re: #179 EPR-radar

Since at least the early 60s. IMO the rot of the GOP goes back significantly further (at least to the Depression era). E.g., with the wisdom of hindsight one can see in the GOP under Ike a party that learned nothing from its Depression era mistakes that was given an undeserved chance to get back into the mainstream.

I’m not aware of the GOP being utterly useless as a political party in Teddy Roosevelt’s time, so I suspect the GOP’s first steps toward the dark side were done between then and the Depression. Perhaps it is as simple and stupid as the roaring 20s permanently corrupting the party.

I think the point of no return moment for them nationally is nominating Goldwater in ‘64. CRA-64 was the most important civil rights legislation and they nominated an opponent of that but there were other things before that such as Ike turning a blind eye to McCarthy(I like Ike but that’s a stain), the America First movement and its anti semitism regarding FDR and WWII, and the little known but since you brought up the 20’s Hoover’s response as Commerce Secretary to the Great Flood (I’ve seen al ot of AFrican-American historians say that along with Eleanor Roosevelt’s support for Civil Rights that they mark as the turning point for many black voters).