Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields will speak tonight about their book The Long Southern Strategy tonight (September 19) at 6pm. The program, a joint presentation of the Clinton School and Clinton Foundation, will take place in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center.
The Southern Strategy is traditionally understood as a Goldwater and Nixon-era effort by the Republican Party to win over disaffected white voters in the Democratic stronghold of the American South. To realign these voters with the GOP, the party abandoned its past support for civil rights and used racially coded language to capitalize on southern white racial angst.
However, that decision was but one in a series of decisions the GOP made not just on race, but on feminism and religion as well, in what Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields call the “Long Southern Strategy.”
In the wake of Second-Wave Feminism, the GOP dropped the Equal Rights Amendment from its platform and promoted traditional gender roles in an effort to appeal to anti-feminist white southerners, particularly women. And when the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention became increasingly fundamentalist and politically active, the GOP tied its fate to the Christian Right. With original, extensive data on national and regional opinions and voting behavior, Maxwell and Shields show why all three of those decisions were necessary for the South to turn from blue to red.
To make inroads in the South, however, GOP politicians not only had to take these positions, but they also had to sell them with a southern “accent.” Republicans embodied southern white culture by emphasizing an “us vs. them” outlook, preaching absolutes, accusing the media of bias, prioritizing identity over the economy, encouraging defensiveness, and championing a politics of retribution. In doing so, the GOP nationalized southern white identity, rebranded itself to the country at large, and fundamentally altered the vision and tone of American politics.
All Clinton School Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu or by calling (501) 683-5239.
Join the Old State House Museum on Thursday, Sept. 19, from 12 to 1 p.m., as Tom Hill discusses the origins and history of Hot Springs National Park, the first area in the United States to be federally protected for its natural features, with a particular emphasis on the experiences of African Americans.
In partnership with the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, the June Freeman Lecture Series is excited to welcome Jennifer Bonner, Director of MALL and Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the Master in Architecture II Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
The Arkansas Arts Center presents Ansley West Rivers tonight as part of its Distinguished Lecture Series.
Last week was the 18th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001. Tonight, the Clinton School of Public Service presents journalist and author Garrett M. Graff discussing his book about that day, The Only Plane in the Sky.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 