Dixiecrats on Parade

It's sad to see a real exploration of something so often discussed om this board go so long without being updated.
 
My thoughts on 1960 in this timeline. This is just a guess:
genusmap.php

Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge (Republican Party) 270 EVs
Lyndon Johnson/George Smathers (Democratic Party-National) 152 EVs
John Kennedy/Hubert Humphrey (Democratic Party-Liberal) 115 EVs
 
My thoughts on 1960 in this timeline. This is just a guess:
genusmap.php

Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge (Republican Party) 270 EVs
Lyndon Johnson/George Smathers (Democratic Party-National) 152 EVs
John Kennedy/Hubert Humphrey (Democratic Party-Liberal) 115 EVs
Swing just one state to Kennedy and things get veeeeery interesting.
 
1957: Deal or No Deal

As 1957 began, President Eisenhower found himself in an awkward position: Though he had won a landslide majority personally, Eisenhower's coattails had been largely nonexistent, with Democrats holding their ground across the board. Republicans failed to manage a single net gain in the House or the Senate.

Adding to the frustration, the United States House of Representatives looked largely unable to organize itself: The Democratic Party had an overall majority in the US House, but found itself facing an intransigent minority with enough votes to block the adoption of rules on legislation.

However, while Democrats were split, Joe Martin and a number of other Republicans made it clear that they were not going to cut any deals with the Southern Democrats, even for control of the House. It was and always had been one thing to work with them on spending matters, but for many northerners it was unthinkable to side with the South on questions of race. There was a large minority willing to sanction a deal, but their numbers were insufficient to "make it stick", and Joe Martin proved unwilling to risk a split in the GOP.

First Ballot:
Joseph Martin (R-MA) 201
John McCormack (D-MA) 185
Hale Boggs (D-LA) 40
Scattering/Spoilt 9


The situation was not as straightforward as the balloting would have implied: Numerous members were looking to cut deals to preserve their own seniority or to "leapfrog" ahead in the line to get committee chairs. The 47 recusant Democrats represented only about half of the Democratic representatives from the South, and a night of intense negotiating began.

For many in the South, there was a risk to continuing to vote and a risk to caving: For Freshmen lacking in the name recognition or degree of personal support in their districts needed to gain re-election, caving offered the possibility of lucrative committee slots but the risk of an electoral revolt; likewise, staying the course risked being made politically irrelevant and not even being granted seats on committees (as several leaders were openly and loudly threatening them with), endangering reelection even if they were seen as being "in the right" by their voters.

Second Ballot:
Joseph Martin (R-MA) 201
John McCormack (D-MA) 187
Hale Boggs (D-LA) 39
Scattering/Spoilt 8

The next morning broke with no signs of compromise in sight, despite hurried meetings between members, leaders, and so forth. All sides dug in for what looked like the most brutal election for Speaker of the House in almost exactly a century.
 
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