General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Love it when AOC pushes Wingnuts' buttons; not so much mine about FDR [View all]Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Lester Maddox, and all the deplorable Southern racists were Democrats (properly classified as Dixiecrats).
They were racist as hell and openly supported legislation and law enforcement that oppressed POC. But they were quite supportive of the New Deal, farm programs, etc., at the national level.
Of course, with enactment of the Civil Rights Act, most of the Dixiecrats -- who weren't well into their 70/80s in age -- ran to the Republican Party that opened their arms and proudly became America's official racist political party. A few, like Robert Byrd, recognized their racist past and tried to repent.
To this day, ignorant white wing Southerners like to blame Democrats for racism in the past, totally ignoring the migration to -- and ideology of -- the Republican Party today.