Race, Republicans, and the Return of the Party of Lincoln

Introduction: Inclusion or Illusion?

Introduction Inclusion or Illusion? I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches. —J. Strom Thurmond, 1948 The history of the Republican Party and the NAACP has not been one of regular partnership. But our nation is harmed when we let our differences separate us and divide us. So, while some in my party have avoided the NAACP, and while some in the NAACP have avoided my party, I am proud to be here today. —George W. Bush, July 10, 2000 I want to say this about my state: when Strom Thurmond ran for President, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either. —Senator Trent Lott, December 5, 2002 DURING THE 2000 ELECTORAL CYCLE, observers of the political landscape witnessed the emergence of a “new” Republican Party. Characterized by the catchphrase “compassionate conservatism,” the Republican Party reached out to minority voters in ways it had not in recent history. Without making any substantial changes to its platform, the GOP presented itself as a more diverse party that welcomed African Americans and other minority groups into its tent. For example, George W. Bush became the ‹rst Republican presidential candidate in twelve years to address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at its national convention in Baltimore. During his speech, Bush declared that he was there because he believed “there is much [the NAACP and the Republican Party] can do together to advance racial harmony and economic opportunity.” He admitted that for the Republican Party, “there’s no escaping the reality that the Party of Lincoln has not always carried the mantle of Lincoln.” Nevertheless, Bush argued that by “recognizing our past and confronting the future with a common vision,” the GOP and the NAACP could “‹nd common ground” (Bush 2000). This theme of reclaiming the “mantle of Lincoln” and opening up the Republican Party to minority voters would continue throughout the months leading up to Election Day. Perhaps the best example of the Republican Party’s minority outreach occurred during the 2000 Republican National Convention. As Denton (2002) notes, “The Republican convention presented a friendlier, more inclusive, and moderate convention than in 1992 and 1996. Republicans made direct appeals to those of Democratic leanings” (8–9). In addition to its 85 black convention delegates (a 63 percent increase from the 1996 convention ), the 2000 Republican convention in Philadelphia featured prime-time appearances by Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush’s former national security adviser and Secretary of State during his second term; and retired general Colin Powell, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state (Bositis 2000, 2). In fact, during the convention , Powell challenged the Republican Party to bridge racial divides and reclaim the “mantle of Lincoln” by overcoming blacks’ “cynicism and mistrust” toward the Republican Party and reaching out to the African American community (Powell 2000). Newspaper coverage of the 2000 Republican convention suggested that the GOP’s diversity effort was part of its “search of a new package for its core philosophy.” Republican Party chair Jim Nicholson was quoted as saying that the 2000 convention in Philadelphia was “a different kind of convention, for a different kind of party” (Von Drehle 2000). During the convention, the Republican Party tried to distance itself from its “battered old image” as “a bunch of mean moralizers” while portraying itself as being “a new, happy and inclusive Republican Party that wants to keep the good times rolling” (Dionne 2000). Two years later, during a 100th birthday celebration for longtime senator J. Strom Thurmond (R-SC), Republican senator Trent Lott publicly remarked that the country would have been better off if Thurmond had been elected president in 1948. Lott’s comment referred to the Dixiecrat revolt of 1948, led by Thurmond, in which many south2 Race, Republicans, & the Return of the Party of Lincoln ern Democrats rebelled against the Democratic Party as a result of President Harry S. Truman’s extension of civil rights to African Americans . Thurmond’s candidacy marked the South’s commitment to segregation and white supremacy in spite of the party...