Remaking the Democratic Party: Lyndon B. Johnson as a Native-Son Presidential Candidate - Hardcover

Jr, Hanes Walton; Dowe, Pearl K. Ford; Allen, Josephine A.V.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 047211994X ISBN 13: 9780472119943

Publisher: The University of Michigan Press, 2016

Synopsis

A continuation of Hanes Walton Jr.'s work on Southern Democraticpresidents, Remaking the Democratic Party analyzes the congressionaland presidential elections of Lyndon Baines Johnson. This study buildsupon the general theory of the native-son phenomenon to demonstratethat a Southern native-son can win the presidency without the localismevident in the elections of Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Although ridiculed by contemporaries for his apparent lack of controlover formal party politics and the national committee, Johnson excelledat leading the Democratic Party's policy agenda. While a senator andas president, Johnson advocated for-and secured-liberal socialwelfare and civil rights legislation, forcing the party to break with itsSouthern tradition of elitism, conservatism, and white supremacy. In away, Johnson set the terms for the continuing partisan battle because,by countering the Democrats' new ideology, the Republican Party alsounderwent a transformation.

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Review

"Walton argues persuasively that no modern president did more to remake his own political party than Lyndon Johnson. Timely too are his conclusions that LBJ's Democratic Party and the opposition Republican Party were reshaped into the movements we recognize today, and that central to this seismic shift was the issue of race. This work offers an important contribution to the field of presidential studies. The research is impressive and original."
--Michael L. Collins, Regents Professor and Professor Emeritus, Midwestern State University
"An invaluable resource for students of Texas electoral history and the electoral career of Lyndon Johnson. For years to come this will be the work to go to on these subjects."
--Robert C. Smith, San Francisco State University

About the Author

Hanes Walton Jr was Professor of Political Science at the University ofMichigan, USA. Pearl K. Ford Dowe is Associate Professor of Political Scienceand interim Director of the African and African American Studies Programat the University of Arkansas, USA. Josephine A. V. Allen is Professor of SocialWork at Binghamton University and Professor Emeritus of Policy Analysisand Management at Cornell University, USA.

About this edition

• Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 047211994X
• ISBN 13: 9780472119943
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416