BACKLASH PRESIDENTS

Accounts of three presidents who broke the iron rule of American politics: Never disturb the racial status quo.

Azari, a professor of political science at Marquette University and author of Delivering the People’s Message: The Changing Politics of the Presidential Mandate, begins with Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 successor, Vice President Andrew Johnson. The only Southern senator who opposed secession, he disliked slavery but despised Black people. He treated them rudely, ignored widespread abuse throughout the South, vetoed congressional civil rights acts, and escaped conviction by a single vote after being impeached. Calling this a “backlash” is a weak analogy. While Northern public opinion had turned against slavery, belief in black equality remained a minority view. Blaming Reconstruction’s failure on a backlash is a stretch because Northern white support was lukewarm to begin with. Lyndon Johnson deserves praise for effective 1960s civil rights laws, but Southern malevolence cleared the way. Even conservative Northern whites were horrified at the murders, church bombing, and violence against freedom riders—all vividly covered on TV news. As a result, Johnson’s bills passed overwhelmingly, and more congressional Republicans than Democrats voted in favor. Sadly, malevolence returned following urban unrest. The beneficiary was Richard Nixon, whose law-and-order campaign and “Southern Strategy” began the country’s conservative turn, which is still with us. Impeached for offenses that might be considered small potatoes today, Nixon resigned. Supporters cheered when Ronald Reagan proclaimed the U.S. a colorblind nation where merit alone determined success. This didn’t prevent a backlash after Barack Obama’s election. He was accused of being ineligible to run for fabricated reasons and then denounced as an “affirmative action” president elected solely because of his race. The beneficiary, Donald Trump, maintained the colorblind public discourse while reviling proxy minorities: Muslims and immigrants, including legal ones.

Good evidence that racism, preferably unaddressed, remains an ongoing undercurrent in America.