Your wording suggests that the "flip" was caused by the civil rights issues. Yet in reality the "flip" was a gradual realignment over 30-40 years. 80% of Republ

Your wording suggests that the "flip" was caused by the civil rights issues. Yet in reality the "flip" was a gradual realignment over 30-40 years. 80% of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act and remained the worst enemies of white supremacists. Jim Crow Democrats did not flip Republican. They had nowhere to go, so they stayed Democrat for decades. There are still Blue Dog Democrats to this day. The South eventually became more Republican as the older voters died out and a new generation with different views came of age. A good example is Robert Byrd. A former KKK leader, he is also the longest-serving US Senator in history, from 1959-2010. He remained a Democrat the entire time, and was particularly skilled at outmaneuvering Republicans. He doesn't seem to have had a real change of heart. He was just a political opportunist who didn't mind compromising his principles to gain power. He called himself "Big Daddy" due to how good he was at getting pork.