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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2014
The way the Franco-American views the issues, candidates and the parties largely determines the vote in at least thirty cities and towns in New England. Though constituting about 12 per cent of the region's inhabitants and considered by some as the most unassimilable of all the ethnic groups in the area, the Franco-Americans have not enjoyed the same degree of attention from students of politics that larger, more widely distributed ethnic minorities have received. But a brief survey of their political past and of their vote in the 1960 presidential election will demonstrate that the French provide an excellent case study in ethnic politics.
Migration and other processes swelled the Franco-American population of New England from an estimated 150,000 in 1850, to 400,000 in 1880, to 800000 by 1908. Though some influx occurred in subsequent decades, especially in Maine, the great migration from French Canada ended by the turn of the century. Overpopulation, a dwindling supply of good agricultural land, and the absence of a good transportation system to the Canadian northwest were the reasons for this exodus southward. Most of the emigrés settled in New England's smaller cities and larger towns, and became textile, leather, or paper-mill workers.
1 The thirty Franco-American communities that provide the aggregate election figures for this study include Berlin, Somersworth, Nashua, Manchester, Claremont, Franklin, Laconia, and Rochester in New Hampshire since each had a French-Canadian-born population of 5 per cent or more according to the 1950 US census; Lewiston, Sanford, Biddeford, Winslow, Madawaska, Van Buren, Rumford, Mexico, Brunswick, and Waterville in Maine with a 7 per cent or more Franco-Canadian population in 1950; Southbridge, Chicopee, Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, North Adams, Fall River, Lowell, and Holyoke in Massachusetts with a 20 per cent or more French-Canadian-born and second-generation population according to the 1930 census; and Pawtucket, Central Falls and Woonsocket in Rhode Island which the State Board of Elections, Survey of Rhode Island Electors, 1954 (Providence, 1954)Google Scholar indicated had a 24 to 65 per cent Franco-American population based on the ethnic distribution of names on voting lists. The widely scattered character of the Franco-American populations in Connecticut and Vermont prevented inclusion of representative communities from these states in the study's electoral compilations. It should be emphasized that a 5 or 7 per cent figure for the proportion of French born in Canada is indicative of a much larger group of persons of French-Canadian background. Brunswick's 7.1 per cent of French-Canadian-born, for example, suggests the estimated 50 per cent of the community's citizens who are of French stock and Lewiston's 15.8 per cent reflects her approximately 80 per cent Franco-American population. The former figure is used, of course, because it is always reliable. Though use of 1950, 1930, and 1954 ethnic data is not a completely accurate guide for earlier periods, the Franco-American histories and previous census figures underline their basic accuracy.
2 Gunther, John, Inside U.S.A. (New York, 1947), 465.Google Scholar Note that the terms Franco-American and French Canadian may be used interchangeably. Franco-American is employed in this study, because it is the term that is preferred by members of this group.
3 A 63-item, “quasi-random” opinion poll was conducted during the winter and spring of 1960 in the Brunswick and Lewiston areas. For details on sampling methods, see Parten, M., Surveys, Polls and Samples: Practical Procedures (New York, 1950), 266, 267.Google Scholar Two of the better general Franco-American histories are Magnan, D. M. A., Histoire de la race française aux Etats-Unis (Paris, 1912)Google Scholar, and Rumilly, R., Histoire des Franco-Américains (Montreal, 1958).Google Scholar
4 Prior, G., “The French Canadians in New England” (unpublished Master's Thesis, Brown University, 1932), 66, 80, 86.Google Scholar
5 Cf. Carpenter, K., “The Franco-Americans in Maine” (unpublished Honor's Thesis, Bowdoin College, 1958), 19–55.Google Scholar
6 Ducharme, J., The Shadow of the Trees (New York, 1943), 168.Google Scholar
7 Ibid., 167, 168.
8 Rumilly, , Histoire, 85, 174.Google Scholar
9 Most of the pre-1892 election figures for the representative French communities or even for portions thereof are unreliable, since the character of these small settlements was uncertain in this period.
10 Cf. Binkley, W. E., American Political Parties, Their Natural History (New York, 1958), 320.Google Scholar
11 Lockard, D., New England State Politics (Princeton, 1959), 313.Google Scholar
12 P. 297.
13 Cf. Walker, D. B., Politics and Ethnocentrism: The Case of the Franco-Americans (Brunswick, Maine: Bureau for Research in Municipal Government, Bowdoin College, 1961), 25.Google Scholar
14 Cf. Lubell, S., Revolt of the Moderates (New York, 1956), 52–74.Google Scholar
15 Fuchs, L., “Presidential Politics in Boston: The Response of the Irish to Stevenson,” New England Quarterly, 12, 1957, 435–47.Google Scholar
16 Cf. Ducharme, , Shadow of the Trees, 169–75.Google Scholar
17 Foster, John, (pseud, for Gov. Foster Furcolo), Let George Do It (New York, 1957), 58.Google Scholar
18 Lubell, S., The Future of American Politics (New York, 1951), 41–57.Google Scholar
19 For a study of Franco-American and French-Canadian war attitudes, cf. Ham, E. B., “French Patterns in Quebec and New England,” New England Quarterly, 12, 1945, 441 ff.Google Scholar
20 Cf. n. 3; a modified SES scale devised by W. Lloyd Warner was used in this study. Cf. Warner, W. L. et al., Social Class in America (Chicago, 1949), 121–9.Google Scholar To obtain an ethnic involvement index for each respondent, answers to numerous questions dealing with Franco-American life were weighted and the aggregate score placed on a scale which yielded a classification: high, high medium, medium, low medium, and low. Sixty-five per cent of the total sample had a high or high medium rating.
21 Cf. Walker, , Politics and Ethnocentrism, 32.Google Scholar
22 Lubell, , Future of American Politics, 59–85.Google Scholar
23 Cf. Harris, L., Is There a Republican Majority? (New York, 1954), 189.Google Scholar
24 White, T. H., The Making of the President (New York, 1961), 240–3.Google Scholar
25 Cf. n. 3.
26 Kennedy had the avowed support of 64 per cent of the respondents and was given 14 per cent of that group within the sample (18 per cent) that was unable to express any presidential preference. This redistribution was done on the basis of a careful examination of the past voting record, class positions, and attitudinal traits of these “no opinion” respondents.
27 Cf. n. 20.
28 Marring the rational character of this voting pattern were the conservatives who overwhelmingly favoured Kennedy. Non-ideological considerations were apparently more significant as voting conditioners with this tiny group (4 per cent of the total sample).
29 This post-election survey polled the same respondents that had been interviewed for the first.
30 Cf. Lazarsfeld, P. et al., The People's Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign (New York, 1955), 94–121.Google Scholar
31 The 1960 US Census figure of 2,500 or less for defining a New England rural community was used as the differentiating factor in this analysis. There are some sixty-five largely non-French urban communities in Maine.
32 Rep. Frank M. Coffin, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, received 53 per cent of the combined urban vote (3 per cent more than Kennedy), but went down to defeat with only 36 per cent of the rural electorate (5 per cent greater than Kennedy's) supporting him.
33 Cf. Walker, , Politics and Ethnocentrism, 18–22.Google Scholar
34 Rossiter, C., Parties and Politics in America (Ithaca, 1960), 58.Google Scholar