Thurmond was an early supporter of a second presidential campaign by Nixon , his backing coming from the latter 's position on the Vietnam War . Thurmond met with Nixon during the Republican primary and promised he would not give in to the " depredations of the Reagan forces . " At the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach , Florida , Thurmond , along with Mississippi state chairman Clarke Reed , former U.S. Representative and gubernatorial nominee Howard Callaway of Georgia , and Charlton Lyons of Louisiana held the Deep South states solidly for Richard M. Nixon despite the sudden last-minute entry of Governor Ronald Reagan of California into the race . Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York was also in the race but having little effect . In the fall 1968 general election , Nixon won South Carolina with 38 percent of the popular vote and gained South Carolina 's electoral votes . With the segregationist Democrat George Wallace on the ballot , the South Carolina Democratic voters split almost evenly between the Democratic Party nominee , Hubert Humphrey , who received 29.6 percent of the total vote , and Wallace , who received 32.3 percent . Other Deep South states swung to Wallace and posted weak totals for Nixon
1968 Republican National Convention
1968 Republican National Convention
Strom Thurmond