Bfgrn
Gold Member
- Apr 4, 2009
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The party that opposed civil rights, the guys carrying those signs during the early 1960's who were opposed to desegregation were Democrats.
During the early 1960's, most blacks that voted (were allowed to vote) were republicans.
Propaganda alert.
In Washington, there was no such thing as a southern Republican in the 1960's...do you really believe southern conservatives were for civil rights? You need to learn human nature...
Civil Rights Act of 1964
By party and region
Note: "Southern", as used in this section, refers to members of Congress from the eleven states that made up the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. "Northern" refers to members from the other 39 states, regardless of the geographic location of those states.
The original House version:
* Southern Democrats: 7-87 (7%-93%)
* Southern Republicans: 0-10 (0%-100%)
* Northern Democrats: 145-9 (94%-6%)
* Northern Republicans: 138-24 (85%-15%)
The Senate version:
* Southern Democrats: 1-20 (5%-95%)
* Southern Republicans: 0-1 (0%-100%)
* Northern Democrats: 45-1 (98%-2%)
* Northern Republicans: 27-5 (84%-16%)
As i was pointing out that parties change, and that in the past the two party system wasn't full of partisan parrots like now, I appreciate the help in making my point.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
The facts: During the early 1960's, most blacks that voted (were allowed to vote) were Democrats.
The course of history was changed in the 1960s. And in this case, I am talking about African Americans preference for the Democratic and Republican parties. Consider these statistics from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies:
The phone call
This excerpt from the book Last Chance: The Political Threat to Black America, which was written by Lee A. Daniels, talks of how these three men were linked in changing the face of African American politics:
In October of 1960, less then three weeks before the presidential election, Martin Luther King Jr., already recognized as Black Americas most prominent civil rights leader, had been arrested in Georgia on a traffic technicality: he was still using his Alabama license, although by then he had lived in Georgia for three months.
A swift series of moves by the states segregationist power structure resulted in King being sentenced to four months of hard labor on a Georgia chain gang. He was quickly spirited away to the states maximum security prison, and many of his supporters, fearing for his life, urgently called both the Nixon and Kennedy camps for help.
Nixon, about to campaign in South Carolina in hopes of capturing the sates normally solid Democratic vote, took no action. Kennedy took swift action. He made a brief telephone call to a frantic Coretta Scott King, speaking in soothing generalities and telling her, If theres anything I can do to help, please feel free to call on me.
Its likely that Kennedy did not at that moment realize the political implications of that call. Ever the pragmatist, he had resisted the pleas of several aides throughout the campaign that he take bolder public stands on civil rights issues. The telephone call came because one aide caught him late at night after a hard day of campaigning and staff meetings as he was about to turn in. The aide, Harris Wofford, pitched it as just a call to calm Kings fearful spouse. Kennedy replied, What the hell. Thats a decent thing to do. Why not? Get her on the phone.
King was soon released, unharmed, due to a groundswell of pressure directed by blacks and whites in numerous quarters toward Georgia officials (Robert F. Kennedy himself, who was managing his brothers campaign called the judge who sentenced King to prison). At the time, the white media paid little attention to the call, which suited the Kennedys fine. But it likely transformed the black vote. Kings father, Martin Luther King Sr., a dominating, fire-and-brimstone preacher with wide influence throughout Black America, had, like many black Southerners, always been a Republican and until that moment had said he couldnt vote for Kennedy because he was a Catholic.
(But) the day his son was released from prison, the elder King thundered from the pulpit of his famed Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta: I had expected to vote against Senator Kennedy because of his religion. But now he can be my president, Catholic or whatever he is He has the moral courage to stand up for what he knows is right. Ive got all my votes and Ive got a suitcase, and Im going to take them up there and dump them in his lap.
From that moment on, JFKs bond with blacks, despite his initial tepid support for the movement, was sealed. His assassination, less than six months after proposing what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964, cemented his place of honor among blacks: for years afterward, inexpensive commemorative plates with his likeness were ubiquitous in the homes of blacks across the country. And when his successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, took up the civil rights cause and pushed both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act through Congress, black voters moved in massive numbers to the Democratic party.