1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection
The 1950 selection is the only time that the General Assembly voted on the office of Secretary-General despite a veto in the Security Council. The Soviet Union considered the vote to be illegal and treated the office of Secretary-General as vacant upon the expiration of Lie's original term. The veto has been respected in all future selections. In the 1996 selection, the United States found itself on the losing side of a 14-1-0 vote recommending Boutros Boutros-Ghali for a second term.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection
Although supporters of Boutros-Ghali pointed to the precedent set by the United States in 1950, other members of the Security Council were unwilling to refer the matter to the General Assembly over a U.S. veto. Boutros-Ghali was forced to suspend his candidacy, becoming the only Secretary-General ever to be denied a second term.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. Therefore, candidates can be vetoed by permanent members of the Security Council. At the first Secretary-General selection in 1946, the Soviet Union was opposed to Lester Pearson of Canada. The Security Council compromised by selecting Trygvie Lie of Norway as the first Secretary-General of the United Nations.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
As the end of his 5-year term approached, Lie's actions drew opposition from both sides of the Cold War. After the Chinese Civil War ended in a Communist victory in 1949, Lie supported the admission of Communist China to the United Nations. The Nationalist Chinese ambassador gave a press conference on 31 May 1950 in which he denounced Lie and threatened to veto him. However, he was willing to extend Lie's term for one year. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union boycotted the United Nations on the grounds that the Chinese seat belonged to Communist China. France indicated that it would vote for Lie if the Soviet Union returned, but it would prefer a different candidate if the Soviet Union had left the United Nations permanently.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
The Korean War began on 25 June 1950. Since the Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council, it was unable to veto Resolution 83, which called on U.N. member states to send military assistance to South Korea. Lie's strong support of U.N. intervention in Korea made him unacceptable to the Communist countries. The Soviet Union returned to the Security Council in August 1950 when it was their turn to take up the rotating Presidency.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
Facing the prospect of a Soviet veto, supporters of Lie developed a new legal theory in which the General Assembly did not need a recommendation from the Security Council, since the recommendation from 1946 was still in effect. They also maintained that the General Assembly could extend Lie's term in office without a recommendation from the Security Council.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
Support for Lie was lukewarm among the other three permanent members. Lie was "not entirely satisfactory" to the United States, but "he had been generally sympathetic to our views." The United States took the position that the General Assembly could amend its 1946 resolution to extend Lie's term for another five years. The United Kingdom wanted to extend Lie's term for no more than two years, which would allow a "more acceptable" Secretary-General to be appointed if the Soviet Union withdrew from the United Nations. France favored a one-year extension, but it supported the British position of a two-year maximum.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
On 12 September 1950, the British ambassador approached the Soviet ambassador about the Secretary-Generalship. The United Kingdom was prepared to vote for Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar or Girija Shankar Bajpai of India if they were acceptable to the Soviet Union. However, Soviet Ambassador Malik was noncommittal, and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyshinsky would not meet with the British ambassador.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Background
Lie hoped to receive another five-year term, but he was willing to accept a two-year extension if he were allowed to save face by first declaring that he would "refuse to serve for longer than two years." Toward the end of September 1950, he grew frustrated with the inaction and threatened to send letters to the Security Council and the General Assembly declaring that he would not be a candidate for re-election. Lie finally agreed not to send those letters, and the United States pressed the United Kingdom and France for a three-year term extension. Lie subsequently declared publicly that he would not serve for more than three years.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, First round, Vote
On 12 October 1950, the Security Council met for a formal vote. Polish Foreign Minister Zygmunt Modzelewski was first rejected by a vote of 1-4-6, with the Soviet Union voting in favor and Nationalist China voting against. Trygve Lie's reappointment was then rejected by a vote of 9-1-1, with the Soviet Union vetoing and Nationalist China abstaining.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, First round, Vote
The General Assembly was called back into session for 19 October 1950. Attempting to avoid the impending vote, Soviet ambassador Yakov Malik called upon U.S. ambassador Warren Austin on 17 October 1950. Austin chided the Soviet Union for "thwarting the will of the majority" and pointed out that Malik had turned down a previous attempt by the United States to consult on the selection. Malik argued that the Security Council had only voted on two candidates so far, and "the cause of peace" would be best served by agreeing on another candidate. However, Austin said that the Soviet Union should serve "the cause of peace" by agreeing to Lie's re-selection. Malik replied that he had received "a firm niet."


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Indian compromise proposal
On 18 October 1950, the Security Council met at the request of the Soviet Union. Soviet ambassador Yakov Malik reiterated that the Security Council was not yet deadlocked and should still explore other candidates, "particularly from Latin America and Asia." Indian ambassador Benegal Rau proposed that each member of the Security Council should secretly nominate two candidates. The list of 22 names would then be submitted to the permanent members, who could strike out any names that they found unacceptable. The Security Council would vote on anyone who remained on the list. The British and French ambassadors commended the "ingenious" scheme, and the Nationalist Chinese ambassador found it "satisfactory and fair." Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, and the Soviet Union also favored the Indian plan.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Indian compromise proposal
The United States opposed the proposal. Austin pointed out that Lie had already received 9 votes, but his name would surely be struck off the list by the Soviet Union. He asked rhetorically, "Is the spoken word without value? Is there no integrity?" Norwegian ambassador Arne Sunde gave an impassioned speech in defense of his fellow countryman, claiming that the elimination of Lie would be "tantamount to a Soviet victory in the Korean War."


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Diplomatic maneuverings
The Indian proposal set off a flurry of diplomatic activity as the superpowers appealed for support. The Soviet Union approached several delegations and offered to vote for their candidates. U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson pressed other members of the Security Council to hold firm on Lie, saying that allowing him to be vetoed "would damage the prestige of the Security Council by stultifying the clearly expressed majority."


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Diplomatic maneuverings
The British government had already instructed its delegation to abstain on the Indian proposal, but it acquiesced to American wishes by authorizing Jebb to vote against. Although the United States remained worried about the British vote if a Commonwealth citizen were nominated, Jebb had already told the Norwegian ambassador that the UK was "not interested [in] seeing [an] Indian as Secretary General." However, France declined to issue instructions to its U.N. ambassador, allowing him to vote at his own discretion.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Diplomatic maneuverings
Cuba told the United States that it would continue to support Lie, although other Latin American governments favored the Indian proposal as "a means of conciliation." The Cuban ambassador suggested that the United States adopt the Indian proposal but exempt Lie's name from being struck off the ballot. Austin denounced the "Soviet maneuver" as a "trick and a trap," saying that the Korean War was "approaching victory" and the U.S. Congress would be hesitant to continue funding the effort with an untested Secretary-General at the helm. He claimed that "this was in no way a threat but simply an analysis of a situation."


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Diplomatic maneuverings
The Security Council discussed the question on 20 October 1950 and 21 October 1950. The United States, United Kingdom, Cuba, Norway, and Yugoslavia were opposed to the Indian proposal, which left it one vote short of a majority. The Soviet Union then proposed further consultations of the permanent members, which the Security Council agreed to by a bare majority of 7-0-4.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Instructions
The permanent members met for consultations on 23 October 1950. The Soviet Union nominated Luis Padilla Nervo of Mexico, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and Benegal Rau of India. Nationalist China nominated Carlos P. Romulo of the Philippines. The United States said that it would only support Lie. The United Kingdom preferred Lie but would not veto any of the other candidates. The Soviet Union was willing to vote for any candidate except Lie. China was willing to vote for Padilla Nervo, Malik, or Romulo. France was willing to vote for any candidate who could get 7 votes at the Security Council.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Instructions
The United States was worried about the French position and pressed the French government to change its instructions. The United States also asked the other candidates to withdraw, with particular attention paid to Padilla Nervo. Since Cuba and Ecuador could be counted on to vote for a Latin American candidate, Nervo would have at least six votes in the Security Council, and a French vote would give him the required 7-vote majority.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Instructions
Secretary of State Dean Acheson was adamant that "no Latin American candidate would be accepted by the United States," saying that the Latin American countries "would very seriously embarrass themselves by running up against a United States veto." President Harry S. Truman agreed with Acheson and authorized a veto. Acheson instructed the U.S. delegation that the Soviet Union could not be permitted to allow a Soviet victory at the U.N. to "prejudice our victory in Korea."


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Instructions
The veto threat was controversial, as the United States had previously stated that it would not use the veto except when the security of the United States was threatened. However, the Latin American countries fell into line behind the United States. The U.S. position grew stronger when France instructed its U.N. ambassador to abstain on every candidate except Lie, causing Padilla Nervo to withdraw from the race. However, Charles Malik pointed out that the Soviet Union was offering to vote even for anti-Communist candidates, and the "opportunity to exploit such rare phenomenon should not be passed over lightly."


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Vote
The Security Council met in secret session on 25 October 1950. Padilla Nervo's withdrawal was announced by France, and Benegal Rau withdrew his own name from consideration. U.S. ambassador Austin "wondered what answer he could be expected to give to the parents of those who had died in Korea." Soviet ambassador Malik called Lie a "pawn" of "MacArthur and U.S. monopolists" and attacked the United States for abandoning its "widely advertised position" of not using the veto. Malik then demanded that the Security Council vote on the remaining candidates.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Vote
Charles Malik and Carlos P. Romulo were both rejected by votes of 4-0-7. Egypt, India, China, and the Soviet Union voted in favor, while the other countries abstained. The Security Council then voted 7-1-3 to send a letter to the General Assembly reporting that it had been unable to reach agreement. Although the Soviet Union voted against the letter, procedural matters are not subject to the veto.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Extension of Lie's term
At the Security Council on 30 October 1950, the Soviet Union proposed a resolution asking the General Assembly to postpone the appointment of a Secretary-General. The Soviet proposal was rejected by a vote of 1-7-3. The Soviet Union then announced publicly that it would no longer recognize Trygve Lie as Secretary-General after his term ended on 2 February 1951, since any vote by the General Assembly to extend his term was "an artificial maneuver designed to circumvent the [U.N.] Charter."


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Extension of Lie's term
The General Assembly took up the appointment of a Secretary-General on 31 October 1950 and 1 November 1950. U.S. Ambassador Austin praised Lie's "stand against aggression in Korea," while Soviet Foreign Minister Vishinsky said that the vote made a "mockery" of the United Nations. The General Assembly voted 37-9-11 to reject a Soviet proposal to postpone the question. It also voted 35-15-7 to reject an Iraqi proposal to study the process of appointing the Secretary-General and develop a solution.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Second round, Extension of Lie's term
Finally, the General Assembly voted 46-5-8 to extend Lie's term by three years to 2 February 1954. Only the five Soviet bloc countries voted against the resolution. Six Arab countries abstained because of Lie's stance on Palestine, comparing Israeli actions against the Palestinians to North Korea's invasion of South Korea. Nationalist China also abstained, and Australia abstained because it felt the vote was an illegal circumvention of the U.N. Charter.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Aftermath
At the critical Security Council meeting on 25 October 1950, U.S. Ambassador Austin was confidently predicting a United Nations victory in the Korean War. Austin talked of the need for Lie to remain in office to oversee the postwar reconstruction of Korea. However, events were already in motion that would turn the war into a stalemate. Earlier that day, Chinese Communist troops ambushed United Nations forces at the Battle of Onjong and the Battle of Unsan. By the end of December 1950, United Nations forces had retreated south of the 38th Parallel. The war settled into a stalemate by the middle of 1951. Lie announced his resignation on 10 November 1952, declaring, "I am quite sure that this is the time to leave without damage to the UN." This set the stage for the 1953 United Nations Secretary-General selection.


1950 United Nations Secretary-General selection, Aftermath
The 1950 selection marks the only time that the General Assembly voted on a Secretary-General without the recommendation of the Security Council. In 1966, Francis T. P. Plimpton, former Deputy U.S. Representative to the U.N., said that the 1950 vote by the General Assembly had "little taint of legality." The veto would be respected in all future selections. In the 1996 selection, the re-selection of Boutros Boutros-Ghali was vetoed by the United States in a 14-1-0 vote. Supporters of Boutros-Ghali hoped to use the precedent set by the United States in 1950 to take the matter to the General Assembly. France attempted to extend Boutros-Ghali's term by two years in office, but Boutros-Ghali suspended his candidacy after a two-week deadlock in the Security Council. There has been no further challenge to the use of the veto to block the selection of a Secretary-General.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections
The 1950 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1950 which occurred in the middle of President Harry Truman's second term.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections
As the Korean War began and Truman's personal popularity plummeted for a second time during his presidency, his Democratic Party lost a net 28 seats to the Republican Party. This was the first election since 1908 where no third parties acquired any seats in the House.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections, Special elections
There were six special elections throughout the year, listed here by date and district.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in California
The United States House of Representatives elections in California, 1950 was an election for California's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred as part of the general election of the House of Representatives on November 7, 1950. Republicans won one Democratic-held seat.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in California, Results
Final results from the Clerk of the House of Representatives:


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina
The 1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina were held on November 7, 1950 to select six Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. Four incumbents were re-elected, but Hugo S. Sims, Jr. of the 2nd congressional district and James Butler Hare of the 3rd congressional district were defeated in the Democratic primaries. The seats were retained by the Democrats and the composition of the state delegation remained solely Democratic.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 1st congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman L. Mendel Rivers of the 1st congressional district, in office since 1941, defeated A.J. Clement in the Democratic primary and was unopposed in the general election.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2nd congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman Hugo S. Sims, Jr. of the 2nd congressional district, in office since 1949, was defeated in the Democratic primary by John J. Riley who was unopposed in the general election.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 3rd congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman James Butler Hare of the 3rd congressional district, in office since 1949, was defeated in the Democratic primary by W.J. Bryan Dorn who was unopposed in the general election.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 4th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman Joseph R. Bryson of the 4th congressional district, in office since 1939, defeated Matthew Poliakoff in the Democratic primary and was unopposed in the general election.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 5th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman James P. Richards of the 5th congressional district, in office since 1933, was unopposed in his bid for re-election.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 6th congressional district
Incumbent Democratic Congressman John L. McMillan of the 6th congressional district, in office since 1939, was unopposed in his bid for re-election.


1950 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia
The 1950 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia were held on November 7, 1950 to determine who will represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives. Virginia had nine seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1940 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms.


1950 United States Senate election in Alabama
The 1950 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 7, 1950.


1950 United States Senate election in Alabama
Incumbent Senator J. Lister Hill was re-elected for a third term in office, defeating retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral John G. Crommelin, who ran as an independent candidate.


1950 United States Senate election in Arizona
The 1950 United States Senate elections in Arizona took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Carl Hayden ran for reelection to a fifth term, defeating Republican nominee Bruce Brockett in the general election. Brockett was formerly the Republican nominee for governor in both 1946 and 1948.


1950 United States Senate election in California
The 1950 United States Senate election in California was held on November 7 of that year, following a campaign characterized by accusations and name-calling. Republican Congressman and future President Richard Nixon defeated Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas, after Democratic incumbent Sheridan Downey withdrew during the primary election campaign. Douglas and Nixon each gave up their congressional seats to run against Downey; no other representatives were willing to risk the contest.


1950 United States Senate election in California
Both Douglas and Nixon announced their candidacies in late 1949. In March 1950, Downey withdrew from a vicious primary battle with Douglas by announcing his retirement, after which Los Angeles Daily News publisher Manchester Boddy joined the race. Boddy attacked Douglas as a leftist and was the first to compare her to New York Congressman Vito Marcantonio, who was accused of being a communist. Boddy, Nixon, and Douglas each entered both party primaries, a practice known as cross-filing. In the Republican primary, Nixon was challenged only by cross-filers and fringe candidates.


1950 United States Senate election in California
Nixon won the Republican primary and Douglas the Democratic contest, with each also finishing third in the other party's contest (Boddy finished second in both races). The contentious Democratic race left the party divided, and Democrats were slow to rally to Douglas—some even endorsed Nixon. The Korean War broke out only days after the primaries, and both Nixon and Douglas contended that the other had often voted with Marcantonio to the detriment of national security. Nixon's attacks were far more effective, and he won the November 7 general election by almost 20 percentage points, carrying 53 of California's 58 counties and all metropolitan areas.


1950 United States Senate election in California
Though Nixon was later criticized for his tactics in the campaign, he defended his actions, and also stated that Douglas's positions were too far to the left for California voters. Other reasons for the result have been suggested, ranging from tepid support for Douglas from President Truman and his administration to the reluctance of voters in 1950 to elect a woman. The campaign gave rise to two political nicknames, both coined by Boddy or making their first appearance in his newspaper: "the Pink Lady" for Douglas and "Tricky Dick" for Nixon.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Background
California Senator Sheridan Downey was first elected in 1938. An attorney, he had run unsuccessfully in 1934 for Lieutenant Governor of California as Upton Sinclair's running mate, and had a reputation as a liberal. As a senator, however, his positions gradually moved to the right, and he began to favor corporate interests. Manchester Boddy, the editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News, was born on a potato farm in Washington state.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Background
He had little newspaper experience when, in 1926, he was given the opportunity to purchase the Daily News by a bankruptcy court, but built it into a small but thriving periodical. He shared his views with his readers through his column, "Thinking and Living", and, after initial Republican leanings, was a firm supporter of the New Deal. While the Daily News had not endorsed the Sinclair-Downey ticket, Boddy had called Sinclair "a great man" and allowed the writer-turned-gubernatorial candidate to set forth his views on the newspaper's front page.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Background
Both Helen Douglas and Richard Nixon entered electoral politics in the mid-1940s. Douglas, a New Deal Democrat, was a former actress and opera singer, and the wife of actor Melvyn Douglas. She represented the 14th congressional district beginning in 1945. Nixon grew up in a working-class family in Whittier. In 1946, he defeated 12th district Congressman Jerry Voorhis to claim a seat in the United States House of Representatives, where he became known for his anticommunist activities, including his involvement in the Alger Hiss affair.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Background
In the 1940s, California experienced a huge influx of migrants from other US states, increasing its population by 55%. Party registration in 1950 was 58.4% Democratic and 37.1% Republican. However, other than Downey, most major California officeholders were Republican, including Governor Earl Warren (who was seeking a third term in 1950) and Senator William Knowland.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Background
During the 1950 campaign, both Nixon and Douglas were accused of having a voting record comparable to that of New York Congressman Vito Marcantonio. The sole congressman from the American Labor Party at the time, Marcantonio represented East Harlem. He was accused of being a communist, though he denied being one; he rarely discussed the Soviet Union or communism. Marcantonio opposed restrictions on communists and the Communist Party, stating that such restrictions violated the Bill of Rights. He regularly voted against contempt citations requested by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), on which Nixon served.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Early campaign
Douglas disregarded advice from party officials to wait until 1952 to run for the Senate, when Republican Senator Knowland would be up for reelection. Fundraising for the campaign was a concern from the beginning; Douglas friend and aide Ed Lybeck wrote her that she would probably need to raise $150,000 ($1.8 million today), which Douglas considered a massive sum. Lybeck wrote,


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Early campaign
Now, you can win. You will not be a favorite; you'll be rather a long shot. But given luck and money and a hell of a lot of work, you can win ... but for Christ's sake don't commit suicide with no dough ... Maybe you can't crucify mankind on a cross of gold, but you can sure as hell crucify a statewide candidate upon a cross of no-gold.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Early campaign
On October 5, 1949, Douglas made a radio appearance announcing her candidacy. She attacked Downey almost continuously throughout the remainder of the year, accusing him of being a do-nothing, a tool of big business, and an agent of oil interests. She hired Harold Tipton, a newcomer to California who had managed a successful congressional campaign in the Seattle area, as her campaign manager. Douglas realized that Nixon would most likely be the Republican nominee, and felt that were she to win the primary, the wide gap between Nixon's positions and hers would cause voters to rally to her. Downey, who suffered from a severe ulcer, was initially undecided about running, but announced his candidacy in early December in a speech that included an attack on Douglas. Earl Desmond, a member of the California State Senate from Sacramento whose positions were similar to Downey's, also entered the race.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Early campaign
In January 1950, Douglas opened campaign headquarters in Los Angeles and San Francisco, which was seen as a signal that she was serious about contesting Downey's seat and would not withdraw from the race. Downey challenged Douglas to a series of debates; Douglas, who was not a good debater, declined. The two candidates traded charges via press and radio, with Downey describing Douglas's views as extremist.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Early campaign
Douglas's formal campaign launch on February 28 was overshadowed by rumors that Downey might retire, which Douglas called a political maneuver on Downey's part to get the attention of the press. However, on March 29, amid rumors that he was doing badly in the polls, Downey announced both his retirement and his endorsement of Los Angeles Daily News publisher Manchester Boddy. In his statement, the senator indicated that, due to his ill health, he was not up to "waging a personal and militant campaign against the vicious and unethical propaganda" of Douglas.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Early campaign
Boddy filed his election paperwork the next day, on the final day petitions were accepted, with his papers signed by Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron, a Republican, and by Downey campaign manager and 1946 Democratic senatorial candidate Will Rogers, Jr. The publisher had been urged to enter the race by state Democratic leaders and by wealthy oilmen. He had no political experience; Democratic leaders had sought to draft him to run for the Senate in 1946, but he had declined. He later stated that his reasons for running were that the race would be a challenge, and that he would meet interesting people. Boddy, Douglas, and Nixon each "cross-filed", entering both major party primaries.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Early campaign
Douglas called Downey's departure in favor of the publisher a cheap gimmick and made no attempt to reach a rapprochement with the senator, who entered Bethesda Naval Hospital for treatment in early April, and was on sick leave from Congress for several months. The change in opponents was a mixed blessing for Douglas; it removed the incumbent from the field, but deprived her of the endorsement of the Daily News—one of the few big city papers to consistently support her.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
For the first month of Boddy's abbreviated ten-week campaign, he and Douglas avoided attacking each other. Boddy's campaign depicted him as born in a log cabin, and highlighted his World War I service. The publisher campaigned under the slogan, "Manchester Boddy, the Democrat Every Body Wants." Boddy stated that he was fighting for the "little man", and alleged that the average individual was overlooked by both big government and big labor. However, his campaign, having a late start, was disorganized. The candidate himself had little charisma, and little presence as a public speaker. According to Rob Wagner, who wrote of the campaign in his history of Los Angeles newspapers of the era, Boddy "was all sizzle and no substance".


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
The campaign calm broke off near the end of April 1950, when Boddy's Daily News and affiliated newspapers referred to the congresswoman as "decidedly pink" and "pink shading to deep red". At the end of the month, the Daily News referred to her for the first time as "the pink lady". Douglas generally ignored Boddy's attacks, which continued unabated through May. In a Daily News column, Boddy wrote that Douglas was part of "a small minority of red hots" which proposed to use the election to "establish a beachhead on which to launch a Communist attack on the United States". One Boddy campaign publication was printed with red ink, and stated that Douglas "has too often teamed up with the notorious extreme radical, Vito Marcantonio of New York City, on votes that seem more in the interest of Soviet Russia than of the United States".


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
On May 3, Congressman George Smathers defeated liberal Senator Claude Pepper for the Democratic Senate nomination in Florida. Smathers' tactics included dubbing his opponent "Red Pepper" and distributing red-covered brochures, The Red Record of Senator Claude Pepper, that included a photograph of Pepper with Marcantonio. Soon after Smathers' triumph in the primary, which in the days of the yellow dog South was tantamount to election, South Dakota Republican Senator Karl Mundt, who when in the House had served with Nixon on HUAC, sent him a letter telling him about Smathers' brochure.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
Senator Mundt wrote to Nixon, "It occurs to me that if Helen is your opponent in the fall, something of a similar nature might well be produced ..." Douglas wrote of Senator Pepper's defeat, "The loss of Pepper is a great tragedy, and we are sick about it." She also noted, "What a vicious campaign was carried on against him. No doubt the fur will begin to fly out here too", and "It is revolting to think of the depths to which people will go."


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
Downey reentered the fray on May 22, when he made a statewide radio address on behalf of Boddy, stating his belief that Douglas was not qualified to be a senator. He concluded, "Her record clearly shows very little hard work, no important influence on legislation, and almost nothing in the way of solid achievement. The fact that Mrs. Douglas has continued to bask in the warm glow of publicity and propaganda should not confuse any voter as to what the real facts are."


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
Douglas brought an innovation to the race—a small helicopter, which she used to travel around the state at a time when there were few freeways linking California's cities. She got the idea from her friend, Texas Senator Lyndon Johnson, who had extensively used helicopters in his campaign in the contested Democratic Party primary for the 1948 United States Senate election in Texas. Douglas leased the craft from a helicopter company in Palo Alto owned by Republican supporters, who hoped her influence would lead to a defense contract. When she used it to land in San Rafael, her local organizer, Dick Tuck, called it the "Helencopter", and the name stuck.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
In early April, polls gave Nixon some chance of winning the Democratic primary, which would mean his election was secured. He sent out mailings to Democratic voters. Boddy attacked Nixon for the mailings; Nixon responded that Democratic voters should have the opportunity to express no confidence in the Truman administration by voting for a Republican. "Democrats for Nixon", a group affiliated with Nixon's campaign, asked Democratic voters "as one Democrat to another" to vote for the congressman, sending out flyers which did not mention his political affiliation.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Democratic contest, Boddy versus Douglas
Boddy quickly struck back in his paper, accusing Nixon of misrepresenting himself as a Democrat. A large ad in the same issue by the "Veterans Democratic Committee" warned Democratic voters that Nixon was actually a Republican and referred to him for the first time as "Tricky Dick". The exchange benefited neither Nixon nor Boddy; Douglas won the primary on June 6 and exceeded their combined vote total.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
In mid-1949, Nixon, although anxious to advance his political career, was reluctant to run for the Senate unless he was confident of winning the Republican primary. He considered his party's prospects in the House to be bleak, absent a strong Republican trend, and wrote "I seriously doubt if we can ever work our way back in power. Actually, in my mind, I do not see any great gain in remaining a member of the House, even from a relatively good District, if it means we would be simply a vocal but ineffective minority."


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
In late August 1949, Nixon embarked on a putatively nonpolitical speaking tour of Northern California, where he was less well known, to see if his candidacy would be well received if he ran. With many of his closest advisers urging him to do so, Nixon decided in early October to seek the Senate seat. He hired a professional campaign manager, Murray Chotiner, who had helped to run successful campaigns for both Governor Warren and Senator Knowland and had played a limited role in Nixon's first congressional race.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
Nixon announced his candidacy in a radio broadcast on November 3, painting the race as a choice between a free society and state socialism. Chotiner's philosophy for the primary campaign was to focus on Nixon and ignore the opposition. Nixon did not indulge in negative campaigning in the primaries; according to Nixon biographer Irwin Gellman, the internecine warfare in the Democratic Party made it unnecessary. The Nixon campaign spent most of late 1949 and early 1950 concentrating on building a statewide organization, and on intensive fundraising, which proved successful.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
Nixon had built part of his reputation in the House on his role in the Alger Hiss affair. Hiss's retrial for perjury after a July 1949 hung jury was a cloud over Nixon's campaign; if Hiss was acquitted, Nixon's candidacy would be in serious danger. On January 21, 1950, the jury found Hiss guilty, and Nixon received hundreds of congratulatory messages, including one from the only living former president, Herbert Hoover.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
At the end of January 1950, a subcommittee of the California Republican Assembly, a conservative grassroots group, endorsed former Lieutenant Governor Frederick Houser (who had lost narrowly to Downey in 1944) over Nixon for the Senate candidacy by a 6–3 vote, only to be reversed by the full committee, which endorsed Nixon by 13–12. Houser eventually decided against running. Los Angeles County Supervisor Raymond Darby commenced a Senate run, but changed his mind and instead ran for lieutenant governor. Darby was defeated by incumbent Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight in the Republican primary.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
Knight had also been considered likely to run for the Senate, but decided to seek re-election instead. Actor Edward Arnold began a Senate run, but dropped it in late March, citing a lack of time to prepare his campaign.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
Nixon was opposed for the Republican nomination only by cross-filing Democrats and by two fringe candidates: Ulysses Grant Bixby Meyer, a consulting psychologist for a dating service, and former judge and law professor Albert Levitt, who opposed "the political theories and activities of national and international Communism, Fascism, and Vaticanism" and was unhappy that the press was paying virtually no attention to his campaign.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
On March 20, Nixon cross-filed in the two major party primaries, and two weeks later began to criss-cross the state in his campaign vehicle: a yellow station wagon with "Nixon for U.S. Senator" in big letters on both sides. According to one contemporary news account, in his "barnstorming tour", Nixon intended to "[talk] up his campaign for the U.S. Senate on street corners and wherever he can collect a crowd." During his nine-week primary tour, he visited all of California's 58 counties, speaking sometimes six or eight times in a day. His wife Pat Nixon stood by as her husband spoke, distributing campaign thimbles that urged the election of Nixon and were marked with the slogan "Safeguard the American Home". She distributed more than 65,000 by the end of the campaign.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
A Douglas supporter heard Nixon speak during the station wagon tour, and wrote to the congresswoman:


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
He gave a magnificent speech. He is one of the cleverest speakers I have ever heard. The questions on the Mundt-Nixon bill, his views on the loyalty oath, and the problem of international communism were just what he was waiting for. Indeed, he was so skillful—and, I might add, cagey—that those who came indifferent were sold, and even many of those who came to heckle went away with doubts ... If he is only a fraction as effective as he was here you have a formidable opponent on your hands.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Republican contest
With no serious challenge from Republican opponents, Nixon won an overwhelming victory in the Republican primary, with his cross-filing rivals, Boddy, Douglas, and Desmond, dividing a small percentage of the vote but running well ahead of the two fringe candidates.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Joint appearances
There were no candidate debates, but Douglas and Nixon met twice on the campaign trail during the primary season. The first meeting took place at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, where Nixon waved a check for $100 that his campaign had received from "Eleanor Roosevelt", with an accompanying letter, "I wish it could be ten times more. Best wishes for your success." The audience was shocked at the idea of Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of Democratic former president Franklin Roosevelt and known for her liberal views, contributing to Nixon's campaign.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Joint appearances
Nixon went on to explain that the envelope was postmarked Oyster Bay, New York, and that the Eleanor Roosevelt who had sent the contribution was Eleanor Butler Roosevelt, the widow of former Republican president Theodore Roosevelt's eldest son. The audience laughed, and Douglas later wrote that she had been distracted and gave a poor speech. A memo from Chotiner several days later noted that Boddy had failed to attend the function, and that Douglas wished that she had also not attended.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Primary campaign, Joint appearances
A second joint appearance took place in Beverly Hills. According to Nixon campaign adviser Bill Arnold, Douglas arrived late, while Nixon was already speaking. Nixon ostentatiously looked at his watch, provoking laughter from the audience. The laughter recurred as Nixon, sitting behind Douglas as she spoke, fidgeted to indicate his disapproval of what she was saying; she appeared bewildered at the laughter. Douglas concluded her remarks and Nixon rose to speak again, but she did not stay to listen.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
The rift in the Democratic party caused by the primary was slow to heal; Boddy's supporters were reluctant to join Douglas's campaign, even with President Truman's encouragement. The President refused to campaign in California; he resented Democratic gubernatorial candidate James Roosevelt. Roosevelt, the eldest son of Franklin Roosevelt, had urged Democrats not to renominate Truman in 1948, but to instead nominate General Dwight Eisenhower. Fundraising continued to be a major problem for Douglas, the bulk of whose financial support came from labor unions.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
The weekend after the primary, Nixon campaign officials held a conference to discuss strategy for the general election campaign. They decided on a fundraising goal of just over $197,000 (today, about $2,400,000). They were helped in that effort when Democratic Massachusetts Congressman John F. Kennedy, a political opponent of Nixon's, came to Nixon's office and gave him a donation of $1,000 on behalf of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., his father. John Kennedy indicated that he could not endorse Nixon, but that he would not be heartbroken if Douglas was returned to her acting career. Joseph Kennedy later stated that he gave Nixon the money because Douglas was a communist.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
Nixon's positions generally favored large corporations and farming interests, while Douglas's did not, and Nixon reaped the reward with contributions from them. Nixon favored the Taft-Hartley Act, passage of which had been bitterly opposed by labor unions; Douglas advocated its repeal. Douglas supported a requirement that federally subsidized water from reclamation projects only go to farms of not more than 160 acres (0.65 km2); Nixon fought for the repeal of that requirement.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
When the Korean War broke out in late June, Douglas and her aides feared being put on the defensive by Nixon on the subject of communism, and sought to preempt his attack. Douglas's opening campaign speech included a charge that Nixon had voted with Marcantonio to deny aid to South Korea and to cut aid to Europe in half. Chotiner later cited this as the crucial moment of the campaign:


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
She was defeated the minute she tried to do it, because she could not sell the people of California that she would be a better fighter against communism than Dick Nixon. She made the fatal mistake of attacking our strength instead of sticking to attacking our weakness.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
Nixon objected to Douglas's speech, stating that he had opposed the Korea bill because it did not include aid to Taiwan, and had supported it once the aid had been included. As for the Europe charge, according to Nixon biographer Stephen Ambrose, Nixon was so well known as a supporter of the Marshall Plan that Douglas's charge had no credibility. In fact, Nixon had opposed a two-year reauthorization of the Marshall Plan, favoring a one-year reauthorization with a renewal provision, allowing for more congressional oversight.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
Nixon realized that the battle in California would be fought over the threat of communism, and his campaign staff began to research Douglas's voting record. Republican officials in Washington sent the campaign a report listing 247 times Marcantonio (who generally followed the Democratic line) and Douglas had voted together, and 11 times that they had not.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
Nixon biographer Conrad Black suggests that Nixon's strategy in keeping the focus on communism was to "distract [Douglas] from her strengths—a sincere and attractive woman fighting bravely for principles most Americans would agree with if they were packaged correctly—to scrapping ... on matters where she could not win." Chotiner stated 20 years later that Marcantonio suggested the comparison of voting records, as he disliked Douglas for failing to support his beliefs fully.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
Public support for the Korean War initially resulted in anger towards communists, and Nixon advocated the passage of legislation he had previously introduced with Senator Mundt which would tighten restrictions on communists and the Communist Party. Douglas argued that there was already sufficient legislation to effect any necessary prosecutions, and that the Mundt-Nixon bill (soon replaced by the similar McCarran-Wood bill) would erode civil liberties. With the bill sure to pass, Douglas was urged to vote in favor to provide herself with political cover.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, War in Korea, conflict in California
She declined to do so, though fellow California Representative Chester E. Holifield warned her that she would not be able to get around the state fast enough to explain her vote and Nixon would "beat [her] brains in". Douglas was one of only 20 representatives (including Marcantonio) who voted against the bill. Truman vetoed it; Congress enacted it over his veto by wide margins in late September. Douglas was one of 47 representatives (including Marcantonio) to vote to sustain the veto. In a radio broadcast soon after the veto override, Douglas announced that she stood with the President, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in their fight against communism.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
On September 10, Eleanor Roosevelt, the late president's widow and the gubernatorial candidate's mother, arrived in California for a quick campaign swing to support her son and Douglas before she had to return to New York as a delegate to the United Nations. Douglas hoped that the former first lady's visit would mark a turning point in the campaign. At a Democratic rally featuring Mrs. Roosevelt the next day in Long Beach, Nixon workers first handed out a flyer headed "Douglas–Marcantonio Voting Record", printed with dark ink on pink paper.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
The legal-size flyer compared the voting records of Douglas and Marcantonio, principally in the area of national security, and concluded that they were indistinguishable. In contrast, the flyer said, Nixon had voted entirely in opposition to the "Douglas–Marcantonio Axis". It implied that sending Douglas to the Senate would be no different from electing Marcantonio, and asked if that was what Californians wanted. The paper soon became known as the "Pink Sheet".


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
Chotiner later stated that the color choice was made at the print shop when campaign officials approved the final copy, and "for some reason or other it just seemed to appeal to us for the moment". An initial print run of 50,000 was soon followed by a reprint of 500,000, distributed principally in heavily populated Southern California.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
Douglas made no immediate response to the Pink Sheet, despite the advice of Mrs. Roosevelt, who appreciated its power and urged her to answer it. Douglas later stated that she had failed to understand the appeal of the Pink Sheet to voters, and simply thought it absurd. Nixon followed up on the Pink Sheet with a radio address on September 18, accusing Douglas of being "a member of a small clique which joins the notorious communist party-liner Vito Marcantonio of New York, in voting time after time against measures that are for the security of this country". He assailed Douglas for advocating that Taiwan's seat on the United Nations Security Council be given to the People's Republic of China, as appeasement towards communism.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
Late in September, Douglas complained of alleged whispering campaigns aimed at her husband's Jewish heritage, and which stated that he was a communist. At the end of September, the splits in the Democratic Party became open when 64 prominent Democrats, led by George Creel, endorsed Nixon and castigated Douglas. Creel said, "She has voted consistently with Vito Marcantonio. Belated flag-waving cannot erase this damning record, nor can the tawdry pretense of 'liberalism' excuse it." According to Creel, Downey was working behind the scenes to secure Nixon's election.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
James Roosevelt's lackluster campaign led Douglas backers to state that he was not only failing to help Douglas, he was not even helping himself. With polls showing the two major Democratic candidates in dire straits, Roosevelt wrote to President Truman, proposing that Truman campaign in the state in the final days before the election. Truman refused to do so. He also declined Douglas's pleas for a letter of support (privately calling her "one of the worst nuisances"), and even refused to allow her to be photographed with him at a signing ceremony for a water bill which would benefit California.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
When Truman flew to Wake Island in early October to confer with General Douglas MacArthur regarding the Korean situation, he returned via San Francisco, but told the press he had no political appointments scheduled. He spoke at an event at the War Memorial Opera House during his stopover, but both Roosevelt and Douglas were relegated to orchestra-level seats, far from the presidential box. Vice President Alben Barkley did visit the state to campaign for the Democrats. However, Time magazine wrote that he did not appear to be helpful to Douglas's campaign.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Debut of the Pink Sheet
The Vice President stated that while he was not familiar with Douglas's votes, he was certain that she had voted the way she did out of sincere conviction and urged Californians to give the Senate a "dose of brains and beauty". Attorney General McGrath also came to California to campaign for the Democrats, and freshman Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota tirelessly worked the San Joaquin Valley, talking to farmers and workers.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
Douglas adopted Boddy's "Tricky Dick" nickname for Nixon, and also referred to him as "pee wee". Her name-calling had an effect on Nixon: when told she had called him "a young man with a dark shirt" in an allusion to Nazism, he inquired, "Did she say that? Why, I'll castrate her." Campaign official Bill Arnold joked that it would be difficult to do, and Nixon replied that he would do it anyway. Nixon returned the attacks; at friendly gatherings and especially at all-male events, he stated that Douglas was "pink right down to her underwear".


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
Douglas's last large-scale advertisement blitz contained another Nazi allusion. Citing five votes in which Nixon and Marcantonio had voted together and in opposition to Douglas, it accused Nixon of using "the big lie" and stated: "HITLER invented it/STALIN perfected it/NIXON uses it". Nixon responded, "Truth is not smear. She made the record. She has not denied a single vote. The iron curtain of silence has closed around the opposition camp." Through the final days of the campaign, he struck a constant drumbeat: Douglas was soft on communism.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
Though polls showed Nixon well ahead, his campaign did not let up. A fundraising solicitation warned, "Right Now Nixon Is Losing ... Not Enough Money". Skywriting urged voters to cast their ballots for him. Borrowing an idea from Nixon's 1946 campaign, the campaign announced that people should answer their phones, "Vote for Nixon"; random calls would be made from campaign headquarters and households that answered their phones that way would receive scarce consumer appliances. Chotiner even instructed that 18-month-old copies of The Saturday Evening Post, containing a flattering story about Nixon, be left in doctor's offices, barber shops, and other places where people wait across the state.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
In the last days of the campaign, Douglas finally began to receive some of the support she had hoped for. Boddy's paper endorsed her, while Truman praised her. Douglas's actor husband, Melvyn Douglas, on tour with the play Two Blind Mice throughout the campaign, spoke out on behalf of his wife, as did movie stars Myrna Loy and Eddie Cantor. Nixon had several Hollywood personalities supporting him, including Howard Hughes, Cecil B. DeMille and John Wayne.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
Another actor, Ronald Reagan, was among Douglas's supporters, but when his girlfriend and future wife Nancy Davis took him to a pro-Nixon rally led by actress ZaSu Pitts, he was converted to Nixon's cause and led quiet fundraising for him. Douglas was apparently unaware of this—30 years later she mentioned Reagan in her memoirs as someone who worked hard for her.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
Chotiner had worked on Warren's 1942 campaign, but had parted ways from him, and the popular governor did not want to be connected to the Nixon campaign. Nonetheless, Chotiner sought to maneuver him into an endorsement. Chotiner instructed Young Republicans head and future congressman Joseph F. Holt to follow Douglas from appearance to appearance and demand to know who she was supporting for governor, as other Young Republicans handed out copies of the Pink Sheet.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
Douglas repeatedly avoided the question, but with four days to go before the election and the Democratic candidate near exhaustion from the bitter campaign, she responded that she hoped and prayed that Roosevelt would be elected. Holt contacted a delighted Chotiner, who had a reporter ask Warren about Douglas's comments, and the governor responded, "In view of her statement, I might ask her how she expects I will vote when I mark my ballot for United States senator on Tuesday." Chotiner publicized this response as an endorsement of Nixon, and the campaign assured voters that Nixon would be voting for Warren as well.


1950 United States Senate election in California, General election, Name-calling and supporters: the final days
Despite the polls, Douglas was confident that the Democratic registration edge would lead her to victory, so much so that she offered a Roosevelt staffer a job in her senatorial office. On election day, November 7, 1950, Nixon defeated Douglas by 59 percent to 41. Of California's 58 counties, Douglas won only five, all in Northern California and with relatively small populations; Nixon won every urban area. Although Warren defeated Roosevelt by an even larger margin, Nixon won by the greatest number of votes of any 1950 Senate candidate. Douglas, in her concession speech, declined to congratulate Nixon. Marcantonio was also defeated in his New York district.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, Candidates
A week after the election, Downey announced that he was resigning for health reasons. Warren appointed Nixon to the short remainder of Downey's term; under the Senate rules at the time, this gave Nixon seniority over the senators sworn in during January. Nixon took office on December 4, 1950. He used little of his seniority, since in November 1952 he was elected vice president as Dwight Eisenhower's running mate, the next step on a path that would lead him to the presidency in 1969.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, Candidates
Downey, who as a former senator retained floor privileges, was hired as a lobbyist by oil interests. In 1952, as Republicans took over the White House and control of both houses of Congress, he was fired. An aide stated that the big corporations did not need Downey anymore. Boddy, dispirited by his election defeat and feeling let down by the average citizens for whom he had sought to advocate, lapsed into semi-retirement after his primary defeat. In 1952, he sold his interest in the Daily News, which went into bankruptcy in December 1954.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, Candidates
It was rumored that Douglas would be given a political appointment in the Truman administration, but the Nixon-Douglas race had made such an appointment too controversial for the President. According to Democratic National Committee vice-chair India Edwards, a Douglas supporter, the former congresswoman could not have been appointed dogcatcher. In 1952, she returned to acting, and eight years later campaigned for John F. Kennedy during Nixon's first, unsuccessful presidential run. She also campaigned for George McGovern in his unsuccessful bid to prevent Nixon's 1972 reelection, and called for his ouster from office during the Watergate scandal.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, Candidates
Less than a week after the election, Douglas wrote to one of her supporters that she did not think there was anything her campaign could have done to change the result. Blaming the war, voter mistrust of Truman's foreign policy, and high prices at home, Douglas stated that she lost in California because Nixon was able to take a large part of the women's vote and the labor vote. Later in November, she indicated that liberals must undertake a massive effort to win in 1952.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, Candidates
In 1956, she stated in an interview that, while Nixon had never called her a communist, he had designed his whole campaign to create the impression that she was a communist or "communistic". In 1959, she wrote that she had not particularly wanted to be a senator, and in 1962 she stated that the policy of her campaign was to avoid attacks on Nixon. In her memoirs, published posthumously in 1982, she wrote, "Nixon had his victory, but I had mine ... He hadn't touched me. I didn't carry Richard Nixon with me, thank God." She concluded her chapter on the 1950 race with, "There's not much to say about the 1950 campaign except that a man ran for Senate who wanted to get there, and didn't care how."


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, Candidates
In 1958, Nixon, by then vice president, allegedly stated that he regretted some of the tactics his campaign had used in the campaign against Douglas, blaming his youth. When the statements were reported, Nixon denied them. He issued press releases defending his campaign, and stating that any impression that Douglas was pro-communist was justified by her record. He said Douglas was part of a whispering campaign accusing him of being "anti-Semitic and Jim Crow".


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, Candidates
In his 1978 memoirs, he stated that "Helen Douglas lost the election because the voters of California in 1950 were not prepared to elect as their senator anyone with a left-wing voting record or anyone they perceived as being soft on or naive about communism." He indicated that Douglas faced difficulties in the campaign because of her gender, but that her "fatal disadvantage lay in her record and in her views".


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, History and legend
Contemporary accounts ascribed the result to a number of causes. Douglas friend and former Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes blamed Roosevelt's weak candidacy and what he believed was Nixon's use of the red scare. Supervisor John Anson Ford of Los Angeles County chalked up the result to Nixon's skill as a speaker and a lack of objective reporting by the press. Douglas's campaign treasurer, Alvin Meyers, stated that while labor financed Douglas's campaign, it failed to vote for her, and blamed the Truman Administration for "dumping" her.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, History and legend
Douglas's San Diego campaign manager claimed that 500,000 people in San Diego and Los Angeles had received anonymous phone calls alleging Douglas was a communist, though he could not name anyone who had received such a call. Time magazine wrote that Nixon triumphed "by making the Administration's failures in Asia his major issue".


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, History and legend
As Nixon continued his political rise and then moved towards his downfall, the 1950 race increasingly took on sinister tones. According to Nixon biographer Earl Mazo, "Nothing in the litany of reprehensible conduct charged against Nixon, the campaigner, has been cited more often than the tactics by which he defeated Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas for senator." Douglas friend and McGovern campaign manager Frank Mankiewicz, in his 1973 biography, Perfectly Clear: Nixon from Whittier to Watergate, focused on the race and the Pink Sheet, and alleged that Nixon never won a free election, that is, one without "major fraud".


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, History and legend
Historian Ingrid Scobie came to a different conclusion in her biography of Douglas, Center Stage. Scobie concluded that, given voter attitudes at the time, no woman could have won that race. Scobie stated that Nixon's tactics, which used voter anger at communists, contributed to the magnitude of Douglas's defeat, as did the fragmentation of the California Democratic Party in 1950, the weakness of Roosevelt at the head of the ticket, Douglas's idealistic positions (to the left of many California Democrats) and Boddy's attacks. In his early biography of Nixon, Mazo contrasted the two campaigns and concluded, "when compared with the surgeons of the Nixon camp, the Douglas operators performed like apprentice butchers".


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, History and legend
Both Roger Morris and Greg Mitchell (who wrote a book about the 1950 race) conclude that Nixon spent large sums of money on the campaign, with Morris estimating $1–2 million (perhaps $12 million–$24 million today) and Mitchell suggesting twice that. Gellman, in his later book, conceded that Nixon's officially reported amount of $4,209 was understated, but indicated that campaign finance law at that time was filled with loopholes, and few if any candidates admitted to their full spending. He considered Morris's and Mitchell's earlier estimates, though, to be "guess[es]" and "fantastic". Black suggests that Nixon spent about $1.5 million and Douglas just under half of that.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, History and legend
As an actress, she entered Broadway as a star on sheer talent and little training ... [ As an opera singer], she sang abroad for two summers, fully expecting that the next step would be the Metropolitan Opera. In politics after five months of working with the [California Democratic] Women's Division, it seemed only natural that she head the state's organization and serve as Democratic National Committeewoman. Restless after three years in those positions, she saw the possibility of becoming a member of Congress as a logical next step.


1950 United States Senate election in California, Aftermath, History and legend
Only four years later, she felt ready to run for the Senate. But her lack of political experience and her inflexible stands on political issues, along with gender questions, eroded the support of the Democratic Party in 1950. What in fact may have hurt her the most is that for which she is most remembered—her idealism.


1950 United States Senate election in Connecticut
The 1950 United States Senate election in Connecticut was held on November 7, 1950.


1950 United States Senate election in Connecticut
Incumbent Democratic Senator Brien McMahon was re-elected to a second term in office over Republican former U.S. Representative Joseph E. Talbot.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida
The 1950 United States Senate election in Florida was held on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Senator Claude Pepper ran for a third term in office but was defeated in the Democratic primary by U.S. Representative George Smathers, who went on to easily win the general election.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida
The primary campaign has been described as one of the "most bitter and ugly campaigns in Florida political history." Pepper was targeted for his opposition to incumbent President Harry Truman during the 1948 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Smathers also accused Pepper of ties to communist organizations and the Soviet Union, making this race emblematic of the second Red Scare in American politics.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida
The general election was low-key, as the Democratic primary was effectively tantamount to election. Smathers defeated Republican John P. Booth in a landslide. After the election, Pepper remained active in politics, mounting an unsuccessful run for Senate again in 1958 and then winning an election to a U.S. House seat in 1962, a position he held until his death in 1989. Smathers served in the Senate until retiring in 1968.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Background
Early in his senate career, Claude Pepper was a close ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was among the leading advocates for the passage of New Deal legislation. According to a personal account by Pepper, following his closer than expected re-election in 1944, efforts began to mobilize for his defeat in 1950. Wealthy businessman Edward Ball raised approximately $62,000 in a single afternoon for a war chest that would later be used to beat Pepper. After Roosevelt's death in 1945, Pepper provided only lukewarm support to his successor – Harry Truman. Pepper had been part of an unsuccessful 1948 campaign to "dump" Truman as the Democratic presidential nominee and suggested that the Democrats nominate Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had no political party affiliation at the time. Tensions began to grow between Truman and Pepper.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Background
During the summer of 1949, then-U.S. House Representative George Smathers began to seriously contemplate running for the senate seat. Truman called Smathers into a White House meeting, when Truman reportedly said, "I want you to do me a favor. I want you to beat that son-of-a-bitch Claude Pepper."


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Background
In August, Pepper received a letter from Smathers' brother Frank, indicating that George would run against Pepper unless he was nominated for Solicitor General of the United States, if Smathers would be allowed to have a say in the nomination of a new senator if a vacancy resulted, and if Smathers were to receive the support of Pepper if he ran for governor in 1952. Pepper refused the deal and spoke with Truman during his visit to Miami, when Truman promised to assist Pepper in winning re-election.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
The Democratic primary for the 1950 United States Senate election in Florida was described as the "most bitter and ugly campaigns in Florida political history." Ormund Powers, a Central Florida historian, noted that ABC and NBC commentator David Brinkley said that "the Peppers-Smathers campaign would always stand out in his mind as the dirtiest in the history of American politics". On January 12, 1950, U.S. Representative George A. Smathers declared his candidacy for the race in Orlando at Kemp's Coliseum, where about 3,000 supporters had gathered. In his opening speech, Smathers accused Pepper of being "the leader of the radicals and extremists", an advocate of treason, and a person against the constitutional rights of Americans. Ed Ball, a power in state politics who had broken with Claude Pepper, financed his opponent, Smathers.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
Prior to the entry of Smathers and Pepper, Orlando attorney James G. Horrell campaigned for the seat. Horrell researched Pepper's weaknesses and the state's voters. Horrell also compiled a list of communist-front groups that Pepper had communicated with. On the day that Pepper declared his candidacy, Horrell withdrew and endorsed Smathers. Horrell also sent his reports about Pepper to Smathers, which he used throughout the next few months. This would also prevent the chance of a run-off election. In late February and early March, the Jacksonville Journal conducted a poll in 11 counties important for the election. Smathers led by about 2-to-1 and dominated in Duval, Pinellas, and Volusia counties, while he was also statistically tied with Pepper in Dade, Escambia, and Hillsborough counties. However, Smathers did not trail in any of the 11 counties.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
Smathers repeatedly attacked "Red Pepper" for having communist sympathies, condemning both his support for universal health care and his alleged support for the Soviet Union. Pepper had traveled to the Soviet Union in 1945 and, after meeting Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, declared he was "a man Americans could trust." Additionally, although Pepper supported universal health care, sometimes referred to as "socialized medicine", Smathers voted for "socialized medicine" in the senate when it was introduced as Medicare in 1965. In The Saturday Evening Post, even respected writer and notorious anti-segregation editor Ralph McGill labeled Pepper a "spell-binding pinko". Beginning on March 28 and until the day of the primary, Smathers named one communist organization each day that Pepper addressed, starting with the American Slav Congress.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
Pepper's opponents circulated widely a 49-page booklet titled The Red Record of Senator Claude Pepper. It contained photographs and headlines from several communist publications such as the Daily Worker. In April the Daily Worker endorsed Pepper, with Communist Party of Florida leader George Nelson warning that a Smathers victory would "strengthen the Dixiecrat-KKK forces in Florida as well as throughout the South." The booklet also made it seem as if Pepper desired to give Russia nuclear bomb-making instructions, billions of dollars, and the United States' natural resources. There was also a double page montage of Pepper in 1946 at New York City's Madison Square Garden with progressive Henry A. Wallace and civil rights activist Paul Robeson, and quoted Pepper speaking favorably of both of them. Throughout the campaign, Pepper denied sympathizing with communism.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
Simultaneous to this election, then-U.S. House Representative Richard Nixon was running for the senate seat in California. In a letter from Senator Karl E. Mundt of South Dakota, he told Nixon that "It occurs to me that if Helen is your opponent in the fall, something of a similar nature might well be produced", in reference to The Red Record of Senator Claude Pepper and a similar Democratic primary between Manchester Boddy and Helen Gahagan Douglas.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
Race also played a role in the election. Labor unions began a voter registration drive, which mostly added African Americans to the voter rolls. Smathers accused the "Northern labor bosses" of paying black people to register and vote for Pepper. Shortly after Smathers declared his candidacy, he indicated to the Florida Peace Officers Association that he would defend law enforcement officers for free if they were found guilty of civil rights violations. With the election occurring during the era of racial segregation, Pepper was portrayed as favoring integration and interracial marriage. He was also labeled a "nigger lover" and accused by Orlando Sentinel publisher Martin Andersen of shaking hands with a black woman in Sanford. In Dade County, which had a significant black and Jewish population, doctored photographs depicting Smathers in a Ku Klux Klan hood were distributed.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
In the Groveland Case, four young African American men – Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas – known as the Groveland Four, were accused of raping a 17-year old white women in Groveland on July 16, 1949. Thomas fled the area but was later shot and killed by police. Greenlee, Irvin, and Shepherd were convicted by an all-white jury. After the St. Petersburg Times questioned the verdict in April 1950, Lake County State Attorney J. W. Hunter, a supporter of Pepper, demanded that Pepper repudiate the news articles. However, Pepper refused. Hunter then denounced Pepper and endorsed Smathers. In addition to the racial violence, cross burning was also common at the time, with five in Jacksonville, ten in Orlando and Winter Park, and seventeen in the Tallahassee area.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
With the accusation of "Northern labor bosses" sending "the carpetbaggers of 1950" to Florida on his behalf, Pepper reminded voters that Smathers was born in New Jersey and sometimes referred to him as a "damn Yankee intruder". In response, Smathers decorated speaking platform in the colors of his alma mater at the University of Florida, orange and blue, while informing his supporters that Pepper graduated from Harvard Law School.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign
Powers noted that throughout the campaign, "scarcely a day passed" without Andersen writing a news story, column, or editorial that was very positive of Smathers or highly critical of Pepper. Thirty-eight daily newspapers in Florida endorsed Smathers, while only the St. Petersburg Times and The Daytona Beach News-Journal endorsed Pepper. Among the newspapers that supported Smathers were the Miami Herald, owned by John S. Knight, and the Miami Daily News, published by James M. Cox, a former Governor of Ohio and the Democratic Party nominee for the 1920 presidential election. However, Pepper's aides compared this situation to when Alf Landon was endorsed by more editors and newspapers than Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, but received far fewer votes than him.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign, Redneck speech
Part of American political lore is the Smathers "redneck speech," which Smathers reportedly delivered to a poorly educated audience. The alleged comments were recorded in a small magazine, picked up in Time and elsewhere and etched into the public’s memories. Time Magazine, during the campaign, claimed that Smathers said this:


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Campaign, Redneck speech
The leading reporter who actually covered Smathers said he always gave the same speech. No Florida newspapers covering the campaign ever reported such remarks contemporaneously. Smathers offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove he said it, and there were no takers before his death on January 20, 2007.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Democratic primary, Results
Smathers defeated incumbent Pepper in the primary election on May 2, 1950, by a margin of 9.56% – or a total of 67,561 votes. Smathers performed generally well across many areas of the state, with the exception of Miami, Tampa, and the Florida Panhandle. On the morning after the election, Andersen wrote on the front-page headline of the Orlando Sentinel, "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow ... We Have Won from Hell to Breakfast And From Dan to Beersheba ... And Staved Off Socialism", which was inspired by a headline in The New York Times celebrating Lawerence of Arabia's victory over the Turks in 1917.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Republican primary
On January 21, 1950, Coral Gables attorney John P. Booth entered the race after qualifying with Secretary of State of Florida Robert Andrew Gray. Booth received no primary opposition and thus became the Republican Party nominee by default.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, General election
Smathers defeated Booth in a landslide in the general election on November 7. Results indicated that Smathers received 76.3% of the vote compared to just 23.7% for Booth. In the popular vote, Smathers garnered 238,987 votes versus 74,228 for Booth. Smathers fared well throughout the state and won all but Pinellas County.


1950 United States Senate election in Florida, Aftermath
Following the primary defeat, Pepper mounted a bid for United States Senate again in 1958, but lost to incumbent Spessard Holland in the Democratic primary by a margin of 11.89%. In 1962, Pepper successfully ran for Florida's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. He remained a member of the House until his death on May 30, 1989.


1950 United States Senate election in Georgia
The 1950 United States Senate election in Georgia took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Walter F. George was re-elected to a sixth term in office.


1950 United States Senate election in Georgia
As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran with no opposition in the general election so therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered tantamount to election.


1950 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections.


1950 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.


1950 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis.


1950 United States Senate election in Georgia, Democratic primary, County unit system
Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.


1950 United States Senate election in Illinois
The 1950 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 7, 1950 to elect one of Illinois's members to the United States Senate. Republican Everett Dirksen defeated incumbent Democratic Senator and Senate Majority Leader Scott W. Lucas, who had been seeking a third term.


1950 United States Senate election in Illinois
This was the last time a Senate party leader lost re-election until 2004.


1950 United States Senate election in Illinois, Election information
The primaries and general election coincided with those for House and state elections.


1950 United States Senate election in Illinois, General election
Dirksen carried 82 of the state's 102 counties. Among the 88 counties that Dirksen won was the state's most populous county, Cook County, in which Dirksen won with 50.01% to Lucas' 49.60%. Despite losing in Cook County, Lucas performed better in the county than he did in the cumulative vote of the remaining 101 counties, where Dirksen won 57.56% to Lucas' 42.13%. 54.54% of the votes cast in the election were from Cook County.


1950 United States Senate election in Indiana
The 1950 United States Senate election in Indiana took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Homer Capehart was re-elected to a second term in office, defeating Democrat Alex Campbell.


1950 United States Senate election in Maryland
The 1950 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on November 6, 1950. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Millard Tydings ran for a fifth term in office, but was defeated by Republican John Marshall Butler.


1950 United States Senate election in Maryland, Republican primary, Results
Although Markey received more raw votes than Butler, Butler received the highest unit vote at the State Convention and was nominated for Senate.


1950 United States Senate election in New York
The United States Senate election of 1950 in New York was held on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Democratic Senator Herbert H. Lehman was re-elected to a full term in office over Republican Joe Hanley.


1950 United States Senate election in New York
This election is also noted for the campaign of African-American cultural and civil rights icon W. E. B. Du Bois, who ran at age 82 on the American Labor Party ticket.


1950 United States Senate election in North Carolina
The 1950 United States Senate election in North Carolina was held on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Democratic Senator Clyde R. Hoey was re-elected to a second term in office over Republican Halsey B. Leavitt.


1950 United States Senate election in North Dakota
The 1950 United States Senate election in North Dakota took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Republican Senator Milton Young ran for re-election to a second term. In the Republican primary, he faced former Lieutenant Governor Thorstein H. Thoresen, who was endorsed by the Nonpartisan League. After winning the primary in a landslide, he faced State Senator Harry O'Brien, the Democratic nominee, in the general election. Aided by the national Republican landslide, Young defeated O'Brien in a landslide to win re-election.


1950 United States Senate election in Ohio
The 1950 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Senator Robert A. Taft was elected to a third term in office, easily defeating Democratic State Auditor Joseph T. Ferguson.


1950 United States Senate election in Ohio, Background
Senator Taft unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1940 and 1948 and was a national leader of the party's conservative wing.


1950 United States Senate election in Oklahoma
The 1950 United States Senate election in Oklahoma took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Democratic Senator Elmer Thomas ran for re-election to a fifth term. However, though he had successfully beat back primary challengers in past elections, he was ultimately defeated by Congressman Mike Monroney. Monroney advanced to the general election, where he faced Reverend Bill Alexander, the Republican nominee. Despite the national Republican landslide, Monroney defeated Alexander by a wide margin, holding the seat for the Democratic Party.


1950 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
The 1950 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Francis J. Myers sought re-election, but was defeated by Republican nominee James H. Duff.


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina
The 1950 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 7, 1950 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Incumbent Democratic Senator Olin D. Johnston defeated Strom Thurmond in a bitterly contested Democratic primary on July 11 and was unopposed in the general election.


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
Strom Thurmond entered the Democratic primary hoping to parlay his momentum from the 1948 presidential campaign into a victory against incumbent Senator Olin D. Johnston. The move was highly controversial because Thurmond had promised to never run against Johnston if he pledged his support for his gubernatorial campaign in 1946, which Johnston did. The men represented two vastly different segments of the electorate in South Carolina, the textile workers of the Upstate supported Johnston and the aristocracy backed Thurmond. The passions both sides felt for their respective candidates led to the race being billed as the "Campaign of the Century."


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
The campaign began on May 23 in Lexington and Thurmond attacked Johnston for being soft on segregation and too close to the administration of President Truman. At a campaign stop for the Democratic candidates in Newberry on June 26, Thurmond accused Johnston of being "silent as a tomb" when Truman ordered the integration of the military and called out Johnston to stand up and deny it. Johnston stood up and yelled back at Thurmond that he was a liar to which chaos ensued. Thurmond challenged Johnston to a fight and after the meeting as Johnston went to shake Thurmond's hand, Thurmond grabbed Johnston's arm and swung him around. A fight between the two men was only prevented due to the timely intervention of campaign aides and supporters.


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
Throughout the campaign, Thurmond painted Johnston as a Southern liberal senator similar to Senators Frank Porter Graham of North Carolina and Claude Pepper of Florida, both of whom were defeated in their primaries. Johnston responded that he was a key player in a bloc of Southern senators led by Richard Russell of Georgia in defeating civil rights bills. Furthermore, Johnston attacked Thurmond for having appointed T.C. McFall, a black doctor, to the state medical advisory board while Governor of South Carolina.


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
McFall was the first black appointed to a state position since Reconstruction and Johnston accused Thurmond of making the appointment to capture the black vote. In Charleston at College Park, Johnston declared to the crowd that he "would never have appointed the nigger physician of Charleston, Dr. T.C. McFall, to displace your beloved white physician of this community." A chorus of boos rang out from the blacks in attendance and Johnston shouted "Make those niggers keep quiet!"


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
Thurmond attacked Johnston's record as governor claiming that he had released 3,221 criminals from prison and stated that "it was easier to get out of the penitentiary than it was to get in it." Johnston referred to state statistics that showed he had only pardoned, paroled, or commuted the sentences of 671 criminals. Furthermore, he said that some of the men he had released were named honorary colonels by Thurmond. This charge was given credence because Thurmond refused to make public his list of honorary colonels.


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
One policy in which the two candidates did disagree on was federal aid to education. While governor, Thurmond had been supportive of assistance from the federal government, but he reversed his position because he feared that the federal government would eventually force integration upon the states. Johnston countered that the state universities received federal funds, but remained segregated and that the state desperately needed assistance because its teachers were grossly underpaid.


1950 United States Senate election in South Carolina, Democratic primary, Campaign
The South Carolina Democratic Party held the primary on July 11 and Johnston emerged as the clear winner. It was estimated that approximately 50,000 blacks voted in the election and they overwhelmingly cast their ballot for Johnston. While the blacks were repulsed by both men's positions on civil rights, they gave their support to Johnston because he had a progressive record and they wanted to penalize Thurmond for his 1948 presidential campaign.


1950 United States Senate election in South Dakota
The 1950 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Republican Senator Chan Gurney ran for re-election to a third term. He was challenged in the Republican primary by Congressman Francis H. Case, who had represented the 2nd District since 1939. In the general election, Case faced John A. Engel, an attorney and the 1948 Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. As the Republican Party was making significant gains nationwide, Case defeated Engel in a landslide.


1950 United States Senate election in Vermont
The 1950 United States Senate election in Vermont took place on November 7, 1950. Incumbent Republican George Aiken ran successfully for re-election to another term in the United States Senate, defeating Democratic challenger James E. Bigelow.


1950 United States Senate elections
The 1950 United States Senate elections occurred in the middle of Harry S. Truman's second term as President. As with most 20th-century second-term mid-terms, the party not holding the Presidency made significant gains. The Republican opposition made a net gain of five seats, taking advantage of the Democratic administration's declining popularity during the Cold War and the aftermath of the Recession of 1949. The Democrats held a narrow 49-to-47-seat majority after the election. This was the first time since 1932 that the Senate Majority Leader lost his seat, and the only instance of the majority leader losing his seat while his party retained the majority.


1950 United States Senate elections
This was the last midterm, which had more than one seat flip parties, where all seats that flipped parties flipped to a party that had won the state in either the preceding or succeeding presidential election until 2018.


1950 United States Senate elections, Results summary
Colored shading indicates party with largest share of that row.


1950 United States Senate elections, Holds following a lost re-nomination
In these cases, the incumbent or appointee lost renomination, but the party managed to retain the seat in the general election.


1950 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Special elections during the 81st Congress
In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1950 or before January 3, 1951; ordered by election date.


1950 United States Senate elections, Race summaries, Races leading to the 82nd Congress
In these regular elections, the winner was seated on January 3, 1951; ordered by state.


1950 United States Senate elections, Arizona
Incumbent Democratic U.S. senator Carl Hayden ran for re-election to a fifth term, defeating Republican nominee Bruce Brockett in the general election. Brockett was formerly the Republican nominee for governor in both 1946 and 1948. Hayden first defeated Cecil H. Miller and Robert E. Miller (of the Arizona Farm Bureau), for the Democratic nomination.


1950 United States Senate elections, Florida
Democratic incumbent Senator Claude Pepper lost renomination May 2, 1950 to George A. Smathers, who easily won the general election.


1950 United States Senate elections, Florida
The Democratic primary for the 1950 United States Senate election in Florida was described as the "most bitter and ugly campaigns in Florida political history." Ormund Powers, a Central Florida historian, noted that ABC and NBC commentator David Brinkley said that "the Peppers-Smathers campaign would always stand out in his mind as the dirtiest in the history of American politics". On January 12, 1950, U.S. Representative George A. Smathers declared his candidacy for the race in Orlando at Kemp's Coliseum, where about 3,000 supporters had gathered. In his opening speech, Smathers accused Pepper of being "the leader of the radicals and extremists", an advocate of treason, and a person against the constitutional rights of Americans. Ed Ball, a power in state politics who had broken with Claude Pepper, financed his opponent, Smathers.


1950 United States Senate elections, Florida
Prior to the entry of Smathers and Pepper, Orlando attorney James G. Horrell campaigned for the seat. Horrell researched Pepper's weaknesses and the state's voters. Horrell also compiled a list of communist-front groups that Pepper had communicated with. On the day that Pepper declared his candidacy, Horrell withdrew and endorsed Smathers. Horrell also sent his reports about Pepper to Smathers, which he used throughout the next few months. This would also prevent the chance of a run-off election. In late February and early March, the Jacksonville Journal conducted a poll in 11 counties important for the election. Smathers led by about 2-to-1 and dominated in Duval, Pinellas, and Volusia counties, while he was also statistically tied with Pepper in Dade, Escambia, and Hillsborough counties. However, Smathers did not trail in any of the 11 counties.