“Nullification” in today's context reminds me more of OJ's trial than of politics. The word we use against zerOcare is *repeal*. It has nothing at all to do with skin color.
Like you, I am older than Mathews and remember the early/mid 60's. To my knowledge, I never heard the words "interposition" and "nullification" associated with the civil rights movement.
May I add that, if anybody was, it was bound to be Democrats?
So often, when I read Mathews' words, I wonder "What the hell is he talking about?" This is another one of those times...
I just checked Wikipedia and Matthews was born in 1945. That means he was in college from perhaps 1963 on? MLK’s speech was in 1963 as well, right? And the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 (by mostly Republicans). So, maybe Chrissy actually saw segregation when he travelled as a Freshman to spring break, maybe not. I’m fifteen years younger than him and I can attest to the fact that I NEVER saw segregation and not a lot of racism either. Furthermore, as a previous poster pointed out all of the segregationists were DEMOCRATS!