Why White Liberals Fail

Race and Southern Politics from FDR to Trump

By: Anthony J. Badger

Narrated by: Christopher Douyard

Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

From FDR to Clinton, Democratic leaders have promised a New South—a model of social equality and economic opportunity. So how did the region become the stronghold of conservative Republicans in thrall to Donald Trump? After a lifetime studying Southern politics, Anthony Badger has come to a provocative conclusion: white liberals failed because they put their faith in policy solutions as an engine for social change and were reluctant to confront directly the explosive racial politics dividing their constituents.

After World War II, many Americans believed that if the edifice of racial segregation, white supremacy, and voter disfranchisement could be dismantled across the South, the forces of liberalism would prevail. Hopeful that economic modernization and education would bring about gradual racial change, Southern moderates were rattled when civil rights protest and federal intervention forced their hand. Most were fatalistic in the face of massive resistance. When the end of segregation became inevitable, it was largely driven by activists and mediated by Republican businessmen.

Badger considers the dilemmas liberals faced across the South, arguing that their failure cannot be blamed simply on entrenched racism. Conservative triumph was not inevitable, he argues, before pointing to specific false steps and missed opportunities.

©2022 The President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2022 Tantor

Historical data for the foundation of a good book!

The author identifies several basic issues that most political analysts didn't understand the relative importance in reducing the cultural divide in tace and economic conditions in the time frame from the early depression era until JFK.
There is a tremendous amount of historical detail (people, places, events, etc.) that, to me, if properly edited would be the basis for an excellent book. Events are described in non sequential order jumping back and forth from the early 1930s to 1960s.
I lived through those times and recognize many of the politicians and the events - I saw Harry Truman on his campaign train in 1948).
Labels associated with a large number of the political splinter groups won't mean anything to younger readers..

I gave up on reading after Chapter 7. It is too much like trying to comprehend a 3 D chess board.