ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to show that the dynamics of both the formation and the persistence of the Roosevelt coalition provided scholars with a framework to elaborate the realignment theory. It aims to evaluate the extent to which that model is useful for understanding American voter behavior fifty years after Franklin D. Roosevelt. The chapter examines the New Deal in a broad historical perspective and compares the party system of those years to contemporary developments of American politics. The traditional pre-New Deal interpretation of the course of American electoral history stressed the substantial continuity of the American party system. Harry Truman's election in 1948 demonstrated the persistent cohesion of the New Deal Democratic majority that supported the realignment thesis. A post-New Deal turnabout in partisan orientation and the entrenchment of a new polarization of voters were expected for the late 1960s, or the early 1970s at the latest.
