In 1970, four racially moderate Democrats won governors' seats in the American South -- Dale Bumpers in Arkansas, Reubin Askew in Florida, John West in South Carolina, and Jimmy Carter in Georgia. In Mighty Peculiar Elections, Randy Sanders explores these campaigns and shows that while each reflected aspects of its state's unique history and political idiosyncrasies, taken together, they signaled changes in attitudes and the politics of race in the South as well as the nation as a whole.
Most southerners by 1970 had come to realize the futility of overt opposition to federal civil...
In 1970, four racially moderate Democrats won governors' seats in the American South -- Dale Bumpers in Arkansas, Reubin Askew in Florida, John Wes...
"An important contribution to southern politics and a realistic view of the transition to the post-civil rights era in the South."--David Goldfield, University of North Carolina-Charlotte
In Mighty Peculiar Elections, Randy Sanders captures a moment in a time of transition when four gubernatorial races in 1970 revealed a great deal about the politics of race and changing attitudes in the South as well as the nation. He shows that even as southerners grappled with desegregation, voters in Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia elected a group of governors who reflected a...
"An important contribution to southern politics and a realistic view of the transition to the post-civil rights era in the South."--David Goldfield...
