The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Seven

While parts of this information does not just pertain to the former Confederacy, it is necessary to explain what was going on in the country and to set the stage for the political events in the southern states.

During the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement began to often blend with anti Vietnam War protests on college campuses and in many cities. In the former Confederate states, where many white citizens already opposed the Civil Rights Movement, many of the same white citizens felt very comfortable opposing the antiwar protests, too. The overlap of protests (and many protesters), which often times ended in confrontations with police or campus authorities, made a number of Americans feel that there was a breakdown in law and order. As President Johnson prepared to run for reelection in 1968, he faced serious challenges from within the Democratic Party, primarily over his handling of the Vietnam War. After a narrow win in the New Hampshire Primary over Senator Eugene McCarthy (of Minnesota), Johnson made an announcement that stunned many Americans; he was withdrawing from the presidential race.

1968 proved to be a violent year, as the war continued, and with the assassinations of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee in April* and Robert F. Kennedy,** the brother of assassinated president, John F. Kennedy, and a Democratic primary candidate himself, in June. Protests at the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago turned violent and Americans were stunned by the images on their television screens of the violence outside the convention hall. Richard Nixon was the choice of Republicans to lead their ticket and he chose Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland as his running mate. Democrats finally had settled on Minnesotan Hubert Humphrey (who was the sitting vice president), and he chose Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine as his running mate. As if to confirm how divided the country was at the time, segregationist George Wallace of Alabama entered the presidential race under the banner of the American Independent Party, an action which struck at the very core of the Democratic Party coalition and which gave Nixon an excellent chance at winning.

George Wallace drew lots of support in the former Confederate states, and even elsewhere, as his typical speech played off of the prejudices of supporters, not only about race, but against the changing clothing and hair styles, as bell-bottom jeans and long hair were becoming increasingly common among men. Wallace's appearances drew protesters and as they shouted obscenities at Wallace, he would turn to them and say, "There are two four-letter words you people don't know: (and he would spell out) W-O-R-K and S-O-A-P." For a time, polls showed Wallace running ahead of Democrat Hubert Humphrey, but as election day approached, more Democrats got behind Humphrey and, when the votes were counted, it was pretty close.

Republican Nixon won 301 electoral votes and slightly less than 43 1/2% of the popular vote. Of the former Confederate states, Nixon won Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Democrat Humphrey won 191 electoral votes and slightly more than 42 1/2%, but he carried only Texas among the Confederate states. American Independent Wallace won 46 electoral votes and 13 1/2%. He carried five former Confederate states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. In the Senate, the Republicans (Edward Gurney) won a Florida race for the first time since Reconstruction. In the House of Representatives delegations, changes came in three of the former Confederate states, as Republicans made gains: North Carolina had 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans; Texas had 20 Democrats and 3 Republicans; Virginia had 5 Democrats and 5 Republicans.         

* Reverend King was shot and killed by racist James Earl Ray, who died in prison in Nashville, Tennessee in 1998.

** Robert Kennedy was shot and killed by anti-Israel Jordanian Sirhan Sirhan, who had lived both in Jordan and in the United States. Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles in June, 1968 and he died the next day. Sirhan, now in his 70s, is serving a life sentence in California.  

WORD HISTORY:
 Lyre-The origin of this word for the stringed "harp like" instrument is unknown, but Greek had "lýra," which was used for the instrument. Latin borrowed the word as "lyra," and this was passed to Latin-based Old French as "lire." English borrowed the word from French in the early 1200s. The word is pronounced as if, "liar," so if you say you can play the instrument, but you can't, that would be, "Lyre, lyre, pants on fire!" 

The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Five

In the mid 1950s, a black lady in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, was arrested because she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Alabama, as the other former Confederate states, had laws mandating segregation; in this specific case, segregation on Montgomery's bus system. Parks' arrest brought a boycott of the bus system led by Martin Luther King, Jr., who became the head of the movement to end discrimination and to promote civil rights. The Montgomery bus segregation also sparked the filing of a lawsuit using the similar cases of five other black citizens who had been arrested for refusal to give up their seats to white passengers. One of the black ladies was Aurelia Browder, after whom the lawsuit case got its name, "Browder v. Gayle." Gayle was William A. Gayle, the mayor of Montgomery. A panel of federal judges in U.S. District Court declared the bus segregation law unconstitutional, as it violated equal protection, as laid down in the 14th Amendment, a post-Civil War amendment that had been heavily and bitterly opposed by the former Confederate states. A few months later the United States Supreme Court affirmed the decision, and Montgomery's bus system was ordered to desegregate. 
 
Martin Luther King and civil rights marchers led protests against other cases of segregation in the former Confederate states. As the segregation laws were challenged more and more, white citizens of these states began to look to politicians other than Democrats, whose national leaders more and more supported desegregation and attempts to bridge the racial equality gap in American society. In previous segments of this series, I've shown how solidly Democratic the former Confederate states were, but now, I'll be showing how these states began a long process of shifting, at the various governmental levels, to the Republicans.

In the 1964 election, then sitting president, Texan Lyndon Johnson, was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for a term of his own, with Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota as his vice presidential running mate.* The Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, a senator from Arizona, who chose Congressman William Miller of New York as his running mate. Goldwater was known for his direct and outspoken remarks, including heavy criticism of Republican Dwight Eisenhower's presidential administration of the 1950s; however, while Goldwater "said" he supported the desegregation of the former Confederate states and other parts of the country, he also "said" that he felt it was not the task of the federal government to see to that desegregation, but rather that it was up to the individual states to decide how to desegregate. Racists, segregationists, far right wing political elements, including militarists, saw Goldwater's stances on various issues as giving them what they wanted, or being close to their own beliefs. Democrats, and even a number of Republicans, called Goldwater an extremist. He endeared himself to many on the political right by declaring, "...extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice," but then, "... and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Of course he seemed to be VERY moderate to enforce desegregation laws. While the overall election was a Johnson landslide, there were some surprises.

Goldwater carried some states of the old Confederacy: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,** and he received far more votes in the other Confederate states than most Republican presidential candidates usually received. In the Senate, segregationist Strom Thurmond was elected in South Carolina, but this time as a Republican! In the House, 5 of 8 of Alabama's members were Republicans, 2 of 12 of Florida's members were Republicans, Georgia had one Republican of 10, 1 of 5 in Mississippi was a Republican, 2 of 11 in North Carolina were Republicans, 3 of 9 in Tennessee were Republicans, and 2 of 10 in Virginia were Republicans.

* Lyndon Johnson was vice president under the presidency of John F. Kennedy, with the two taking office in January 1961. President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, and Johnson became president.

** Goldwater won only one other state, his own state of Arizona, but he won it by less than 4800 votes. Overall, Johnson received slightly more than 61% of the popular vote to Goldwater's almost 38.5%. In the actual deciding electoral vote, Johnson received 486 votes to Goldwater's 52.

WORD HISTORY:
Reverse-This word, distantly related to "verse" (lines of poetry) and "revert" (both borrowed by English and of Latin derivation), and also, "wreath" and "writhe" (both original English words from its Germanic roots), goes back to Indo European "werteh," an extended form of Indo European "wer," which had the notion of "to turn;" thus also, "to curve or bend." This gave Latin "revertere," which meant, "to turn back, to turn around, to return to a place." ^ One of the participle forms of this verb, "reversus," was used adjectivally; thus, "returned, turned around." This was picked up by Latin-based Old French as "revers," meaning, "turned to the opposite;" thus also, "contrary." English borrowed the word about 1300. The noun form "seems" to have been derived from the adjective in the early 1300s, but the verb, meaning, "to go in the opposite of forward, to go in the opposite of the previous direction," was borrowed in the early 1300s from Old French "reverser," "to turn back around, to go back."  

^ The "re" prefix in Latin generally means "again" or "back," but its origin is unclear.