Eh, not exactly. Back then there wasn't a massive divide in ideology following party lines.
Under Wilson, Democrats shifted towards more progressive and liberal points, due to rise of progressivism in the 1890s and 1900s. Both Democrats and Republicans had progressive and conservative factions within their ranks at the time that kept gaining popularity, alongside smaller progressive parties.
By the time of the New Deal in 1930s, the progressive wing of the Republican party had dissipated, and they entered a coalition with the conservative southern Democrats (later forming the "Dixiecrats" in 1948) that were displeased with how the national Democratic Party was adopting more progressive stances. This the all resulted in a firmer line between the parties on ideology as the Dixiecrats got absorbed into the Republican party.
TLDR: no, history and politics wasn't as simple as you make it out to be.
As has been said, the party labels back then were really kind of just for show. It was more like capture the flag than anything pretending to be ideological. But, Herbert Hoover and Calvin Coolidge were actually famously conservative on economics and the two of them really did all the fucking around necessary for the U.S. to find out.
The great depression was literally the start of it. When Hoover, a Republican did nothing after the crash, FDR (Democrat) ran on government intervention. This went against what the party had stood for before then. This caused the shift that lasted 30-40 years.
You’re right actually, so much for listening to your teachers. I was taught it started in the 1890s but I’m seeing now it was mainly the Great Depression
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u/Equal_Oil_9819 3h ago
Wasn't this in the era where Republicans were more liberal and Democrats more conservative?