The two-party system 71Democrats in the South began to erode. It had become clear that the Demo-
cratic Party at the national level had aims very different from its Southern
wing. However, the problem that faced Southern whites, and still does, is that
if politics in a state, such as Mississippi, where blacks make up over 36 per
cent of the population, moves from the dominance of one party to a competi-
tive two-party system, the black population will hold the balance of power
and be able to demand concessions in exchange for throwing its support to
one party or the other.
The strategy adopted by Southern whites in this situation was ‘presiden-
tial Republicanism’. The American electoral system allows voters to ‘split the
ticket’, that is to vote for the candidate of one party for one office, such as
president, and to vote for candidates of other parties for other offices, such as
Senator, Representative, Governor and so forth. Southerners could continue
to vote solidly for Democrats for Senator and Representative, and at the same
time vote for the Republican candidate for the presidency, and they did so in
increasing numbers. The phenomenon grew of Democratic presidents whose
most determined opponents were Democratic Senators and Representatives
from the Southern states. In Congress the ‘Conservative Coalition’ became
the most powerful bloc; it consisted of conservative Republicans and South-
ern Democrats who would oppose liberal measures sponsored by Democratic
presidents and supported by liberal Republicans and Democrats. This was a
recipe for legislative deadlock.
As presidential Republicanism became more widespread it resulted in the
election of Republican presidents, faced often by nominal Democratic ma-
jorities in the Senate or House, but enabling the president to govern success-
fully with the support of the Conservative Coalition. Republican Presidents
Nixon, Ford, Reagan and George Herbert Bush were all faced throughout
their terms of office by a House of Representatives with Democratic ma-
jorities and for much of the time by Democratic majorities in the Senate as
well. This phenomenon of ‘divided government’, the presidency held by one
political party and one or both houses of Congress by the opposing party,
became the distinguishing factor of the second half of the twentieth cen-
tury in American politics. However, although this strategy enabled Southern
politicians to block policies of which they disapproved, it had disadvantages
for the South. When the South had formed a solid wing of the Democratic
Party and a Democrat was in the White House the South had enjoyed a lot
of benefits, even though Southern Democrats might dislike the holder of the
presidential office: jobs in the administration, ambassadorial posts, judicial
appointments, participation in the ‘pork barrel’ process of allocating federal
funds. But when, largely as a result of split-ticket voting in the South, a Re-
publican president was in office, Southerners were cut off from the spoils of
office.
A further problem arose from the increased registration of black voters
and their greater participation in elections. Since the presidency of Franklin
Roosevelt blacks have voted overwhelmingly for the Democrats. The South