Changes

To oppose Reagan, Senate Democrats elected former Exalted Cyclops of Ku Klux Klan, Sen. [[Robert Byrd]] to lead them. Byrd once wrote,  {{quotebox|"I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side. … Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."<ref>https://www.ocregister.com/2012/05/09/walter-williams-most-racists-were-democrats/</ref>}}

To oppose Reagan, Senate Democrats elected former Exalted Cyclops of Ku Klux Klan, Sen. [[Robert Byrd]] to lead them. Byrd once wrote,  {{quotebox|"I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side. … Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."<ref>https://www.ocregister.com/2012/05/09/walter-williams-most-racists-were-democrats/</ref>}}

In response to Reagan's defense build-up and missile defense initiative, which bankrupted the Soviet Union and ended the specter of Mutually Assured Destruction, many Democrats adopted the [[KGB]] line of a nuclear freeze and [[global warming]] targeting America's manufacturing and economic base. These Russian-manufactured hoaxes on climate change were widely embraced by public sector unions in schools and universities to argue against reduced funding and budget cuts.

In response to Reagan's defense build-up and missile defense initiative,<ref>http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/nuclear-winter/</ref> which bankrupted the Soviet Union and ended the specter of Mutually Assured Destruction, many Democrats adopted the [[KGB]] line of a nuclear freeze and [[global warming]] targeting America's manufacturing and economic base. These Russian-manufactured hoaxes on climate change were widely embraced by public sector unions in schools and universities to argue against reduced funding and budget cuts.

The failure to hold the Reagan Democrats and the white South led to the final collapse of the [[New Deal coalition]]. Reagan carried 49 states against former Vice President and Minnesota Senator [[Walter Mondale]], a New Deal stalwart, in 1984.  Massachusetts Governor [[Michael Dukakis]], running not as a New Dealer but as an efficiency expert in public administration, lost by a landslide in 1988 to Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]], who had pledged "no new taxes."

The failure to hold the Reagan Democrats and the white South led to the final collapse of the [[New Deal coalition]]. Reagan carried 49 states against former Vice President and Minnesota Senator [[Walter Mondale]], a New Deal stalwart, in 1984.  Massachusetts Governor [[Michael Dukakis]], running not as a New Dealer but as an efficiency expert in public administration, lost by a landslide in 1988 to Vice President [[George H. W. Bush]], who had pledged "no new taxes."