the dixiecrats left the democratic party in 1948.
the dixiecrats left the democratic party in 1948.
when did the dixiecrats leave the democratic party?
1948
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
"an imperative task for these publicly disinherited groups, then, is to demand a democratic party responsible to their interests. they must support southern voter registration and negro political candidates and demand that democratic party liberals do the same (in the last congress, dixiecrats split with northern democrats on 119 of 300 roll-calls, mostly on civil rights, area redevelopment and foreign aid bills; and breach was much larger than in the previous several sessions). labor should begin a major drive in the south. in the north, reform clubs (either independent or democratic) should be formed to run against big city regimes on such issues as peace, civil rights, and urban needs. demonstrations should be held at every congressional or convention seating of dixiecrats. a massive research and publicity campaign should be initiated, showing to every housewife, doctor, professor, and worker the damage done to their interests every day a racist occupies a place in the democratic party. where possible, the peace movement should challenge the "peace credentials" of the otherwise-liberals by threatening or actually running candidates against them."
port huron statement