re: #67 uncah91

We probably should date the current polarization of party politics as being set in motion July 26, 1948, when Truman commenced the integration of the armed forces. The Dixiecrat party and Strom Thurmond for President followed that fall.

Whether that amounts to the country “coming off the rails” or “finally thinking about getting on the rails” is perhaps a philosophical puzzle.

It certainly signaled the Solid South segregationists that they would eventually not be welcome in the Democratic Party. The switch took a while, 20 years or more, mostly because the liberal wing of the Republican Party (Rockefeller, Dewey, etc.) was loathe to take in the orphaned segregationists. The conservative Taft wing continued to harbor extreme isolationists and left-over pro-fascists, however. These were naturally also racists, and they built their strength through the 50s, finally taking over the GOP completely in 1964 and’68. Financial support from the Hunt brothers, fronted by their young model-turned-lawyer Phyllis Schlafly, was a major factor in this transformation.
Support from the infamous China Lobby, seldom mentioned today, also helped with the right wing transformation of the GOP. For example, Anna Chennault, virtual head of the China Lobby for many years, was the go-between in Nixon’s treasonous plot to sabotage the Vietnam peace talks during the ‘68 campaign.