Republicans Dominated Government for 70 Years, Followed By Democratic Dominance for 48 Years

The Republican Party dominated American politics for 70 years, from 1860 to 1930, both the presidency and Congress. There were only two Democratic presidents during that period: Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, both of whom had to deal with a strong opposition party and divided Congress.

The Democratic Party dominated American politics for the next 48 years, from 1932 to 1980, with only two Republican presidencies, Eisenhower and Nixon-Ford, for 16 years, and a Democratic Congress mostly throughout. Both Republican administrations embraced relative moderation and consensus-building.

Coalition government — with a president of one party and Congress of the other — was the dominant pattern for the next 40 years, forcing a modicum of moderation and consensus-building from presidents and legislators who wanted to get anything done. Republican Presidents Reagan, GHW Bush, GW Bush and Trump had to deal with Democratic Congresses, while Democratic Presidents Clinton and Obama had to deal with Republican Congresses.

During the 70 years of Republican dominance, 1860 to 1930, the South was a region set apart. During Reconstruction, 1865-1877, there was a viable Republican Party in the South because Blacks had the right to vote and Confederates were disenfranchised. But after 1877, federal troops withdrew from the South and it became a largely one-party region of Southern Democrats or segregationist Dixiecrats in which white supremacists dominated and Blacks did not have the right to vote.

These Dixiecrats supported the presidencies of Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, and some of FDR’s New Deal platform and some of Truman’s Fair Deal. But they evolved