Dbq Republican Party

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“After Reconstruction, the Democrats used their overwhelming legislative majority and control of the governor’s office to impose a poll tax in 1903 and enact the Terrell Election Law in 1905; two key elements in a plan to limit the influence of those likely to support non-Democratic candidates” (footnote pg. 47). So in the first sixty years of the twentieth century, the Democratic Party continued to flex its political muscle. It would be during the mid-twentieth century however that the Republican Party would see some hope of the future. Conservative Democrats became an issue for the Democratic Party as they supported the Republican Dwight Eisenhower for president. As a matter of fact, Texas Governor Allan Shivers, at a Democratic National …show more content…

Fehrebach observed, “A majority of conservative Democrats might vote for the national Republicans ticket, as they did in 1952 and 1956, but, in local control, this same majority felt the one-party system adequately served their needs. Republicans contested few local races, and won even fewer, but there was a steady, noticeable growth, fed by the unpopular policies of the nationally dominant Northern Democrats”. (footnote pg 63). So as we can see from this quote, the conservative Democrats voted Republican because their policies served their needs and the national Northern Democratic policies were leaving a bitter taste in their mouths. The conservatives would continue to control the Democratic primary which stopped the Republicans from emerging a clear-cut …show more content…

The 1976 presidential primary between Ford and Reagan would see an increase in the Texas Republican Party and liberalized the Texas Democratic Party. In 1984, when Phil Gramm retired as a Democratic congressmen to run and win as a Republican, you could tell that the winds were shifting until the momentum just kept building. After some time, Texas would go from being recognized as a Democratic Party to a two-party Texas to a Republican Texas; but how did this happen? “Ideological divisions began to appear clearly within the Democratic Party in the 1940s. While some of the more conservative elements in the party opposed a third term for President Roosevelt, others rallied behind FDR in the 1940 election”. (footnote pg 110). This is what some believe as the beginning of the end of the Democratic hold on Texas as this cause a split between the “Texas Regulars” and the supporters of the New Deal. Then, later on we see several Democratic leaders actually endorse the Republican presidential candidate which led to the two-party Democrats. This poses a problem as the liberal control of the Texas Democratic Party became responsible for the growth and success of the Republican Party. “Between 1978, when Republicans won their first race for governor, and 1996, when the GOP won all statewide contests, Texas experienced a time of two-party competition that gradually moved the state from predominately Democratic

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