Realignment, Region, and Race

George R. (Al) Goethals holds the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professorship in Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. Previously at Williams College he served as chair of the Department of Psychology, founding chair of the Program in Leadership Studies, and Provost. With Georgia Sorenson and James MacGregor Burns, he edited the Encyclopedia of Leadership (2004). Goethals’ recent scholarship includes Heroic Leadership: An Influence Taxonomy of 100 Exceptional Individuals (2013, with Scott T. Allison) and Presidential Leadership and African Americans: “An American Dilemma” from Slavery to the White House (2015).

Goethals argues that racial dynamics is responsible for how and why the North and South switched political parties between Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 and George W. Bush's in 2000. Furthermore, these racial dynamics are perpetuated largely by social identity concerns, he says, that is, by people's need to have their political leaders validate them and the groups by which they define themselves. He discusses the realignment of American politics; leadership, motivation, and social identity; the American Revolution to the Mexican War; Republicans for racial justice: Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant; the Republican retreat from founding principles 1877-1920; migration and realignment: African-Americans move north, the GOP moves south; and popular vote tectonics: Republican dominion gives way to Democrats.

• Chapter 1. The Realignment of American Politics;Chapter 2. Leadership, Motivation, and Social Identity;Chapter 3. The American Revolution to the Mexican War;Chapter 4. Republicans for Racial Justice: Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. GrantChapter 5. The Republican Retreat from Founding Principles: 1877–1920;Chapter 6. Migration and Realignment: African Americans Move North, the GOP Moves South;Chapter 7. Popular Vote Tectonics: Republican Domination Gives Way to Democrats References Index