Yeah, if you fit Ralph's vision of what was okay, he treated you like a human... if you didn't, not so much.
As for your broad characterization of folks with long hair, I guess it would include Charlie Daniels who is anything but a liberal.... oh wait, he WAS when it was fashionable, but not so much when he got older and it wasn't marketable in his new market which was Nashville.
Strom Thurmond supported segregation and was a Klan member... he 'softened' his views when he either saw the light or when he needed to (like George Wallace) to get elected.... I will say that while I forgave Strom's earlier stance, I didn't 'forget' that he victimized a lot of people needlessly through his actions. (I am using Thurmond as an example of someone who was 'a really nice guy' to people he liked and cruel and nasty to those who didn't fit.)
Ralph screwed a lot of people and helped some people who fit his view (and he was a VERY powerful DJ at WSM)... to me, he abused his power and was one of the folks responsible (along with Chet Atkins) for derailing country music and for adding cheesy string and horn arrangements and schmaltzing it up...
Ralph tried very hard to destroy the california/bakersfield sound and early on was awful to Haggard, Buck Owens etc... so... I"m glad he was nice to your uncle or whatever... but, Ralph's legacy is that he only adjusted when he had to... never a leader, always a follower...