I don't recall Nixon using this strategy until he tried again in 1968. How might the election in 1960 have gone if Nixon employed the Southern Strategy as aggressively as he did in 1968?
I don't think there was enough a schism between Northern and Southern Democrats at that point for it to be a successful tactic. I know there was "Massive Resistance" to Brown vs Board of Education by that point, but I don't think it had matured to the point in 1960 for it to drive White Southern Democrats away from the national party to a significant degree.
The previous election had Eisenhower win 5 of the 11 former Confederate states. If anything, I’ve been starting to wonder if the 60’s aren’t just really overrated. The South had started voting Republican decades earlier, at least in part.
That said, Nixon would have to repudiate his direct superior’s Civil Rights record, probably a hard sell.
I don't recall Nixon using this strategy until he tried again in 1968. How might the election in 1960 have gone if Nixon employed the Southern Strategy as aggressively as he did in 1968?
Nixon would have probably lost California if he tried an overt Southern Strategy as there was a strong core of support for Republicans by Blacks in California.
I can't think,of any other Northern or Midwest state that was close that had a large enough black vote to switch from Nixon to Kennedy.
I don't think there was enough a schism between Northern and Southern Democrats at that point for it to be a successful tactic. I know there was "Massive Resistance" to Brown vs Board of Education by that point, but I don't think it had matured to the point in 1960 for it to drive White Southern Democrats away from the national party to a significant degree.
Nixon was very public on his support of civil rights and his support for the 1957 civil rights bill. It's sad to se how far he fell in his later years before his two losses turned him to the dark side.