Prometheus 6

How Kennedy Won the House and Lost the South
By Richard Reeves

The president’s proposals would die in Rules if the two senior, Southern, conservative Democrats on the committee, Howard Smith of Virginia, the chairman, and William Colmer of Mississippi, joined the Republicans. When that happened, and it often did, particularly on civil rights legislation, the 6-to-6 tie vote killed liberal proposals right there. Kennedy had taken it for granted that Rayburn could change all that, marshalling the 274 Democrats on a full House vote to add three members to Rules. The idea was that Rayburn would appoint two younger and more liberal Democrats to guarantee 8-to-7 votes, bringing administration legislation to the floor for full House votes.

“Larry,” said the president to his Congressional liaison, Larry O’Brien. “What is this? We can’t lose this one, Larry. The ball game is over if we do.”

He was right about that. He wanted to break the coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats, mostly Southerners, who were the real ruling class of the Congress. In fact, that coalition was stronger after the 1960 election, despite Kennedy’s victory. Moderate Democrats in Congress owed little to the president, who had won by less that one-tenth of one percent of the popular vote, and had lost to the Republican candidate, Richard Nixon, in most of their districts. Many Democrats in Congress had been hurt rather than helped by the Northern liberal at the top of the ticket.

I have several derogatory names for the the ol' Dixie political confederation. I sometimes call it the Confederate States of America. I do feel it's a different culture, practically a different nation. Having been born there, I walk through New York like a first generation immigrant.

I'm coming to prefer calling it the American Solid South. "South" because I respect self-definition, even when done by assholes.

“This is America,” I said angrily, in that moment supremely unconcerned about whether this was standard police procedure or a useful law enforcement tool or whatever anybody else wanted to call it. “I have a right to talk to anyone I like, wherever I like.”

The female officer trumped my naïve soliloquy, though: “Sir, this is the South. We have different laws down here.”

Not "This is Charlotte." Not "This is North Carolina." She said "[T]his is the South."

"Solid" because they vote as Southerners first and foremost and American...

The solid Democratic South became the solid Republican South.

...because it doesn't matter which political party they belong to.