1948 United States presidential election in Mississippi
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 County Results
Thurmond 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% 90-100%
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| Elections in Mississippi |
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The 1948 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 2, 1948, in Mississippi as part of the wider United States presidential election of 1948.
The Democratic Party candidate, South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond, overwhelmingly won Mississippi against fellow Democrat, incumbent President Harry S. Truman by a margin of 148,154 votes, or 77.08%. Although Truman was the national Democratic Party candidate, Thurmond managed to be placed on the ballot in Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama as the official "Democratic" candidate. Outside of these four states, Thurmond was forced to run under the label of the States’ Rights Democratic Party. The Republican Party candidate, New York governor Thomas E. Dewey, had no impact on the race in Mississippi, only obtaining 5,043 votes total, or 2.62 percent of the popular vote, and failing to attract even ten percent of the vote in any Mississippi county.
Mississippi in this era was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party, so that the only competitive contests were Democratic primaries that were by law excluded to non-whites until the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright. Ever since seeing the potential effect on the United States' image abroad (and ability to win the Cold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric of Communism)[1] of the beating and blinding of Isaac Woodard three hours after being discharged from the army, President Truman was attempting to launch a Civil Rights bill, involving desegregation of the military. Southern Democrats immediately made such cries as "unconstitutional", "Communist inspired," "a blow to the loyal South and its traditions," "unwarranted and harmful," "not the answer," and "does irreparable harm to interracial relations".[2]
Southern Democrats walked out at the party's national convention in Philadelphia[3] because of Truman's endorsement of civil rights for African Americans, and Mississippi, the state with the highest proportion of blacks in its population, was alongside neighbouring Alabama the most opposed to Truman.[2] Indeed, whereas only half of Alabama's delegation walked out, all of Mississippi's did.[4] This segregationist faction met on July 17, 1948, in Birmingham, Alabama, nominating South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond as its nominee for president. Mississippi governor Fielding L. Wright was nominated for vice president. Mississippi pledged its Democratic electors to Thurmond on August 3 without debate,[5] and although a group of nine students from Mississippi State College qualified as Truman/Barkley electors after that ticket had sought to find electors from University of Mississippi students, all the nine nominated Truman electors personally supported the Dixiecrats rather than the national party.[6]
92% of white voters supported Thurmond.[7]
Polls
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Chattanooga Daily Times[8] | Certain I(Flip) | October 15, 1948 |
| The Montgomery Advertiser[9] | Certain I(Flip) | October 24, 1948 |
| The Miami News[10] | Certain I(Flip) | October 25, 1948 |
| Mount Vernon Argus[11] | Certain I(Flip) | November 1, 1948 |
| Oakland Tribune[12] | Certain I(Flip) | November 1, 1948 |
Results
| 1948 United States presidential election in Mississippi[13] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Strom Thurmond | 167,538 | 87.17% | 9 | |
| National Democratic | Harry Truman (incumbent) | 19,384 | 10.09% | 0 | |
| Republican | Thomas E. Dewey | 5,043[a] | 2.62% | 0 | |
| Progressive | Henry A. Wallace | 225 | 0.12% | 0 | |
| Totals | 192,190 | 100.00% | 9 | ||
| Voter turnout (voting age) | 16.0%[15] | ||||
Results by county
| County | James Strom Thurmond Dixiecrat/Democratic |
Thomas Edmund Dewey[a] Republican |
Harry S. Truman National Democratic |
Henry Agard Wallace Progressive |
Margin[b] | Total votes cast | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Adams | 2,032 | 92.36% | 95 | 4.32% | 71 | 3.23% | 2 | 0.09% | 1,937[c] | 88.04% | 2,200 |
| Alcorn | 1,984 | 64.19% | 91 | 2.94% | 1,013 | 32.77% | 3 | 0.10% | 971 | 31.42% | 3,091 |
| Amite | 1,559 | 95.59% | 17 | 1.04% | 55 | 3.37% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,504 | 92.22% | 1,631 |
| Attala | 2,299 | 93.19% | 32 | 1.30% | 130 | 5.27% | 6 | 0.24% | 2,169 | 87.92% | 2,467 |
| Benton | 679 | 83.83% | 11 | 1.36% | 118 | 14.57% | 2 | 0.25% | 561 | 69.26% | 810 |
| Bolivar | 2,579 | 88.50% | 115 | 3.95% | 219 | 7.52% | 1 | 0.03% | 2,360 | 80.98% | 2,914 |
| Calhoun | 1,074 | 56.59% | 36 | 1.90% | 786 | 41.41% | 2 | 0.11% | 288 | 15.18% | 1,898 |
| Carroll | 1,138 | 92.82% | 14 | 1.14% | 74 | 6.04% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,064 | 86.78% | 1,226 |
| Chickasaw | 1,826 | 93.45% | 12 | 0.61% | 115 | 5.89% | 1 | 0.05% | 1,711 | 87.56% | 1,954 |
| Choctaw | 1,110 | 86.31% | 43 | 3.34% | 131 | 10.19% | 2 | 0.16% | 979 | 76.12% | 1,286 |
| Claiborne | 741 | 95.61% | 14 | 1.81% | 19 | 2.45% | 1 | 0.13% | 722 | 93.16% | 775 |
| Clarke | 1,763 | 91.44% | 17 | 0.88% | 144 | 7.47% | 4 | 0.21% | 1,619 | 83.97% | 1,928 |
| Clay | 1,604 | 95.14% | 22 | 1.30% | 59 | 3.50% | 1 | 0.06% | 1,545 | 91.64% | 1,686 |
| Coahoma | 1,959 | 84.48% | 113 | 4.87% | 246 | 10.61% | 1 | 0.04% | 1,713 | 73.87% | 2,319 |
| Copiah | 2,523 | 95.90% | 19 | 0.72% | 89 | 3.38% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,434 | 92.52% | 2,631 |
| Covington | 1,532 | 90.81% | 16 | 0.95% | 135 | 8.00% | 4 | 0.24% | 1,397 | 82.81% | 1,687 |
| DeSoto | 1,299 | 89.59% | 14 | 0.97% | 137 | 9.45% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,162 | 80.14% | 1,450 |
| Forrest | 5,296 | 90.07% | 167 | 2.84% | 406 | 6.90% | 11 | 0.19% | 4,890 | 83.17% | 5,880 |
| Franklin | 1,160 | 94.54% | 12 | 0.98% | 55 | 4.48% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,105 | 90.06% | 1,227 |
| George | 1,032 | 88.51% | 25 | 2.14% | 108 | 9.26% | 1 | 0.09% | 924 | 79.25% | 1,166 |
| Greene | 885 | 86.94% | 14 | 1.38% | 118 | 11.59% | 1 | 0.10% | 767 | 75.35% | 1,018 |
| Grenada | 1,405 | 91.17% | 26 | 1.69% | 109 | 7.07% | 1 | 0.06% | 1,296 | 84.10% | 1,541 |
| Hancock | 1,400 | 78.87% | 151 | 8.51% | 222 | 12.51% | 2 | 0.11% | 1,178 | 66.36% | 1,775 |
| Harrison | 6,325 | 84.81% | 415 | 5.56% | 692 | 9.28% | 26 | 0.35% | 5,633 | 75.53% | 7,458 |
| Hinds | 13,705 | 89.84% | 492 | 3.23% | 1,041 | 6.82% | 17 | 0.11% | 12,664 | 83.02% | 15,255 |
| Holmes | 2,139 | 96.18% | 24 | 1.08% | 61 | 2.74% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,078 | 93.44% | 2,224 |
| Humphreys | 1,116 | 97.55% | 11 | 0.96% | 17 | 1.49% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,099 | 96.06% | 1,144 |
| Issaquena | 209 | 92.89% | 5 | 2.22% | 11 | 4.89% | 0 | 0.00% | 198 | 88.00% | 225 |
| Itawamba | 1,050 | 60.52% | 50 | 2.88% | 634 | 36.54% | 1 | 0.06% | 416 | 23.98% | 1,735 |
| Jackson | 2,671 | 71.94% | 238 | 6.41% | 783 | 21.09% | 21 | 0.57% | 1,888 | 50.85% | 3,713 |
| Jasper | 1,795 | 92.43% | 26 | 1.34% | 121 | 6.23% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,674 | 86.20% | 1,942 |
| Jefferson | 967 | 97.09% | 14 | 1.41% | 15 | 1.51% | 0 | 0.00% | 952 | 95.58% | 996 |
| Jefferson Davis | 1,452 | 94.04% | 51 | 3.30% | 41 | 2.66% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,401[c] | 90.74% | 1,544 |
| Jones | 5,709 | 87.45% | 193 | 2.96% | 599 | 9.18% | 27 | 0.41% | 5,110 | 78.27% | 6,528 |
| Kemper | 1,389 | 91.56% | 29 | 1.91% | 98 | 6.46% | 1 | 0.07% | 1,291 | 85.10% | 1,517 |
| Lafayette | 1,184 | 59.80% | 48 | 2.42% | 744 | 37.58% | 4 | 0.20% | 440 | 22.22% | 1,980 |
| Lamar | 1,342 | 91.35% | 36 | 2.45% | 91 | 6.19% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,251 | 85.16% | 1,469 |
| Lauderdale | 5,322 | 87.55% | 171 | 2.81% | 578 | 9.51% | 8 | 0.13% | 4,744 | 78.04% | 6,079 |
| Lawrence | 1,261 | 94.03% | 13 | 0.97% | 66 | 4.92% | 1 | 0.07% | 1,195 | 89.11% | 1,341 |
| Leake | 2,387 | 92.38% | 12 | 0.46% | 180 | 6.97% | 5 | 0.19% | 2,207 | 85.41% | 2,584 |
| Lee | 3,127 | 81.31% | 82 | 2.13% | 636 | 16.54% | 1 | 0.03% | 2,491 | 64.77% | 3,846 |
| Leflore | 2,749 | 92.47% | 80 | 2.69% | 139 | 4.68% | 5 | 0.17% | 2,610 | 87.79% | 2,973 |
| Lincoln | 3,082 | 97.01% | 40 | 1.26% | 52 | 1.64% | 3 | 0.09% | 3,030 | 95.37% | 3,177 |
| Lowndes | 2,755 | 93.80% | 66 | 2.25% | 116 | 3.95% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,639 | 89.85% | 2,937 |
| Madison | 1,831 | 93.18% | 51 | 2.60% | 81 | 4.12% | 2 | 0.10% | 1,750 | 89.06% | 1,965 |
| Marion | 2,491 | 90.75% | 49 | 1.79% | 205 | 7.47% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,286 | 83.28% | 2,745 |
| Marshall | 1,215 | 86.97% | 29 | 2.08% | 152 | 10.88% | 1 | 0.07% | 1,063 | 76.09% | 1,397 |
| Monroe | 2,281 | 77.09% | 54 | 1.82% | 624 | 21.09% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,657 | 56.00% | 2,959 |
| Montgomery | 1,573 | 91.77% | 35 | 2.04% | 105 | 6.13% | 1 | 0.06% | 1,468 | 85.64% | 1,714 |
| Neshoba | 2,833 | 90.51% | 33 | 1.05% | 260 | 8.31% | 4 | 0.13% | 2,573 | 82.20% | 3,130 |
| Newton | 2,439 | 92.04% | 39 | 1.47% | 169 | 6.38% | 3 | 0.11% | 2,270 | 85.66% | 2,650 |
| Noxubee | 1,031 | 91.89% | 17 | 1.52% | 74 | 6.60% | 0 | 0.00% | 957 | 85.29% | 1,122 |
| Oktibbeha | 1,786 | 89.12% | 58 | 2.89% | 158 | 7.88% | 2 | 0.10% | 1,628 | 81.24% | 2,004 |
| Panola | 1,935 | 89.17% | 38 | 1.75% | 195 | 8.99% | 2 | 0.09% | 1,740 | 80.18% | 2,170 |
| Pearl River | 1,925 | 90.76% | 46 | 2.17% | 146 | 6.88% | 4 | 0.19% | 1,779 | 83.88% | 2,121 |
| Perry | 764 | 87.12% | 25 | 2.85% | 87 | 9.92% | 1 | 0.11% | 677 | 77.20% | 877 |
| Pike | 3,648 | 92.59% | 69 | 1.75% | 221 | 5.61% | 2 | 0.05% | 3,427 | 86.98% | 3,940 |
| Pontotoc | 1,535 | 80.16% | 28 | 1.46% | 348 | 18.17% | 4 | 0.21% | 1,187 | 61.99% | 1,915 |
| Prentiss | 988 | 59.34% | 74 | 4.44% | 602 | 36.16% | 1 | 0.06% | 386 | 23.18% | 1,665 |
| Quitman | 1,046 | 90.17% | 21 | 1.81% | 91 | 7.84% | 2 | 0.17% | 955 | 82.33% | 1,160 |
| Rankin | 2,677 | 97.03% | 23 | 0.83% | 57 | 2.07% | 2 | 0.07% | 2,620 | 94.96% | 2,759 |
| Scott | 2,339 | 92.60% | 15 | 0.59% | 170 | 6.73% | 2 | 0.08% | 2,169 | 85.87% | 2,526 |
| Sharkey | 745 | 95.76% | 10 | 1.29% | 23 | 2.96% | 0 | 0.00% | 722 | 92.80% | 778 |
| Simpson | 2,342 | 91.06% | 59 | 2.29% | 171 | 6.65% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,171 | 84.41% | 2,572 |
| Smith | 1,900 | 85.24% | 33 | 1.48% | 295 | 13.23% | 1 | 0.04% | 1,605 | 72.01% | 2,229 |
| Stone | 1,053 | 93.77% | 17 | 1.51% | 50 | 4.45% | 3 | 0.27% | 1,003 | 89.32% | 1,123 |
| Sunflower | 2,482 | 92.85% | 55 | 2.06% | 136 | 5.09% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,346 | 87.76% | 2,673 |
| Tallahatchie | 2,122 | 86.75% | 37 | 1.51% | 287 | 11.73% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,835 | 75.02% | 2,446 |
| Tate | 1,196 | 84.70% | 16 | 1.13% | 199 | 14.09% | 1 | 0.07% | 997 | 70.61% | 1,412 |
| Tippah | 1,658 | 77.04% | 66 | 3.07% | 425 | 19.75% | 3 | 0.14% | 1,233 | 57.29% | 2,152 |
| Tishomingo | 1,073 | 56.95% | 98 | 5.20% | 711 | 37.74% | 2 | 0.11% | 362 | 19.21% | 1,884 |
| Tunica | 715 | 95.33% | 12 | 1.60% | 23 | 3.07% | 0 | 0.00% | 692 | 92.26% | 750 |
| Union | 1,420 | 72.30% | 63 | 3.21% | 478 | 24.34% | 3 | 0.15% | 942 | 47.96% | 1,964 |
| Walthall | 1,202 | 93.03% | 5 | 0.39% | 85 | 6.58% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,117 | 86.45% | 1,292 |
| Warren | 3,602 | 86.38% | 245 | 5.88% | 320 | 7.67% | 3 | 0.07% | 3,282 | 78.71% | 4,170 |
| Washington | 2,447 | 82.14% | 271 | 9.10% | 260 | 8.73% | 1 | 0.03% | 2,176[c] | 73.04% | 2,979 |
| Wayne | 1,235 | 89.75% | 4 | 0.29% | 137 | 9.96% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,098 | 79.79% | 1,376 |
| Webster | 1,078 | 76.78% | 47 | 3.35% | 277 | 19.73% | 2 | 0.14% | 801 | 57.05% | 1,404 |
| Wilkinson | 809 | 92.56% | 21 | 2.40% | 43 | 4.92% | 1 | 0.11% | 766 | 87.64% | 874 |
| Winston | 1,828 | 86.84% | 33 | 1.57% | 240 | 11.40% | 4 | 0.19% | 1,588 | 75.44% | 2,105 |
| Yalobusha | 1,382 | 88.14% | 49 | 3.13% | 135 | 8.61% | 2 | 0.13% | 1,247 | 79.53% | 1,568 |
| Yazoo | 2,297 | 95.99% | 26 | 1.09% | 70 | 2.93% | 0 | 0.00% | 2,227 | 93.06% | 2,393 |
| Totals | 167,538 | 87.17% | 5,043 | 2.62% | 19,384 | 10.09% | 225 | 0.12% | 148,154 | 77.08% | 192,190 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Dixiecrat
All 82 counties
Analysis
Thurmond carried all of Mississippi's 82 counties, forty-five with over ninety percent of the vote and seventy with over eighty percent. Truman only managed to break forty percent in one county, while Dewey was held to less than ten percent in every county. The "weakest" region for Thurmond came from the northeastern corner where he failed to break sixty percent in four counties. These northeastern counties are the least fertile in the state and were (and remain) populated by the smallest proportion of African Americans. They were also — within the one-party Democratic primary system — always opposed to the free-market business and landowning interests, who were Thurmond's chief support base. Consequently, whites in the far northeast of Mississippi — even those with enough money to pay the poll tax — supported the public works, minimum wage laws, and working hour laws of President Truman's "Fair Deal" which were strongly opposed by Black Belt landowners.[19] In these northeastern hill counties preoccupations with race were also less overwhelming.
Thurmond's vote constitutes the highest-ever statewide vote percentage for a candidate who was not a national major party nominee, and the only time a third-party candidate swept every county in any state.[20] This was the first time ever that a Democrat won without carrying Mississippi, and the first time since 1872 that the state voted against the national Democrats.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b The Dewey vote was a fusion of the “Republican” and “Independent Republican” slates. Dewey obtained 2,595 votes on the “Republican” ticket and 2,448 votes on the ”Independent Republican“ ticket.[14]
- ^ Because Thurmond was listed as the “Democratic” nominee in Mississippi and carried the state, whilst Truman ran second, all margins given are Thurmond vote minus Truman vote and percentage margins Thurmond percentage minus Truman percentage unless noted otherwise.
- ^ a b c In this county where Dewey ran second ahead of Truman, margin given is Thurmond vote minus Dewey vote and percentage margin Thurmond percentage minus Dewey percentage.
References
- ^ Geselbracht, Raymond H. (editor); The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman, p. 53 ISBN 1931112673
- ^ a b Boyd, William M.; 'Southern Politics 1948-1952', Phylon, Vol. 13, No. 3 (3rd quarter, 1952), pp. 226-235
- ^ Kehl, James A.; 'Philadelphia, 1948: City of Crucial Conventions', Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, vol. 67, no. 2 (Spring 2000), pp. 313-326
- ^ Krane, Dale and Shaffer, Stephen D.; Mississippi Government and Politics: Modernizers Versus Traditionalists, p. 82 ISBN 080327758X
- ^ Frederickson, Kari; The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968, p. 144 ISBN 0807875449
- ^ Frederickson; The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, p. 178
- ^ Black & Black 1992, p. 147.
- ^ Gallup, George (October 15, 1948). "Only Four States Go to Dixiecrats". Chattanooga Daily Times. Chattanooga, Tennessee. p. 6-A.
- ^ Carter, Hodding (October 24, 1948). "Mississippi". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, Alabama. p. 16.
- ^ Carter, Hodding (October 25, 1948). "Mississippi". The Miami News. Miami, Florida. p. 8.
- ^ Tucker, Ray (November 1, 1948). "Truman Whistling in a White House Graveyard, Says Tucker, Predicting It'll Be a Dewey Sweep". Mount Vernon Argus. Mount Vernon, New York. p. 8.
- ^ Gallup, George (November 1, 1948). "Final Gallup Poll Shows Dewey Winning Election with Wide Electoral Vote Margin". Oakland Tribune. Oakland, California. pp. 1–2.
- ^ "1948 Presidential General Election Results – Mississippi". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas}.
- ^ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 255 ISBN 0405077114
- ^ Gans, Curtis and Mulling, Matthew; Voter Turnout in the United States, 1788-2009, p. 481 ISBN 9781604265958
- ^ "Popular Vote for Strom Thurmond". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
- ^ Scammon (compiler); America at the Polls; pp. 249-250
- ^ "Popular Vote for Henry Wallace". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
- ^ Phillips, Kevin P. (November 23, 2014). The Emerging Republican Majority. Princeton University Press. pp. 208, 210. ISBN 9780691163246.
- ^ Thomas, G. Scott (August 19, 1987). The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 403. ISBN 0313257957.
Works cited
- Black, Earl; Black, Merle (1992). The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674941306.
