1944 United States presidential election in Alabama explained

See main article: 1944 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1944 United States presidential election in Alabama
Country:Alabama
Type:Presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1940 United States presidential election in Alabama
Previous Year:1940
Election Date:November 7, 1944
Next Election:1948 United States presidential election in Alabama
Next Year:1948
Image1:1944 portrait of FDR (1)(small).jpg
Nominee1:Franklin D. Roosevelt
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State1:New York
Running Mate1:Harry S. Truman
Electoral Vote1:11
Popular Vote1:198,918
Percentage1:81.28%
President
Before Election:Franklin D. Roosevelt
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Franklin D. Roosevelt
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)
Electoral Vote2:0
Home State2:New York
Nominee2:Thomas E. Dewey
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Percentage2:18.20%
Popular Vote2:44,540
Running Mate2:John W. Bricker
Map Size:300px

The 1944 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 7, 1944, as part of the 1944 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

Since the 1890s, Alabama had been effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and a large proportion of poor whites via poll taxes, literacy tests[1] and informal harassment had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and a few nearby northern hill counties that had been Populist strongholds.[2] The only competitive statewide elections became Democratic Party primaries limited by law to white voters until the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright, following which Alabama introduced the Boswell Amendment — ruled unconstitutional in Davis v. Schnell in 1949,[3] although substantial increases in black voter registration would not occur until after the late 1960s Voting Rights Act.

Unlike other Deep South states, soon after black disenfranchisement Alabama’s remaining white Republicans made rapid efforts to expel blacks from the state Republican Party,[4] and under Oscar D. Street, who ironically was appointed state party boss as part of the pro-Taft “black and tan” faction in 1912,[5] the state GOP would permanently turn “lily-white”, with the last black delegates at any Republican National Convention serving in 1920.[4] With two exceptions the Republicans were unable to gain from their hard lily-white policy. The first was when they exceeded forty percent in the 1920 House of Representatives races for the 4th, 7th and 10th congressional districts,[6] and the second was the 1928 presidential election when Senator James Thomas Heflin embarked on a nationwide speaking tour, partially funded by the Ku Klux Klan, against Roman Catholic Democratic nominee Al Smith and supported Republican Herbert Hoover,[7] who went on to lose the state by only seven thousand votes.

By 1940, there was significant opposition amongst Alabama’s planter and industrial elite to the New Deal, and there were already attempts to organise the “independent elector” movements that would proliferate after Harry S. Truman’s civil rights proposals,[8] whilst other “big mules” already supported voting Republican for President.[9] However, the hatred of the Republican label, in spite of six election cycles as a party exclusive of blacks,[10] prevented such a revolt amongst the actual electorate.[11]

Polls

No campaigning was done by either incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and new running mate Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman, nor by Republican nominees Governor Thomas E. Dewey–New York and Governor John W. Bricker. Polls were not taken until late October, when a Gallup poll showed Roosevelt as having 77 percent of the vote.[12] This increased slightly to 78 percent of the two-party vote on the day before the poll.[13]

Results

Alabama was ultimately won in a landslide by FDR with 81.28 percent of the popular vote, against Dewey with 18.20 percent of the popular vote, a margin of 63.08 percent. Third-party candidates only managed to pick up 0.53 percent of the vote.[14]

Results by individual elector

Party! Pledged to! Elector! Votes
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltW. F. Covington, Jr.198,918
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltJohn D. McQueen198,917
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltForrest Castleberry198,908
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltOtis R. Burton198,907
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltJohn E. Adams198,904
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltBen Bloodworth198,894
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltFournier J. Gale198,888
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltThomas H. Maxwell198,880
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltGessner T. McCorvey198,871
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltWalter F. Miller198,868
bgcolor=Democratic PartyFranklin D. RooseveltW. O. Pope197,872
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyWilliam M. Russell44,540
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyC. R. Stone44,540
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyC. S. Prescott44,513
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyJ. Dewey Rockett44,509
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyJack E. Paterson44,496
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyE. L. Harvell44,478
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyLyman Ward44,467
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyH. A. Jackson44,447
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyPope M. Long44,446
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyR. M. Sims44,433
bgcolor=Republican PartyThomas E. DeweyAaron G. Weaver44,306
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonA. J. Dailey1,095
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonJames C. Mauldin1,082
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonEmmett Williams1,081
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonA. W. Stone1,071
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonC. H. McAdory1,069
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonJohn C. Orr1,068
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonGlenn V. Tingley1,064
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonJ. B. Lockhart1,058
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonMary A. Bebout1,054
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonW. E. Braden1,054
bgcolor=Prohibition PartyClaude A. WatsonEunice Sisson1,050
bgcolor=Socialist Party of AmericaNorman ThomasMinnie C. Adams190
bgcolor=Socialist Party of AmericaNorman ThomasRobert S. Burgess, Jr.182
bgcolor=Socialist Party of AmericaNorman ThomasFrederic Roper176
bgcolor=Socialist Party of AmericaNorman ThomasD. R. Calloway166
bgcolor=Socialist Party of AmericaNorman ThomasF. M. Buttram162
Total votes244,743

Results by county

County! colspan="2"
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic		Thomas Edmund Dewey
Republican		Claude A. Watson
Prohibition		Norman Mattoon Thomas
Socialist		MarginTotal votes cast
%%%%%
Autauga1,24291.06%1178.58%50.37%00.00%1,12582.48%1,364
Baldwin2,00273.41%69525.49%220.81%80.29%1,30847.95%2,727
Barbour2,23794.91%672.84%532.25%00.00%2,17092.07%2,357
Bibb1,28783.25%24415.78%100.65%20.13%1,04367.60%1,546
Blount2,13467.85%99831.73%100.32%10.03%1,13536.12%3,145
Bullock1,05697.78%242.22%00.00%00.00%1,03295.56%1,080
Butler1,91595.75%804.00%50.25%00.00%1,83591.75%2,000
Calhoun4,30885.65%69413.80%260.52%20.04%3,61471.85%5,030
Chambers3,45894.43%1945.30%90.25%00.00%3,26489.16%3,662
Cherokee1,77480.64%40818.55%170.77%10.05%1,36662.09%2,200
Chilton1,98458.77%1,38541.02%60.18%10.03%59917.74%3,376
Choctaw1,24393.32%866.46%30.23%00.00%1,15886.87%1,332
Clarke2,26393.98%1425.90%30.12%00.00%2,12188.08%2,408
Clay1,53567.03%74132.36%130.57%10.04%79434.67%2,290
Cleburne94865.02%50434.57%60.41%00.00%44330.36%1,458
Coffee2,84696.02%1153.88%30.10%00.00%2,73192.14%2,964
Colbert3,38687.07%49612.75%60.15%20.05%2,89074.29%3,889
Conecuh1,49891.34%1277.74%90.55%60.37%1,37183.60%1,640
Coosa1,07972.86%39426.60%50.34%30.20%68546.25%1,481
Covington2,97291.98%2567.92%20.06%10.03%2,71684.06%3,231
Crenshaw1,98094.06%1185.61%60.29%00.00%1,86288.50%2,105
Cullman3,89863.43%2,20235.83%410.67%40.07%1,69627.60%6,145
Dale2,09485.57%32513.28%80.33%10.04%1,76972.86%2,447
Dallas2,88394.74%1494.90%50.16%50.16%2,73589.88%3,043
DeKalb4,36662.35%2,62737.52%90.13%00.00%1,73924.84%7,002
Elmore3,10894.32%1845.58%30.09%00.00%2,92488.74%3,295
Escambia2,07788.20%26611.30%120.51%00.00%1,81176.90%2,355
Etowah5,89578.38%1,52520.28%891.18%120.16%4,37058.10%7,521
Fayette1,64864.10%91335.51%100.39%00.00%73528.59%2,571
Franklin2,70959.30%1,85340.56%60.13%00.00%85618.74%4,568
Geneva2,00483.36%38516.01%150.62%00.00%1,61967.35%2,404
Greene67693.63%456.23%10.14%00.00%63187.40%722
Hale1,26597.46%332.54%00.00%00.00%1,23294.92%1,298
Henry1,63597.15%462.73%20.12%00.00%1,58994.41%1,683
Houston3,34991.80%2827.73%160.44%10.03%3,06784.07%3,648
Jackson2,96774.18%1,02625.65%60.15%10.03%1,94148.53%4,000
Jefferson31,10180.40%7,40919.15%1570.41%170.04%23,69261.24%38,684
Lamar2,02586.10%31013.18%160.68%10.04%1,71572.92%2,352
Lauderdale4,00186.77%59012.80%190.41%10.02%3,41173.98%4,611
Lawrence1,89376.86%56522.94%50.20%00.00%1,32853.92%2,463
Lee2,01193.49%1346.23%50.23%10.05%1,87887.27%2,151
Limestone2,60594.93%1294.70%100.36%00.00%2,47690.23%2,744
Lowndes80297.92%161.95%10.12%00.00%78695.97%819
Macon1,03292.56%827.35%10.09%00.00%95185.37%1,115
Madison4,95191.33%4558.39%110.20%40.07%4,49682.94%5,421
Marengo1,74694.69%894.83%70.38%20.11%1,65789.86%1,844
Marion1,86659.48%1,26040.17%100.32%00.00%60719.36%3,137
Marshall3,35673.58%1,20026.31%50.11%00.00%2,15647.27%4,561
Mobile9,43975.98%2,86723.08%860.69%250.20%6,57052.92%12,423
Monroe1,99197.55%462.25%40.20%00.00%1,94595.30%2,041
Montgomery9,14395.62%3813.98%320.33%90.09%8,74891.57%9,562
Morgan4,12485.24%66413.72%491.01%00.00%3,46171.57%4,838
Perry1,00495.35%474.46%20.19%00.00%95790.88%1,053
Pickens1,48287.23%20912.30%80.47%00.00%1,27374.93%1,699
Pike2,32893.87%903.63%311.25%301.21%2,23890.28%2,480
Randolph1,78571.06%70227.95%251.00%00.00%1,08343.11%2,512
Russell2,10994.66%1155.16%40.18%00.00%1,99489.50%2,228
Shelby1,95567.11%94532.44%80.27%20.07%1,00934.66%2,913
St. Clair1,81961.66%1,11737.86%130.44%10.03%70223.80%2,950
Sumter1,07595.05%534.69%30.27%00.00%1,02290.36%1,131
Talladega3,10281.50%67517.74%250.66%20.05%2,42863.84%3,806
Tallapoosa3,32695.88%1363.92%70.20%00.00%3,19091.96%3,469
Tuscaloosa4,93988.62%58410.48%200.36%40.07%4,35578.51%5,573
Walker4,61966.87%2,24132.45%320.46%120.17%2,37934.46%6,907
Washington1,44792.28%1157.33%60.38%00.00%1,33284.95%1,568
Wilcox1,20997.42%302.42%20.16%00.00%1,17995.00%1,241
Winston91237.07%1,53862.52%100.41%00.00%-626-25.45%2,460
Totals198,91881.28%44,54018.20%1,0950.45%1900.08%154,37863.08%244,743

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Perman, Michael. Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. University of North Carolina Press. Chapel Hill, NC. 2001. Introduction. 9780807849095.
  2. Webb. Samuel L.. From Independents to Populists to Progressive Republicans: The Case of Chilton County, Alabama, 1880-1920. The Journal of Southern History. 59. 4. 707–736.
  3. Book: Stanley, Harold Watkins. Voter mobilization and the politics of race: the South and universal suffrage, 1952-1984. 1987. 100. 0275926737.
  4. Book: Heersink. Jenkins. Boris. Jeffery A.. Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. 251–253. 9781107158436. 2020.
  5. Book: Casdorph, Paul D.. Republicans, Negroes, and Progressives in the South, 1912-1916. The University of Alabama Press. 1981. 70, 94–95. 0817300481.
  6. Book: [[Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips]], Kevin P.. The Emerging Republican Majority. 255. 1969. 0870000586.
  7. Book: Chiles . Robert . The Revolution of ‘28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal . 2018 . Cornell University Press . 9781501705502 . 115.
  8. Book: Feldman, Glenn. The Irony of the Solid South: Democrats, Republicans, and Race, 1865–1944. 150. 2013. University of Alabama Press. 9780817317935.
  9. Book: Feldman, Glenn. The Great Melding: War, the Dixiecrat Rebellion, and the Southern Model for America's New Conservatism. 2015. 60 . University of Alabama Press. 9780817318666.
  10. Heersink; Jenkins. Republican Party Politics and the American South, pp. 48–50
  11. Feldman. The Irony of the Solid South, pp. 151-152
  12. News: Gallup. George. Poll Shows Dewey, F.D.R. in Close Race. The Journal Times. Racine, Wisconsin. October 27, 1944. 8.
  13. News: Final Poll Shows Roosevelt Is Choice. Canadian Institute of Public Opinion. Star-Phoenix. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. 1–2.
  14. Web site: 1944 Presidential General Election Results – Alabama. Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.

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