What made Georgia one of JFK’s strongest states in 1960?

[Bootes Void]

I find this very odd as a fairly conservative state would show its strongest support for JFK over nixon while other neighbouring states were less enthusiastic or supportive of Kennedy

[CadetCashBoi]

Democrats had a pretty high ceiling in Georgia to begin with and Kennedy may have overperformed between Johnson’s presence on the ticket and getting more of the black vote then Stevenson had.

[Calthrina950]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

[CadetCashBoi]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

[Calthrina950]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

Interestingly enough, I've read that Nixon did relatively well with Southern blacks-at least, those who could vote. Within Georgia, Kennedy barely won Fulton County (Atlanta), defeating Nixon there by just 1.70%. That was the closest Fulton County came to voting Republican before Nixon won it in his 1972 landslide, when he swept every county in the state. Stevenson won Fulton County by 11.90% against Eisenhower.

[seeking mystical annihilation]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

Interestingly enough, I've read that Nixon did relatively well with Southern blacks-at least, those who could vote. Within Georgia, Kennedy barely won Fulton County (Atlanta), defeating Nixon there by just 1.70%. That was the closest Fulton County came to voting Republican before Nixon won it in his 1972 landslide, when he swept every county in the state. Stevenson won Fulton County by 11.90% against Eisenhower.

Nixon did do very well with the Black vote by the standards of all who came after, but I would assume that Fulton was rather whiter then than it is now, and more relatively peopled by white suburbanites, exurbanites, and rural bits (much of the county was far less developed then, of course) of the sort that are now associated with only the most exurban parts such as Milton. Even in the 70s, Wyche Fowler defeated John Lewis in a GA-05 special runoff in the latter's first attempt at the seat, the core of Atlanta being small enough that it was combined there with north Fulton; even Carter '76 in his landslide was much weaker in Fulton compared to many counties that are now exurbs of it such as Carroll, Forsyth, Paulding, etc.

[Calthrina950]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

Interestingly enough, I've read that Nixon did relatively well with Southern blacks-at least, those who could vote. Within Georgia, Kennedy barely won Fulton County (Atlanta), defeating Nixon there by just 1.70%. That was the closest Fulton County came to voting Republican before Nixon won it in his 1972 landslide, when he swept every county in the state. Stevenson won Fulton County by 11.90% against Eisenhower.

Nixon did do very well with the Black vote by the standards of all who came after, but I would assume that Fulton was rather whiter then than it is now, and more relatively peopled by white suburbanites, exurbanites, and rural bits (much of the county was far less developed then, of course) of the sort that are now associated with only the most exurban parts such as Milton. Even in the 70s, Wyche Fowler defeated John Lewis in a GA-05 special runoff in the latter's first attempt at the seat, the core of Atlanta being small enough that it was combined there with north Fulton; even Carter '76 in his landslide was much weaker in Fulton compared to many counties that are now exurbs of it such as Carroll, Forsyth, Paulding, etc.

This makes much sense. The Wikipedia article on the 1960 election in Georgia notes that Fulton County was the first county in the state to cast at least 100,000 votes, and that it did so that year. The Atlanta Metropolitan Area has experienced tremendous growth over the past sixty years, and has become much more diverse. But in 1964, Johnson won Fulton County by 12.19%, improving significantly over Kennedy there, despite Goldwater's massive improvements over Eisenhower and Nixon in the state as a whole, and the state going for him that year. What explains that? Increased registration of black voters?

[seeking mystical annihilation]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

Interestingly enough, I've read that Nixon did relatively well with Southern blacks-at least, those who could vote. Within Georgia, Kennedy barely won Fulton County (Atlanta), defeating Nixon there by just 1.70%. That was the closest Fulton County came to voting Republican before Nixon won it in his 1972 landslide, when he swept every county in the state. Stevenson won Fulton County by 11.90% against Eisenhower.

Nixon did do very well with the Black vote by the standards of all who came after, but I would assume that Fulton was rather whiter then than it is now, and more relatively peopled by white suburbanites, exurbanites, and rural bits (much of the county was far less developed then, of course) of the sort that are now associated with only the most exurban parts such as Milton. Even in the 70s, Wyche Fowler defeated John Lewis in a GA-05 special runoff in the latter's first attempt at the seat, the core of Atlanta being small enough that it was combined there with north Fulton; even Carter '76 in his landslide was much weaker in Fulton compared to many counties that are now exurbs of it such as Carroll, Forsyth, Paulding, etc.

This makes much sense. The Wikipedia article on the 1960 election in Georgia notes that Fulton County was the first county in the state to cast at least 100,000 votes, and that it did so that year. The Atlanta Metropolitan Area has experienced tremendous growth over the past sixty years, and has become much more diverse. But in 1964, Johnson won Fulton County by 12.19%, improving significantly over Kennedy there, despite Goldwater's massive improvements over Eisenhower and Nixon in the state as a whole, and the state going for him that year. What explains that? Increased registration of black voters?

Massive Black swing to LBJ + more Black voters + some less rabidly right-wing suburbanites reluctantly supporting LBJ are all probably part of it. I'm tempted to point to white flight as someone from a part of the world where it began at around this time, but I know that it generally happened far later in the Deep South–remember when Hinds, MS, was a Republican stronghold in that state's final years of competitiveness, or winning Republican nominees from Eisenhower through the end of the century overperforming in smaller Georgia metros such as Augusta and Savannah?–so I can't comment definitively there.

[TDAS04]

Georgia was the only Deep South state to vote for Truman, instead of Thurmond, in 1948.  Maybe that could be related to Stevenson’s and Kennedy’s lopsided margins, even when compared to the rest of the South.

[CadetCashBoi]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

Interestingly enough, I've read that Nixon did relatively well with Southern blacks-at least, those who could vote. Within Georgia, Kennedy barely won Fulton County (Atlanta), defeating Nixon there by just 1.70%. That was the closest Fulton County came to voting Republican before Nixon won it in his 1972 landslide, when he swept every county in the state. Stevenson won Fulton County by 11.90% against Eisenhower.

Nixon did do very well with the Black vote by the standards of all who came after, but I would assume that Fulton was rather whiter then than it is now, and more relatively peopled by white suburbanites, exurbanites, and rural bits (much of the county was far less developed then, of course) of the sort that are now associated with only the most exurban parts such as Milton. Even in the 70s, Wyche Fowler defeated John Lewis in a GA-05 special runoff in the latter's first attempt at the seat, the core of Atlanta being small enough that it was combined there with north Fulton; even Carter '76 in his landslide was much weaker in Fulton compared to many counties that are now exurbs of it such as Carroll, Forsyth, Paulding, etc.

This makes much sense. The Wikipedia article on the 1960 election in Georgia notes that Fulton County was the first county in the state to cast at least 100,000 votes, and that it did so that year. The Atlanta Metropolitan Area has experienced tremendous growth over the past sixty years, and has become much more diverse. But in 1964, Johnson won Fulton County by 12.19%, improving significantly over Kennedy there, despite Goldwater's massive improvements over Eisenhower and Nixon in the state as a whole, and the state going for him that year. What explains that? Increased registration of black voters?

Massive Black swing to LBJ + more Black voters + some less rabidly right-wing suburbanites reluctantly supporting LBJ are all probably part of it. I'm tempted to point to white flight as someone from a part of the world where it began at around this time, but I know that it generally happened far later in the Deep South–remember when Hinds, MS, was a Republican stronghold in that state's final years of competitiveness, or winning Republican nominees from Eisenhower through the end of the century overperforming in smaller Georgia metros such as Augusta and Savannah?–so I can't comment definitively there.

Funny how “Less rabidly right-wing suburbanites” from Georgia also played a role in putting the second Catholic president over the top in the peach tree state.

[Fascism Must Be Defeated]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

Interestingly enough, I've read that Nixon did relatively well with Southern blacks-at least, those who could vote. Within Georgia, Kennedy barely won Fulton County (Atlanta), defeating Nixon there by just 1.70%. That was the closest Fulton County came to voting Republican before Nixon won it in his 1972 landslide, when he swept every county in the state. Stevenson won Fulton County by 11.90% against Eisenhower.

Nixon did do very well with the Black vote by the standards of all who came after, but I would assume that Fulton was rather whiter then than it is now, and more relatively peopled by white suburbanites, exurbanites, and rural bits (much of the county was far less developed then, of course) of the sort that are now associated with only the most exurban parts such as Milton. Even in the 70s, Wyche Fowler defeated John Lewis in a GA-05 special runoff in the latter's first attempt at the seat, the core of Atlanta being small enough that it was combined there with north Fulton; even Carter '76 in his landslide was much weaker in Fulton compared to many counties that are now exurbs of it such as Carroll, Forsyth, Paulding, etc.

This makes much sense. The Wikipedia article on the 1960 election in Georgia notes that Fulton County was the first county in the state to cast at least 100,000 votes, and that it did so that year. The Atlanta Metropolitan Area has experienced tremendous growth over the past sixty years, and has become much more diverse. But in 1964, Johnson won Fulton County by 12.19%, improving significantly over Kennedy there, despite Goldwater's massive improvements over Eisenhower and Nixon in the state as a whole, and the state going for him that year. What explains that? Increased registration of black voters?

Massive Black swing to LBJ + more Black voters + some less rabidly right-wing suburbanites reluctantly supporting LBJ are all probably part of it. I'm tempted to point to white flight as someone from a part of the world where it began at around this time, but I know that it generally happened far later in the Deep South–remember when Hinds, MS, was a Republican stronghold in that state's final years of competitiveness, or winning Republican nominees from Eisenhower through the end of the century overperforming in smaller Georgia metros such as Augusta and Savannah?–so I can't comment definitively there.

Atlanta is also a city where there were likely non-negligible numbers of northern transplants, who'd be more amenable to LBJ in 64 even if they were generally rockribbed Republicans.

Fwiw, I think a lot of Republican resilience in urban core southern counties can be laid at the feet of their relatively late urbanization and pretty suburban built form--a lot of Jackson, Augusta, and even Savannah outside of the historic core is single family homes built in the mid 20th century.

Btw, does anyone know of any good sources for historic racial demographics on a more micro-level? Thinking of Atlanta specifically here--IIRC southern Fulton and Clayton at the time was mostly (rather downscale) white suburbs but I'd like to firm that up with actual data and I have no clue about the neighborhood demographics of Atlanta proper.

[Gracile]

Atlanta is also a city where there were likely non-negligible numbers of northern transplants, who'd be more amenable to LBJ in 64 even if they were generally rockribbed Republicans.

Fwiw, I think a lot of Republican resilience in urban core southern counties can be laid at the feet of their relatively late urbanization and pretty suburban built form--a lot of Jackson, Augusta, and even Savannah outside of the historic core is single family homes built in the mid 20th century.

Btw, does anyone know of any good sources for historic racial demographics on a more micro-level? Thinking of Atlanta specifically here--IIRC southern Fulton and Clayton at the time was mostly (rather downscale) white suburbs but I'd like to firm that up with actual data and I have no clue about the neighborhood demographics of Atlanta proper.

This is very true. I will also add that Sun Belt urban cores did not have a large organized labor tradition as in the Northern cities in the mid-20th century and instead came from a more professional set (and these cities' forms were built with this in mind with lower density housing and highway infrastructure, instead of higher density housing and transit to accommodate people in manufacturing sectors in the North).

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Georgia was still the most reliable Democratic state in 1960, having never voted for a Republican before, even during Reconstruction. However, the Civil Rights Movement did have a clear detrimental effect to Democratic electoral prospects here, along with anti-Catholic sentiments, as Kennedy did worse in the state than Stevenson. Stevenson had won Georgia 66.48-32.65% against Eisenhower in 1956, while Kennedy won 62.54-37.43%.

I didn’t realize he’d done worse. It may be that his gains with the black vote prevented him from losing even more ground.

Interestingly enough, I've read that Nixon did relatively well with Southern blacks-at least, those who could vote. Within Georgia, Kennedy barely won Fulton County (Atlanta), defeating Nixon there by just 1.70%. That was the closest Fulton County came to voting Republican before Nixon won it in his 1972 landslide, when he swept every county in the state. Stevenson won Fulton County by 11.90% against Eisenhower.

It is insane now to think that Atlanta was more Republican then rural white Georgia in 1960. Kennedy did better in the good ole boy areas then Atlanta, how times have changed.