A Republican I know tries to link MLK to the GOP

[Dirty Socialist]

A guy that I play board games with made some interesting claims to me. He first said the Republicans backed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 more than Democrats. He also said a lot of northern Democrats voted against the Civil Rights Act. He also said MLKs niece said MLK was a Republican. I did some research on this. First, I found a higher percentage of Democrats in non-Confederate states voted for the Civil Rights than Republicans in non-Confederate states. I then discovered that MLK’s niece retracted her claim in 2013.

[Eugene]

1. 1964 is when the GOP lost its way.

Yes, the GOP was the home of progressive. That was a century ago. 1964 is when Goldwater and his fellow wingnuts started taking over.

Now Repugs refuse to say whether Brown v Board of Education is good law.

[SCantiGOP]

9. Right

Strom Thurmond switched from the Dem to the Repub party in 1964. Goldwater carried his home state of AZ and the 5 Deep South states from SC to LA.
When Nixon ran on his “Southern Strategy” in 1968 (which was basically a racist appeal to Southern Democrats disguised as “law and order”), SC was blanketed with signs and bumper stickers that said “Help Strom Elect Nixon.”

[rockfordfile]

13. Goes back further than that for the gop. With the Birchism in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Fascism etc..

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. That's nice. What's the GOP doing today?

[Dirty Socialist]

4. I told him

I told him the vast majority of Dixiecrats joined the GOP after 1964. He just kept on talking.
Most Conservatives are piss poor listeners.

[StarfishSaver]

3. Like many southern blacks, the King family were Republicans until 1960

When John Kennedy called Coretta Scott King to offer his assistance and had Bobby intervene after her husband was arrested and jail, Daddy King said "I have a whole suitcase full of votes and they're all going to Senator Kennedy."

[Dirty Socialist]

5. I didn't know that either

The more I learn...

[walkingman]

6. The civil rights movement was basically the end of the Democratic Party in the deep South and later

in most other Southern States. It was embraced by the GOP and labeled the "Southern Strategy". Racism is a cancer in America.

[tymorial]

19. This is absolutely correct.

[tymorial]

7. The Republicans were definitely a driving force for civil rights during the 50s and 60s

Last edited Tue May 28, 2019, 06:11 AM - Edit history (1)

I may get flagged for speaking a republican talking point but this is historically accurate. Northern Democrats voted in a greater majority than Northern Republicans but as a whole Republicans voted in greater number than Democrats. Previous attempts at equal rights legislation was proposed and supported by Eisenhower and Congressional Republicans but attempts at introducing legislation stalled due to filibuster and lack of sufficient support from the fractured Democratic party. So true is it that Martin Luther King was a Republican and switched to the Democratic Party particularly to show support for Kennedy and then Johnson to ensure the Civil Rights Act was signed.


Now all that being said, the modern Republican narrative that they were the true/only champions of civil rights is absolutely false. They fail to mention that without the majority of Democrats the civil rights act would have never happened. The Democratic Party may have been fractured over civil rights but we had leaders who were instrumental in ensuring civil rights. Hubert Humphry and Mike Mansfield stood with their Republican counterparts for well over a decade before Johnson ultimately signed the Civil Rights Act in 1965... and he wouldn't have even had the opportunity without the efforts of JFK. Finally a majority of Democrats supported equal rights. The house often supported but the Senate (as usual) was a stalling point.

The GOP also fails to mention that Nixon's southern strategy was designed to entice disenfranchised southern Democrats to change parties and vote Republican.

So basically it's true but not nearly the whole truth.

[Eugene]

10. erm, minor issue

Democrat Party? You might want to edit that.

[tymorial]

17. I typed this on a smart phone over the course of an hour

I fixed it

[rockfordfile]

14. Don't buy it about the Republicans civil rights. Many republicans hated the civil rights movement

Many well known public right-wingers. John Wayne and other actors were racist as can be. Walter Brennan is another that had typical right-wing view on the civil rights movement.

[tymorial]

18. You don't have to buy it history is quite clear

The majority of republicans in Congress voted for civil rights on multiple occasions in excess of the democratic party. My post was clearly about congressional votes.

[struggle4progress]

8. Be careful about these arguments. The post-Reconstruction "solid South"

was segregationist and overwhelmingly Democratic: "Grampa never voted for a goddam Yankee Republican, and Pa never voted for a goddam Yankee Republican, and I'll never vote for a goddam Yankee Republican!"

When LBJ signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, he famously said, We have lost the South for a generation

The so-called "Dixiecrats" such as Strom Thurmond then began moving into the Republican camp. By deliberately recruiting segregationists, Nixon exploited this reality and broke the "solid South" beginning in 1968

I count about 289 Yea votes for the 1964 act, based on the data here. About 136 of those votes are Republican -- just short of half

But only a handful of the Yea votes come from states that were Border or Confederate during the Civil War. There are 6 Yea votes from MO -- only one of these is Republican. There is one Yea vote from FL, one from GA, two from TN, and four from TX -- they are all Democratic. These were brave votes, from people bucking the majority views of their state

I don't see any Yea votes from AL, AR, LA, NC, SC

Both FL Republicans voted Nay. Both NC Republicans voted Nay. All three TN Republicans voted Nay. Both TX Republicans voted Nay. Both VA Republicans voted Nay. These were not brave and principled votes; they were the votes of Representatives who did not want to challenge dominant views

The strongest opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act came from the South, where Republicans were not much represented at the time -- and like their neighbors, almost none of the Republicans there stood up for what was right

[mercuryblues]

16. exactly

Votes in the Civil Rights Act were mostly based on geographical location rather than party affiliation.

[RandiFan1290]

11. Cool story, bro. nt

[JI7]

12. the liberal republicans and dixiecrats switched sides after the civil rights was passed

this is why you have trash like Kim Davis who are registered Democrats (although she changed her registration also). they mostly stay registered for local races where the democrats are still the bigoted ones but nationally they have been supporting republican .

[rockfordfile]

15. Well the "dixiecrats begin to leave when Truman was President.

They pos didn't like FDR as much either.