Republicans and Race: The GOP’s Frayed Relationship with African-Americans, 1945–1974

In an important book on a tricky subject, Thurber (The Politics of Equality) charts the Republican racial odyssey from the Truman to Nixon years, and the transformation of the Republican Party itself. Today the GOP is nearly all white, and it has been for more than half a century. Avoiding all-too-easy partisan claims of inherent Republican racism, Thurber’s well-researched, balanced account explains why. The Virginia Commonwealth University historian recounts the Eisenhower-enforced 1957 school integration of Little Rock and civil-rights role of prominent Republican lawmakers. Despite aggressive white supremacy among southern Democrats, black civil rights leaders remained loyal to the Democratic Party. For African-Americans, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy remained shining lights. Barry Goldwater and his anti-federal views left them cold. Republican electoral design after 1964 was to attract white southern voters who resisted integration and sun-belt migrants who had few racial issues. The GOP wrote off the black vote, parting ways with dominant African-American thinking about civil disorder, integration, crime, and welfare. Thurber notes Nixon’s racial pessimism as he sidestepped “overtly racial” language about school busing. Historians and general readers alike should welcome this definitive history that illuminates a contested, oft-misunderstood chapter of American politics. (Sept.)