Changes

The election of a Republican for the first time in 20 years was momentous. Eisenhower appointed Republican California Governor [[Earl Warren]] as [[Chief Justice]] of the Supreme Court.  All the other members had been appointed by Roosevelt and Truman who believed courts should defer to the policymaking prerogatives of the White House and Congress. Warren convened a meeting of the justices and presented to them the simple argument that the only reason to sustain segregation was a deep-rooted belief in the inferiority of African-Americans. In ''[[Brown v. Topeka Board of Education]]'', Warren produced a unanimous decision that said: {{quotebox|"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group…Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”}}

The election of a Republican for the first time in 20 years was momentous. Eisenhower appointed Republican California Governor [[Earl Warren]] as [[Chief Justice]] of the Supreme Court.  All the other members had been appointed by Roosevelt and Truman who believed courts should defer to the policymaking prerogatives of the White House and Congress. Warren convened a meeting of the justices and presented to them the simple argument that the only reason to sustain segregation was a deep-rooted belief in the inferiority of African-Americans. In ''[[Brown v. Topeka Board of Education]]'', Warren produced a unanimous decision that said: {{quotebox|"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group…Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”}}

In Congress, the powerful duo of House Speaker [[Sam Rayburn]] and Senate Majority leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] held the party together, often by compromising with Eisenhower. After the Little Rock Crisis of 1957, the party made dramatic gains in the 1958 midterms and seemed to have a permanent lock on Congress. Indeed, Democrats had majorities in the House every election from 1930 to 1992 (except 1946 and 1952). Most southern Congressmen were conservative Democrats, however, and they usually worked with conservative Republicans. The result was a [[Conservative Coalition]] that blocked practically all socialist domestic legislation from 1937 to the 1970s, except for a brief spell 1964-65, when Johnson neutralized its power.

In Congress, the powerful duo of House Speaker [[Sam Rayburn]] and Senate Majority leader [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] held the party together, often by compromising with Eisenhower. After the Little Rock Crisis of 1957, the party made dramatic gains in the 1958 midterms and seemed to have a permanent lock on Congress. Indeed, Democrats had majorities in the House every election from 1930 to 1992 (except 1946 and 1952). Most southern Congressmen were conservative Democrats, however, and they usually worked with conservative Republicans. The result was a [[Conservative Coalition]] that blocked practically all socialist domestic legislation from 1937 to the 1970s, except for a brief spell 1964-65, when Johnson neutralized its power.

[[File:John Kennedy texas.png|right|300px|thumb|John Kennedy was elected using the same Southern Strategy FDR did by putting a Texan on the ticket.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23535517?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents John F. Kennedy's Southern Strategy, 1956-1960], Guy Paul Land, ''The North Carolina Historical Review'', Vol. 56, No. 1 (January, 1979), pp. 41-63.</ref>]]

[[File:John Kennedy texas.png|left|300px|thumb|John Kennedy was elected using the same Southern Strategy FDR did by putting a Texan on the ticket.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23535517?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents John F. Kennedy's Southern Strategy, 1956-1960], Guy Paul Land, ''The North Carolina Historical Review'', Vol. 56, No. 1 (January, 1979), pp. 41-63.</ref>]]

The nomination of [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1960 energized the Catholic population, which jammed motorcades and turned out in heavy numbers (over 80% voted for Kennedy), while also causing a backlash among white Protestants (over 70% of whom voted for Republican candidate [[Richard Nixon]]).  Reaching beyond the traditional Irish, German, Italian and Polish Catholic ethnics, Viva Kennedy set out to mobilize the previously passive Latino vote, and it perhaps provided the margin of victory for Kennedy in Texas and New Mexico. His brother, [[Robert Kennedy]], who managed the campaign, opposed the outreach to Black voters and sided with traditional Southern racists of the New Deal coalition.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kLspqSlNjfYC&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=three+Southern+governors+told+us+that+if+Jack+supported+Jimmy+Hoffa,+Nikita+Khrushchev,+or+Martin+Luther+King,+they+would+throw+their+states+to+Nixon&source=bl&ots=9PCWxfix0P&sig=ACfU3U2rlCOdSQJLr7w1x8AhpeJODSmG6w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj58fD9uIngAhWMoYMKHRY0CPAQ6AEwCnoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=three%20Southern%20governors%20told%20us%20that%20if%20Jack%20supported%20Jimmy%20Hoffa%2C%20Nikita%20Khrushchev%2C%20or%20Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20they%20would%20throw%20their%20states%20to%20Nixon&f=false Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero], [[Chris Matthews]], Simon and Schuster, Nov 6, 2012, p. 309.</ref> Bobby Kennedy was furious with campaign aides for talking with King, and felt it would cost them the election.  

The nomination of [[John F. Kennedy]] in 1960 energized the Catholic population, which jammed motorcades and turned out in heavy numbers (over 80% voted for Kennedy), while also causing a backlash among white Protestants (over 70% of whom voted for Republican candidate [[Richard Nixon]]).  Reaching beyond the traditional Irish, German, Italian and Polish Catholic ethnics, Viva Kennedy set out to mobilize the previously passive Latino vote, and it perhaps provided the margin of victory for Kennedy in Texas and New Mexico. His brother, [[Robert Kennedy]], who managed the campaign, opposed the outreach to Black voters and sided with traditional Southern racists of the New Deal coalition.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kLspqSlNjfYC&pg=PA309&lpg=PA309&dq=three+Southern+governors+told+us+that+if+Jack+supported+Jimmy+Hoffa,+Nikita+Khrushchev,+or+Martin+Luther+King,+they+would+throw+their+states+to+Nixon&source=bl&ots=9PCWxfix0P&sig=ACfU3U2rlCOdSQJLr7w1x8AhpeJODSmG6w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj58fD9uIngAhWMoYMKHRY0CPAQ6AEwCnoECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=three%20Southern%20governors%20told%20us%20that%20if%20Jack%20supported%20Jimmy%20Hoffa%2C%20Nikita%20Khrushchev%2C%20or%20Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20they%20would%20throw%20their%20states%20to%20Nixon&f=false Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero], [[Chris Matthews]], Simon and Schuster, Nov 6, 2012, p. 309.</ref> Bobby Kennedy was furious with campaign aides for talking with King, and felt it would cost them the election.