The Thurmond/Wright Campaign
Part Ten: The Dixiecrat campaign matched the energy of hate around the country.
As the Thurmond/Wright campaign kicked off, the Christian Nationalist Movement, a hate organization, offered their support to the Dixiecrat ticket. Thurmond rejected it and called the Christian Nationalist Movement’ rabble-rousers[1].’
Their support mirrored the support that hate groups would continue to give politicians and political movements over the next century, pledging themselves to the far right while the ones in the spotlight denounced it.
The four presidential tickets of 1948 each had a platform[2].
The Republicans favored enacting legislation to end lynchings and other mob violence, as well as ending poll taxes. Their platform included ending racial segregation in the military but didn’t go further than that.
The Democrats built their platform on previous victories in civil rights. They committed themselves to eradicating all racial, religious, and economic discrimination. Their platform stated that all racial and religious minorities must have the right to live, work, vote, and have full and equal protection under the law.
The Progressive Party’s platform condemned segregation and discrimination in all its forms and manifestations. They demanded equality for Black people, Jewish people, Spanish-speaking Americans, Italian Americans, Japanese Americans, and other nationality groups. They were also calling for a presidential proclamation to end segregation and all forms of discrimination in the armed services and federal employment. They also demanded anti-lynching, anti-discrimination, anti-poll tax, and fair employment practices legislation.
The Dixiecrats platform was solely about protecting the rights of states to manage their internal affairs. They were against the Democrat’s civil rights plank and demanded the preservation of segregation.
Starting from the end of July, the Dixiecrats launched a battle to get their party ticket on the ballots of every state[3]. However, many weren’t planning to allow it[4]. In the end, they only appeared on the ballots of 17 states.
During the latter half of 1948, racial violence against Black Americans continued to escalate.
In Copiah County, Mississippi, an incident between a Black man and a white man led to the shooting injury of the sheriff. After that, a white mob went to the Black section of town, entered and searched dozens of Black homes without a warrant, beat, intimidated, and arrested scores of innocent Black people[5]. Then, they burned many of their houses down[6].
A movie theater in Los Angeles played Birth of a Nation, leading to dozens of nightly protests at the theater[7]. Only weeks later, Los Angeles Police clubbed a Black man, Herman Burns, to death[8].
The civil rights issue in Southern states was in such a state of despair that when New Jersey apprehended a Black escaped fugitive, John Colier, from South Carolina, the Governor refused to extradite him. Governor Alfred Driscoll claimed that the South Carolina prison system subjected Colier to cruel and inhuman treatment. Sending him back would be a living death[9].
The Dixiecrat headquarters opened in Jackson, Mississippi[10], on August 9, and the campaign kicked off on August 11. Arkansas Governor Ben Laney was appointed the chairman of a seven-man steering committee, and Judge Merritt Gibson, from Longview, Texas, was named the national campaign director[11].
The Dixiecrat’s anti-civil rights aided the cause of the Ku Klux Klan’s third rising. During this time, racial and religious strife was higher in America than since the Civil War. Even though civil rights loomed at the federal level, Southern States continued to fight against providing equal rights to Black Southerners[12].
In August 1948, the Southern Democrats published the “States’ Rights Information and Speaker’s Handbook.” In this handbook, the Dixiecrats stated their positions on race, including a section called ‘The Race Question.’ It said, “If we start with the self-evident proposition that whites and Black are different, we will not experience any difficulty in reaching that they are not and never can be equal. It is no crime to be different. A horse and a cow, for instance, are not equal. Food will enable a horse to perform a day’s work and will dry up a cow. They are not equal and cannot be treated equally in the best interests of both are to be served. Gold and silver, both precious metals, are not equal. They are unequal in almost every way. Justice, not equality, is the only thing possible under the law.”
The handbook also asserted that the Fifteenth Amendment was a mistake and the Constitution does not give the privilege of voting to everyone[13].
In Mississippi, legislatures added a constitutional amendment to the November ballot, which proposed that a person, to vote, must be of good moral character. This constitutional amendment was the brainchild of Congressman Walter Sillers, the Speaker of the Mississippi House, and Senator James Eastland. They said, “It was designed to disqualify Negro voters and protect the white primaries.” In 1948, 75% of the Mississippi’s Black population was unmarried, implying that they lacked moral character, according to the Dixiecrats. It also included anyone in Mississippi convicted of certain crimes[14].
In 1948, there were only 11 remaining Confederate veterans in Texas. One of them was 101-year-old W. N. Whitton from Timpson, Texas. He gave an interview to the Sweetwater Reporter, saying that he would be voting for the Dixiecrats. He was against President Truman’s civil rights programs, particularly his drive to abolish the poll tax[15].
Strom Thurmond gave speeches all over the South. In one speech, Thurmond said that the other three presidential candidates favored an unconstitutional invasion of States’ rights[16]. In another speech in North Carolina, Thurmond denounced all forms of civil rights[17]. He called civil rights “red-inspired” or “communist ideas[18].” Thurmond told the audience in a New York speech, “A federal anti-lynching law was no more necessary than a federal anti-murder law[19].”
The Democratic National Convention fought back against the Dixiecrats by banning racial segregation at its headquarters. Chairman J. Howard McGrath said they wanted to show that the committee was consistent. The Democrats abolished the Black division of the DNC and distributed Black workers to their other units. They ended discrimination in hiring stenographers, clerks, and other employees[20].
[1] Associated Press, “Thurmond Rejects Aid from Rabble Rousers,” Evening Star, (July 20, 1948)
[2] The Detroit Tribune, “Party Platforms Presented for Tribune Readers to Consider,” (July 31, 1948)
[3] Associated Press, “Court Fight Planned by Dixiecrats to Get on Maryland Ballot,” Evening Star, (September 3, 1948)
[4] Orland G. Rodman, “Dentist Sues to Drop Dixiecrats from State Ballot,” The Ohio Daily Express, (September 14, 1948)
[5] Jackson Advocate, “Armed Posse Terrorize Negro Community,” (July 31, 1948)
[6] Jackson Advocate, “White Citizens Start Plan to Rebuild Burned Homes,” (August 7, 1948)
[7] Arizona Sun, “New Party Members Picket Pro-Klan film,” (August 6, 1948)
[8] Helen Taylor, “Father of Two Young Children Clubbed to Death by LA Cops,” Arizona Sun, (September 3, 1948)
[9] Associated Press, “Thurmond Disappointed at Extradition Refusal,” Evening Star (August 8, 1948)
[10] Evening Star, “States Righters Told Missouri Ballot is Out as Office Opens Here,” (August 14, 1948)
[11] Associated Press, “States Rights Rally August 11 to Open National Campaign,” (July 29, 1948)
[12] Dorothy Thompson, “Gradual and Expanding Tolerance Seen as Only Way to Solve Racial Problems,” Evening Star, (July 30, 1948)
[13] Clemson University Libraries, “States Rights Information and Speakers Handbook,” (August 1948)
[14] The Chronicle-Star Combined with the Moss Point Advertiser, “Good Moral Character,” (July 30, 1948)
[15] The United Press, “Confederate Veteran, to Vote Dixiecrat,” The Sweetwater Reporter, (July 31, 1948)
[16] Associated Press, “Thurmond Says Civil Rights is Purely Political Program,” Evening Star, (October 18, 1948)
[17] The Northwest Enterprise, “Dixiecrat Candidate Denounces Civil Rights in All Forms,” (August 11, 1948)
[18] The Ohio Daily Express, “Thurmond Brands Civil Rights as Red Inspired,” (August 30, 1948)
[19] Associated Press, “Thurmond Tells New Yorkers Federal Anti-Lynching Law No More Necessary Than Federal Anti-Murder Statute,” Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald, (October 6, 1948)
[20] The Ohio Daily Express, “Segregation Dropped at National Headquarters,” (August 12, 1948)