the dixiecrats nominated strom thurmond to run for president in 1948.
who did the dixiecrats nominate to run for president in 1948?
strom thurmond
many southern democrats rejected the 1948 democratic political platform over president harry's truman's civil rights platform. they met at birmingham, alabama, and formed a political party named the "states' rights" democratic party, more commonly known as the "dixiecrats." its main goal was to continue the policy of racial segregation in the south and the jim crow laws that sustained it. south carolina governor strom thurmond, who had led the walkout, became the party's presidential nominee. mississippi governor fielding l. wright received the vice-presidential nomination. thurmond had a moderate position in south carolina politics, but with his allegiance with the dixiecrats, he became the symbol of die-hard segregation. the dixiecrats had no chance of winning the election since they failed to qualify for the ballots of enough states. their strategy was to win enough southern states to deny truman an electoral college victory and force the election into the house of representatives, where they could then extract concessions from either truman or his opponent thomas dewey on racial issues in exchange for their support. even if dewey won the election outright, the dixiecrats hoped that their defection would show that the democratic party needed southern support to win national elections, and that this fact would weaken the civil rights movement among northern and western democrats. however, the dixiecrats were weakened when most southern democratic leaders (such as governor herman talmadge of georgia and "boss" e. h. crump of tennessee) refused to support the party. in the november election, thurmond carried the states of alabama, louisiana, mississippi, and south carolina. outside of these four states, however, it was only listed as a third-party ticket. thurmond received well over a million popular votes and 39 electoral votes.
politics of the southern united states
the southern democrats who had walked out of the democratic national convention to protest the civil rights platform approved by the convention, and supported by truman, promptly met at municipal auditorium in birmingham, alabama, on july 17, 1948, and formed yet another political party, which they named the states' rights democratic party. more commonly known as the "dixiecrats", the party's main goal was continuing the policy of racial segregation in the south and the jim crow laws that sustained it. governor thurmond, who had led the walkout, became the party's presidential nominee after the convention's initial favorite, arkansas governor benjamin laney, withdrew his name from consideration. governor wright of mississippi received the vice-presidential nomination. the dixiecrats had no chance of winning the election themselves, since they could not get on the ballot in enough states to win the necessary electoral votes. their strategy was to take enough southern states from truman to force the election into the united states house of representatives under the provisions of the twelfth amendment, where they could then extract concessions from either truman or dewey on racial issues in exchange for their support. even if dewey won the election outright, the dixiecrats hoped that their defection would show that the democratic party needed southern support in order to win national elections, and that this fact would weaken the pro-civil rights movement among northern and western democrats. the dixiecrats were weakened, however, when most southern democratic leaders (such as governor herman talmadge of georgia and "boss" e. h. crump from tennessee) refused to support the party. despite being an incumbent president, truman was not placed on the ballot in alabama. in the states of louisiana, mississippi, alabama, and south carolina, the party was able to be labeled as the main democratic party ticket on the local ballots on election night. outside of these four states, however, it was only listed as a third-party ticket.
1948 united states presidential election