1 00:00:02,149 --> 00:00:07,279 Once upon a time, every student of history – and that meant pretty much everyone with 2 00:00:07,279 --> 00:00:12,719 a high school education – knew this: The Democratic Party was the party of slavery 3 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:20,240 and Jim Crow, and the Republican Party was the party of emancipation and racial integration. 4 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:24,540 Democrats were the Confederacy; and Republicans were the Union. 5 00:00:24,540 --> 00:00:29,920 Jim Crow Democrats were dominant in the South; and socially tolerant Republicans 6 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:31,660 were dominant in the North. 7 00:00:31,660 --> 00:00:38,820 But then, in the 1960s and 70s, everything supposedly flipped: suddenly the Republicans 8 00:00:38,820 --> 00:00:43,720 became the racists and the Democrats became the champions of civil rights. 9 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:49,760 Fabricated by left-leaning academic elites and journalists, the story went like this: 10 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:55,000 Republicans couldn't win a national election by appealing to the better nature of the country; 11 00:00:55,010 --> 00:00:57,920 they could only win by appealing to the worst. 12 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:04,480 Attributed to Richard Nixon, the media's all-purpose bad guy, this came to be known as 13 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:06,380 "The Southern Strategy." 14 00:01:06,380 --> 00:01:07,900 It was very simple. 15 00:01:07,900 --> 00:01:10,100 Win elections by winning the South. 16 00:01:10,100 --> 00:01:13,360 And to win the South, appeal to racists. 17 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:19,900 So, the Republicans, the party of Lincoln, were to now be labeled the party of rednecks. 18 00:01:19,900 --> 00:01:24,220 But this story of the two parties switching identities is a myth. 19 00:01:24,220 --> 00:01:29,520 In fact, it's three myths wrapped into one false narrative. 20 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:32,380 Let's take a brief look at each myth in turn. 21 00:01:32,380 --> 00:01:38,060 Myth Number One: In order to be competitive in the South, Republicans started to pander 22 00:01:38,060 --> 00:01:41,380 to white racists in the 1960s. 23 00:01:41,380 --> 00:01:48,980 Fact: Republicans actually became competitive in the South as early as 1928, when Republican 24 00:01:48,980 --> 00:01:56,620 Herbert Hoover won over 47 percent of the South's popular vote against Democrat Al Smith. 25 00:01:56,620 --> 00:02:03,560 In 1952, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower won the southern states of Tennessee, 26 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,340 Florida and Virginia. 27 00:02:05,340 --> 00:02:10,980 And in 1956, he picked up Louisiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, too. 28 00:02:10,980 --> 00:02:17,440 And that was after he supported the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education 29 00:02:17,450 --> 00:02:24,019 that desegregated public schools; and after he sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock 30 00:02:24,020 --> 00:02:27,580 Central High School to enforce integration. 31 00:02:27,580 --> 00:02:35,240 Myth Number Two: Southern Democrats, angry with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, switched parties. 32 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:44,200 Fact: Of the 21 Democratic senators who opposed the Civil Rights Act, just one became a Republican. 33 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:51,000 The other 20 continued to be elected as Democrats, or were replaced by other Democrats. 34 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:57,060 On average, those 20 seats didn't go Republican for another two-and-a-half decades. 35 00:02:57,060 --> 00:03:02,560 Myth Number Three: Since the implementation of the Southern Strategy, the Republicans 36 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,840 have dominated the South. 37 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:11,100 Fact: Richard Nixon, the man who is often credited with creating the Southern Strategy, 38 00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:14,160 lost the Deep South in 1968. 39 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:21,420 In contrast, Democrat Jimmy Carter nearly swept the region in 1976 - 12 years after 40 00:03:21,420 --> 00:03:24,260 the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 41 00:03:24,260 --> 00:03:32,080 And in 1992, over 28 years later, Democrat Bill Clinton won Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, 42 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,020 Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia. 43 00:03:35,020 --> 00:03:42,480 The truth is, Republicans didn't hold a majority of southern congressional seats until 1994, 44 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,880 30 years after the Civil Rights Act. 45 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:51,879 As Kevin Williamson writes at the National Review: "If southern rednecks ditched the 46 00:03:51,879 --> 00:03:58,480 Democrats because of a civil-rights law passed in 1964, it is strange that they waited until 47 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,280 the late 1980s and early 1990s to do so. 48 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:08,099 They say things move slower in the south -- but not t hat slow." 49 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:10,200 So, what really happened? 50 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:15,060 Why does the South now vote overwhelmingly Republican? 51 00:04:15,060 --> 00:04:17,760 Because the South itself has changed. 52 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:19,680 Its values have changed. 53 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,200 The racism that once defined it, doesn't anymore. 54 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:29,060 Its values today are conservative ones: pro-life, pro-gun, and pro-small government. 55 00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:34,360 And here's the proof: Southern whites are far more likely to vote for a black conservative, 56 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,860 like Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, than a white liberal. 57 00:04:38,860 --> 00:04:41,660 In short, history has moved on. 58 00:04:41,660 --> 00:04:47,280 Like other regions of the country, the South votes values, not skin color. 59 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:53,060 The myth of the Southern Strategy is just the Democrats excuse for losing the South. 60 00:04:53,060 --> 00:04:57,760 And yet another way to smear Republicans with the label "racist". 61 00:04:57,760 --> 00:04:59,860 Don't buy it. 62 00:04:59,860 --> 00:05:04,940 I'm Carol Swain, professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, 63 00:05:04,940 --> 00:05:08,060 for Prager University.