https://www.history.com/news/how-the-pa ... atic-south
After that, the majority of the South still continued to vote Democratic because it thought of the Republican party as the party of Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction. The big break didn’t come until President Johnson, another Southern Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Govenor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, was nominated as States' Right candidate at the rump convention held in Birmingham on by southern recalcitrants. The Southerners took this drastic action after the Democratic convention added President Truman's civil rights program of its party platform. (Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)
GOVENOR STROM THURMOND OF SOUTH CAROLINA, WAS NOMINATED AS STATES’ RIGHT CANDIDATE AT THE RUMP CONVENTION HELD IN BIRMINGHAM ON BY SOUTHERN RECALCITRANTS. THE SOUTHERNERS TOOK THIS DRASTIC ACTION AFTER THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION ADDED PRESIDENT TRUMAN’S CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRAM OF ITS PARTY PLATFORM. (CREDIT: BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES)
Though some Democrats had switched to the Republican party prior to this, “the defections became a flood” after Johnson signed these acts, Goldfield says. “And so the political parties began to reconstitute themselves.”
The change wasn’t total or immediate. During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, white Southerners were still transitioning away from the Democratic party (newly enfranchised black Southerners voted and continue to vote Democratic). And even as Republican Richard Nixon employed a “Southern strategy” that appealed to the racism of Southern white voters, former Alabama Governor George Wallace (who’d wanted “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever”) ran as a Democrat in the 1972 presidential primaries.
By the time Ronald Reagan became president in 1980, the Republican party’s hold on white Southerners was firm. Today, the Republican party remains the party of the South. It’s an ironic outcome considering that a century ago, white Southerners would’ve never considered voting for the party of Lincoln.