[Austin Willard Wright]

Actually, compared to the Democrats, the Republicans did indeed have far fewer segregationists in 1948. The main exceptions were the lily white Republicans in some of the Southern delegations but they never won elections. Even in the South, many of the state GOP parties were still controlled by black/white coalitions. The Democratics, on the other hand, were all white in the South.

[dirtboy]

What happened slowly after 1948 was the drift of many Southen Dems into the GOP - and a fair number of these, such as Strom Thurmond, were former Dixiecrats and segregationists. But the media prefers to overlook the source and instead dwells on the destination.

[ken5050]

Some years ago there was a very humorous, yet accurate, article ( and the author's name escapes me) who central thesis was that college athletics was the prime rationale for embracing integration in the south...because the SEC and other schools were tired of getting clocked by colleges who were integrated......IOW, the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"....theory....