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/* Fifth Party System: 1932–1980 */
Any long-term movement toward the GOP was interrupted by the [[Watergate Scandal]], which forced Nixon to resign in 1974 under threat of impeachment. [[Gerald Ford]] succeeded Nixon and gave him a full pardon—thereby giving the Democrats a powerful issue they used to sweep the 1974 off-year elections. Ford never fully recovered, and in 1976 he barely defeated [[Ronald Reagan]] for the nomination. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] in [[United States presidential election, 1976|1976]], running as a Washington outsider.
====Civil Rights====
[[File:Nixon-and-Martin-Luther-King.png|right|300px|thumb|Dr. Martin Luther King's meeting with Vice President Nixon marked national recognition of King as leader of the civil rights movement.<ref>https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/29/the-switch-that-never-happened-how-the-south-really-went-gop/</ref>]]
Vice President [[Richard Nixon]] invited Dr. [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] to Washington, D.C., for a meeting on 13 June 1957. This meeting, described by [[Bayard Rustin]] as a “summit conference,” marked national recognition of King’s role in the civil rights movement (Rustin, 13 June 1957). Seeking support for a voter registration initiative in the South, King appealed to Nixon to urge Republicans in Congress to pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act and to visit [[the South]] to express support for civil rights. Optimistic about Nixon’s commitment to improving race relations in the United States, King told Nixon, “How deeply grateful all people of goodwill are to you for your assiduous labor and dauntless courage in seeking to make the civil rights bill a reality.”
Republican Attorney General Herbert Brownell originally proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The bill passed 285-126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.<ref>HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42</ref> It then passed 72-18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. [[John Kennedy]] voted against it.<ref>HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s75</ref> It was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
====Strength of Parties 1977====
