A Wall of Separation · Episode 7 of 14 · 35 min
How White Evangelicals Moved From Democrat to Republican
White evangelicals did not flip parties overnight. Between 1948 and 1976 they and the once-Solid South migrated from Democrat to Republican through Cold War faith, civil-rights backlash and Sunbelt culture. Billy Graham gave the shift a permission structure, but the evidence does not support the claim that he alone was the pivot.
Who's who
- Billy GrahamEvangelist who served as Nixon's moral confidant and later regretted politics
- Dwight D. Eisenhower+12 more episodesPresident under whom under God and In God We Trust became official
- Harry S. Truman+14 more episodesPresident whose 1948 civil-rights moves triggered the Southern walkout
- Strom ThurmondDixiecrat nominee in 1948 who switched to the GOP in 1964
- Richard Nixon+15 more episodesPresident who used the Southern Strategy
- Harry DentThurmond aide and Nixon strategist who operationalized the Southern Strategy
- Kevin KruseHistorian who argues Christian America civic religion was constructed at mid-century
- Daniel K. WilliamsHistorian who sees the Christian Right as multi-causal
Where it happens
- Madison Square Garden, New YorkSite of Graham's 16-week 1957 crusade
- American South+2 more episodesRegion that shifted from Democratic to Republican
Timeline
- 1948Truman desegregates the armed forces; Southern delegates walk out and nominate Thurmond
- 1954Congress adds under God to the Pledge of Allegiance
- 1957Graham's New York Crusade draws about 2.3 million in person
- 1964Civil Rights Act passes; Thurmond switches to the Republican Party
- 1968Nixon wins on law and order while Wallace carries five Southern states
- 1976Newsweek declares the Year of the Evangelical; Carter wins
Still debated
Historians weight race, religion and economics differently in the realignment. Graham is best seen as a catalyst and legitimizer rather than sole architect, and whether law and order and states' rights were racial signals or governing concerns is contested.
← PreviousThe Lemon Test: The Rule That Governed Church and State for 50 YearsNext →How the IRS — Not Abortion — Sparked the Religious Right
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