Here's the thing, Heroditus: the Republicans of the late 1960's were starting to feel the heat as they watched more Black people participate in politics, and they were NOT voting for Republicans. They were voting for moderate and progressive Democrats-- the same folks who had marched for their right to vote. The GOP decided that they needed a way to yank voters from the Democrats, so they developed the Southern Strategy: a carefully crafted exploitation of the racial resentments and white ethnic solidarity prominent among Old South Dixiecrats.