Once a nickname for Strom Thurmond's States Rights Party, the term has
stuck, to describe Old South Democrats, many of whom have become Republicans, at least in their voting habits. The SRP was formed in 1948, in a revolt against civil rights advocacy becoming part of the Democrats' agenda. The "Southern Strategy", devised for Nixon's 1968 campaign, was a successful attempt to cherry-pick this segment of the electorate; it has continued ever since.