The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Nine

In the 1970 election, on the state level, segregationist George Wallace, although he was still a national political figure, returned to the Alabama governor's mansion, while in Florida and Arkansas, the governorship of each state returned to Democratic control. In Georgia, a man won the governorship, who would soon become both nationally and internationally known, Democrat Jimmy Carter. In Tennessee, a Republican was elected governor, and the year before (1969), in Virginia, where elections for governor are held in off years from national elections, Republican Linwood Holton became the first GOP governor of the state since Reconstruction.

The early 1970s saw the political situation take three major turns. First, Nixon, the highly intelligent, but far from warm and cuddly, politician, won a huge reelection victory in 1972. Second, investigations of corruption in Maryland uncovered contractor kick backs to Spiro Agnew when he served in two different capacities there, including as governor of the state. Further, is was discovered that the payments to Agnew had continued even after he was vice president. Agnew resigned and he was replaced by Gerald Ford, a long time Republican congressman from Michigan, and the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives. Third, during the 1972 campaign, a group of five men were arrested inside the Democratic National Committee's headquarters, located in one of the buildings of the Watergate Complex,* a group of office and apartment buildings in Washington, DC. The men were part of a Republican plan to get information from the Democrats and to plant listening devices on telephones in the Democratic headquarters. The subsequent cover up of any connection to the Nixon White House by some of Nixon's closest advisers and by the President himself, led Nixon to resign from the presidency in August 1974.  

The 1972 election: Richard Nixon carried all former states of the Confederacy by two, three and four times the number of votes his Democratic opponent, George McGovern of South Dakota, received. In the Senate, North Carolina elected a man whose name became nationally known over time, highly conservative Jesse Helms, who had just recently switched to the Republican Party from the Democratic Party. In Virginia, Republican William Scott defeated Democratic incumbent William Spong. In the House, where the districts were reapportioned according to the results of the 1970 Census, Republicans gained a seat in Alabama, where there was one less district due to redistricting, making that state's delegation 4 Democrats, 3 Republicans; in Florida, which gained three seats by the Census, the delegation was 11 Democrats and 4 Republicans; in Georgia, which had the same number of districts as before the Census, the Democrats regained a seat, making the delegation 9 Democrats and 1 Republican; in Louisiana, which had the same number of seats as before the Census, the Republicans won a seat, making the delegation 7 Democrats and 1 Republican; in Mississippi, which had the same number of seats, the Republicans gained two seats, making the delegation 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans; in South Carolina, where the number of seats stayed the same, the Republicans gained one seat, making the delegation 4 Democrats and 2 Republicans; in Tennessee, which lost one seat due to the Census, the delegation was 5 Republicans and 3 Democrats (previously 5 to 4 Republican); in Texas, which gained one seat, the delegation was 20 Democrats and 4 Republicans (previously 20 to 3 Democratic); in Virginia, which had the same number of seats, the Republicans won one seat, making the delegation 7 Republicans and 3 Democrats. In North Carolina, a Republican won the governorship for the first time since the late 1800s.

* The investigations into the Nixon administration's illegal activities, some of which were not directly related to the break in at the Watergate offices, all came to be included under the term "Watergate" in the public mind and the media. 

WORD HISTORY:
Mansion-This word, distantly related to English borrowings, "remain" and "permanent" (both are Latin derived words borrowed by English from French), goes back to Indo European "men," which had the meaning, "to stay," also in the sense, "dwell." This gave Latin "manere," meaning, "to stay, to dwell," which produced the noun, "mansio," meaning, "a dwelling, a place for lodging," with the accusative case being, "mansionem." This was passed to Old French as "mansion," meaning, "house/home," then, "a large house for the clergy," then, "for a lord." English borrowed the word from French in the 1300s.

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."     

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Eight

The 1976 Republican nominating process was a tough one, with incumbent President Gerald Ford challenged by former California Governor Ronald Reagan; but a little background first. The 1964 Republican contest had shown conservatives strengthening their hold on the Republican Party, as conservative Barry Goldwater won the nomination. What was left of the progressive wing of the Republican Party, most symbolized in those days by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, began to fade into what might be termed "moderates," which included Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Reagan, a former Democrat, became a prominent supporter of Goldwater in 1964 and the heir apparent leader of conservatives in the Republican Party after Goldwater's landslide loss to Democrat Lyndon Johnson. Nixon captured the presidency in 1968, as President Johnson and Democrats wrestled with discontent over the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, increasing inflation, and serious divisions within their own political party, as many southern Democrats took to supporting Alabama Governor George Wallace, an avowed segregationist,* who ran for the presidency in 1968 as an independent; thus siphoning off both popular votes and electoral votes from Democratic candidate, Hubert Humphrey. Nixon won a narrow half million vote plurality (43.4%) over Humphrey (42.7%), but Wallace received nearly ten million votes nationwide (13.5%), although the largest portion came in the traditionally Democratic South, where he carried five states.** Democrats were obviously in trouble, as a significant part of their coalition abandoned them for Wallace. The 1972 election saw a landslide reelection of Nixon, as Democratic Senator George McGovern carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, and losing the popular vote to Nixon 60.7% to 37.5%. This time, in a forerunner of what was to come later, the Solid South voted solidly Republican.

Republican momentum at assembling a dominant coalition was halted by events and a self-inflicted wound. Events had to do with the winding down of the Vietnam War, where American troops were being withdrawn in stages, and conflict in the Middle East, which brought an oil embargo by Arab nations against the United States for its support of Israel in a war begun in October 1973. The oil shortage created long lines at American gas stations and escalating inflation, which was already becoming a problem as a drag on the slowing economy. The self-inflicted wound was by Nixon and some of his aides. Burglars broke into the Democratic headquarters in Washington D.C, in the Watergate complex, but they were captured. The resulting investigation led Nixon and his closest aides to cover up information about the break in and about other activities initiated by his reelection staff and White House personnel. The whole ordeal came to be called "Watergate," and Nixon resigned in August 1974, with Vice President Gerald Ford becoming president.*** 

Since Nixon would not have been able to run again anyway, as he was term limited, Ronald Reagan, then governor of California, was clearly a force to be reckoned with, as he garnered support from conservatives nationwide. It is interesting that Reagan could run for the presidency, seeing that he warned of the imminent demise of freedom in the country if Medicare became law in the mid 1960s, but Medicare did become law, and freedom lasted to see Reagan run for president in 1976, to see him elected twice, and we're still free in 2012. You think he misjudged? Or exaggerated?

Next, the "Reagan coalition" and the ascendancy of the American political right.

* Wallace carried some of assassinated Louisianan Huey Long's populist ideas along too, as he supported more aid to elderly people on Social Security. As to the red hot issue of the Vietnam War, he preached to either go all out to win the war in a short period of time, or to get out of Vietnam. Wallace was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt by Arthur Bremer during the 1972 (not 1968) campaign and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life, which ended in 1998 at the age of 79. After his presidential campaigns, Wallace renounced his segregationist views.

** Nixon, as are all presidents, was actually elected by electoral votes: Nixon 301, Humphrey 191 and Wallace 46.

*** Ford had been appointed to replace Spiro Agnew, who resigned in 1973 over legal problems of his own involving tax evasion over brides he received while governor of Maryland.

WORD HISTORY:
South-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain, but it likely goes back to Indo European "shuwen," which meant "sun, bright light." This gave Old Germanic "sunno" (sun), which then spawned "sunthaz," which meant "land or area of the sun, southward." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "suth," with the meaning "south," which later came to be "south." When I was a kid, there were people around who pronounced it "suth," which rhymed with "tooth," and this was likely close to the pronunciation in Anglo-Saxon times. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has "Süd(en)," Low German Saxon has "Süüd," Dutch has "zuid," West Frisian has "Sud(en)," Icelandic has "suthur," Swedish has "syd/söder," Danish has "syd," and Norwegian has "sør."