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Abstract
This dissertation investigates the construction of the civil rights legislative agenda during the realignment of U.S. political parties on racial issues (1933-68). Social scientists have studied this party realignment extensively, revealing that it was a gradual process driven by mid-level party elites responding to pressures from a pro-civil rights interest group coalition and Black voters. Despite the extensive literature on this realignment, however, we know little about the policy agenda at its center. This dissertation focuses on the northern Democratic politicians in Congress who led the charge on civil rights legislation, asking why they advanced and prioritized some issues and proposals on the agenda while neglecting others.
The first half of the dissertation traces the development of northern Democrats’ legislative agenda. Through analyses of bill sponsorship, omnibus bill debates, and other congressional activity, I show that an expansive set of proposals were available at the margins of the congressional agenda, but that the northern Democratic caucus selectively crafted and pursued a narrower agenda. They were most unified and assertive on southern-centric issues, such as voting rights. On issues that could affect their northern constituencies, they were cautious and selective: they aggressively pursued action on employment discrimination, but avoided other issues such as housing discrimination.
The second half of the dissertation explains these patterns in agenda development. I argue that coalitional dynamics shaped northern Democrats’ agenda-setting choices: they faced competing pressures from new groups in their party coalition such as Black voters and civil rights advocacy organizations and from existing groups such as urban white voters and housing industry groups. Pursuing a selective agenda allowed them to offer some form of responsiveness to new groups in their coalition while attempting to avoid alienating existing groups. Through analyses of congressional activity, historical public opinion data, archival records, and secondary sources, I show that such competing pressures existed among constituents and interest groups, and that politicians expressed their awareness of such pressures in public and private statements. Taking a closer look at the small subset of northern Democrats who pursued a more expansive and assertive agenda, I show that the demographic composition of legislators’ districts and the structure of local party coalitions from which they emerged created the conditions where some legislators were incentivized to go further than the caucus as a whole.
In analyzing agenda development among northern Democrats, this dissertation provides part of the origin story for racial liberalism. By racial liberalism, I mean the commitments that self-identified liberals developed about the problem of racism and how it should be addressed. This project shows that racial liberalism was limited from the start, constrained by the heterogenous and fractious Democratic party coalition. The project also has implications for theories of political parties and party realignment, and contributes to our understanding of the limits of civil rights law and the development of the Democratic party coalition.
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