![]() In that bid, and in subsequent, as in his campaigns for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Wallace leaned on major figures in country music, such as Roy Acuff and Ferlin Husky. Wallace did win five Southern states in 1968, and had he won a few more he could have denied Nixon the majority he needed to win the Electoral College. Never a threat to actually win the White House, Wallace had the potential to block the bid of the Republican Richard Nixon. George Wallace, an ardent segregationist who ran for president as the nominee of the American Independent Party in 1968. Many gravitated to Alabama's firebrand Gov. In the years of Lynn's early career, in the 1960s and 1970s, when folk and rock heroes were increasingly identified with causes of the left, their issues and activism alienated many traditional Democrats. "George, you write a few things about FDR."īut in the later decades of the 20th century, the country changed and the allegiances of many artists changed as well. "Daddy thought hung the moon," Lynn told Vecsey. George Vecsey, the New York Times writer who collaborated on the memoir, Coal Miner's Daughter (the basis for the film by that name), reports that Lynn inherited some of that FDR worship from her father. "Good God almighty," shouted the words of one country song's chorus, "He's the poor man's friend!" Roosevelt attained the status of a saint. With the Great Depression and the New Deal in the 1930s, Democrats had greater appeal in the rest of rural America, even while remaining strongest in the rural South. In the South, the Democratic Party had been the dominant political identity since before the Civil War. But the motivations behind Lynn's endorsement mattered because they expressed changes underway over a period of years in agricultural America and among middle-class voters who worked for wages and did not have a college degree.įor generations, those voters had been the bedrock of the Democratic Party. Of course no one country singer, no matter how beloved, could confer the presidency on Bush or any other candidate - not in 1988 or in any other year. That change made a big difference in American politics when it happened, helping to elect Republican presidents such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and both Presidents Bush. Moviegoers enchanted by actress Sissy Spacek's Oscar-winning portrayal of Lynn in the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter could impute to her any political attitudes they liked.īut Lynn was very much a part of politics at several stages of her career.Īt the peak of her fame in the 1960s and 1970s, Lynn was part of a key change in the politics of country music - a change akin to the shifting partisan leanings of the music's most loyal fans. Some stories were written recalling the feminist impact of her 1975 hit "The Pill," and even her earlier standby: "Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)." There was relatively little mention of her politics. Millions mourned the passing of country music legend Loretta Lynn, who died at the age of 90 on Tuesday, with obituaries and tributes recalling her songs, her voice, her authenticity and her charm. Loretta Lynn campaigned for both Bush presidents. ![]()
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