Carpetbaggers, Confederates, and Richard Nixon: The 1960 Presidential Election, Historical Memory, and the Republican Southern Strategy

This article investigates the Republican Party's interactions with the South during the 1960 presidential election. It argues that southern Republican growth was built on foundations laid in 1960. Furthermore, this article illustrates the crucial importance of historical memory in southern political development. It presents white southern sentiment about the Civil War and Reconstruction as a key obstacle Republicans faced, illuminating the memory-heavy language politicians and southern supporters employed to foster desertions from the Democratic standard. By placing historical memory at the center of its analysis, this study sheds new light on the Republican “Southern Strategy” and the figures most responsible for shaping Republican fortunes in the former Confederacy.