The Dixiecrat Party was a short-lived, southern political party active in 1948. It was the result of President Harry Truman’s statement regarding civil rights, stating that all people, regardless of race, or religion, should have equal rights. This led to the creation of the political party, whose name comes from the word “Dixie” (nickname for those that are from the confederate, southern states), and “Democrat”. Members of the Dixiecrat Party sought to protect Southern state rights to segregation, white supremacy and Jim Crow laws.
After Franklin Roosevelt died, Harry S. Truman took over as president. He implemented desegregation in the armed forces, also known as Executive Order 9981. After that, a group of Southern governors met to discuss their standing in the Democratic party. They eventually agreed to hold another convention in Birmingham, Alabama if Truman won at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. The convention ended up re-nominating Truman, which led to 35 delegates walking out of the convention. In order to decrease Truman’s chances of becoming President, the southern delegates formed their own distinct political party, which was initially called the States’ Rights Democratic Party.
The party also needed a nominee to represent them, so they nominated South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond for president and Mississippi governor Fielding L. Wright for vice president. Thurmond didn’t have any radical policies regarding civil rights unlike the other segregationist leaders and had an overall positive image from the media. During the election, the Dixiecrats didn’t formally declare themselves as a third political party but rather pushed voters to vote for Thurmond. They hoped that with this election, the Dixiecrats would be able to dominate their views in the Democratic party. That did not end up working, with Truman pulling the supposedly “biggest upset” in election history with his win over Dewey. The Dixiecrat party ultimately had little effect on the election income in 1948.
The party also needed a nominee to represent them, so they nominated South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond for president and Mississippi governor Fielding L. Wright for vice president. Thurmond didn’t have any radical policies regarding civil rights unlike the other segregationist leaders and had an overall positive image from the media. During the election, the Dixiecrats didn’t formally declare themselves as a third political party but rather pushed voters to vote for Thurmond. They hoped that with this election, the Dixiecrats would be able to dominate their views in the Democratic party. That did not end up working, with Truman pulling the supposedly “biggest upset” in election history with his win over Dewey. The Dixiecrat party ultimately had little effect on the election income in 1948.
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This is a really interesting post! Although the Dixiecrat party did not have a major effect on the presidential election of 1948, this period was the first time in which the South was not solidly Democratic and contributed to the expansion of the Republican Party to the South upon the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson was also a Southern Democrat who signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965, leading conservatives in the South to start voting Republican.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/news/how-the-party-of-lincoln-won-over-the-once-democratic-south
I really enjoyed reading this post. It was really taught me about the rise of the Dixiecrats and why the they were created. I was reading about the Dixiecrats and found that they received 1,000,000 votes and 39 electoral votes from South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Dixiecrat