The G. O. P. and the Solid South

Governor Aiken's Call for Party Reorganization

Governor aiken of Vermont, in an open letter to the Republican National Committee, December 5, 1937, called for a reorganization of the Republican party on a national basis through a purge of “reactionary and unfair elements,” especially in the southern wing of the party organization. Declaring that the party was “in a nearly complete state of demoralization,” that it was “torn by internal bickering,” and that its “leaders are apparently more concerned with controlling the party machinery than in American welfare,” Aiken expressed his judgment that “neither in Vermont nor elsewhere in the Union will we, as a national party, again receive the support of a Toting majority unless your body recognizes the ...