At the 1948 Democratic National Convention , the party platform reflected the division by containing only platitudes in favor of civil rights . The incumbent president , Harry S. Truman , had shelved most of his 1946 Commission on Civil Rights 's recommendations for fear of angering Southern Democrats . But Humphrey had written in '' The Progressive '' magazine , " The Democratic Party must lead the fight for every principle in the report . It is all or nothing . " A diverse coalition opposed the convention 's tepid civil rights platform , including anticommunist liberals like Humphrey , Paul Douglas and John F. Shelley , all of whom would later become known as leading progressives in the Democratic Party . They proposed adding a " minority plank " to the party platform that would commit the Democratic Party to more aggressive opposition to racial segregation . The minority plank called for federal legislation against lynching , an end to legalized school segregation in the South , and ending job discrimination based on skin color . Also strongly backing the minority plank were Democratic urban bosses like Ed Flynn of the Bronx , who promised the votes of northeastern delegates to Humphrey 's platform , Jacob Arvey of Chicago , and David Lawrence of Pittsburgh . Although seen as conservatives , the urban bosses believed that Northern Democrats could gain many black votes by supporting civil rights , with only comparatively small losses from Southern Democrats . Although many scholars have suggested that labor unions were leading figures in this coalition , no significant labor leaders attended the convention , with the exception of the heads of the Congress of Industrial Organizations Political Action Committee ( CIOPAC ) , Jack Kroll and A.F. Whitney
1948 Democratic National Convention
1948 Democratic National Convention
Hubert Humphrey