Boll weevil (politics)
Boll weevils (named for the type of beetle which feeds on cotton buds) was an American political term used in the mid-to-late 20th century to describe conservative Democrats, particularly Southern Democrats.
Background
During and after the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, conservative Southern Democrats were part of the coalition generally in support of the economic policies of Democratic presidents Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, dubbed the New Deal and Fair Deal respectively, but were opposed to desegregation and the civil rights movement.
On several occasions between 1948 and 1968, prominent conservative Southern Democrats broke from the Democrats to run a
After 1968, with desegregation a settled issue, the Republican Party began a strategy of trying to win conservative Southerners from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party (see Southern strategy and silent majority).
History
Representative
Nonetheless, a bloc of conservative Democrats, mostly Southerners, remained in the United States Congress throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These included Democratic House members as conservative as Georgia's Larry McDonald, who was also a leader in the John Birch Society.
During the administration of
Most of the Democratic boll weevils eventually retired from politics, or in the case of some, such as Senators Phil Gramm of Texas and Richard Shelby of Alabama, switched parties and joined the Republicans.[4] Since 1988, the term "boll weevils" has fallen out of favor.
A bloc of conservative Democrats in the House, including some younger or newer members as well as the remaining boll weevils who refused to bow to pressure to switch parties, organized themselves as the "Blue Dogs" in the early 1990s.[2] A different bloc of Democrats also emerged in the 1990s, under the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), espousing pro-business views on economic issues and moderate views on social issues.
See also
- Bourbon Democrat
- Conservative Democrat
- Dixiecrat
- New Democrats
- Democrat in Name Only and Republican in Name Only
- Yellow dog Democrat
References
- ISBN 978-0-19-534334-2.
- ^ a b c d "Boll Weevils" in Elections A–Z (ed. John L. Moore: Congressional Quarterly, 1999). Routledge ed. 2013. pp. 27–28.
- ISSN 0898-0306.
- ISBN 978-0-8131-1904-5.