Conservative coalition

The Conservative coalition, in the United States, was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, minority of the Democratic Party. Aside from 1949-51, it controlled the United States Congress from 1939 to 1961 and remained a potent force until the mid-1980s.

History

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had won a second term in a landslide, sweeping all but two states over his Republican opponent, Alf Landon. For the 1937 session of Congress the Republicans would have only 17 Senators (out of 96 total) and 89 congressmen (out of a total of 431). Given his party's overwhelming majorities, Roosevelt decided he could overcome opposition to his liberal New Deal policies by the conservative justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, which had struck down many New Deal agencies as unconstitutional. Roosevelt proposed to expand the size of the court from nine to fifteen justices; he could then "pack" the court with six new justices who would support his policies.

However, many conservative Southern Democrats strongly opposed the plan. Among their leaders were Senators Harry Byrd and Carter Glass of Virginia and Vice-President John Nance Garner of Texas. U.S. Senator Josiah Bailey (D-NC) released a "Conservative Manifesto" in December 1937.^[1] "Give enterprise a chance, and I will give you the guarantees of a happy and prosperous America," Bailey said. The document called for a balanced federal budget, state's rights, and an end to labor union violence and coercion.^[1] Over 100,000 copies were distributed and it marked a turning point in terms of congressional support for New Deal legislation.^[1]

Democratic opposition to Roosevelt's "court packing" Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 was first led by coalition Democrat and House Judiciary Committee chairman Hatton W. Sumners. Sumners refused to endorse the bill, actively chopping it up within his committee in order to block the bill's chief effect of Supreme Court expansion. Finding such stiff opposition within the House, the administration arranged for the bill to be taken up in the Senate. Congressional Republicans decided to remain silent on the matter, denying pro-bill congressional Democrats the opportunity to use them as a unifying force. Republicans then watched from the sidelines as their Democratic coalition allies split the Democratic party vote in the Senate, defeating the bill. In the 1938 congressional elections the Republicans scored major gains in both houses, picking up six Senate seats and 80 House seats. Thereafter the Southern Democrats and Republicans in both Houses of Congress would often vote together on major economic issues, thus defeating many proposals by liberal Democrats. Truman's Fair Deal was passed during a brief period of liberal control in 1949-51.

In its heyday in the 1940's and 1950's, the coalition's most important Republican leader was Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio; the leading Democrats in the coalition were Senator Richard Russell, Jr. of Georgia and Congressmen Howard W. Smith of Virginia and Carl Vinson of Georgia. Although the Southern Democrat-Republican coalition usually voted together on economic issues, they were divided on many foreign policy goals. Prior to the Second World War most conservative Republicans were non-interventionists who wanted to stay out of the war at all costs, while most Southern Democrats were interventionists who favored helping the British and their allies defeat Nazi Germany. After the war many conservative Republicans continued to oppose American military alliances with other nations, such as NATO, while most Southern Democrats favored such alliances.

Liberals gained control of the House Rules Committee, and thus the congressional agenda, in 1961. But conservatives in the U.S. Senate could still veto legislation using the filibuster. Under President Lyndon Johnson, who had an intimate knowledge of the inner workings of Congress, liberals, together with Northeast Republicans, broke a southern filibuster led by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a decisive defeat for the coalition. Conservatives lost many seats in the 1964 election, but regained strength in the congressional elections of 1966. After the "Republican Revolution" in 1994, the Republicans took control of most of the conservative southern districts, so the Southern Democratic part of the coalition evaporated.

See also

• Solid South
• New Deal coalition
• Democratic Study Group
• Southernization

References

Further Reading

• Caro, Robert A. The Years of Lyndon Johnson: vol 3: Master of the Senate (2002).
• Fite, Gilbert. Richard B. Russell, Jr, Senator from Georgia (2002)
• Goldsmith, John A. Colleagues: Richard B. Russell and His Apprentice, Lyndon B. Johnson. (1993)
• MacNeil, Neil. Forge of Democracy: The House of Representatives (1963)
• Malsberger, John W. From Obstruction to Moderation: The Transformation of Senate Conservatism, 1938-1952 2000
• Moore, John Robert. "The Conservative Coalition in the United States Senate, 1942-45." Journal of Southern History 1967 33(3): 369-376. ISSN 0022-4642 Fulltext: Jstor, uses roll calls
• James T. Patterson. "A Conservative Coalition Forms in Congress, 1933-1939," The Journal of American History, Vol. 52, No. 4. (Mar., 1966), pp. 757-772. in JSTOR
• Patterson, James. Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933-39 (1967)
• Patterson, James T. Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft (1972)
• Schickler, Eric. Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress (2001)
• Shelley II, Mack C. The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress (1983)
• Rohde, David W. Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House (1991)