1948 United States presidential election in South Carolina explained

See main article: 1948 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1948 United States presidential election in South Carolina
Country:South Carolina
Type:presidential
Vote Type:Popular
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1944 United States presidential election in South Carolina
Previous Year:1944
Next Election:1952 United States presidential election in South Carolina
Next Year:1952
Image1:Strom Thurmond 1948 (cropped).jpg
Nominee1:Strom Thurmond
Alliance1:Dixiecrat
Color1:FF9955
Home State1:South Carolina
Running Mate1:Fielding L. Wright
Electoral Vote1:8
Popular Vote1:102,607
Percentage1:71.97%
Nominee2:Harry S. Truman
Party2:Democratic
Color2:0000FF
Home State2:Missouri
Running Mate2:Alben Barkley
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:34,423
Percentage2:24.14%
Map Size:325px
President
Before Election:Harry Truman
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
Posttitle:Elected President
After Election:Harry Truman
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)

The 1948 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 2, 1948, as part of the 1948 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.

South Carolina was won by States' Rights Democratic candidate Strom Thurmond, defeating the Democratic candidate, incumbent President Harry S. Truman, and New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey.

For six decades South Carolina had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party had been moribund due to the disfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as South Carolina completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.[1] Between 1900 and 1944, no Republican presidential candidate ever obtained more than seven percent of the total presidential vote[2] – a vote which in 1924 reached as low as 6.6 percent of the total voting-age population[3] (or approximately 15 percent of the voting-age white population).

This absolute loyalty to the Democratic Party – so strong that even Catholic Al Smith in 1928 received over ninety percent of South Carolina's limited vote total at the same time as five former Confederate states voted for Herbert Hoover[4] – began to break down with Henry A. Wallace's appointment as Vice President and the 1943 Detroit race riots.[5] The northern left wing of the Democratic Party became as a result of this riot committed to restoring black political rights,[6] a policy vehemently opposed by most Southern Democrats as an infringement upon "states' rights". Tension widened much further when new President Harry Truman, himself a Southerner from Missouri, had described to him a number of horrifying lynchings and racial violence against black veterans, most crucially the beating and blinding of Isaac Woodard three hours after being discharged from the army.[7] Truman, previously viewed as no friend of civil rights, came to believe that racial violence against blacks in the South was a threat to the United States' image abroad and its ability to win the Cold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric of Communism.[8]

The result was a major civil rights plan titled To Secure These Rights a year later, and a civil rights plank in the 1948 Democratic platform. Southern Democrats were enraged by these proposals and thus sought to form a "States' Rights" Democratic ticket, which would replace Truman as the official Democratic nominee.[9] In South Carolina, Dixiecrats completely controlled the situation and achieved this[10] as early as the state's May presidential primary.[11] Consequently, Thurmond and Mississippi Governor Fielding Wright were listed as the official "Democratic" nominees.

76% of white voters supported Thurmond.

Polls

SourceRankingAs of
The Herald-Sun[12] September 12, 1948
Chattanooga Daily Times[13] October 15, 1948
The Evening Star[14] October 20, 1948
The Montgomery Advertiser[15] October 24, 1948
Mount Vernon Argus[16] November 1, 1948
Oakland Tribune[17] November 1, 1948

Results

Results by county

1948 United States presidential election in South Carolina by county[18] [19] ! rowspan="2"
County
States’ Rights/Democratic

Republican
Harry S. Truman
Democratic
Henry Agard Wallace
Progressive
MarginTotal votes cast
data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %%%data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" %
Abbeville78773.97%232.16%25423.87%00.00%53350.09%1,064
Aiken4,60786.94%1152.17%57210.79%50.09%4,03576.15%5,299
Allendale1,04193.78%141.26%554.95%00.00%98688.83%1,110
Anderson1,34233.32%1052.61%2,58164.08%00.00%-1,239-30.76%4,028
Bamberg1,71491.51%341.82%1246.62%10.05%1,59084.89%1,873
Barnwell1,92093.02%281.36%1155.57%10.05%1,80587.45%2,064
Beaufort85067.62%15011.93%25320.13%40.32%59747.49%1,257
Berkeley1,53479.94%583.02%32316.83%40.21%1,21163.11%1,919
Calhoun84095.35%40.45%364.09%10.11%80491.26%881
Charleston10,60376.32%5624.05%2,66019.15%680.49%7,94357.17%13,893
Cherokee1,07561.15%774.38%60534.41%10.06%47026.73%1,758
Chester1,52775.89%482.39%43621.67%10.05%1,09154.22%2,012
Chesterfield1,55462.21%311.24%91236.51%10.04%64225.70%2,498
Clarendon1,46792.26%161.01%1076.73%00.00%1,36085.53%1,590
Colleton2,33789.92%391.50%2238.58%00.00%2,11481.14%2,599
Darlington1,93069.93%1043.77%72626.30%00.00%1,20443.63%2,760
Dillon96753.72%241.33%80844.89%10.06%1598.83%1,800
Dorchester2,71792.10%852.88%1434.85%50.17%2,57487.25%2,950
Edgefield1,79798.20%60.33%271.48%00.00%1,77096.72%1,830
Fairfield1,07379.54%634.67%21115.64%20.15%86263.90%1,349
Florence3,72972.97%1923.76%1,18923.27%00.00%2,54049.71%5,110
Georgetown1,94378.66%923.72%43217.49%30.12%1,51161.17%2,470
Greenville5,92262.51%7898.33%2,74528.97%180.19%3,17733.53%9,474
Greenwood2,50883.21%632.09%44014.60%30.10%2,06868.61%3,014
Hampton1,53094.33%100.62%814.99%10.06%1,44989.33%1,622
Horry3,34584.45%1132.85%50312.70%00.00%2,84271.75%3,961
Jasper71580.61%313.49%14115.90%00.00%57464.71%887
Kershaw1,61582.15%492.49%30215.36%00.00%1,31366.79%1,966
Lancaster1,64965.07%301.18%85533.74%00.00%79431.33%2,534
Laurens2,04777.86%692.62%51319.51%00.00%1,53458.35%2,629
Lee1,15586.65%362.70%14210.65%00.00%1,01375.99%1,333
Lexington2,23778.19%582.03%56619.78%00.00%1,67158.41%2,861
Marion1,21979.47%140.91%30119.62%00.00%91859.84%1,534
Marlboro1,08373.23%412.77%35423.94%10.07%72949.29%1,479
McCormick71395.96%00.00%304.04%00.00%68391.92%743
Newberry2,75887.25%471.49%34911.04%70.22%2,40976.21%3,161
Oconee1,15559.02%1356.90%66634.03%10.05%48924.99%1,957
Orangeburg3,16083.98%1644.36%43511.56%40.11%2,72572.42%3,763
Pickens1,34469.14%1658.49%43522.38%00.00%90946.76%1,944
Richland6,09666.32%6707.29%2,41926.32%70.08%3,67740.00%9,192
Saluda1,71289.45%150.78%1879.77%00.00%1,52579.68%1,914
Spartanburg4,66038.70%6275.21%6,74155.98%130.11%-2,081-17.28%12,041
Sumter2,71878.17%1544.43%60517.40%00.00%2,11360.77%3,477
Union2,09061.13%461.35%1,28337.53%00.00%80723.60%3,419
Williamsburg1,83992.46%231.16%1266.33%10.05%1,71386.12%1,989
York1,98355.67%1674.69%1,41239.64%00.00%57116.03%3,562
Totals102,60771.97%5,3863.78%34,42324.14%1540.11%68,18447.82%142,570

Analysis

Thurmond won his native state by a margin of 47.83 points, making him the first third-party candidate to carry the state since Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge in 1860. This was the first time the state voted against the Democrats since 1876, and Truman was the first Democrat to win without the state since 1836.

Significant opposition to Thurmond came from the poor whites of the industrial upcountry, who rejected the Dixiecrats' opposition to public works and labor regulation.[20] Many upcountry county parties and newspapers, especially in the two counties that backed Truman over Thurmond,[21] alongside Senator Olin D. Johnston,[22] also rejected bolting from the national party.

However, sufficiently few of these poorer whites voted that Thurmond was able to easily carry South Carolina, winning 44 of the state's 46 counties and over 71 percent of the total presidential vote. Thurmond exceeded 72 percent in all but twelve counties, and passed ninety percent in ten. This was the first time any county in South Carolina had voted against the national Democrats since 1900.[23]

Works cited

Notes and References

  1. Book: Phillips, Kevin P.. The Emerging Republican Majority. 9780691163246. 208, 210.
  2. Book: Mickey, Robert. Paths Out of Dixie: The Democratization of Authoritarian Enclaves in America's Deep South, 1944-1972. 0691149631. 440.
  3. Mickey; Paths Out of Dixie, p. 27
  4. Book: Key junior, V.O.. Southern Politics in State and Nation. 087049435X. 328.
  5. Book: Scher, Richard K.. Politics in the New South: Republicanism, Race and Leadership in the Twentieth Century. 1563248484. 95.
  6. Book: Frederickson, Kari A.. The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968. 0807849103. 39.
  7. Book: The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman. 1931112673. Geselbracht. Raymond H.. 53.
  8. Fredericksen. The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, p. 52
  9. Book: Sabato, Larry J.. Encyclopedia of American Political Parties and Elections. Ernst. Howard R.. 9781438141817. 114.
  10. Key. Southern Politics in State and Nation, p. 332
  11. Mickey. Paths Out of Dixie, pp. 146-149
  12. News: Gallup. George. September 12, 1948. Thurmond’s Long South Carolina Lead Highlights Democratic Problem in Dixie. 1. The Herald-Sun. Durham, North Carolina.
  13. News: Gallup. George. Only Four States Go to Dixiecrats. Chattanooga Daily Times. Chattanooga, Tennessee. October 15, 1948. 6-A.
  14. News: Lincoln. Gould. October 20, 1948. States’ Rights Party Sews Up South Carolina for Thurmond. A—5. The Evening Star. Washington, D.C..
  15. News: Montgomery. John A.. South Carolina. The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, Alabama. 16. October 24, 1948.
  16. News: Tucker. Ray. Truman Whistling in a White House Graveyard, Says Tucker, Predicting It’ll Be a Dewey Sweep. Mount Vernon Argus. Mount Vernon, New York. November 1, 1948. 8.
  17. News: Gallup. George. Final Gallup Poll Shows Dewey Winning Election with Wide Electoral Vote Margin. Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. November 1, 1948. 1–2.
  18. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 395
  19. Web site: Géoelections. Popular Vote for Strom Thurmond. (.xlsx file for €15)
  20. Phillips. The Emerging Republican Majority; pp. 262-265
  21. News: Thurmond Winner: State Out of Demo Column for First Time Since 1876. Anderson Independent-Mail. Anderson, South Carolina. 1.
  22. News: Johnson Openly Bucks Thurmond. The Item. Sumter, South Carolina. 11.
  23. Book: Menendez, Albert J.. The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. McFarland & Company. 2005. 0786422173. Jefferson, North Carolina. 291–293.