On February 7, 1948, the following politicians met in Wakulla Springs, FL, for the Southern Governors’ convention:
Fielding Wright, Mississippi Governor
Ben Laney, Arkansas Governor
M.E. Thompson, Georgia Governor
William Lane, Maryland Governor
Beauford Jester, Texas Governor
Jim Folsom, Alabama Governor
Strom Thurmond, South Carolina Governor
Jim McCord, Tennessee Governor
Millard Caldwell, Florida Governor
Lawrence Weatherby, Kentucky Lieutenant-Governor
Governor Lane of Maryland was only in attendance to serve as the conference chairman[1]. Also, there were public school officials, college presidents, and other educators. They were to serve as consultants for the intended education conference.
The Southern Governors cooked up the idea of regional colleges to avoid integration into higher education. Having both Black and white schools in each state would have been too costly. Their idea would have created Black colleges in the region, as opposed to in each state, and they each would have paid a portion for it.
The Southern leaders saw a way to provide higher education to Black students while maintaining segregation cost-effectively.
Reporters pressed the Southern Governors about their stance on Governor Wright’s party bolt leading up to the conference.
Millard Caldwell had reaffirmed his support for President Truman and publicly stated he intended to keep the conference on the original topic of education and away from politics. M.E. Thompson also publicly said before the meeting he was against the revolt[2].
However, Governor Wright[3] and Governor Laney were emphatic about turning this conference into discussions of a revolt.
The conference began as intended, with education discussions and providing graduate-level education for Blacks in the South. But it quickly turned into a political forum.
Fielding Wright expressed his anger towards President Truman’s stand on racial segregation, the anti-lynching law, and the Fair Employment Practices Commission. He then introduced a resolution calling for an all-Southern party[4].
To his surprise, Georgia Governor M.E. Thompson already had a sharply worded counter-resolution ready, which condemned a party revolt[5].
As Wright read it, he said, “Well, I see you are against me.”
“Yes,” Thompson replied, “and we’re going to beat you.”
The Mississippi Governor said he would introduce the resolution anyway.
Alabama Governor Folsom, who was also a candidate for the presidential nomination, said, “I am a Democrat. We’ll argue it out within the party. I’ll always support the Democratic nominee[6].”
Although Folsom and Thompson expressed at the conference that they were against a party revolt, they also both stated they believed President Truman’s civil rights recommendations were unwise.
Governor Laney said at the conference, “The leadership of the Democratic party has betrayed us. We have been sacrificed to the gods of disillusionment. If these civil rights laws are imposed upon us, I, for one, would rather they come from a Republican than from the party to which I have given my allegiance. Mild measures will not get much hearing.”
The Florida Governor, Millard Caldwell, told the conference the South had no one to blame but themselves for allowing the repeal of the two-thirds rule in 1936 when President Roosevelt was re-nominated. “I will favor any effort to recapture the two-thirds rule,” Caldwell said, “but I am not interested in any measure that would elect a Republican.”
At the conference, both South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond and Texas Governor Beauford Jester kept quiet about a revolt, an all-Southern party, and neither offered any comments.
Ultimately, the Southern Governors unanimously voted to order a committee to make inquiries and investigations into problems in the Southern states from Truman’s civil rights message. Then they voted to meet again in 40 days to discuss the findings of the committee and recommendations on solutions[7].
During the Florida conference, a Mississippi newspaper, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, published Fielding Wright planned to hold an all-Southern convention on March 1, when he would ask the Mississippi legislature for $100,000 to finance it. Later, Wright claimed he didn’t know anything about any requests for money from the state legislator[8].
The South played a new role in the Democratic party. Southern Democrats were the party's ultra-Conservative wing, which contrasted with their historical role as the left wing of the party.
Before the Democratic-Republican Party split in 1825, the South was enthusiastic about Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, both parts of the Democratic-Republican Party's left wing.
However, after the dissolution of the Democratic-Republican Party and with the nomination of Democratic President James K. Polk, the South fell under the domination of Conservative landowners. Each subsequent Democratic party platform omitted former homages to Thomas Jefferson until the Democratic party no longer resembled those Jeffersonian principles. In 1898, the South was on the political left, but Conservatism was spreading.
Fifty years later, the Southern Democrats again became the party’s Conservative wing, while the Northern Democrats became their Liberal counterparts.
As the Northern Republicans also became more Conservative during the late 1940s, many said that the ideas of Northern Republicans weren’t that different from the Southern Conservative Democrats. By February 1948, America was chattering about an end to the solid South[9].
The Democratic Party was in complete disarray as America awaited the second meeting on March 17, when Southern Governors met to discuss their committee’s findings and recommendations.
The February 12, 1948 issue of the Cameron Herald and Centinela published an article that said, “The conference of Southern Governors gave an ultimatum to cease the attacks on white supremacy or face a full-fledged revolt in the South[10].”
[1] James Y. Newton, “Dixie Governors Set 40 Days as Period to Fix Course in Party,” Evening Star, (February 8, 1949)
[2] Sweetwater Reporter, “Ten Governors Assemble for Revolt Confab,” (February 6, 1948)
[3] Associated Press, “Russell Says Truman Plans FBI Gestapo to End Segregation,” (February 6, 1948)
[4] James Y. Newton, “Dixie Governors Set 40 Days as Period to Fix Course in Party,” Evening Star, (February 8, 1949)
[5] Associated Press, “Southerner Governors Cool Towards Move to Bolt Democrats,” Evening Star, (February 7, 1948)
[6] Associated Press, “Southerner Governors Cool Towards Move to Bolt Democrats,” Evening Star, (February 7, 1948)
[7] James Y. Newton, “Dixie Governors Set 40 Days as Period to Fix Course in Party,” Evening Star, (February 8, 1948)
[8] Associated Press, “Southerner Governors Cool Towards Move to Bolt Democrats,” Evening Star, (February 7, 1948)
[9] Associated Press, “End of Solid South Possible in Time, Pepper Concedes,” Evening Star, (February 11, 1948)
[10] The Cameron Herald and Centinela, “Southern Governor in Meeting Issue Threat,” (February 12, 1948)