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dc.contributor.advisorBrown, D. Clayton
dc.contributor.authorStowe, William McFerrinen_US
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-11T15:10:56Z
dc.date.available2019-10-11T15:10:56Z
dc.date.created1989en_US
dc.date.issued1989en_US
dc.identifieraleph-441441en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/33601
dc.description.abstractWhen the Supreme Court issued its Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, The Louisiana Legislature alone among Southern states was in session. A relatively unknown state senator introduced and won overwhelming passage of joint resolutions opposing the ruling and establishing the Joint Legislative Committee to defend segregation. This action and the massive resistance that followed were initiated and led in Louisiana by that senator, William M. "Willie" Rainach. This study of Rainach's leadership of the segregationist forces in Louisiana explores his motives, strategies and activities in attempting to defeat integration. Based primarily on Rainach's personal papers, this dissertation finds that Rainach recognized that defiance would not stop integration. He therefore instituted a three part strategy to delay integration, organize opposition, and proselytize segregation to white America. Rainach sought to delay implementation of desegregation the rough legislation drafted and sponsored by the Joint Legislative Committee, of which he was chairman. He attempted to organize the segregationists as president of both the Citizens' Councils of America and the Association of Citizens' Councils of Louisiana. The only man to head both the political and private forces defending segregation, he utilized both to proselytize racism and white supremacy to the state and ultimately to the North. He believed that the only way to defeat integration was to convert and organize whites in both the North and South to support for segregation and thereby bring about enough political pressure to change congressional and presidential policies on civil rights. Rainach's fight for segregation included purging black voters, demanding strict conformity to racial separation, advertising the segregationist philosophy and obstructing integration until racists nationwide could be mobilized. By 1959, he concluded that many Southern governors, including Louisiana's, were not sufficiently dedicated to preserving segregation and therefore entered the gubernatorial race. Rainach's defeat in that governor's race essentially removed him from political power and paralleled the splintering of the massive resistance movement in Louisiana.
dc.format.extentix, 307 leaves, bounden_US
dc.format.mediumFormat: Printen_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.relation.ispartofTexas Christian University dissertationen_US
dc.relation.ispartofAS38.S793en_US
dc.subject.lcshRainach, William M.en_US
dc.subject.lcshCitizens' Councils of Americaen_US
dc.subject.lcshAssociation of Citizens' Council of Louisianaen_US
dc.subject.lcshSegregation--Louisianaen_US
dc.subject.lcshLouisiana--Race relationsen_US
dc.titleWillie Rainach and the defense of segregation in Louisiana, 1954-1959en_US
dc.typeTexten_US
etd.degree.departmentDepartment of History
etd.degree.levelDoctoral
local.collegeAddRan College of Liberal Arts
local.departmentHistory
local.academicunitDepartment of History
dc.type.genreDissertation
local.subjectareaHistory
dc.identifier.callnumberMain Stacks: AS38 .S793 (Regular Loan)
dc.identifier.callnumberSpecial Collections: AS38 .S793 (Non-Circulating)
etd.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
etd.degree.grantorTexas Christian University


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