What were Strom Thurmond and George Wallace's objectives in 1948/68?

[Sir Mohamed]

What were their true objectives by running a 3rd party general election campaign? Just be an alternative to racist Southern voters? It must have been clear to them that they wouldn't be elected prez through either the EC or the House. Even if the elections were thrown into the latter, neither non-Deep South Dems nor the GOP would have supported them. Or was it just to force Truman and Humphrey into political concessions once they were elected in the House? I think both would have been possible in the 81st and 91st congresses by a strict party-line vote.

[darklordoftech]

Thurmond: The Southern state Democratic Parties wanted to punish Truman for desegregating the military and the convention for putting civil rights in the platform.

Wallace: Wanted to throw it to the House in hopes of getting concessions.

[Alben Barkley]

Thurmond: The Southern state Democratic Parties wanted to punish Truman for desegregating the military and the convention for putting civil rights in the platform.

Wallace: Wanted to throw it to the House in hopes of getting concessions.

Thurmond also wanted to throw it to the House, and Wallace also wanted to punish Democrats for becoming "too liberal" on civil rights.

Their objectives were pretty much the same.

[User2836]

Wallace actually stated in an interview after the election that he would have tried to throw the election to Nixon after concessions on civil rights.

[Motorcity]

Wallace actually stated in an interview after the election that he would have tried to throw the election to Nixon after concessions on civil rights.

Actually, most historians agree that Wallace wanted to help Humphrey win. If Humphrey promised to pause progress on integration, he’s swing his house votes to him. Humphrey would be significantly weakened and Wallace would win the 1972 Democratic nomination.

Wallace did not trust Nixon and viewed him as a threat. Wallace didn’t view Nixon as a pushover like Humphrey. I’m not saying Wallace and Nixon wouldn’t have made a deal, but Wallace wanted to be seen as the guy who stopped integration so he could win the presidency. It was just as important to win northern white ethnic groups as white southerners. A Nixon presidency could prevent that

Wallace was a lifelong Democrat.