High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The idea of Southernization came from the observation that "Southern" values and beliefs were becoming more central to political success, reaching an apogee in the 1990s, with a Democratic president and vice-president from the South and Congressional leaders in both parties being from the South. Since President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, the Republican Party had pursued a Southern strategy to appeal to conservative Democratic voters in the South and conservative voters elsewhere. Some commentators said that Southern values seemed increasingly important in national elections through the early 21st century. The term "Southernization" was used by American journalists in the late 2000s to describe the political and cultural effects.