who was the dixiecrat candidate for president in 1948

Full Answer

Who were the candidates for president in 1948?

Presidential Candidates 1948-2012NamePartyVote ReceivedHarry S. TrumanDemocratic286,521Thomas E. DeweyRepublican294,814Henry A. WallaceProgressive9,983Norman ThomasSocialist2,914

Who did the Dixiecrats nominate for president?

The Dixiecrats carried Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina, and received one additional electoral vote in Tennessee (colored in orange). States in blue voted for Democrats Harry S. Truman and Alben W. Barkley; those in red voted for Republicans Thomas E.

Why didn't all Democrats support Harry Truman in 1948?

There were some Democrats who chose not to vote for Truman because they felt he was too liberal and not conservative enough. These were mainly Southern Democrats. These Southern Democrats supported segregation and believed each state should have the right to determine its own policy on issues of race.

When did the South flip from Democrat to Republican?

The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a significant event in converting the Deep South to the Republican Party; in that year most Senatorial Republicans supported the Act (most of the opposition came from Southern Democrats).

Why did the South switch from Democrat to Republican?

Studies show that some Southern whites during the 1960s shifted to the Republican Party, in part due to racial conservatism. Majority support for the Democratic Party amongst Southern whites first fell away at the presidential level, and several decades later at the state and local levels.

Did the South used to be Democrat?

South was predominantly Democratic and held conservative, agrarian-oriented, anti-big-business values. These values were characteristic of the Democratic Party at the time. The majority of Northern voters, on the other hand, were Republican. Many of these fought for civil and voting rights for African American people.

Who was the Southern Democrats nominee for president and why quizlet?

The Southern Democrats nominated John Breckinridge.

Was Dewey more or less conservative than the Republican controlled Congress?

Although Dewey was not as conservative as the Republican-controlled 80th Congress, the association proved problematic, as Truman tied Dewey to the "do-nothing" Congress.

Who Were the Dixiecrats of 1948?

What do you think it means? Let's break it down. ''Dixie'' is used commonly to refer to the South, and ''crat'' in this case is derived from the word ''Democrat''. So basically Dixiecrats were Southern Democrats.

Why did the Dixiecrats break away from the Democratic Party?

Dixiecrats were Southern Democrats who, in 1948, broke away from the Democratic Party to form their own splinter political party based on racial segregation and Southern culture. As the Democratic Party became more pro-civil rights during the 1940s, many Southern Democrats felt disenfranchised. Furthermore, many were downright racist, and refused to go along with the Democratic Party's progressive platform. In an effort to maintain their racist views, but still remain ''Democrats'', Southern Democrats broke from their party and founded the States' Rights Democratic Party, or Dixiecrat Party.

How many electoral votes did the Dixiecrats get?

The Dixiecrats' strategy was to win the necessary 127 electoral votes, and throw the election to the U.S. House of Representatives. In the end, the Dixiecrats won Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, but fell short of their goal, gaining only 39 electoral votes. This map shows the electoral votes gained in the Election of 1948.

What was the President's executive order that ended racial discrimination in the military?

Two years later, Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which ended racial discrimination in the military. Southern Democrats were aghast.

What happened to the Democratic Party in 1948?

There is a famous photograph of the victorious Truman holding up a newspaper in jest. Following the Election of 1948, the States' Rights Democratic Party dissolved and was effectively no longer a political force.

What did the Jim Crow laws do to African Americans?

This was done through a variety of means, but ''Jim Crow'' Laws were one of the primary methods of preventing African-Americans from experiencing true equality.

What was the Democratic Party's main goal in the 1930s?

By the 1930s, the Democratic Party was beginning to adopt a civil rights platform . Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), who took office in 1933, made some strides toward racial equality, and his wife, Eleanor was an outspoken proponent of civil rights. After World War II ended in 1945, the time was ripe for the Democratic Party to put forth a substantial civil rights program.

Why did Dewey lose the election?

But this was too little to give him the election. Dewey would always believe that he lost the election because he lost the rural vote in the Midwest, which he had won in 1944 (note the Kaltenborn predictions that Truman would joyously mock had taken for granted that the "country vote" would go to Dewey).

What was the debate between Dewey and Stassen?

Dewey also agreed to debate Stassen in Oregon on national radio. Held on May 17, 1948, it was the first-ever radio debate between presidential candidates. The sole issue of the debate concerned whether to outlaw the Communist Party of the United States. Stassen, despite his liberal reputation, argued in favor of outlawing the party, stating his belief that a network of Soviet-directed Communist spies "within the U.S. demanded immediate, and punitive, response...Why did Dewey oppose such a ban? Stassen wanted to know." "We must not coddle Communism with legality", Stassen insisted. Dewey - while criticizing Communist totalitarianism and Soviet actions in the Cold War - still forcefully argued against banning the Communist Party: "This outlawing idea is nothing new...for thousands of years despots have tortured, imprisoned, killed, and exiled their opponents, and their governments have always fallen into the dust." Dewey ended his turn in the debate by stating that "I am unalterably, wholeheartedly, and unswervingly against any scheme to write laws outlawing people because of their religious, political, social, or economic ideas. I am against it because it is a violation of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights...I am against it because I know from a great many years of experience in law enforcement that the proposal wouldn't work. Stripped to its naked essentials...this is nothing but the method of Hitler and Stalin. It is thought control...an attempt to beat down ideas with a club. It is a surrender of everything we believe in." Surveys showed that from 40 to 80 million people nationwide listened to the debate, and most observers rated Dewey as the winner. Four days after the debate, Dewey defeated Stassen in the Oregon primary. From this point forward, the New York governor had the momentum he needed to win his party's second nomination.

What was the goal of the Dixiecrats?

More commonly known as the "Dixiecrats", the party's main goal was continuing the policy of racial segregation in the South and the Jim Crow laws that sustained it. Governor Thurmond, who had led the walkout, became the party's presidential nominee after the convention's initial favorite, Arkansas Governor Benjamin Laney, withdrew his name from consideration. Governor Wright of Mississippi received the vice-presidential nomination. The Dixiecrats had no chance of winning the election themselves, since they could not get on the ballot in enough states to win the necessary electoral votes. Their strategy was to take enough Southern states from Truman to force the election into the United States House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment, where they could then extract concessions from either Truman or Dewey on racial issues in exchange for their support. Even if Dewey won the election outright, the Dixiecrats hoped that their defection would show that the Democratic Party needed Southern support in order to win national elections, and that this fact would weaken the pro-civil rights movement among Northern and Western Democrats. The Dixiecrats were weakened, however, when most Southern Democratic leaders (such as Governor Herman Talmadge of Georgia and "Boss" E. H. Crump from Tennessee) refused to support the party. Despite being an incumbent president, Truman was not placed on the ballot in Alabama.

How many electoral votes did Truman get?

Defying these predictions, Truman won the election with 303 electoral votes to Dewey's 189. Truman also won 49.6% of the popular vote compared to Dewey's 45.1%, while the third party candidacies of Thurmond and Wallace each won less than 3% of the popular vote, with Thurmond carrying four southern states.

Which states did Truman win?

Aside from Ohio, California, and Illinois, Truman carried Idaho by almost as narrow a margin, and Dewey himself countered with similarly narrow victories in New York (the nation's largest electoral prize at the time), his birth state of Michigan, and Maryland. But this was too little to give him the election.

How many votes did Wallace Taylor get?

The Wallace-Taylor ticket finished in fourth place in the election, winning 1,157,328 votes (2.4%). This was slightly less than the States' Rights Party, but the Progressive Party received no electoral votes.

What was Truman's surprise victory?

Truman's surprise victory was the fifth consecutive presidential win for the Democratic Party, the longest winning streak for either party since the 1880 election. With simultaneous success in the 1948 congressional elections, the Democrats regained control of both houses of Congress, which they had lost in 1946.

Overview

Background

1948 presidential election

Subsequent elections

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links