From the Southern Strategy to President Trump by Henry Mantel
After the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, there was a schism. Southern Democrats, who had been champions of states’ rights and opposed the legislation, were at odds with President Lyndon Johnson and the rest of the party. This gap grew wider as more African-Americans joined the Democratic Party in response to the passing of the Act , pushing the party further left on civil rights issues. The divide did not go unnoticed. Richard Nixon, intent on winning the Presidency in 1968, saw an opportunity. In order to get disgruntled southern Democrats on his side, a group that the Republican Party never would have been able to win over otherwise, Nixon crafted a message that “ emphasized… the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to." This was the Southern Strategy. Too smart to apply obvious racism that might make northern Republicans uncomfortable, Nixon ran on a campaign of states’ rights and “law a