Posted on 05/01/2018 8:25:59 AM PDT by Magnatron
I've posted this a few times on other threads, but I've gotten a number of requests to post it separately.
With the news recently generated by Kanye, Diamond & Silk, Candace Owen, and others, a closer look at the history behind the Republican and Democrat parties and their views of the African-American community is necessary for conservatives and Republicans to help educate a woefully ill-informed public.
The greatest lie ever told is the "party switching" lie. To believe that, you have to believe that "conservative" Democrats were so upset that Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (supported by 80% of Republican House members vs 61% of the Democrats and 82% of Republican Senators vs 63% of Democrats ) that they switched sides to the party that overwhelmingly supported the bill. This makes absolutely no sense.
Here is some data to give to your idiot liberal friends (courtesy Michael Zak):
September 22, 1862
Republican President Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation
June 15, 1864
Republican Congress votes equal pay for African-American troops serving in U.S. Army during Civil War
June 28, 1864
Republican majority in Congress repeals Fugitive Slave Acts
January 31, 1865
13th Amendment banning slavery passed by U.S. House with unanimous Republican support, intense Democrat opposition
March 3, 1865
Republican Congress establishes Freedmen’s Bureau to provide health care, education, and technical assistance to emancipated slaves
April 8, 1865
13th Amendment banning slavery passed by U.S. Senate with 100% Republican support, 63% Democrat opposition
November 22, 1865
Republicans denounce Democrat legislature of Mississippi for enacting “black codes,” which institutionalized racial discrimination
April 9, 1866
Republican Congress overrides Democrat President Johnson’s veto; Civil Rights Act of 1866, conferring rights of citizenship on African-Americans, becomes law
May 10, 1866
U.S. House passes Republicans’ 14th Amendment guaranteeing due process and equal protection of the laws to all citizens; 100% of Democrats vote no
June 8, 1866
U.S. Senate passes Republicans’ 14th Amendment guaranteeing due process and equal protection of the law to all citizens; 94% of Republicans vote yes and 100% of Democrats vote no
July 16, 1866
Republican Congress overrides Democrat President Andrew Johnson’s veto of Freedman's Bureau Act, which protected former slaves from “black codes” denying their rights
January 8, 1867
Republicans override Democrat President Andrew Johnson’s veto of law granting voting rights to African-Americans in D.C.
July 19, 1867
Republican Congress overrides Democrat President Andrew Johnson’s veto of legislation protecting voting rights of African-Americans
May 20, 1868
Republican National Convention marks debut of African-American politicians on national stage; two – Pinckney Pinchback and James Harris – attend as delegates, and several serve as presidential electors
September 3, 1868
25 African-Americans in Georgia legislature, all Republicans, expelled by Democrat majority; later reinstated by Republican Congress
September 12, 1868
Civil rights activist Tunis Campbell and all other African-Americans in Georgia Senate, every one a Republican, expelled by Democrat majority; would later be reinstated by Republican Congress
October 7, 1868
Republicans denounce Democratic Party’s national campaign theme: “This is a white man’s country: Let white men rule”
February 3, 1870
After passing House with 98% Republican support and 97% Democrat opposition, Republicans’ 15th Amendment is ratified, granting vote to all Americans regardless of race
May 31, 1870
President U.S. Grant signs Republicans’ Enforcement Act, providing stiff penalties for depriving any American’s civil rights
June 22, 1870
Republican Congress creates U.S. Department of Justice, to safeguard the civil rights of African-Americans against Democrats in the South
February 28, 1871
Republican Congress passes Enforcement Act providing federal protection for African-American voters
April 20, 1871
Republican Congress enacts the Ku Klux Klan Act, outlawing Democratic Party-affiliated terrorist groups which oppressed African-Americans
October 18, 1871
After violence against Republicans in South Carolina, President Ulysses Grant deploys U.S. troops to combat Democrat terrorists who formed the Ku Klux Klan
March 1, 1875
Civil Rights Act of 1875, guaranteeing access to public accommodations without regard to race, signed by Republican President U.S. Grant; passed with 92% Republican support over 100% Democrat opposition
August 30, 1890
Republican President Benjamin Harrison signs legislation by U.S. Senator Justin Morrill (R-VT) making African-Americans eligible for land-grant colleges in the South
February 8, 1894
Democrat Congress and Democrat President Grover Cleveland join to repeal Republicans’ Enforcement Act, which had enabled African-Americans to vote
December 11, 1895
African-American Republican and former U.S. Rep. Thomas Miller (R-SC) denounces new state constitution written to disenfranchise African-Americans
May 18, 1896
Republican Justice John Marshall Harlan, dissenting from Supreme Court’s notorious Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal” decision, declares: “Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens”
December 31, 1898
Republican Theodore Roosevelt becomes Governor of New York; in 1900, he outlawed racial segregation in New York public schools
May 24, 1900
Republicans vote no in referendum for constitutional convention in Virginia, designed to create a new state constitution disenfranchising African-Americans
January 15, 1901
Republican Booker T. Washington protests Alabama Democratic Party’s refusal to permit voting by African-Americans
October 16, 1901
President Theodore Roosevelt invites Booker T. Washington to dine at White House, sparking protests by Democrats across the country
February 12, 1909
On 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, African-American Republicans and women’s suffragists Ida Wells and Mary Terrell co-found the NAACP
April 18, 1920
Minnesota’s FIRST-in-the-nation anti-lynching law, promoted by African-American Republican Nellie Francis, signed by Republican Gov. Jacob Preus
January 26, 1922
House passes bill authored by U.S. Rep. Leonidas Dyer (R-MO) making lynching a federal crime; Senate Democrats block it with filibuster
October 3, 1924
Republicans denounce three-time Democrat presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan for defending the Ku Klux Klan at 1924 Democratic National Convention
December 8, 1924
Democratic presidential candidate John W. Davis argues in favor of “separate but equal”
June 12, 1929
First Lady Lou Hoover invites wife of U.S. Rep. Oscar De Priest (R-IL), an African-American, to tea at the White House, sparking protests by Democrats across the country
August 17, 1937
Republicans organize opposition to former Ku Klux Klansman and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black, appointed to U.S. Supreme Court by FDR; his Klan background was hidden until after confirmation
June 24, 1940
Republican Party platform calls for integration of the armed forces; for the balance of his terms in office, FDR refuses to order it
July 11, 1952
Republican Party platform condemns “duplicity and insincerity” of Democrats in racial matters
September 30, 1953
Earl Warren, California’s three-term Republican Governor and 1948 Republican vice presidential nominee, nominated to be Chief Justice; wrote landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education
December 8, 1953
Eisenhower administration Asst. Attorney General Lee Rankin argues for plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education
May 17, 1954
Chief Justice Earl Warren, three-term Republican Governor (CA) and Republican vice presidential nominee in 1948, wins unanimous support of Supreme Court for school desegregation in Brown v. Board of Education
November 25, 1955
Eisenhower administration bans racial segregation of interstate bus travel
March 12, 1956
Ninety-seven Democrats in Congress condemn Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, and pledge to continue segregation
June 5, 1956
Republican federal judge Frank Johnson rules in favor of Rosa Parks in decision striking down “blacks in the back of the bus” law
October 19, 1956
On campaign trail, Vice President Richard Nixon vows: “American boys and girls shall sit, side by side, at any school – public or private – with no regard paid to the color of their skin. Segregation, discrimination, and prejudice have no place in America”
November 6, 1956
African-American civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy vote for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for President
September 9, 1957
President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republican Party’s 1957 Civil Rights Act
September 24, 1957
Sparking criticism from Democrats such as Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, President Dwight Eisenhower deploys the 82nd Airborne Division to Little Rock, AR to force Democrat Governor Orval Faubus to integrate public schools
June 23, 1958
President Dwight Eisenhower meets with Martin Luther King and other African-American leaders to discuss plans to advance civil rights
February 4, 1959
President Eisenhower informs Republican leaders of his plan to introduce 1960 Civil Rights Act, despite staunch opposition from many Democrats
May 6, 1960
President Dwight Eisenhower signs Republicans’ Civil Rights Act of 1960, overcoming 125-hour, around-the-clock filibuster by 18 Senate Democrats
July 27, 1960
At Republican National Convention, Vice President and eventual presidential nominee Richard Nixon insists on strong civil rights plank in platform
May 2, 1963
Republicans condemn Democrat sheriff of Birmingham, AL for arresting over 2,000 African-American schoolchildren marching for their civil rights
June 1, 1963
Democrat Governor George Wallace announces defiance of court order issued by Republican federal judge Frank Johnson to integrate University of Alabama
September 29, 1963
Gov. George Wallace (D-AL) defies order by U.S. District Judge Frank Johnson, appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower, to integrate Tuskegee High School
June 9, 1964
Republicans condemn 14-hour filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act by U.S. Senator and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd (D-WV)
June 10, 1964
Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) criticizes Democrat filibuster against 1964 Civil Rights Act, calls on Democrats to stop opposing racial equality The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced and approved by a staggering majority of Republicans in the Senate. The Act was opposed by most southern Democrat senators, several of whom were proud segregationists—one of them being Al Gore Sr. Democrat President Lyndon B. Johnson relied on Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader from Illinois, to get the Act passed.
June 20, 1964
The Chicago Defender, renowned African-American newspaper, praises Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) for leading passage of 1964 Civil Rights Act
March 7, 1965
Police under the command of Democrat Governor George Wallace attack African-Americans demonstrating for voting rights in Selma, AL
March 21, 1965
Republican federal judge Frank Johnson authorizes Martin Luther King’s protest march from Selma to Montgomery, overruling Democrat Governor George Wallace
August 4, 1965
Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL) overcomes Democrat attempts to block 1965 Voting Rights Act; 94% of Senate Republicans vote for landmark civil right legislation, while 27% of Democrats oppose
August 6, 1965
Voting Rights Act of 1965, abolishing literacy tests and other measures devised by Democrats to prevent African-Americans from voting, signed into law; higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats vote in favor
September 17, 1971
Former Ku Klux Klan member and Democrat U.S. Senator Hugo Black (D-AL) retires from U.S. Supreme Court; appointed by FDR in 1937, he had defended Klansmen for racial murders
September 15, 1981
President Ronald Reagan establishes the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to increase African-American participation in federal education programs
June 29, 1982
President Ronald Reagan signs 25-year extension of 1965 Voting Rights Act
November 21, 1991
President George H. W. Bush signs Civil Rights Act of 1991 to strengthen federal civil rights legislation
August 20, 1996
Bill authored by U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari (R-NY) to prohibit racial discrimination in adoptions, part of Republicans’ Contract With America, becomes law
April 26, 1999
Legislation authored by U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham (R-MI) awarding Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks is transmitted to President
January 25, 2001
U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee declares school choice to be “Educational Emancipation”
May 23, 2003
U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduces bill to establish National Museum of African American History and Culture
Thanks for posting. We’ll need this to educate the uninformed these next few days/weeks with the Kayne and others raising the awareness.
Here is Dinesh D’Souza on ‘The Big Switch’.
Dinesh D’Souza Debunks the Myth of the “Switch” between Republicans and Democrat Party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol7OMGBDMao
7 interesting minutes and a must if you want to know how ‘The Big Switch’ occurred.
Okay, now you are getting irritating. Yes, it makes perfect sense if you bother looking at it. The Democrats were the party of Jim Crow for decades leading up to the 1960s, and Republicans were always trying to expand the black voting franchise because blacks had reliably been voting Republican since 1865.
Democrats were minimizing their influence by employing Jim Crow tactics, "Grandfather Clauses", Poll Taxes, and any other method of which they could think to minimize black influence. Republicans didn't like it (and at this time, "Republicans" were basically big city Corporate fat-cat Liberals, like the Democrats are now.) and so Republicans pushed for the 24th amendment,(Stupidest law ever passed.) because they realized it would give them about another 10 million votes or so if they could eliminate the tax requirement for voting.
The Republicans successfully pushed through the 24th amendment, and this more or less spelled the end for attempts to interfere with black votes, especially in the South.
Into this situation steps Lyndon Johnson who was a very Racist Southern Democrat, but who was also a very canny politician and no one's fool when it came to this election business. He implemented a plan to bribe this new cohort of black voters by giving them money from the Federal Government. He called this program "The Great Society", (because let's face it, who ever honestly describes a bribe as a bribe?) and he used it to successfully recruit black voters to the Democrat party.
This is from Memory, but I believe that within 8 years, he had switched blacks from voting mostly for Republicans to voting heavily for Democrats. This is the point at which Democrats were described as being "for the poor", while Republicans were being described as being "for the rich."
Lyndon Johnson created perhaps one of the most successful political stunts in American History, and the Republicans have been screwed over as a result of it ever since.
Over time, these Wealthy Urban Liberals slowly gravitated over to the Democrat Party, and Republican ranks became filled mostly with working class whites.
So the parties did, after a fashion, mostly switch in the 1960s, but some of the original constituencies remained in both.
Go to a National Education Association conference, an NAACP gathering, a meeting of the American Historical Association, or to a college campus and ask people you meet to identify the one who said, “American boys and girls shall sit, side by side, at any school – public or private – with no regard paid to the color of their skin. Segregation, discrimination, and prejudice have no place in America.” It’s a safe bet that no one will give the correct answer that it was Richard Nixon.
I think the listing is good, but we need to flesh out the events of the 70s-90s, because the left will counter that Southern Democrats became Republicans during that time and the Republicans became the party of racism. That is a lie. Republicans were always for equality of treatment, never for a quota system, which is not equality, and in keeping with MLK’s positions. A good number of Southern Democrats did end up switching to the GOP, but the reasons were national defense and economic, not racial. If they came to the GOP, it was on the GOP’s terms, and no Democrats came because the GOP adopted Democrat systemic racism. Ever.
A small number of former racists, like Strom Thurmond, switched, but never again pushed the agenda they had as Democrats. The majority of racists stayed with the Democrats (Robert Byrd, Fulbright, LBJ, George Wallace).
Republicans are terrible at framing a debate and explaining history. Instead, they apologize for the history of Democrats.
DiogenesLamp, I think you’re missing the direction of my post, and you and I are in agreement. The “party switching” lie refers to the idea that Democrats and Republicans “switched sides” as part of Nixon’s Southern Strategy, which supposedly the impetus of was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is the big lie. And you’re right, Johnson’s tactics with the black population was the biggest bamboozle in the history of this country.
...and a total disgrace to the black population.
Bkmrk.
Explain to me how there was a switch, but then Kennedy still is the greatest democrat?
The only real switch was when Republicans voted for Kennedy. Democrats staid democrats.
Defiant, what the Republicans gave the black population in this country was Freedom, Citizenship, Voting, and Civil Rights in the direct sense of what Martin Luther King said: “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. You’ll notice they didn’t implement social programs or handouts (outside of U.S. Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (R-PA) attempt at “40 acres and a mule” — which was also opposed by the Democrats). This is because Conservatives believe that they are fully capable of making your way in society — having given them the tools of Freedom, Citizenship, Voting, and Civil Rights. Democrats and liberals see them as a victims, unable to fend for themselves without their intervention — all in exchange for their dutiful vote. Democrats exhibit the worse kind of racism: the racism of low expectations.
The challenge is that Republicans have allowed the argument to be framed by a handout mentality — something the Democrats are very good at. Democrats still see blacks as subhuman and slaves, but subhuman in the way that they can’t think for themselves and slaves in the sense of their dutiful vote.
You’re right, Republicans are terrible at framing this debate, but it’s mostly because they sit on their hands and don’t make the argument at all.
It’s time to fix that.
Bookmark
Excellent. What might also be telling is the history of pro-abortion legislation - who supported it and when. Did those supporters also “switch sides”?
Just curious, did you mean "stayed"?
The “parties” didn’t “switch.” Not according to your own explanation. You described constituants being tricked into voting for the other party. Democrats were and are the true party of racism.
Funny you brought up Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” which is another lie. Nixon won in 1968 because Former Democrat and 3rd party George Wallace carried the South, splitting the Democrat (aka:the Racist) vote and throwing the win to Nixon. Not that he needed it if you look at a 1968 Electoral Map.
Thank you for posting that list, nice to have it all in one place.
Why Did the Democratic and Republican Parties Switch Platforms?
During the 1860s, Republicans, who dominated northern states, orchestrated an ambitious expansion of federal power, helping to fund the transcontinental railroad, the state university system and the settlement of the West by homesteaders, and instating a national currency and protective tariff. Democrats, who dominated the South, opposed these measures. After the Civil War, Republicans passed laws that granted protections for African Americans and advanced social justice; again, Democrats largely opposed these expansions of power.
Sound like an alternate universe? Fast forward to 1936. Democratic president Franklin Roosevelt won reelection that year on the strength of the New Deal, a set of Depression-remedying reforms including regulation of financial institutions, founding of welfare and pension programs, infrastructure development and more. Roosevelt won in a landslide against Republican Alf Landon, who opposed these exercises of federal power.
So, sometime between the 1860s and 1936, the (Democratic) party of small government became the party of big government, and the (Republican) party of big government became rhetorically committed to curbing federal power. How did this switch happen?
Eric Rauchway, professor of American history at the University of California, Davis, pins the transition to the turn of the 20th century, when a highly influential Democrat named William Jennings Bryan blurred party lines by emphasizing the government's role in ensuring social justice through expansions of federal power — traditionally, a Republican stance. [How Have Tax Rates Changed Over Time?] Republicans didn't immediately adopt the opposite position of favoring limited government. "Instead, for a couple of decades, both parties are promising an augmented federal government devoted in various ways to the cause of social justice," Rauchway wrote in a 2010 blog post for the Chronicles of Higher Education. Only gradually did Republican rhetoric drift to the counterarguments. The party's small-government platform cemented in the 1930s with its heated opposition to the New Deal.
But why did Bryan and other turn-of-the-century Democrats start advocating for big government? According to Rauchway, they, like Republicans, were trying to win the West. The admission of new western states to the union in the post-Civil War era created a new voting bloc, and both parties were vying for its attention.
Democrats seized upon a way of ingratiating themselves to western voters: Republican federal expansions in the 1860s and 1870s had turned out favorable to big businesses based in the northeast, such as banks, railroads and manufacturers, while small-time farmers like those who had gone west received very little. Both parties tried to exploit the discontent this generated, by promising the little guy some of the federal largesse that had hitherto gone to the business sector. From this point on, Democrats stuck with this stance — favoring federally funded social programs and benefits — while Republicans were gradually driven to the counterposition of hands-off government.
From a business perspective, Rauchway pointed out, the loyalties of the parties did not really switch. "Although the rhetoric and to a degree the policies of the parties do switch places," he wrote, "their core supporters don't — which is to say, the Republicans remain, throughout, the party of bigger businesses; it's just that in the earlier era bigger businesses want bigger government and in the later era they don't."
In other words, earlier on, businesses needed things that only a bigger government could provide, such as infrastructure development, a currency and tariffs. Once these things were in place, a small, hands-off government became better for business.
Barry Goldwater did come out against the Civil Rights act of 1964 on the basis that it would lead to future abuse. (It has.) Because he was the Republican nominee in 1963, the Democrats started tagging Republicans as "Racist".
When Nixon was implementing his "Southern Strategy", this just fed further into the smear.
But getting back to the point about the parties switching, My point was to say it's not completely untrue, that there is some truth in the claim that the "parties switched". Sort of, depending on how you look at it.
Also in the 1920s onward, blacks started moving more into the cities, which also tended to align them with Wealthy Urban Liberals.
BroJoeK. You need to read post 17.
Someone like Kanye might be very helpful to fixing that.
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