Thread by @TomDreisbach

WATCH:
In 1997, Mitch McConnell paid tribute to Sen. Strom Thurmond.

McConnell recalled fondly how his father and grandfather called Thurmond "a fine man" and both voted for his 1948 presidential campaign.

At the time, Thurmond was running on a platform of racial segregation.

McConnell went on to describe Thurmond's switch to the Republican Party - which was largely over Thurmond's opposition to civil rights.

"Imagine my excitement as a 22-year-old college senior to see Sen Thurmond... saying, I'm going to be a Republican as a matter of conviction."

Unmentioned by McConnell?
Thurmond's rhetoric in '48:

"There's not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches"
cbsnews.com/news/strom-thu…

Today, McConnell proudly notes how he watched MLK's March on Washington in 1963.

He writes in his memoir that he actually voted for LBJ over Goldwater in 1964, because he strongly supported civil rights.

And as a freshman senator, he denounced apartheid in South Africa and pushed for sanctions - over Pres. Reagan's objections. Though the NAACP has consistently given him low marks over the years.

nytimes.com/2015/07/11/us/…

But his 1997 speech on Thurmond omits any references to civil rights or race, or Thurmond's vehement support for segregation.

The full speech in the Congressional Record:
congress.gov/congressional-…

Video via C-SPAN:
c-span.org/video/?c477738…

Historian @KevinMKruse's recent thread brought McConnell's speech on Thurmond and the Democrat-->Republican shift in the South to mind.

I came across the speech as part of our @NPREmbedded series on McConnell's career: npr.org/2019/05/30/728…

@KevinMKruse @NPREmbedded McConnell also voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1990.

The Act had broad support in the Senate, but was one vote short of overriding a veto by then-President George HW Bush.

That led to this headline in Kentucky: