Strom Thurmond 1948

[Associate Justice PiT]

     In his Presidential campaign, Strom Thurmond won four states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, & South Carolina. Of these four, Louisiana was by far the closest & even then he won by 17%. In the other three states he received over 70% of the vote. Makes sense, given the status of his campaign as a Southern protest vote, so to speak.

     However, he did really poorly outside of these four states, even in other Southern states. His fifth-best state was Georgia where he lost to Truman by 40%. Georgia would later join the rest of the Deep South in voting for Goldwater in 1964 & the rest of the Deep South (except South Carolina) in voting for George Wallace in 1968. Other states where he received over 10% are Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, & Virginia. Noticeably absent are North Carolina & Texas, where he received 8.80% & 9.11% respectively.

     As such, my question is what is the cause for this deep split? You could narrow it down by thinking about this: why did he lose Georgia by a landslide margin while winning Alabama, Mississippi, & South Carolina by even bigger margins?

[Associate Justice PiT]

He had the Democratic ballot line in AL/MS/SC.

EDIT: Hmm, he didn't in SC; I'm assuming that was the favorite son effect, then.

     That's interesting. I knew he did in Alabama, but I wasn't aware that was the case in Mississippi too. Truman ran on the "National Dem." line there, while he wasn't on the ballot at all in Alabama.

The GA Democratic machine stayed with Truman.

     Any explanation for why that was?

[Associate Justice PiT]

The GA Democratic machine stayed with Truman.

But why? The Democratic party machines did not stay with Truman in other Deep Southern states, evidently. So why did Georgia stay loyal?

It's already been said: Richard Russell supported Truman.

     But it does not address the important matter: why did he support Truman?

[Associate Justice PiT]

The GA Democratic machine stayed with Truman.

But why? The Democratic party machines did not stay with Truman in other Deep Southern states, evidently. So why did Georgia stay loyal?

It's already been said: Richard Russell supported Truman.

     But it does not address the important matter: why did he support Truman?

I was reading a book that google offered a preview online for the other day.

Richard Russell was confident that Truman would lose in 1948 because of the split between States' Rights and Progressive Parties. Such an election result would have allowed the South to accept their accolades following the 1948 Democratic National Convention: That the Democrats needed the South.

If I may wholesale quote...

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     Thanks, that is quite illuminating. Russell was quite the strategic thinker, it seems.