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Line 8: + + + + + + + − − ===New Deal=== − Although mainstream encyclopedia articles, books, and other various sources portray the Dixiecrat movement and typical Southern racial demagoguery in the 1930s (and onwards) as stemming from anti–New Deal sentiment, Glenn Feldman writes that in Alabama, for example, the most virulent racists "could be found on both sides of the New Deal."<ref>Feldman, Glenn (May 31, 2013). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Irony_of_the_Solid_South/lo7-k6uzUDcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bull+connor+new+deal&printsec=frontcover The Irony of the Solid South: Democrats, Republicans, and Race, 1865–1944], p. 94. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 16, 2023.</ref> [[Bull Connor]], later the Birmingham police commissioner known for his violence against civil rights activists including children, was among the staunch supporters of FDR and the New Deal who later joined the SRP, regarding him as a "fine President."<ref>"The Irony of the Solid South," pp. 192–93.</ref> − − Feldman also writes in "The Great Melding":<ref>"The Great Melding," p. 256.</ref> − {{cquote|Part of [William D.] Barnard's confusion no doubt stems from his faulty assertion that the former-economic progressives who became Dixiecrats (Wilkinson, Locke, Connor) "had not followed the route of Bibb Graves and Handy Ellis. They had not become partisans of the New Deal." But, in fact, they had. Wilkinson (aided by Locke) had been perhaps Bibb Graves's most important lieutenant during the progressive New Deal years. He had actually overseen Graves's election campaign. '''Bull Connor had been an ardent New Dealer. And John Temple Graves '''[II]''', a former progressive and New Deal adherent, also became a prominent Dixiecrat'''—only one so refined that Barnard had placed him in a protected category with the genteel Dixon-McCorvey class of "better sorts"—as with Ellis, a New Dealer who later populated the Dixiecrat ranks. This pattern extended well beyond Alabama. '''Strom Thurmond of South Carolina had been a New Dealer as had even Louisiana's Leander Perez and, to some degree, Mississippi's James Eastland.'''|||"The Great Melding: War, the Dixiecrat Rebellion, and the Southern Model for America's New Conservatism," p. 256}}
States' Rights Democratic Party (view source)
Revision as of 13:43, May 16, 2023
, 13:43, May 16, 2023→Background
However, Southern Democrats increasingly broke with FDR and the New Deal for both economic and civil rights–related reasons. Author Glenn Feldman notes that "many prominent Southern New Dealers" including Leander Perez, Theodore Bilbo, and Horace Wilkinson, who "can hardly be called racially enlightened," eventually opposed the mainstream economic progressivism of the New Deal when it began to align with civil rights—the old Southern progressives, although economically left-wing in nature, prioritized white supremacy and abandoned modern liberalism ''only when it interfered with their racial order''.<ref>Feldman, Glenn (August 31, 2015). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Great_Melding/0ZUkCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bull+connor+new+deal&pg=PA256&printsec=frontcover The Great Melding: War, the Dixiecrat Rebellion, and the Southern Model for America's New Conservatism], p. 287. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 16, 2023.</ref>
However, Southern Democrats increasingly broke with FDR and the New Deal for both economic and civil rights–related reasons. Author Glenn Feldman notes that "many prominent Southern New Dealers" including Leander Perez, Theodore Bilbo, and Horace Wilkinson, who "can hardly be called racially enlightened," eventually opposed the mainstream economic progressivism of the New Deal when it began to align with civil rights—the old Southern progressives, although economically left-wing in nature, prioritized white supremacy and abandoned modern liberalism ''only when it interfered with their racial order''.<ref>Feldman, Glenn (August 31, 2015). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Great_Melding/0ZUkCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bull+connor+new+deal&pg=PA256&printsec=frontcover The Great Melding: War, the Dixiecrat Rebellion, and the Southern Model for America's New Conservatism], p. 287. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 16, 2023.</ref>
===New Deal: eventual shift in left–right ideology and civil rights===
Although mainstream encyclopedia articles, books, and other various sources portray the Dixiecrat movement and typical Southern racial demagoguery in the 1930s (and onwards) as stemming from anti–New Deal sentiment, Feldman writes that in Alabama, for example, the most virulent racists "could be found on both sides of the New Deal."<ref>Feldman, Glenn (May 31, 2013). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Irony_of_the_Solid_South/lo7-k6uzUDcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bull+connor+new+deal&printsec=frontcover The Irony of the Solid South: Democrats, Republicans, and Race, 1865–1944], p. 94. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 16, 2023.</ref> [[Bull Connor]], later the Birmingham police commissioner known for his violence against civil rights activists including children, was among the staunch supporters of FDR and the New Deal who later joined the SRP, regarding him as a "fine President."<ref>"The Irony of the Solid South," pp. 192–93.</ref>
Feldman also writes in "The Great Melding":<ref>"The Great Melding," p. 256.</ref>
{{cquote|Part of [William D.] Barnard's confusion no doubt stems from his faulty assertion that the former-economic progressives who became Dixiecrats (Wilkinson, Locke, Connor) "had not followed the route of Bibb Graves and Handy Ellis. They had not become partisans of the New Deal." But, in fact, they had. Wilkinson (aided by Locke) had been perhaps Bibb Graves's most important lieutenant during the progressive New Deal years. He had actually overseen Graves's election campaign. '''Bull Connor had been an ardent New Dealer. And John Temple Graves '''[II]''', a former progressive and New Deal adherent, also became a prominent Dixiecrat'''—only one so refined that Barnard had placed him in a protected category with the genteel Dixon-McCorvey class of "better sorts"—as with Ellis, a New Dealer who later populated the Dixiecrat ranks. This pattern extended well beyond Alabama. '''Strom Thurmond of South Carolina had been a New Dealer as had even Louisiana's Leander Perez and, to some degree, Mississippi's James Eastland.'''|||"The Great Melding: War, the Dixiecrat Rebellion, and the Southern Model for America's New Conservatism," p. 256}}
As the developing modern liberalism of the New Deal exemplified using Hamiltonian, centralized big-government means to achieve its ends, the Jeffersonian economic tradition of the South which emphasized states' rights increasingly resented Roosevelt's policies. The political effects of World War II carried the greatest impact in shaping left-wing politics towards centralization as opposed to states' rights and Jeffersonianism, whose progressive ideology all but died out subsequently. Wartime price controls failed to benefit rural Southern whites, the traditional constituency of the Progressive Movement in the region.
As the developing modern liberalism of the New Deal exemplified using Hamiltonian, centralized big-government means to achieve its ends, the Jeffersonian economic tradition of the South which emphasized states' rights increasingly resented Roosevelt's policies. The political effects of World War II carried the greatest impact in shaping left-wing politics towards centralization as opposed to states' rights and Jeffersonianism, whose progressive ideology all but died out subsequently. Wartime price controls failed to benefit rural Southern whites, the traditional constituency of the Progressive Movement in the region.
===Fair Deal: nail in the coffin for old-school Southern progressivism===
By the presidency of Harry Truman following Roosevelt's death, civil rights had already began to take priority among New Deal liberalism. The Fair Employment Practice Committee was enacted by FDR in 1941 to prevent segregationist laws from impeding the war effort, and Truman expediently abandoned his racism on the public level in seeking to strengthen civil rights provisions, all but alienating the old progressive wing of the Southern Democrats.
By the presidency of Harry Truman following Roosevelt's death, civil rights had already began to take priority among New Deal liberalism. The Fair Employment Practice Committee was enacted by FDR in 1941 to prevent segregationist laws from impeding the war effort, and Truman expediently abandoned his racism on the public level in seeking to strengthen civil rights provisions, all but alienating the old progressive wing of the Southern Democrats.
==Platform<ref name=platform>August 14, 1948. [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/platform-the-states-rights-democratic-party Platform of the States Rights Democratic Party]. ''The American Presidency Project''. Retrieved May 15, 2023.</ref>==
==Platform<ref name=platform>August 14, 1948. [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/platform-the-states-rights-democratic-party Platform of the States Rights Democratic Party]. ''The American Presidency Project''. Retrieved May 15, 2023.</ref>==