Southern Democrats - The New Deal and After

The New Deal and After

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal program would unite the different party factions for over three decades, since Southerners, like Northern urban populations, were hit particularly hard and generally benefited from the massive governmental relief program. It was the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that finally put an end to this coalition of interests.

The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the event that finally moved the majority of Southern states to the Republican Party. From the end of the Civil War to 1960 Democrats had solid control over the southern states in presidential elections, hence the term "Solid South" to describe the states' Democratic preference. After the passage of this act however their support on a presidential level shifted to the Republicans. Republican candidate Barry Goldwater won many of the "Solid South" states over Democratic candidate Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and this Republican support for those states continues to this day. It was also bolstered in the next two elections by the "Southern Strategy" of Richard Nixon.

Southern Democrats still did and do see much support on the local level however, and many of them are not nearly as liberal as the Democratic party as a whole. As an example, the state upper and lower houses in the states of Arkansas still has Democratic majorities.

Chapman notes a split vote among many conservative Southern Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s who supported local and statewide conservative Democrats while simultaneously voting for Republican presidential candidates.