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.
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.
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.