Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

Yeah, he fueled the execrable Southern Strategy.

When you create push back through support of needed civil rights/voting rights legislation are you responsible for creating a racial divide, increasing racial tensions?

Or are those opposing such as, or more, responsible? Which was the more moral position?

Whether LBJ said it or not Red State America is largely the Old Confederacy, the formerly solid Dem South, and the Great Plains, effectively since the '68 elections.

Carter, Clinton, Gore were 'native sons' who only temporarily breached that Red Wall.

Did LBJ really say that "We have lost the south for a generation"?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/199opr/did_lbj_really_say_that_we_have_lost_the_south/

submitted 6 years ago by Philosopher1976

Wikipedia said that Johnson made this statement to an "aide" upon signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and I've read elsewhere that he told Richard Russell this before signing the Act. What evidence is there that he actually made this statement?

Regardless of whether he made this statement, did Johnson believe that he was harming the Democratic Party long term by pushing for the Civil Rights Act and, later, the Voting Rights Act?

If so, and you feel comfortable answering -- I realize this is hotly debated -- what were his motivations for harming the Party? I've read Caro's account but I'm interested in other views.


Bill Moyers has mentioned this quote. He was an aide to LBJ before embarking on a long career in public broadcasting. This is from his book Moyers in America:

When he signed the act he was euphoric, but late that very night I found him in a melancholy mood as he lay in bed reading the bulldog edition of the Washington Post with headlines celebrating the day. I asked him what was troubling him. "I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come," he said.

I always understood it to be pretty straightforward: He knew that Republicans would be able to appeal to Southern Whites. I only read the first Caro book so you could say where his mind was at better than I could. I think it's funny that if anything, he underestimated the impact. 50 years is longer than a generation!


And there was this obvious Reagan dog whistle speech:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan%27s_Neshoba_County_Fair_%22states%27_rights%22_speech

Reagan's Neshoba County Fair "states' rights" speech

As part of his 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan made an appearance at the Neshoba County Fair where he gave a speech on August 3, 1980. Critics claim that Reagan's choice of location for the speech (the fairgrounds were about 7 miles from Philadelphia, Mississippi, a town associated with the murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in 1964) was evidence of racial bias.

During his speech, Reagan said:[1]

I still believe the answer to any problem lies with the people. I believe in states' rights. I believe in people doing as much as they can for themselves at the community level and at the private level, and I believe we've distorted the balance of our government today by giving powers that were never intended in the Constitution to that federal establishment.

He went on to promise to "restore to states and local governments the power that properly belongs to them."[2] The use of the phrase was seen by some as a tacit appeal to Southern white voters and a continuation of Richard Nixon's Southern strategy, while others argued it merely reflected his libertarian economic beliefs. [3][4]

Yeah, 'states rights' has always been about economic beliefs. My ass.