| | [[Image:1968 PresidentialElection.jpg|right|thumb|400px|1968 electoral map. [[The South]] was carried by Democrat Gov. Geo. Wallace of Alabama who ran on a 3rd party ticket. In 1972 Nixon carried every state in the Union except [[Massachusetts]] against a radical extreme socialist. Massachusetts was the home state of Nixon's 1960 presidential rival, [[John Kennedy]].]] | | [[Image:1968 PresidentialElection.jpg|right|thumb|400px|1968 electoral map. [[The South]] was carried by Democrat Gov. Geo. Wallace of Alabama who ran on a 3rd party ticket. In 1972 Nixon carried every state in the Union except [[Massachusetts]] against a radical extreme socialist. Massachusetts was the home state of Nixon's 1960 presidential rival, [[John Kennedy]].]] |
| − | The '''Southern strategy''' is a [[leftwing]] [[conspiracy theory]] that alleges [[Richard Nixon]] tried to court traditional [[racist]] [[The South]]ern [[Democrats]] in the [[1968 presidential election]] in the wake of the [[bi-partisan]] [[1964 Civil Rights Act]]. In fact, [[the South]] was carried by Democrat [[renegade]] [[George C. Wallace]]. | + | The '''Southern strategy''' is a [[leftwing]] [[conspiracy theory]] that alleges [[Richard Nixon]] tried to court traditional [[racist]] [[The South|South]]ern [[Democrats]] in the [[1968 presidential election]] in the wake of the [[bi-partisan]] [[1964 Civil Rights Act]]. In fact, [[the South]] was carried by Democrat [[renegade]] [[George C. Wallace]]. |
| − | In 1972, the Democrats nominated Sen. Tom Eagleton of [[Missouri]], a [[slave]] state. Eagleton was booted from the ticket after the convention for [[mental health]] problems and replaced with an Easterner and Kennedy in-law. In the 1972 November General Election, for the first time in almost 40 years Democrats did not have a Southerner on the ticket, and Southerners (along with the rest of the country) overwhelmingly rejected two Northern [[liberal]]s at the top of their ticket. In 1976, 1992, 1996, 2008, and 2012 the South returned to the Democrat fold. | + | In 1972, the Democrats nominated Sen. Tom Eagleton of [[Missouri]], a [[slave]] state. Eagleton was booted from the ticket after the convention for [[mental health]] problems and replaced with an Easterner and Kennedy in-law. In the 1972 November General Election, for the first time in almost 40 years Democrats did not have a Southerner on the ticket, and Southerners (along with the rest of the country) overwhelmingly rejected two [[liberal]]s at the top of their ticket. In 1976, 1992, 1996, 2008, and 2012 the South returned to the Democrat fold. |
| | With the end of [[Jim Crow]] laws in the mid 1960s, the South became more Republican as it became less racist. The [[War on Poverty]] - which incentivized out-of-wedlock children - was designed to entice Blacks back onto the [[Democrat plantation]]. | | With the end of [[Jim Crow]] laws in the mid 1960s, the South became more Republican as it became less racist. The [[War on Poverty]] - which incentivized out-of-wedlock children - was designed to entice Blacks back onto the [[Democrat plantation]]. |