Reputation as Articulation: Alliance Building of Career Politicians in the Jim Crow South

Abstract

Studies of political articulation focus overwhelmingly on the role of parties in constructing political identities and group interests, relying on inter-party competition, given a sharp partisan divide. However, where party identification is less salient, local politicians forge alliances from disparate constituencies, cultivating varying political reputations that personify the concerns of distinct groups. By examining Alabama politics in the 1920s, focusing on the dramatically different relations with the Ku Klux Klan and business elites of Alabama’s three senators, we address how politicians generate supportive alliances in the absence of party competition. To this end, we extend articulation theories by examining how political actors—and not only their parties—cultivate support by presenting the concerns of local publics through their electoral persona. Drawing on archival material, we explore how Senators Oscar Underwood, J. Thomas Heflin, and Hugo Black came to represent key interest groups, forging distinct paths to electoral success. An exclusive focus on parties overlooks politicians’ reputation-building as a mechanism of political articulation.