In 1964, Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, an Arizona senator and GOP chairman who showed his adherence to white supremacy by voting against the Civil Rights Act. Goldwater chose New York congressman William E. Miller for a running mate, who warned against Democratic candidates being “soft on crime”—a reference to civil rights protesters staging demonstrations in cities across the country. The tactic didn’t win the election, but the party of Lincoln made significant inroads in the South for the first time since the Civil War. Not only were the pro-segregationist states the only states
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