All the folks you mention are dead. The Southern Strategy was real and deliberate. The only thing stopping you from Googling it up and reading about it is your intense desire to remain ignorant of facts you don't like. Reagan won every Southern state except Georgia in 1980. Jimmy Carter was Georgia's Favorite Son.

The important thing is that the "Solid South" is now solidly Republican. In spite of your meaningless citation of a dozen dead people, the South has changed little in political and social character, still being the center of black voter discouragement, disenfranchisement, and gerrymandering. Only a few states are "solid" Democratic states, by contrast; the "flyover states" are mostly firmly Republican, and the "rust belt states" are in contention. Southern voters and politician are the same as always except that now they call themselves "Republican". And without the South, Republicans could not win the presidency any more.