southernstrategy



The Southern Strategy

President Nixon did not support civil rights and felt that the African American vote wasn't something he needed to get appeal from. In the election against John Kennedy, he only won 12 percent of the black vote. The "Southern Strategy" was Nixon's procedure to win over the middle and upper class and white Democrat vote. To do this, he elected several white men to his law, made desegregation laws easier to meet, he cut funding for fair house laws, and tried to prevent extension of the Voting Rights Act. He also asked Congress to stop bus segregation, which would speed up desegregation in schools, and he funded and supported schools that were still segregated. Most of Nixon's attempts did not stop progression through the country, but it did slow things down.

Resources: America: Pathways to the Present- pg 829 to 830

Picture: http://archive.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/03/24/southern_strategy/cover.jpg