The 97th Congress: A Deep Shift to the Right

Just ten years ago, Senator Strom Thurmond, Republican of South Carolina, hired his first black congressional staff member. This was widely viewed as a recognition of the changing politics of the South, the accommodation of the segregationist, Dixiecrat Republican to the growing political muscle of blacks and other progressive forces. Now Thurmond is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and contemplating significant modification or elimination of the 1964 Voting Rights Act.

Six years ago Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, actively considered abandonment of the Republican party and the formation of a new, conservative, third party. At the time, he had almost reached the conclusion that moderate, centrist force...