Demagogues in action: the reputational rise and demise of "Cotton" Tom Heflin.

The article examines the concept of demagoguery through the lens of reputational politics, focusing on the career of J. Thomas "Cotton Tom" Heflin, a prominent early 20th-century Alabama politician known for his emotive appeals to poor White farmers, laborers, and Ku Klux Klan supporters. It argues that the label "demagogue" functions as a reputational claim deployed by political opponents to delegitimize rivals, rather than an objective category, and that demagogic reputations are shaped by networks of supporters, local adversaries, and extra-local elites. Heflin's rise was fueled by his progressive economic stances combined with explicit White supremacist and anti-Catholic rhetoric, but his eventual political demise resulted from shifting political contexts, the decline of his Klan base, and strategic opposition within Alabama's Democratic Party. The study highlights how demagogues' reputations oscillate with changing public sentiments and political alliances, emphasizing the centrality of reputation work in democratic politics.