What was Franklin Roosevelt's relationship with the South?

 

What about his background made him think he understood the South?

 

How did the South help him get the Democratic nomination in 1932 and win the election?

 

Why did the South remain important in helping Roosevelt accomplish his plans?

 

Why did southern political leaders support Roosevelt strongly, at least in the early years?

 

Why did some not support him in the early years? Which ones?

 

Who were the first southern members of Congress to oppose Roosevelt, and why?

 

By 1935 and 1936, how were southern attitudes changing?

 

Why did southerners begin to oppose Roosevelt? What effect did they have?

 

What action did Roosevelt take in the 1938 primaries, and what was the outcome?

 

What was FDR's relationship with Congress like after 1938?

 

What was ironic about the rise and fall of southern support for the New Deal?

 

Note how the role the South played in the Democratic party changed from Wilson to Roosevelt.

Remember that this book was written in the late 1940s. Key has become a classic study of southern politics, and a lot of other historians and political scientists use his model for describing the South.

 

What is Key’s main argument or theme in this introductory chapter?

 

What did Key see as the South's main problem in the early 20th century?

 

What are the "special problems" that relate to this main problem?

 

How does Key believe people outside the South view the region's politics? Does he think they're right?

 

Around what does Key believe southern politics revolve?

 

Despite this, why does Key believe that viewing the South's politics this way is simplistic?

 

What particular group of whites does Key think drive the region's politics? (What region of the South did they come from?)

 

What two great crises did these regions face?

 

What was the legacy of the planter-industrialist defeat of populism?

 

How does one-party rule in much of the South affect the region's politics?