Strom Thurmond - Dixiecrat and Grandaddy to all of the Republican Right.

Strom Thurmond and the Civil Rights Act of 1957

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was introduced and strongly supported by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX). It passed in spite of a filibuster led by Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC, who switched to R-SC in 1964), during which Thurmond spoke for a Senate record of 24 hours 18 minutes.

The Dixiecrats were members of the States' Rights Democratic Party, which splintered from the Democratic Party in 1948. The faction consisted of malcontented southern delegates to the Democratic Party who protested the insertion of a civil rights plank in the party platform and U.S. president Harry S. Truman's advocacy of that plank. Before the convention southern delegates were dismayed by Truman's 1948 executive order to desegregate the armed forces.

Today's Dixiecrats include George W. Bush, Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, Christopher Bond, Jim Inhofe, Bill Frist, and James Talent to name a few.

Democrats were embarrassed by George Wallace and Bull Connor. Why aren't Republicans embarrassed by David Duke and Bob Jones?