Did Reagan leave the Democratic party because of civil rights?

[_Jumper_]

He left at about the same time Thurmond, Helms, et al. left for the GOP...

[Democrats unite]

1. We will never know

With all the revisionist History being done with Republicans, it will never be told.

[ScotTissue]

2. Anticommunism

He left when he was the SAG head, or perhaps just after. He had a tussle with labor leaders and "communists" at about the time HUAC was investigating Hollywood. Fairly common knowledge.

[K-W]

4. Sounds most likely with my limited knowledge

Reagen was very anti-communist and his followers too. It was one of the cores of neo-con movement.

[sable302]

3. I thought it was that

he didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left him (go figure).

5. "Cleaning up" Hollywood

I had the impression it had to do with McCarthyism and blacklisting in Hollywood around the time that Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild, or at least that that was when he became more conservative.

this link suggest similar things
http://www.moldea.com/ReaganRedux.html

Ronald Reagan was an invention of the Hollywood conglomerate, MCA, which was founded in 1924 by Jules Stein, a Chicago ophthalmologist who quickly became friendly with the local underworld. Every facet of Reagan’s life, from his careers in acting and politics to his financial successes, were directed by MCA, which, with the help of the Mafia, was the most powerful force in Hollywood from the mid-1940s until the Bronfman family purchased the company in 1995.

Reagan came to Los Angeles in 1937 to make motion pictures, and, in 1940, MCA bought out his talent agency. Lew Wasserman became Reagan's personal agent; he negotiated a million-dollar contract with Warner Brothers on Reagan's behalf. In 1946, Wasserman became the president of MCA, and the following year, Reagan, with his film career already in decline, became the president of the Screen Actors Guild. By his own admission, Reagan immediately aligned himself with the corrupt Teamsters and other mob-connected unions in an effort to combat Hollywood Reds.

[_Jumper_]

6. Are we sure anticommunism is the real reason?

Or was it another Raygun myth like fighting in WW2?

[madrchsod]

7. nancy`s dad told him

if he was going to marry nancy he`d have to be a republican,that`s the rumor.

[schultzee]

8. He was a snitch during McCarthyism. A little snit of elephant poo

He tattled on the actors in the Union. He was just right wing dirt all along regardless of what party he joined.

[Old and In the Way]

9. Taxes

When he started making the big bucks, he had a change of heart. The Republican values of small government (less taxes) became very important to RR.

[Dr. Wu]

12. Reagan told the story himself many times

He was offered a movie script, but since he was in the highest tax bracket, he would the last three months of work for the year taxed at nearly 90 percent. So he turned down the job.

[ret5hd]

14. wow..the most compelling reason for...

the 90% bracket i have ever heard...

It keeps no-talent right-wing hacks from polluting the theaters!

man, just think how a tool like that would help us with ahhnold, bruce willis, etc...

[Dr. Wu]

15. A 90 percent tax rate

might even keep Kevin Costner from making another 3 hour 100 million dollar bomb.

My personal opinion about the tax rate is that isf Hollywood wants higher taxes on the wealthy we should try it out on them first.

If it reduces the deficit, increases jobs and leads poor people out of a life of dispair, then we should consider it for the rest of the country.

[Sandpiper]

10. Based on some of his positions/statements...

I would have to say yes. Ronald Reagan was a racist of the first stripe, and left the Democrat Party during the migration of the Dixiecrats.

Ronald Reagan opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, calling it "humiliating to the south."

When he ran for governor of California in 1966, he pledged to wipe the Fair Housing Act from the books, saying:

"If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, he has the right to do so."

Furthermore, after winning the GOP nomination in 1980, Reagan's first campaign stop was Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights activists had been murdered by the KKK in 1964.

During his speech, Reagan told the all white crowd of supporters "I believe in states rights." "States rights," of course, was always the code word used to defend legalized slavery/segregation.

All of this and more can be found in Sidney Blumenthal's article in the Guardian, "Look Away Dixieland"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1080497,00.html

[Athletic Grrl]

11. Sandpiper!

:yourock:

I remember asking my mother who she was going to vote for in the '80 election. Now, she was a lifelong Democrat, but Ronnie had been her governor (I was far too young to remember his sorry ass) so as a very aware high school senior, but too young to vote, I felt duty-bound to ask...

Her response? "I'm voting for Carter. Ronnie fucked up this state for generations to come. God only knows what he would do with a whole country."

[Killarney]

13. Wow. Good info. I never knew that.