By today’s standards he seems mild. Even Obama praised him. Along with Lincoln, Republicans trot Ronald Reagan out every time Democrats praise the communication wizardry of Obama, Clinton, or Kennedy,
By today’s standards he seems mild. Even Obama praised him. Along with Lincoln, Republicans trot Ronald Reagan out every time Democrats praise the communication wizardry of Obama, Clinton, or Kennedy,
By today’s standards he seems mild. Even Obama praised him. Along with Lincoln, Republicans trot Ronald Reagan out every time Democrats praise the communication wizardry of Obama, Clinton, or Kennedy, or the stalwart composition of FDR or integrity of Truman. In reality, Reagan was an impenetrable facade of congeniality who was quite hostile to civil rights.
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While some Democrats had already switched to the Republican Party prior to these acts, the number of defections increased significantly after Johnson's signing. This led to a period of profound reconfiguration within the political parties. However, the transformation did not occur instantly.
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In the 1960s & early 1970s, white Southerners were still in the process of transitioning away from the Democratic Party (while newly enfranchised black Southerners voted & continued to vote Democratic). During the 1972 presidential primaries, former AL Governor George Wallace, known for his staunch support of segregation, ran as a Democrat, even as Richard Nixon employed a Southern strategy that appealed to the racism of Southern white voters.
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Today the South is solidly Republican. In every presidential election since 1964 -- save the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 -- Dixie has been the heart of GOP presidential politics. The white Southern vote was key to the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, and President George W. Bush was elected in 2000 because he carried every Southern state.
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Ronald Reagan was key to the South's transition to Republican politics. Goldwater got the ball rolling, but Reagan was at his side from the very beginning. During the 1964 campaign, Reagan gave speeches in support of Goldwater and spoke out for what he called individual rights -- (states' rights). Reagan also and portrayed any opposition as support for totalitarianism -- (communism).
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Reagan expressed opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, referring to the latter as "humiliating to the South." During his 1966 gubernatorial campaign in California, he made a promise to repeal the Fair Housing Act, stating "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, he has a right to do so."
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Reagan's extensive use of dog-whistle racism, which consisted of subtly coded messages, received insufficient media coverage at the time and has largely been disregarded in contemporary narratives. One group of people he continually harangued were people on public assistance, who he unilaterally relegated to “leech“ status.
While Governor of California, Reagan repeatedly targeted social service programs and “throwing the welfare bums out.”
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In 1976, Reagan sought the GOP nomination against the incumbent Gerald Ford. Reagan's campaign was on the ropes until the primaries hit the Southern states, where he won his first key victory in NC. Throughout the South that spring and summer, Reagan portrayed himself as Goldwater's heir while criticizing Ford as a captive of Eastern establishment Republicans fixated on forced integration.
Reagan lost the nomination to Ford in 1976.
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But when the former CA governor ran for President again in 1980, he began his campaign in Philadelphia, MS., where 3 civil rights workers were brutally killed by white supremacists. It was at that sore spot on the racial map that Reagan revived talk about states' rights & curbing the power of the federal government.
In front of a predominantly white audience numbering in the tens of thousands, Reagan proclaimed, "I believe in states' rights".
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Reagan's rhetoric surrounding welfare programs and his portrayal of "welfare queens" perpetuated racial stereotypes.
To many it sounded like code for announcing himself as the candidate for white segregationists. Indeed, during his campaign for the Presidency, the Ku Klux Klan endorsed Reagan (after his Philadelphia MS speech). Reagan only repudiated the endorsement under pressure.
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By the time Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency in 1980, the Republican Party had firmly established its hold on white Southerners. He won.
After he defeated President Carter, a native Southerner, Reagan led an administration that seemed to cater to Southerners still angry over the passage of the Civil Rights Act after 16 years.
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The Reagan team condemned busing for school integration, opposed affirmative action and even threatened to veto a proposed extension of the Voting Rights Act (the sequel to the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed a year later and focused on election participation).
Again, his emphasis on "states' rights" was seen as a veiled reference to opposing civil rights legislation and appealing to white voters who were resistant to desegregation efforts.
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So much to be angry about where Reagan is concerned.
What angers me the most, as a child during his Presidency, living in a rural farm community, we were taught that he was the greatest world leader ever.
Much like right wing media has gaslit the MAGA folks, back then we too were gaslit. It wasn't until my college years that I fully understood the truth, and it still angers me that so many were fed lies for so long.
@Deglassco Reagan was a second rate actor, third rate politician and friend of the worst Prime Minister ever.