Party Realignment And The New Deal
The realignment of black voters from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party that began in the late 1920s proliferated during this era. This process involved a “push and pull”: the refusal by Republicans to pursue civil rights alienated many black voters, while efforts—shallow though they were—by northern Democrats to open opportunities for African Americans gave black voters reasons to switch parties.
"Here is some info on democratic/ republican party swap for those using the "democrats founded the kkk" argument"
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Awful academic paper misrepresents facts to excuse corruption. Hoover had not been a hard bitten politician, but an idealist civil engineer. FDR exploited Hoover's naivety. FDR was at the centre of the Dem machine. Exploiting people, using deniable connections to KKK was what FDR did. And it is not hidden.
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Kirby Frick
Why is it an awful academic paper? It states its points and provides citations. That is all an academic paper should do whether we agree with or not.
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I'm sorry, but an academic paper should do that, but should also show an ability to weigh the meaning of the issues it deals with. Otherwise it merely represents spin. If it had not covered issues, it would not even be an academic paper.
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Kirby Frick David Daniel Ball I respectfully disagree but will say that perhaps this is better to be looked at as a debate point. They have their reasoning and supplied citations. The next person in the debate should show their reasons that they believe it is false instead of just saying that it is false.
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To do. Find name of hurricane that Hoover provided food for. (The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927)
Find name of thieves who stole the food, and affiliations (The flood waters began to recede in June 1927, but interracial relations continued to be strained. Hostilities had erupted between the races; a black man was shot and killed by a white police officer when he refused to be forced by gunpoint to unload a relief boat..
How did FDR pin blame to Hoover? The issue of states rights had not been settled by the civil war as slavery was. FDR had pointed to Federal failure to regulate State license and blamed GOP. FDR used the point man Robert Russa Moton who was the son of an African chieftan who had been a slaver but who had been sold into slavery.
Provide alternative view explaining shift of Black votes from Hoover/GOP to Dems. Wilson had promised Moton to make things right before losing the Presidency. After Dem states failed African Americans, Moton worked with Hoover and Hoover promised what he could not deliver on states rights. FDR pointed the finger at Hoover and promised Moton what FDR could not deliver on, but which he appeared to deliver with his New Deal.
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Mississippi flood
The
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 broke the banks and
levees of the lower Mississippi River in early 1927, resulting in the flooding of millions of acres and leaving 1.5 million people displaced from their homes. Although disaster response did not fall under the duties of the Commerce Department, the governors of six states along the Mississippi River specifically asked President Coolidge to appoint Hoover to coordinate the response to the flood. Believing that disaster response was not the domain of the federal government, Coolidge initially refused to become involved, but he eventually acceded to political pressure and appointed Hoover to chair a special committee to help the region. Hoover established over one hundred tent cities and a fleet of more than six hundred vessels, and raised $17 million (equivalent to $250.21 million in 2019). In large part due to his leadership during the flood crisis, by 1928, Hoover had begun to overshadow President Coolidge himself. Though Hoover received wide acclaim for his role in the crisis, he ordered the suppression of reports of mistreatment of African Americans in refugee camps. He did so with the cooperation of African-American leader
Robert Russa Moton, who was promised unprecedented influence once Hoover became president.
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American Relief Administration (ARA) was an
American relief mission to
Europe and later
post-revolutionary Russia after
World War I.
Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, was the program director.
The ARA's immediate predecessor was the important
United States Food Administration, also headed by Hoover. He and some of his collaborators had already gained useful experience by running the
Committee for Relief in Belgium which fed seven million Belgians and two million northern
French during World War I.
ARA was formed by
United States Congress on February 24, 1919, with a budget of 100 million dollars ($1,475,000,000 in 2020). Its budget was boosted by private donations, which resulted in another 100 million dollars. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the ARA delivered more than four million tons of relief supplies to 23 war-torn European countries. Between 1919 and 1921,
Arthur Cuming Ringland was chief of mission in Europe.
[1] ARA ended its operations outside Russia in 1922; it operated in Russia until 1923.
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Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 18, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to multiple presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the
African American community and of the contemporary
black elite.
[1] Washington was from the last generation of black American leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants. They were newly oppressed in the South by
disenfranchisement and the
Jim Crow discriminatory laws enacted in the post-
Reconstruction Southern states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
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Robert Russa Moton (August 26, 1867 – May 31, 1940) was an American educator and author.
[1] He served as an administrator at
Hampton Institute. In 1915 he was named principal of
Tuskegee Institute, after the death of founder
Booker T. Washington, a position he held for 20 years until retirement in 1935.
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Forty acres and a mule was an attempt at reparations for slaves. "Give ex-slaves work."
https://theconversation.com/exploiting-black-labor-after-the-abolition-of-slavery-72482https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/the-truth-behind-40-acres-and-a-mule/ And what happened to this astonishingly visionary program, which would have fundamentally altered the course of American race relations? Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor and a sympathizer with the South, overturned the Order in the fall of 1865, and, as Barton Myers sadly concludes, “returned the land along the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coasts to the planters who had originally owned it” — to the very people who had declared war on the United States of America.
The Freedmen’s Bureau, created to aid millions of former slaves in the postwar era, had to inform the freedmen and women that they could either sign labor contracts with planters or be evicted from the land they had occupied. Those who refused or resisted were eventually forced out by army troops.
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First pass of mine. What happened was Hoover had had kudos for feeding people in the Great Mississippi Flood disaster of 1927. Hoover was incensed when involved states had permitted white supremacists to derail aid efforts. He promised a lead African American, Moton, that he would change things as President. But Hoover ran into the states rights brick wall and was mugged by the stock market collapse. Moton had been promised much by Wilson before Wilson lost the Presidency. FDR promised much to Moton he did not deliver on, but which he claimed he had delivered with the New Deal.
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Following the Civil War, the lot of African Americans improved immensely in much of the North and West. In the South, there were problems during and following reconstruction. Black Americans like the slave born Booker Washington embraced freedom, but needed to define why they did not succumb to bitterness and hatred at what had been taken from them by slavery. Washington became Principal of Tuskegee which became famous for training elite African Americans.
Following Washington's reign, Robert Moton became Principal at Tuskegee.
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Clearly there was a shift of party of patronage. Booker Washington argued in 1895 that it wasn't patronage that African Americans needed, but their American spirit (I'm paraphrasing). Washington has been criticised for not going for full equality. A successor to Washington was Moton.
Moton was a grandson of an African tribal chief who had been a slaver, but who had been captured into slavery. Woodrow Wilson promised Moton things and sent him to oversee conditions in Europe in WW1 with US troops. Moton formed ideas that Wilson could not execute before the presidency transferred.
When Hoover became President following his success feeding Americans following the 1927 Mississippi flood, terrible things had happened stateside which angered Hoover, but which Moton convinced him he should pass over until he became President when he could address it. Hoover became President, but found himself hamstrung over states rights. Moton felt backstabbed, and FDR stepped up, promising Moton that the New Deal would address all those wrongs.
Did the New Deal address the wrongs that southern states were persecuting African Americans? Was equality achieved? What about later, with civil rights? Is it the case that Booker Washington was right in promoting the virtue of the individual being able to achieve much if the community allowed it? Only, now Washington is accused of going soft and not getting more, it is that the promise of more is illusory, and instead, the dignity that African Americans desire cannot be given to them by state decree or transfer of goods, but by hard work, self reliance and dedication? Excuse me for getting to nub, but isn't that the issue being debated stateside now?
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Intro
What were the reasons for African Americans transitioning from support for GOP to support for Dem? When did it happen? Who were the persons behind the transition? Was it a response to policy, or to a promise of policy? Had behaviour of Democrats to black people changed following the civil war? Had the behaviour of GOP changed to black people? Were there material benefits for black people from the shift in support?
40 Acres and a Mule
Immediately following the civil war, reparations intended for former slaves were prepared when General Sherman declared 40 acres of land for former slaves. The intention was segregated communities with black peoples governing themselves, and the only white people in the communities might be soldiers bivouacked to protect black peoples. The policy was soon called 40 acres and a mule. Land was set aside, but the new Democrat President Andrew Johnson rescinded the order and the KKK came into being, lynching Black peoples.
Compromise of 1877
President US Grant attempted reconstruction in the south, but towards the end of his time in office, with Democrat control of the senate from 1875, reconstruction was given over to state rules and Jim Crow laws. Federal troops were withdrawn. Democrat senate control followed voter fraud carried about by Democrat supporting white supremacists in 1874 and after, with the 1898 Wilmington Insurrection being related.
Booker T Washington
Washington was a former slave whose leadership made him an advocate for former slaves. Washington did not fall into the trap of using race to promote equality, but he inspired Martin Luther King with his 1895 Atlanta Compromise where he said that 'American exceptionalism' (my phrasing) would allow Black Americans to rise and obtain what was theirs.
The Fruit of Washington's agenda was seen in the success of Black Wall street, as well as elsewhere. But the tragedy of Black Wall street was to play out in 1921.
Woodrow Wilson
Probably would never have been President but for division in the GOP. President Taft was a different conservative to President Theodore Roosevelt. Wilson got elected as the two conservatives fought over their issues. Taft would later become appointed to SCOTUS. Once elected, Wilson held his constituency by promising to keep USA out of WW1. Once reelected, Wilson sent US troops to Europe. Wilson used his position to bungle the peace terms in 1919. But of relevance to this article is Wilson sending the successor to Booker T Washington, Robert Russa Moton, to Europe to oversee on black US troops. Moton found racism was an issue and got a promise from Wilson that something could be done. But before anything was done, Wilson was no longer President and Democrats were out of office.
Robert Russa Moton
Moton's grandfather was an african tribal chief and slaver who was caught and sold into slavery. Moton was not satisfied with Booker Washington's position as stated in the 1895 Atlanta Compromise. Jim Crow laws in the south, brutal lynchings ad terrible abuses of power needed to be addressed. Moton chose to try and address them through the Democrat party which was perpetrating them, by first exacting promises from Wilson, then FDR. There was room to manoeuvre within the Dems where the GOP had road blocked in the South. But Moton was pragmatic and would first turn to Herbert Hoover to make changes.
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover was a civil engineer who was famous for feeding Europe following WW1. Hoover was called on to provide aid following the 1927 Mississippi flood which devastated several states. While doing so, many atrocities occurred relating to white supremacists stealing from Black peoples. Hoover was incensed and wanted to prosecute those involved. He was advised by his handlers that it would be better for him to handle it as President, and have a stronger impact. Moton supported the idea, and viewed it as a promise. Hoover became one of the most popularly elected Presidents of all time. However, once elected, came the Wall street crash. Hoover became hamstrung on states rights, and Moton felt betrayed.
FDR
FDR was a Democrat party machine chief. We do not know what role he played in atrocities like the 1921 Black Wall street tragedy or the atrocities with the 1927 Mississippi flood. FDR approached Moton over a policy he had addressing the Wall Street crash, called The New Deal. Moton wanted Jim Crow laws removed and civil rights to be equal. FDR offered welfare. It wasn't a promise Hoover could deliver on as it meant a vast increase on spending, when previous administrations had cut spending. Moton signed up.
Aspirations of Black people
Aspirations of Black people
Following the Civil war, former slaves had had a dysfunctional society, without fathers for some families and with poor education attainment. In 1920s, Black peoples had been growing more prosperous. Since the New Deal, Black peoples have been poorly served by welfare, fractured families and loss of community institutions
By 1926, welfare statistics show ..
by 1935, welfare statistics show
by 1970, welfare statistics show
by 1990, welfare statistics show
Nixon's Southern Strategy
Nancy Joan Weis "Farewell to the Party of Lincoln"
