Historian tackles West Virginia’s past & present in upcoming talks

West Virginia was known as a solidly Democratic state for most of the 20th century, but that has changed in the 21st century.

Renowned historian John Alexander Williams will make sense of this dramatic shift in a talk on Friday, Aug. 10, at 3 p.m. in West Virginia University’s Downtown Campus Library, in Room 104. The program is free and the public is welcome.

Williams’ talk, titled “The Greenne$$ of the Red: How Macroeconomic Issues Changed West Virginia from Blue to Red,” will discuss why Mountain State voters supported the Republican candidate for president in each of the past five statewide elections, and why both houses of the state Legislature now have Republican majorities.

Williams then heads to the Tucker County town of Thomas to deliver the “straight scoop” on the pioneer West Virginia industrialist Henry Gassaway Davis on Saturday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Cottrill Opera House on Front Street. This talk is also free and the public is invited.

For more information, visit https://enews.wvu.edu/articles/2018/08/06/historian-tackles-west-virginia-s-past-present-in-upcoming-talks