The Unbending Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition
Part Sixteen: Abandoning civil rights enforced by the Federal Government was the only way the GOP could win the Dixiecrat South.
In June 1949, Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas announced that the administration had decided to drop all welfare and civil rights for that legislative session. This announcement sparked immediate protests led by the NAACP. In the legislative session, scheduled to adjourn by July 31, the Liberals in Congress waved the flag of surrender, knowing they were running out of time[1].
Truman pushed to create a Welfare Department; the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition blocked it. Finally, Congress passed a bill increasing the minimum wage from 40₵ to 70₵ per hour.
July 31 came and went. Congressional leaders extended the session because the Coalition had held up legislation for most of the year. For several months, Congress fought to repeal Taft-Hartley, the minimum wage, and social security. The Coalition didn’t just block legislation. They also viciously slowed down committees. The Congressional session didn’t conclude until October 15.
As the dust settled from the first session of the 81st Congress, which lasted ten long, grueling months, it became clear that oil interests, utilities, and banks had all exploited the Dixiecrat movement in 1949[2].
Leander Perez was a wealthy oilman and Democratic political boss of Southeast Louisiana. He headed the Thurmond/Wright campaign and held on to the Dixiecrat ideology even after the Dixies lost their presidential bid.
Perez spent decades diverting millions from government funds through illegal land deals[3]. The government didn’t discover his illegal dealings until 1983 when they learned he made over $80 million in oil royalties from these unlawful land deals. Leander Perez waved the flag of States’ Rights, which stemmed from the Federal Government’s claim over the Louisiana tidelands where Perez made the illegal land deals. In 1965, while the Voting Rights Act was in Congress, a Congressman spoke at length about how only about 3% of Black residents registered to vote in Leander Perez’s Louisiana area[4].
In December 1949, the Republican Senators Kenneth Wheary (R-NE), and John Bricker (R-OH), asked the entire Republican voting bloc to support the Coalition between the Dixiecrats and the GOP.
Republican support of the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition led to ‘The Crisis,’ which was the official magazine of the NAACP, putting out an article in their December issue called, “Does the Republican Party want the Negro Vote?” It pointed to the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition’s failure to enact meaningful civil rights legislation [5].
In 1949, the Black voting bloc wasn’t loyal to either party and was most apt to vote for whichever party would pass progressive legislation.
Going into the second session of the 81st Congress, it was a foregone conclusion of nearly all of those in Congress that President Truman wouldn’t get any of his social welfare program wishes beyond the expansion of social security.
While Truman appealed to the labor-farmer Coalition, which was responsible for his surprise 1948 victory, at the same time, Republicans crusaded against the Truman administration and claimed that he intended to implement a “statism, welfare state[6].”
Pushing the realignment of both parties was the fight over how far the government should directly concern itself with the individual welfare of its citizens. Both sides crossed party lines to a greater extent than in the history of the Democrat and Republican parties. Truman was ready to fight both the Dixiecrats and the Republicans.
Black Americans were fed up with Congress and planned on applying pressure by mobilizing. The NAACP, the Federal Council of Churches, the AFL, the CIO, the National Council of Negro Women, the American Jewish Congress, and several other groups held a National Civil Rights Mobilization in Washington DC on January 15 – 17[7]. Over 4,000 American citizens, both Black and white, showed up in DC that weekend and urged Congress to pass civil rights legislation[8].
The second session of the 81st Congress also brought a personal political feud between President Truman and James F. Byrnes of South Carolina. Byrnes was once the Secretary of State under Truman but resigned in 1947 as tension grew between the two. In early 1950, Byrnes declared his intent to run for governor of South Carolina[9].
This move by Byrnes was significant in the South as it dramatically symbolized the long and bitter fight within the Democratic Party between the Conservative Democrats, mainly in the South, and the Truman Democrats. As a result, James Byrnes became the 1950 leader of a rejuvenated anti-Truman movement.
The first day of the second Congressional session of the 81st Congress was January 3. Still, Congress put all business on hold until after Truman’s State of the Union Address, which occurred on the evening of January 4[10].
During President Truman’s State of the Union Address, he told Congress that he would recommend changing the tax law to yield a moderate amount of additional revenue. Truman went to bat again for many of the same issues he pitched in his 1948 presidential campaign. Those issues were also crucial to the Democratic strategy for the 1950’s mid-term elections. He also asked to enact civil rights legislation, a substitute for the Taft-Hartley law, new farm legislation, national medical care, and an expansion of social security[11].
Following the State of the Union Address, most in the 81st Congress concluded that Truman would get practically nothing for his domestic social welfare programs. The Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition would not bend.
The Coalition in the House attempted to repeal the rule passed in early 1949, preventing bills from being bottlenecked in committees. The repeal failed and was an early win for Truman[12].
Republicans wanted an FEPC vote. While House Republicans had favored repealing the rule, they voted against it because they didn’t plan to repeal it until after the House could vote on the FEPC anti-discrimination measure. Their 1948 party platform included the FEPC plan. It was something that both Democrats and Republicans ran on and promised if elected. However, the 81st legislature failed to get anti-discrimination in employment legislation passed in the second session[13].
In early January 1949, 43,000 coal miners in six states went on strike. Republicans in Congress urged Truman to use the Taft-Hartley Act to intervene and threatened him with impeachment if he didn’t act[14].
The Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition remained strong in the second Congressional session. The Coalition in the House was strong enough to kill most progressive legislation[15]. It wasn’t just domestic policies at stake. For instance, the House Dixiegop Coalition blocked economic aid to Korea. The Korean measure only lost by a margin of two votes.
After blocking assistance to Korea, the press called the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition neo-isolationists. What should have been a bipartisan foreign policy took an illogical course of punishing Korea. The reason given by the Coalition was because of their perception that Truman’s administration failed to do enough to check the rise of communism in Asia[16].
By the fourth week of Congress, only one resolution passed. The resolution authorized President Truman to proclaim February 6 as “National Children’s Dental Day[17].” Conservatives labeled the FEPC bill and other civil rights measures as “socialism,” and the Coalition warned that approving any of the legislation requested by Truman would open the floodgates for all kinds of socialist legislation[18].
1950, the second red scare hadn’t yet peaked, but many people worried about communism in America and Congress. The House Committee on Un-American Activities, which became a standing committee in 1945, investigated threats of subversion or propaganda that attacked “the form of government as guaranteed by the Constitution.” The Committee’s focus was on communism and communist activities.
The second red scare brought the arrests of 144 leaders of the Communist Party USA[19] and mass investigations of the Hollywood elite[20]. One Republican Senator will forever be synonymous with the second red scare in America, Joseph R. McCarthy.
Senator McCarthy was a staunch anti-Truman Conservative[21]. He also was part of the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition, once quoted saying, “A GOP-Dixiecrat Coalition is logical and long overdue. We should have a party realignment so that we can have two parties again[22].”
On February 10, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy went on national radio and accused 57 people in the State Department of “holding red party cards.” He refused to give any names to the press but said he would provide the list to the Secretary of State under certain conditions. McCarthy asserted that Communists riddled the Truman administration. The State Department’s press officer responded with a statement that said, “We know of no Communist members in the department, and if we find any, they will be summarily discharged[23].”
McCarthy’s accusations led to the Truman administration being labeled corrupt, even though there was never proof of that.
Republicans followed by demanding investigations of the charges. Republican members of the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition, Senator Wherry and Senator Bricker, were two of the most vocal Republicans leading the way to investigate.
They even turned it into a campaign issue. Senator Wherry said in one campaign speech, “If Republicans win control of Congress, they will see to it that no Communist is on the payroll of the Federal Government[24].”
The State Department pressed McCarthy to hand over his list to the State Department. However, he stalled. Within a week, other members of Congress were accusing McCarthy of lying. The Associated Press quoted Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas as saying, “There is no truth to the charge by Senator McCarthy of there being at least 57 card-carrying Communists in the State Department. McCarthy is the greatest headline hunter in the world, and he simply does not have the facts. Let him produce names. If I made a charge like that, I would be ashamed of myself for the rest of my life[25].”
Senator Joseph McCarthy started his career as a Conservative Democrat but switched to the Republican Party in 1944.
National medical care insurance was a priority of President Truman. However, the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition blocked any legislation regarding such a program. The American Medical Association Insurance also lobbied big business and then started a smear campaign against “socialized medicine[26].” Governor Dewey of New York was highly critical of any national medical care insurance. He gave multiple speeches and blasted “socialized medicine[27].”
The fight against national medical care and socialized medicine still rages on in 2021.
1950 was a barrage of obstruction from the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition. Just as the Coalition did the year before, they blocked national medical care insurance, the repeal of Taft-Hartley, and the FEPC bill[28]. The House managed to get a weak FEPC bill in March. However, the Senate Dixiegopers filibustered it[29].
Meanwhile, the NAACP and the American Jewish Congress blasted Congress for continuing inaction on civil rights. They issued a joint report that stated, “Although the national administration remained firm in its support of the civil rights program and introduced a series of specific bills, a coalition of Republican and Southern Democrats prevented their enactment[30].”
Truman loyalists were the minority in Congress. One of those loyalists was Senate Majority Leader Lucas. The Dixiecrats would often punish Lucas for the Truman civil rights program by siding with Republicans on other bills besides civil rights legislation[31]. For example, when the Senate brought up Hawaii statehood, Dixiecrats opposed it. While it wasn’t said directly, they opposed it principally on racial grounds[32].
The Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition in 1950 led to protests from Black community organizers against the National Republican Party[33]. The Coalition was an embarrassment to the GOP. However, Republican National Chairman Guy Gabrielson admitted in a press conference that he discussed a trial marriage with the Dixiecrats leaders and the GOP. It was part of a strategy to beat Truman in 1952. When a reporter asked Gabrielson whether he supported the FEPC, the GOP Chairman responded, “You cannot legislate human rights[34].”
In 1950, Democrats had held the presidency since Herbert Hoover’s administration, which ended in 1933. Except for the 80th Congress, Democrats also controlled the House and the Senate between 1933 to 1950. Looking back, it isn’t too hard to understand why the Republicans felt tempted to enter that unholy alliance with the Dixiecrats. They had been out of power for 17 years in the executive and legislative branches. By forming the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition, it allowed them to climb to power once again.
But to accept the Dixiecrats and embrace an alliance, Republicans had to sacrifice the civil rights principles that gave them the name of “The Party of Lincoln.” Abandoning civil rights enforced by the Federal Government was the only way the GOP could win the Dixiecrat South.
The 1948 Republican Party Platform was progressive on civil rights. However, under Guy Gabrielson’s leadership, the GOP began its push away from civil rights. Meanwhile, there were liberal Republicans who still held office, Senate Leader Lucas, for example. This rift in the GOP grew with each piece of civil rights legislation Lucas brought forward.
In 1950, the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition wasn’t the only Coalition that dominated politics. The National Committee to Limit Federal Taxing Powers was formed in 1950 by business groups and spearheaded by real estate and medical lobbies. Some of the most Conservative, anti-New Deal Republicans aided the Coalition. Those included Congressman Ralph Gwinn (R-NY), Congressman Carl Curtis (R-NE), Congressman August Andresen (R-MN), Congressman Fred Crawford (R-MI), Congressman John Phillips (R-CA), Congressman William McCulloch (R-NY), Congressman Ralph Harvey (R-IN), and Congressman John Saylor (R-PA). The purpose of this Coalition was to push Congress to lower taxes and “fight socialism[35].”
As the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition teamed up to kill progressive legislation, liberal Republicans often teamed up with Northern Democrats to reciprocate. However, since the Dixiegops were the majority in Congress, liberals were rarely successful. In one such bill, the Kerr Natural Gas Bill, the Coalition was able to get it through the House and Senate and then to President Truman’s desk[36]. However, America widely criticized the bill as legislation for Big Business's profits at the American people's expense.
The bill would have exempted independent producers not connected with distribution companies from Federal price regulation. Simultaneously, independent natural gas producers produced 80% of the natural gas in America without owning or operating any pipelines[37]. It would have made gas prices skyrocket, costing the American people an extra $500 million yearly. The Coalition denied it would lead to gas price increases and often cited “free enterprise[38]” as their reason behind the bill. Fortunately, President Truman vetoed the bill, saying that it was not a bill in the best interest of the American people[39].
The second Congressional session ended with the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition successfully filibustering all forms of civil rights, social welfare, and progressive legislation. Another plan of the Coalition was the deep cuts they attempted to make to an Appropriations bill in the summer of 1950 with the Taber-Thomas Amendment[40]. The amendment to cut $1 billion from the federal budget would have led to the abolishment of almost 200,000 federal jobs, causing unemployment to spike and leaving workloads behind that would have clogged up much of the federal government[41].
The 81st Congress’ record was dismal due to the Dixiecrat-Republican Coalition. Both congressional sessions were hectic, chaotic, and left inconclusive. While the 81st Congress started as a “post-war” Congress, they ended up embroiled in arguments and multiple filibusters blocking the president at every turn. Many of the Southern Democrats had long enough tenure to gain chairmanships of key committees. The 81st Congress’ score was 100% against civil rights.
When the second session of the 81st Congress wrapped up, they didn’t have an FEPC bill, there wasn’t a repeal of Taft-Hartley, and there wasn’t any anti-poll tax legislation. By the end of the Congressional session, Communism hysteria swept up the nation, and America had entered the Korean War.
[1] Alice A. Dunnigan, “Protests Follow Lucas’ Nailing of Civil Rights Legislation for This Session of Congress,” The Ohio Daily Express, (June 9, 1949)
[2] Thomas L. Stokes, “Old Threadbare Issue,” Evening Star, (November 23, 1949)
[3] The Times Picayune, “1920: Leander Perez’s Rise to Power in ST Bernard, Plaquemines,” (October 24, 1911
[4] William J. “Bill” Dodd, “Peapatch Politics: The Earl Long Era in Louisiana Politics,” (1991)
[5] Jackson Advocate, “Does GOP Want Negro Vote? Asks Crisis in December Issue,” (December 24, 1949)
[6] Thomas L. Stokes, “Congress Lines Drawn,” Evening Star, (January 4, 1950)
[7] Jackson Advocate, “Mobilization to Push Passage of FEPC,” (January 14, 1950)
[8] Evening Star, “Local and State Fight for Civil Rights Urged as Delegates Depart,” (January 18, 1950)
[9] Thomas L. Stokes, “Feuds in High Places,” Evening Star, (January 20, 1950)
[10] J. A. O’Leary, “Business Delayed Until President’s Message Tomorrow,”
[11] Evening Star, “Text of President’s Message,” (January 4, 1950)
[12] Thomas L. Stokes, “Congress Lines Drawn,” Evening Star, (January 4, 1950)
[13] Evening Star, “FEPC Enemies Force Postponement of Vote by Rules Committee,” (January 16, 1950)
[14] Evening Star, “43,000 Miners Out in 6 States in Another Wildcat Strike; Truman’s Impeachment Urged,” (January 9, 1950)
[15] Gould Lincoln, “Truman Victory on Rules to Have its Reverse Side,” Evening Star, (January 21, 1950)
[16] Evening Star, “Muddle Over Korea,” (January 24, 1950)
[17] Gould Lincoln, “FEPC Bill Likely to Make Better Issue Than a Law,” Evening Star, (January 26, 1950)
[18] Gould Lincoln, “Do Democrats Want FEPC to be Law or Just an Issue,” Evening Star, (January 26, 1950)
[19] Life Magazine, “Communist Trial Ends With 11 Guilty”, (October 24, 1949)
[20] Associated Press, “Red China Supplying Hollywood Narcotics, Senator Johnson Says” Evening Star, (March 28, 1950)
[21] Nathan Robertson, “GOP Embarrassed by Backfire on McCarthy Charges,” The Potters Herald
[22] Daily Record, “Cheers, Boos Greet GOP-Dixiecrat Plan,” (July 31, 1951)
[23] Associated Press, “McCarthy Charges 57 in State Department Hold Red Party Cards,” Evening Star, (February 11, 1950)
[24] Associated Press, “Republicans Demand Probe of Charges of Reds in Federal Jobs,” Evening Star, (February 13, 1950)
[25] Associated Press, “Acheson Made Great Mistake on Hiss, Lucas Tells Truman,” Evening Star, (February 19, 1950)
[26] Associated Press, “Democrats Advised to Approach Election with Smoking Guns,” Evening Star, (May 14, 1950)
[27] Associated Press, “Gov Dewey to Attack Socialized Medicine in Annual Message,” Evening Star, (January 2, 1950)
[28] United Automobile Worker, “1950 Issue Take Shape,” (March 1, 1950)
[29] Detroit Tribune, “Urge Cloture on Federal FEPC Bill,” (April 1, 1950)
[30] Jackson Advocate, “Minorities Blast Congress on Liberties Inaction,” (March 11, 1950)
[31] Doris Fleeson, “Truman’s Minority Leader,” Evening Star, (March 7, 1950)
[32] The Northwest Times, “House OK of Hawaii Statehood Hailed as Vote of Confidence in Isle People,” (March 10, 1950)
[33] The Ohio Daily Express, “Negroes Protest Dinner,” (May 29, 1950)
[34] Doris Fleeson, “Startled by Reaction,” Evening Star, (March 23, 1950)
[35] The Potters Herald, “New Conservative Lobby Formed to Fight Fair Deal,” (March 23, 1950)
[36] The Potters Herald, “Senate Passes Kerr Bill Adding Millions to Nation’s Gas Bill,” (April 6, 1950)
[37] Thomas L. Stokes, “Action Near on Gas Act,” Evening Star, (February 17, 1950)
[38] Toledo Union Journal, “Taft Again Favors Big Business Profits,” (April 7, 1950)
[39] Cecil Holland, “Truman Vetoes Kerr Gas Bill; Aides Rebuffed,” Evening Star, (April 16, 1950)
[40] Joseph Young, “Threat to Federal Jobs Erased in Analysis of House Slash,” Evening Star, (May 15, 1950)
[41] Joseph Young, “Economy Cuts in US Job s Junked by House Conferees,” Evening Star, (August 9, 1950)