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Strom Thurmond's America (2012)

by Joseph Crespino(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0809094800 (ISBN13: 9780809094806)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Hill and Wang

review 1: Excellent biography of Ol' Strom. It's not black and white or hagiography. One thinks of his strict segregation beliefs and reactionary politics and his biracial daughter, but Strom was once a New Dealer and a huge supporter of Roosevelt, i.e., Big government. This changed after WWII; starting with the armed forces the U.S. slowly began integrating. Crespino's argument is that Strom is not some symbol from a bygone era; he is one of the founders of the New Right whose politicians share Strom's political beliefs to this day, however, I do feel Strom had better manners. I've read before that some of the nicest people have the meanest political beliefs, hence the harshness and heartlessness of many southern GOP white male politicians, but all Sunday school graciousness on the... more outside. The modern GOP was created because of race; integration was the motivation behind the hatred of Big Government: the government telling whites they had to go to school with blacks. Southern Democrats like Thurmond switched over to the Republicans in 1964 creating the new far right GOP. In South Carolina the Republican party has the strength Democrats had over half a century ago.
review 2: The value of this book lies in Crespino's linkage of Strom Thurmond's racism to his classism. Opposed to racial equality and justice, Thurmond also denounced labor unions, worker protection and safety legislation, and Great Society programs, while never failing to advocate for military spending, big business subsidies, and deregulation. In his role as precursor to post-war conservatism, Thurmond paved the way for Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes, and diminution of American liberalism. Crespino's book is well written and well argued. I highly recommend it. less

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