Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past (Hardcover)

by Bruce Bartlett (Author) "If you go to the web site of the Democratic National Committee and click on the page with the history of the Democratic Party, you'll..." (more)
Key Phrases: poor white farmers, antilynching bill, Democratic Party, Southern Democrats, South Carolina (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bruce Bartlett brandishes a damning history of the Democratic Party, which for 100 years after the Civil War provided a fertile ground for Jim Crow and white supremacy. Democrats have long acted behind an ethos of racial equality, yet, as Bartlett powerfully illustrates, the reality of their patchy record over the last two centuries in fact lends little credibility to that claim. Compelling and incisive."--Grover G. Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform

"Wrong on Race is an important contribution to the study of party politics in America. Bartlett offers a thorough, well documented account of the racial roots of the Democratic party. This book should be a required reading for African-Americans of all ages, and especially for the nation's youth."--Carol Swain, Professor of Political Science and Law, Vanderbilt University, and editor of Debating Immigration

"Wrong on Race powerfully recapitulates a twentieth century journey into racial pettifogging and outright confusion, and in doing so shines a light as clear as the meridian sun on the realities of racial politics…Bruce Bartlett has done what no one before him has done, and it is all the more remarkable, therefore, to say that it will probably never be better done."--Professor William B. Allen, Michigan State University; and former chairman, U.S. Civil Rights Commission

"The Democratic party is widely credited, not least by black writers, as the party that has done the most for civil rights. Yet for most of its history it has been the other way around. As Bruce Bartlett points out in Wrong on Race, Democratic icons like Woodrow Wilson worked to impose segregation on blacks, and even Franklin Roosevelt did little for equal rights."--Michael Barone, syndicated columnist, co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, and author of Our First Revolution

Praise for Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the American Legacy:

"It's a fairly devastating indictment of the current administration's economic policies from a conservative-to-libertarian perspective."--Chris Suellentrop, The Washington Post
"Liberal commentators gripe so frequently about the current administration that it's become easy to tune them out, but when Bartlett, a former member of the Reagan White House, says George W. Bush has betrayed the conservative movement, his conservative credentials command attention."--Publishers Weekly
"Bruce Bartlett is no impostor. He's the real thing--a reality-based conservative who searches for supportable truths and then speaks them loudly and clearly."--Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Price of Loyalty
"Bruce Bartlett has long been one of Washington's most searching, thoughtful, and uncompromisingly candid analysts. That's a view shared not only by those who agree with him, but also by people like me, who differ with him about 80 percent of the time. This book is a perfect reflection of Bruce's gifts: he cares far more about being honest and consistent than about following anyone's party line."--E. J. Dionne Jr., author of Stand Up Fight Back and Why Americans Hate Politics

Product Description

In Wrong on Race, Bruce Bartlett sets the record straight on a hidden past that many Democrats would rather see swept under the carpet. Ranging from the founding of the Republic through to today, it rectifies the unfair perceptions of America's two national parties. While Nixon's infamous "Southern Strategy" is constantly referenced in the media, less well remembered are Woodrow Wilson's segregation of the entire Federal civil service; FDR's appointment of a member of the KKK to the Supreme Court; John F. Kennedy's apathy towards civil rights legislation;  and the ascension of Robert Byrd, who is current President pro tempore of the Senate, third in line in the presidential line of succession, and a former member of the KKK.
For the last seventy years, African Americans have voted en masse for one party, with little in the end to show for it. Is it time for the pendulum to swing the other way? With the Republican Party furiously engaged in pre-2008 soul searching, this exhaustively researched, incisively written exposé will be an important and compelling component of that debate as we head towards November.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (January 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 023060062X
• ISBN-13: 978-0230600621
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #608,495 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting, January 24, 2008

By	lumindanu (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

The book was interesting, I learned much I didn't know. For a student of politics and history, it is always good to have as much information as possible, in order to draw one's own opinions. The information the book presents was certainly new to me, history is an avocation and so I am more informed than a casual reader,nevertheless the book provided me with much new information and food for thought.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Eye Opener, March 25, 2008

By	dwood78 (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Prior to writing this review, I went to the web sites of both the Democratic Party & the GOP to check their records on civil rights & women suffrage. Here's what I found:

The GOP's history page talks about its founding to oppose slavery & the passing of a number of civil rights bills, & its later support for women suffrage.

The Democratic history page (which is older then the GOP) only talks about civil rights & women rights cica post-1960.

This in itself is an eye opening. This books exposes the ugly racism in the Democrat Party's past. Starting with Thomas Jefferson personal views on people of color to President Jackson defying the US Supreme Court in order to force Native Americans to move West (the Trail of Tears).

Even 20th century Democratic heros had a failing grade on these issues. From the overrated Wilson (who in my book is a true racism who barred Blacks from coming to Princeton University while he was President there. Despite the fact that other Ivy League schools were opening their doors to people of color.), to FDR who appointed a klanman to the US Supreme Court & did little to help people of color. (In fact it took A. Philip Randolph who will planning a march on Washington in 1941 to force FDR to sign Executive Order 8802, barring racial discrimination in the national defense industry.) And let's not talk about him forcing Japanese Americans into internment camps...

Truman faired better, but I shocked to find out that he wanted to join the klan. He was denied because he wasn't willing to not hire Catholics. Nonetheless, he as President desegregated the armed forces & was willing to take political risk in backing civil rights. Thus causing Strom Thurmond (who a Democrat then) to ran on State's Rights on a 3rd. party.

In truth, the party never really supported civil rights until they saw the writing on the wall, that most Whites want to see Blacks get fair treatment under the law. Sadly, most Black Americans don't know this & still vote 90%+ for a party that never really were looking out for them. Even today, on issues like school choice, tradition marriage, & immigration, the party's of the opposing side of what most Blacks believe.
Also, when it's known that a Republican gets support from White Nationalist groups like 9 years ago when some were members of the Council of Conservative Citizens, it made national news while racist views by Dems (Black & Whites) are underplayed a la Obama's former pastor.

Personally, I'm not in either party, but this is a great read on the Democratic Party's buried past.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tracking down hypocrisy, June 17, 2008

By	W. Wirtanen "Wild Wil" (St. Louis MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bruce Barlett states that his investigation of race found that virtually all of the virulent racists were Democratics. This countered the legend of them being the paragons of race. He succeeds in backing his view.
The book starts with Jefferson and ends at the present time. He provides a fair assessment of individuals and provides the notes to back up his assessment.
His section on Woodrow Wilson was eye opening. Definitely tarnishes the image of this former president.
He also explodes the the myths of FDR and JFK. Mostly flash and no action.
I find his explanation of the Southern Strategy plausible. There are many factors to former Democrats becoming Republicans and saying it is purely racial is a sign of obtuse thinking.
The book provides a good review of the racial policies since the founding of this nation. It is a key component to help in our understanding of our nation's history in regards to race.