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- Title
More Than a Passive Interest.
- Authors
PALMER, NIALL
- Abstract
The defeat of the Dyer anti-lynching bill in 1922 was a turning point in relations between black Americans and the Republican Party. Little is understood, however, about the role played in the debates by President Warren Harding. This article contends that Harding's conflicted views on presidential leadership caused him to badly mishandle the bill. The President's inability to choose between a restrained and consensual “Whig” approach and a more active “stewardship” role on a wide range of issues resulted in an erratic and ultimately unsustainable style of leadership. The Dyer bill's failure was affected by this dilemma as the hopes of black and white reformers were alternately raised and dashed by Harding's apparent indecisiveness. Black resentment at the bill's ultimate defeat was thus heightened still further, with severe consequences for the Republican Party's long-term electoral relationship with black voters.
- Subjects
UNITED States; HARDING, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923; LYNCHING laws; LYNCHING -- History; POLITICAL activity of African Americans; POLITICAL affiliation; DYER, Leonidas C.; UNITED States politics &; government, 1921-1923; TWENTIETH century
- Publication
Journal of American Studies, 2014, Vol 48, Issue 2, p417
- ISSN
0021-8758
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0021875813001473