Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America

229 Pages·1999·1.03 MB·English

by  Paul Frymer

UNEASY ALLIANCES
princeton studies in american politics:
historical, international, and
comparative perspectives
series editors
Ira Katznelson, Martin Shefter, Theda Skocpol, eds.
A list of titles
in this series appears
at the back of
the book
UNEASY ALLIANCES
RACE AND PARTY COMPETITION
IN AMERICA
Paul Frymer
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright(cid:1) 1999 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester,
West Sussex
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frymer, Paul, 1968–
Uneasy alliances : race and party competition in America / Paul
Frymer.
p. cm.— (Princeton studies in American politics)
Revision of the author’s thesis (Ph. D.)—Yale University, 1995.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-05795-8 (cloth : alk. paper). — ISBN 0-691-00464-1
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. United States—Race relations—Political aspects. 2. Racism—
Political aspects—United States. 3. United States—Politics and
government—1865–1900. 4. United States—Politics and
government—20th century. 5. Political parties—United States—
History. 6. Afro-Americans—Civil rights—History. I. Title.
II. Series.
E185.615.F79 1999
324(cid:2).086(cid:2)930973—dc21 98-38411
This book has been composed in Sabon
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper)
http://pup.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
(Pbk.)
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
To My Parents
Barbara and Murry Frymer
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Chapter 1. Introduction 3
Chapter 2. Competitive Parties and the “Invisibility”
of Captured Groups 27
Chapter 3. National Party Competition and the
Disenfranchisement of Black Voters in the South, 1866–1932 49
Chapter 4. Capture Inside the Democratic Party, 1965–1996 87
Chapter 5. Party Education and Mobilization and the
Captured Group 120
Chapter 6. Black Representation in Congress 140
Chapter 7. Is the Concept of Electoral Capture Applicable
to Other Groups? The Case of Gay and Lesbian Voters
in the Democratic Party and the Christian Right in the
Republican Party 179
Index 207
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Illustrations
FIGURES
2.1 Distribution of ideology on nonracial dimensions 31
2.2 Putative distribution after African American
enfranchisement 33
2.3 Politics in three dimensions 46
3.1 The electoral college vote in 1884 77
5.1 Third congressional district, Connecticut, democratic
performance 129
5.2 Third congressional district, Connecticut, persuasion
percentage 130
5.3 Percentage persuadable by percentage black (precincts in
New Haven, 1992) 131
5.4 Persuadable voters by income level 132
6.1 Mentions of Congressional Black Caucus (Congressional
Quarterly Weekly) 152
6.2 Mentions of Congressional Black Caucus (New York
Times) 153
6.3 Mentions of Congressional Black Caucus (Washington
Post) 153
6.4 Mentions of Congressional Black Caucus and AFL-CIO
(Congressional Quarterly Weekly) 154
TABLES
3.1 Southern congressional districts in 1883 with majority or
near majority African American populations 76
4.1 Black voting size (by state) versus votes for Reagan, 1984 113
5.1 Party contact and voting by income group 125
5.2 Effects of party contact on campaign interest 134
5.3 Change in respondent interest, controlling for party contact 135
5.4 Effects of party contact on general political efficacy 136
6.1 Legislative agenda of the Black Caucus by issue, 103rd
Congress 150
6.2 Public activities of and stances by the Congressional Black
Caucus as reported by three major journals, 1970–1976 155
6.3 Public stances by the Congressional Black Caucus, by
subject matter 163