Maybe this will get your mind right...
No doubt there was some sort of "Southern Strategy" to appeal to Southerners, but was it based on race? Or other cultural issues?
The Democrats say it was based on race but there are far too many ahistorical holes in this story; how much of it is reality and how much of it is myth? For one, when Democratic news outlets like the New York Times write about the 1968 campaign and attribute Nixon's victory to the "Southern Strategy" they invariably fail to mention that there were two Democrats running in 1968, Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace. It is my belief from looking at the history that this so-called "Southern Strategy", even if implemented the way the Democrats say it was, was neither long-lasting nor in any way effective. Taking the following Southern states into account and judging the amount (and percentage) of votes Nixon got against Kennedy in 1960 and the votes he got against Humphrey in 1968;
ALABAMA
1960
John F Kennedy 324,050 [56.8%]
Richard Nixon 237,981 [41.7%]
1968
Richard Nixon 146,923 [14.0%]
Hubert Humphrey 196,579 [18.7%]
George Wallace 691,425 [65.9%]
ARKANSAS
1960
John F Kennedy 215,049 [50.2%]
Richard Nixon 184,508 [43.1%]
1968
Richard Nixon 190,759 [30.8%]
Hubert Humphrey 188,228 [30.4%]
George Wallace 240,982 [38.9%]
GEORGIA
1960
John F Kennedy 458,638 [62.5%]
Richard Nixon 274,472 [37.4%]
1968
Richard Nixon 380,111 [30.4%]
Hubert Humphrey 334,440 [26.7%]
George Wallace 535,550 [42.8%]
LOUISIANA
1960
John F Kennedy 407,339 [50.4%]
Richard Nixon 230,980 [28.6%]
1968
Richard Nixon 257,535 [23.5%]
Hubert Humphrey 309,615 [28.2%]
George Wallace 530,300 [48.3%]
MISSISSIPPI
1960
John F Kennedy 108,362 [36.3%]
Richard Nixon 73,561 [24.7%]
1968
Richard Nixon 88,516 [13.5%]
Hubert Humphrey 50,644 [23.0%]
George Wallace 415,349 [63.5%]
NORTH CAROLINA
1960
John F Kennedy 713,136 [52.1%]
Richard Nixon 655,420 [47.9%]
1968
Richard Nixon 627,192 [39.5%]
Hubert Humphrey 464,113 [29.2%]
George Wallace 496,188 [31.3%]
SOUTH CAROLINA
1960
John F Kennedy 198,129 [51.2%]
Richard Nixon 188,558 [48.8%]
1968
Richard Nixon 254,062 [38.1%]
Hubert Humphrey 197,486 [29.6%]
George Wallace 215,430 [32.3%]
TENNESSEE
1960
John F Kennedy 481,453 [45.8%]
Richard Nixon 556,577 [52.9%]
1968
Richard Nixon 472,592 [37.8%]
Hubert Humphrey 351,233 [28.1%]
George Wallace 424,792 [34.0%]
WEST VIRGINIA
1960
John F Kennedy 441,786 [52.7%]
Richard Nixon 395,995 [47.3%]
1968
Richard Nixon 307,555 [40.8%]
Hubert Humphrey 374,091 [49.6%]
George Wallace 72,560 [9.6%]
Note that in 1968, there was nowhere where Nixon's numbers went up consistently, i.e. he consistently lost support in the percentage of votes he recieved from 1960, and in many cases even lost votes in terms of raw numbers. In other words, Nixon's "" yielded him absolutely nothing in terms of electoral success; raw numbers or percentages. Yet, strangely, Nixon's victory is always attributed to appeals to racial hatreds - despite his campaign's explicit statement in 1966 that it would leave it to the;
... party of Maddox, Mahoney and Wallace to squeeze the last ounces of political juice out of the rotting fruit of racial injustice.
So as you can see.The "Southern Strategy" was either a myth or a disaster for Nixon and the Republicans..
wheel,
Edited by user
15 years ago |
Reason: Not specified
