press, university professors and protesters for what he and Nixon felt were liberal biases. While George Wallace remained popular in the former Confederacy, Nixon and Agnew grew in popularity there, and the stage was set for both the President and the Vice President to campaign extensively during the election of 1970, asking for the support of "the silent majority," a term Nixon began using about a year prior to the election. The expression was Nixon's way of saying that most Americans didn't go out and protest in the streets, but that the press gave the protesters more coverage than they deserved and that the election was a way for people to voice their opposition to protests and to show support for his administration.

1970 was a Census year; thus, the election that year was the last to be held under the former apportionment of seats per state for the House of Representative and for state legislative districts in each state. When the rough and tumble campaign ended and the votes were counted in the former Confederate states:

Republicans gained a Senate seat in Tennessee (Bill Brock defeated Al Gore, Sr.; yes, the father of the future vice president), giving Republicans BOTH Senate seats in that state. In Virginia, long time Democratic senator, Harry Byrd, changed his affiliation to "independent," although he continued to caucus with the Democrats. In the House of Representatives, the congressional delegations ended up: Alabama: 5 Democrats, 3 Republicans; Arkansas: 3 Democrats, 1 Republican; Florida: 9 Democrats, 3 Republicans; Georgia: 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans, Louisiana: 8 Democrats; Mississippi: 5 Democrats; North Carolina: 7 Democrats, 4 Republicans; South Carolina: 5 Democrats, 1 Republican; Tennessee: 5 Democrats, 4 Republicans; Texas: 20 Democrats, 3 Republicans; Virginia: 6 Republican, 4 Democrats.

* The antiwar cause remained the dominant purpose of the protesters and in May of 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired on antiwar protesters at Kent State University in the suburban Cleveland/Akron area. Four students were killed and nine were wounded.

** While I don't want to overstate this, in those times, the business element of the Republican Party was very prominent, and it was much associated with the GOP, and generally speaking, business people like stability, which tied in with the Nixon "law and order" theme, a theme which just a bit earlier was used to garner white votes, particularly in the South, as many of the protests in the nation at that point were about civil rights for black Americans.  

WORD HISTORY:
Ramp-This word, related to "rumple," goes back to Indo European "(s)ker," which had the notion, "to bend, to curve, to move in a crooked, irregular or circular motion." This then produced, "(s)kremph," with the same general meaning. This gave Old Germanic "hrempanan," which meant, "to shrivel, to be or become wrinkled." This gave Frankish, an old Germanic dialect, "hrampon," with the "shrivel, contract," meaning. This passed into Old French^ as "ramper," meaning, "to climb a hill or inclined area," from the notion of "crouching to climb an incline." This then produced the French noun "rampe," meaning, "a slope, an incline," and this was borrowed into English in the second half of the 1700s. The expression "ramp up," meaning, "to increase production of something," "seems" to come from the idea of "incline;" that is, "move upwards."