The Dixiecrats and Republicans Find Common Ground
Part Fourteen: Taft-Hartley's relationship to blocking civil rights.
See part thirteen.
Conservative Democrats of the South, looking to sidestep Truman’s civil rights program, made a deal with Republicans. If Republicans agreed to go lightly on civil rights, Southern Democrats would help block the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Law[1].
The Dixiecrats and Republicans agreed upon a Coalition on February 22, 1949[2]. Initially, Republicans insisted on the passage of an anti-lynching law in exchange. In addition, they would help by opposing all other civil rights measures proposed by President Truman. Republicans wanted the Dixiecrats to block the repeal of Taft-Hartley. However, Southern Democrats would not commit to securing a full repeal of the Taft-Harley law. Instead, they would allow a partial repeal, keeping a large majority of the bill intact.
Conservative Republicans weren’t necessarily racist.
Voting against civil rights measures was a political move, and political power was most important to them.
This new coalition formed in the 81st legislature contributed to a much bigger narrative of national politics. By February 1949, many commentators and columnists had spent nearly a year stressing the inherent weakness of the Democratic Party. However, with the formation of the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition, the narrative of the GOP split emerged[3].
The ruling element of the Republican Party in 1949 was Liberal. Fresh off his failed presidential run, Governor Thomas Dewey of New York was a well-known Liberal whose domestic positions mirrored the former president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. After he lost the election to Truman, he spoke about how, for the Republicans to recapture national power, they must forget the idea of government being no more than a cold and impartial umpire. Dewey advocated for unemployment insurance, social security, public housing, and civil rights.
The February 23, 1949 issue of the Key West Citizen said, “The positions, taken by Governor Dewey if it becomes the accepted policy of the Republican Party, will create an interesting political situation in the United States. Both larger parties will be distinctly Liberal, and the ruling elements of both will be publicly inviting dissents, or conservatives, to get out of the party. Perhaps, eventually, this attitude may lead to the development of a consolidated conservative party, which, if not most people, might constitute a balance of power between the factions of the new liberalism, divided into two groups[4].”
In 1949, in America, there was a clear line between Liberals and Conservatives, and both parties hosted both ideologies.
Liberals in the Republican Party focused on eliminating the anti-labor label given to the GOP over Taft-Hartley[5]. The Taft-Hartley Act was a law passed in 1947 in the aftermath of a wave of several significant strikes around the country[6]. The law restricted the activities and power of labor unions. Modern right-to-work ideologies stemmed from the Taft-Hartley law.
While it was clear the Liberals in the GOP wanted to repeal the Taft-Hartley Law, the Conservative Republican members formed a new coalition with Conservative Democrats, who promised to help them block attempts to repeal it[7].
In March 1949, the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition blocked Monrad Wallgren’s appointment to the National Resources Security Board, forcing Truman to withdraw his nomination. The Senate Labor Committee filibustered to prevent a new labor bill from getting to the Senate floor[8]. The 81st Congress would not move forward on anything until the Senate changed the filibuster rule.
Conservatives wanted to keep the filibuster traditions as they were. So, they hatched a plan to filibuster in defense of the right to filibuster. However, before the debate on the filibuster rule even began, Majority Leader Scott Lucas, from Illinois, already planned on filing a cloture petition[9].
The Dixiecrats, led by Senator Richard Russell, prepared to talk indefinitely against the proposed rule. The Southern Senators filibustered the filibuster rule change on February 28, 1949. It was an organized conspiracy to defeat President Truman’s Fair Deal legislation and block progress toward a more liberal and progressive government[10].
During this filibuster, initially, the Senate did not have night sessions[11]. On most days, they began sessions at noon and finished before 6:00 pm. Some days, they took breaks from the filibuster on the Senate floor to approve President Truman’s nominations or deal with committee business. But as soon as they returned to the Senate floor, they picked up the filibuster again.
Northern Democrats grew angry over the Southern Democrats’ actions. Still bitter over the 1948 presidential election, this only caused the divide in the Democratic Party to grow larger[12].
The filibuster in 1949, just as in 2021, guaranteed minority rule. Majority rule is the very essence of democratic freedom and the democratic process[13]. Prompts altogether to abolish the filibuster during the March 1949 filibuster emerged from civil rights groups and newspaper columnists[14].
More than 70 years later, civil rights groups in America continue to call for the abolition of the filibuster.
The seventh day of the filibuster against the filibuster rule in 1949 brought the sudden death of Senator Melville Broughton, a Dixiecrat from North Carolina. Only his first term as a US Senator, he died the night before his first scheduled address to the Senate as part of the filibuster[15]. The speech likely contributed to the heart attack that killed him.
The North Carolina Governor later appointed Frank Graham, a Liberal Democrat, to serve out the rest of Senator Broughton’s term.
On the ninth day of the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Lucas finally scheduled the first night session[16]. The very next day, Lucas, a Northern Liberal Democrat, distributed a petition to make sure he could obtain a majority vote on the cloture rule[17].
On March 11, as the filibuster went on, a 69-year-old man named Thomas C. Williams shot and killed himself in the Capitol corridor outside the Senate gallery. In his suicide note, he said, “If my death will lead, say only half a dozen politicians to report their deceitful ways and to sincerely resolve, to be honest, I shall not have died in vain[18].” But, unfortunately, his death was in vain since no politician changed their ways.
Finally, after the Southern Democrats filibustered for 15 days, the filibuster ended, but it also prevented any civil rights programs from going through during the 81st Congress.
The Dixiecrats stopped their filibuster when they agreed with the Republicans, the Senate would place the no-gag rule on motions, and cloture still required a two-thirds vote. The agreement was made among 52 Senators in the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition and didn’t include any Northern Democrats[19]. It was a huge setback for President Truman[20]. Right away, the National Republican Party attacked Truman, calling him an incompetent president who couldn’t even control his Congress, even though Democrats had the majority[21].
The Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition had their first real win in Congress, but it was far from their last.
[1] Doris Fleeson, “Alliance of Necessity,” Evening Star, (February 24, 1949)
[2] Associated Press, “Conservative Democrats from South to Join Republicans in Sidestepping President,” The Key West Citizen, (February 22, 1949)
[3] Gould Lincoln, “Dewey Asserts GOP is Split Wide Open in Talk at Dinner Here,” Evening Star, (February 9, 1949)
[4] Key West Citizen, “GOP Split Wide Open,” (February 23, 1948)
[5] United Automobile Worker, “TH Repeal Fight Still Hot Despite Filibuster,” (March 1, 1949)
[6] David Lawrence, “Politics in Big Unions Seen Behind Tie-up of Nation’s Steel Mills,” Evening Star, (October 18, 1949)
[7] Associated Press, “Elbert Thomas Says he May Back Seizure Power in Labor Bill,” Evening Star, (May 31, 1949)
[8] Associated Press, “Wallgren’s Nomination Tabled; Senate Filibuster Resumes as New Effort is Made to Drop Issue,” Evening Star, (March 15, 1949)
[9] J. A. O’Leary, “Barkley Faces First Major Ruling on Fight to Curb Filibuster,” Evening Star, (February 26, 1949)
[10] J. A. O’Leary, “Filibuster Battle Opens; Truman Asks Showdown,” Evening Star, (February 28, 1949)
[11] Thomas L. Stokes, “Fight Over Filibuster,” Evening Star, (March 7, 1949)
[12] J. A. O’Leary, “Coalition Faces its First Test on Rent Curb Bill,” Evening Star, (March 19, 1949)
[13] Jackson Advocate, “The United States Takes up the Move to Abolish the Filibuster,” (March 5, 1949)
[14] The Southern News, “Filibuster Curb Urged in NAACP Pamphlet,” (March 26, 1949)
[15] Evening Star, “Funeral Tomorrow in North Carolina for Senator Broughton,” (March 7, 1949)
[16] Evening Star, “First Night Session Scheduled in Senate Battle Over Filibuster,” (March 8, 1949)
[17] J. A. O’Leary, “Showdown Vote on Filibuster Due This Week,” Evening Star, (March 9, 1949)
[18] Evening Star, “Ashamed of Politicians’ Deceit, Man, 69, Kills Self at Capitol,” (March 12, 1949)
[19] Associated Press, “Filibuster Ends, But Civil Rights Program Killed At least During This Congress,” The Key West Citizen, (March 16, 1949)
[20] Gould Lincoln, “Repeal in Name Only Seen for Taft-Hartley,” Evening Star, (March 29, 1949)
[21] Associated Press, “Scott Scores Truman as Incompetent who Can’t Control Congress,” (March 17, 1949)