1948 United States presidential election in Alabama

none June 2025 October 2021 1948 United States presidential election in Alabama Alabama Presidential no 1944 United States presidential election in Alabama 1944 November 2, 1948 1952 United States presidential election in Alabama 1952 x200px Strom Thurmond 1948 (cropped).jpg Strom Thurmond Democratic States' Rights Democratic FFA500 South Carolina Fielding L. Wright 11 171,443 79.75% President Harry S. Truman Democratic Party (United States) Harry S. Truman Democratic Party (United States) 0 New York Thomas Dewey (3x4 crop).jpg Thomas E. Dewey Republican Party (United States) 19.04% 40,930 Earl Warren 1948 United States presidential election in Alabama results map by county.svg 300px County results Thurmond #ff9955 50–60% #ff7f2a 60–70% #ff6600 70–80% #d45500 80–90% #aa4400 90–100% Dewey #cc2f4a 60–70% 1948 United States presidential election The 1948 United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 2, 1948. Alabama voters sent eleven electors to the Electoral College who voted for president and vice-president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of (as in most other states) as a slate. 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 testsPerman Michael Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908 University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill, NC 2001 Introduction and informal harassment had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and presidential campaigns in a few nearby northern hill counties. The only competitive statewide elections during this period were thus Democratic Party primaries — limited 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,Voter mobilization and the politics of race: the South and universal suffrage, 1952-1984 Stanley Harold Watkins 1987 100 Bloomsbury Academic 0275926737 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,Heersink Jenkins Boris Jeffery A. Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968 251–253 9781107158436 2020 Cambridge University Press and under Oscar D. Street, who ironically was appointed state party boss as part of the pro-Taft “black and tan” faction in 1912,Paul D. Casdorph Republicans, Negroes, and Progressives in the South, 1912-1916 The University of Alabama Press 1981 70, 94–95 0817300481 the state GOP would permanently turn “lily-white”, with the last black delegates at any Republican National Convention serving in 1920. However, 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,Phillips Kevin P. The Emerging Republican Majority 255 1969 Arlington House 0870000586 and the second was 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,Chiles Robert The Revolution of '28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal 2018 Cornell University Press 9781501705502 115 who went on to lose the state that year by only seven thousand votes. In 1946 Alabama's one-party Democratic rule was severely challenged not merely by the invalidation of its white primary system, but also by the potential effect on the United States' image abroad (and ability to win the Cold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric of Communism)Geselbracht, Raymond H. (editor); The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman, p. 53 1931112673 from the beating and blinding of Isaac Woodard three hours after being discharged from the army. Truman then attempted 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".Boyd William M. Southern Politics 1948-1952 Phylon 13 3 Third Quarter 1952 226–235 10.2307/271190 271190 In May 1948, Alabama's Democratic presidential elector primary chose electors who were pledged to not vote for incumbent President Truman,Ray Jenkins Blind Vengeance: The Roy Moody Mail Bomb Murders 38 978-0820341019 2012 University of Georgia Press and the state Supreme Court ruled that any statute requiring party presidential electors to vote for that party's national nominee was void.Key, V.O. junior; Southern Politics in State and Nation; p. 340 087049435X Half of Alabama's delegation then walked out at the party's national convention in Philadelphia because of Truman's endorsement of civil rights for African Americans.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 This segregationist faction met on July 17, 1948, in Birmingham, nominating South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond as its nominee for president. Mississippi governor Fielding L. Wright was nominated for vice president. A "Loyalist" group would petition governor "Big Jim" Folsom to allow Truman electors on the ballot alongside the “Democratic” electors pledged to Thurmond, but Senator John Sparkman, fearing popular defeat at the hands of the Dixiecrats and a hostile state legislature, decided against placing Truman electors on the ballot,Barnard William D. Dixiecrats and Democrats: Alabama Politics November 30, 1984 123 University of Alabama Press 0817302557 although a Gallup poll in October showed that about a third of state voters would support Truman if they were able to do so.This poll gave Thurmond 43 percent, Dewey 16 percent, Truman 32 percent, and 9 percent for other candidates or undecided.Gallup George Only Four States Go to Dixiecrats Chattanooga Daily Times Chattanooga, Tennessee October 15, 1948 12 Its results understated actual support for Thurmond in the Deep South by up to 15 percent. In other Southern states where Truman was on the ballot,Thurmond was on the ballot in all former Confederate slave states, in the border slave state of Kentucky and the postbellum state of North Dakota, besides receiving a total of 3,769 write-in votes in New Hampshire, New York, Maryland, Missouri and California. Thurmond was forced to run under the label of the States' Rights Democratic Party. Polls SourceRankingAs ofThe Montgomery AdvertiserMoss Charles Alabama The Montgomery Advertiser Montgomery, Alabama 16 October 24, 1948Certain I flipOctober 24, 1948The Miami NewsHall jr. Grover C. October 25, 1948 Alabama 8 The Miami News Miami, FloridaCertain I flipOctober 25, 1948The Charlotte ObserverStokes Thomas Washington with Thomas Stokes The Charlotte Observer Charlotte, North Carolina October 27, 1948 6-ACertain I flipOctober 27, 1948Mount Vernon ArgusTucker 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 8Certain I flipNovember 1, 1948Oakland TribuneGallup George Final Gallup Poll Shows Dewey Winning Election with Wide Electoral Vote Margin Oakland Tribune Oakland, California November 1, 1948 1–2Certain I flipNovember 1, 1948 Results 1948 United States presidential election in Alabamahttps://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1948&fips=1&f=1&off=0&elect=0 1948 Presidential General Election Results – Alabama 2017-03-01 Dave Leip's U.S. Election AtlasPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votesDemocratic/Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond 171,443 79.75% 11 Republican Thomas E. Dewey 40,930 19.04% 0 Progressive Henry A. Wallace 1,522 0.71% 0 Prohibition Claude A. Watson 1,085 0.50% 0 Voter turnout (voting age) 12.5%Gans, Curtis and Mulling, Matthew; Voter Turnout in the United States, 1788-2009, p. 481 9781604265958 Results by individual elector + General election resultsAlabama Official and Statistical Register, 1951 1951 Outlook Publishing Co. Alexander City, Alabama 478–489 https://archive.org/details/alabama-official-statistical-register-1951/page/n485/mode/1up Party Pledged to Elector Votes Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Tom Abernathy171,443 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Ben Bloodworth171,336 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Tully A. Goodwin171,284 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Walter C. Givhan171,279 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Norman W. Harris171,272 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond John A. Lusk Jr.171,272 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Robert B. Albritton171,264 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Gessner T. McCorvey171,213 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Edmund Blair171,212 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Walter F. Miller171,201 Democratic Party Strom Thurmond Horace C. Walkinson170,825 Republican Party Thomas E. Dewey O. H. Aycock40,930 Republican Party Thomas E. Dewey J. A. Downer40,853 Republican Party Thomas E. Dewey W. H. Gillespie40,842 Republican Party Thomas E. Dewey V. B. Huff40,811 Republican Party Thomas E. Dewey Walter J. Kennamer40,811 Republican Party Thomas E. Dewey L. A. Carroll40,774 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Jesse L. Dansby1,522 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Joe M. Goodwin1,459 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace William A. Upshaw1,426 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Robert D. Morgan1,398 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Ralph Hopkins1,394 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Vivia Thomas1,385 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Herbert P. McDonald1,384 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Frank R. McGhee1,381 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Robert F. Travis Jr.1,377 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Allison H. Stanton1,366 Progressive Party Henry A. Wallace Johanna Newhouse1,363 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson Glenn V. Tingley1,085 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson Eulalia R. Vess1,085 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson J. B. Lockhart1,055 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson Cora McAdory1,043 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson Jack Moore1,040 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson L. E. Barton1,038 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson Elizabeth Lewis1,036 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson Ethel M. Durham1,028 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson H. P. Amos1,026 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson M. E. Poland1,015 Prohibition Party Claude A. Watson Noble M. Israelson1,001Total votes 214,980 Results by county Countyhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=1917 Our Campaigns AL US President Race, November 2, 1948Strom ThurmondDixiecratThomas E. DeweyRepublicanHenry A. WallaceProgressiveClaude A. WatsonProhibitionMarginTotal votescast # % # % # % # % # % Autauga 1,160 90.20% 110 8.55% 2 0.16% 14 1.09% 1,050 81.65% 1,286 Baldwin 2,577 74.80% 767 22.26% 67 1.94% 34 0.99% 1,810 52.54% 3,445 Barbour 1,679 93.90% 101 5.65% 2 0.11% 6 0.34% 1,578 88.25% 1,788 Bibb 1,188 88.46% 123 9.16% 8 0.60% 24 1.79% 1,065 79.30% 1,343 Blount 1,768 68.98% 771 30.08% 2 0.08% 22 0.86% 997 38.90% 2,563 Bullock 799 98.76% 10 1.24% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 789 97.52% 809 Butler 1,313 93.19% 91 6.46% 2 0.14% 3 0.21% 1,222 86.73% 1,409 Calhoun 3,236 77.40% 856 20.47% 60 1.44% 29 0.69% 2,380 56.93% 4,181 Chambers 1,520 86.02% 218 12.34% 11 0.62% 18 1.02% 1,302 73.68% 1,767 Cherokee 1,055 81.59% 217 16.78% 3 0.23% 18 1.39% 838 64.81% 1,293 Chilton 1,966 55.09% 1,584 44.38% 5 0.14% 14 0.39% 382 10.71% 3,569 Choctaw 1,440 98.83% 16 1.10% 0 0.00% 1 0.07% 1,424 97.73% 1,457 Clarke 2,059 97.58% 47 2.23% 0 0.00% 4 0.19% 2,012 95.35% 2,110 Clay 1,106 73.64% 387 25.77% 2 0.13% 7 0.47% 719 47.87% 1,502 Cleburne 700 68.16% 317 30.87% 7 0.68% 3 0.29% 383 37.29% 1,027 Coffee 2,031 94.38% 113 5.25% 7 0.33% 1 0.05% 1,918 89.13% 2,152 Colbert 2,609 83.49% 488 15.62% 14 0.45% 14 0.45% 2,121 67.87% 3,125 Conecuh 1,339 95.03% 64 4.54% 2 0.14% 4 0.28% 1,275 90.49% 1,409 Coosa 840 74.73% 275 24.47% 3 0.27% 6 0.53% 565 50.26% 1,124 Covington 2,764 94.14% 154 5.25% 6 0.20% 12 0.41% 2,610 88.89% 2,936 Crenshaw 1,386 96.79% 38 2.65% 1 0.07% 7 0.49% 1,348 94.14% 1,432 Cullman 3,587 66.87% 1,755 32.72% 6 0.11% 16 0.30% 1,832 34.15% 5,364 Dale 1,352 84.39% 230 14.36% 7 0.44% 13 0.81% 1,122 70.03% 1,602 Dallas 2,720 94.77% 132 4.60% 9 0.31% 9 0.31% 2,588 90.17% 2,870 DeKalb 3,573 56.42% 2,743 43.31% 7 0.11% 10 0.16% 830 13.11% 6,333 Elmore 2,387 92.88% 167 6.50% 6 0.23% 10 0.39% 2,220 86.38% 2,570 Escambia 1,681 89.32% 188 9.99% 11 0.58% 2 0.11% 1,493 79.33% 1,882 Etowah 5,895 76.95% 1,615 21.08% 107 1.40% 44 0.57% 4,280 55.87% 7,661 Fayette 1,023 63.07% 580 35.76% 7 0.43% 12 0.74% 443 27.31% 1,622 Franklin 3,226 55.68% 2,555 44.10% 5 0.09% 8 0.14% 671 11.58% 5,794 Geneva 1,823 85.87% 286 13.47% 5 0.24% 9 0.42% 1,537 72.40% 2,123 Greene 621 94.66% 31 4.73% 0 0.00% 4 0.61% 590 89.93% 656 Hale 1,041 95.77% 43 3.96% 2 0.18% 1 0.09% 998 91.81% 1,087 Henry 1,040 95.59% 47 4.32% 0 0.00% 1 0.09% 993 91.27% 1,088 Houston 2,715 85.78% 426 13.46% 18 0.57% 6 0.19% 2,289 72.32% 3,165 Jackson 1,726 73.54% 603 25.69% 3 0.13% 15 0.64% 1,123 47.85% 2,347 Jefferson 30,043 79.35% 7,261 19.18% 361 0.95% 196 0.52% 22,782 60.17% 37,861 Lamar 1,434 88.41% 180 11.10% 2 0.12% 6 0.37% 1,254 77.31% 1,622 Lauderdale 3,258 85.24% 546 14.29% 6 0.16% 12 0.31% 2,712 70.95% 3,822 Lawrence 1,436 79.51% 357 19.77% 3 0.17% 10 0.55% 1,079 59.74% 1,806 Lee 1,731 86.25% 258 12.86% 5 0.25% 13 0.65% 1,473 73.39% 2,007 Limestone 1,853 93.49% 112 5.65% 4 0.20% 13 0.66% 1,741 87.84% 1,982 Lowndes 752 94.95% 13 1.64% 25 3.16% 2 0.25% 727In this county where Wallace ran second ahead of Dewey, margin given is Thurmond vote minus Wallace vote and percentage margin Thurmond percentage minus Wallace percentage. 91.79% 792 Macon 1,098 90.67% 110 9.08% 3 0.25% 0 0.00% 988 81.59% 1,211 Madison 2,947 83.58% 466 13.22% 39 1.11% 74 2.10% 2,481 70.36% 3,526 Marengo 1,873 96.40% 67 3.45% 3 0.15% 0 0.00% 1,806 92.95% 1,943 Marion 1,646 66.48% 813 32.84% 4 0.16% 13 0.53% 833 33.64% 2,476 Marshall 2,500 73.81% 870 25.69% 8 0.24% 9 0.27% 1,630 48.12% 3,387 Mobile 10,831 78.29% 2,685 19.41% 257 1.86% 62 0.45% 8,146 58.88% 13,835 Monroe 1,688 97.86% 31 1.80% 2 0.12% 4 0.23% 1,657 96.06% 1,725 Montgomery 6,196 86.01% 802 11.13% 146 2.03% 60 0.83% 5,394 74.88% 7,204 Morgan 3,841 87.65% 512 11.68% 9 0.21% 20 0.46% 3,329 75.97% 4,382 Perry 1,032 95.47% 30 2.78% 5 0.46% 14 1.30% 1,002 92.69% 1,081 Pickens 1,423 93.37% 91 5.97% 5 0.33% 5 0.33% 1,332 87.40% 1,524 Pike 1,741 94.93% 87 4.74% 3 0.16% 3 0.16% 1,654 90.19% 1,834 Randolph 1,249 72.20% 469 27.11% 7 0.40% 5 0.29% 780 45.09% 1,730 Russell 1,666 93.81% 94 5.29% 11 0.62% 5 0.28% 1,572 88.52% 1,776 Shelby 1,903 63.86% 1,063 35.67% 3 0.10% 11 0.37% 840 28.19% 2,980 St. Clair 1,878 66.60% 921 32.66% 8 0.28% 13 0.46% 957 33.94% 2,820 Sumter 1,058 95.06% 52 4.67% 0 0.00% 3 0.27% 1,006 90.39% 1,113 Talladega 3,077 83.05% 593 16.01% 12 0.32% 23 0.62% 2,484 67.04% 3,705 Tallapoosa 2,309 93.33% 156 6.31% 1 0.04% 8 0.32% 2,153 87.02% 2,474 Tuscaloosa 4,697 86.10% 658 12.06% 50 0.92% 50 0.92% 4,039 74.04% 5,455 Walker 4,007 66.47% 1,852 30.72% 133 2.21% 36 0.60% 2,155 35.75% 6,028 Washington 1,304 97.02% 31 2.31% 6 0.45% 3 0.22% 1,273 94.71% 1,344 Wilcox 1,162 98.81% 14 1.19% 0 0.00% 0 0.00% 1,148 97.62% 1,176 Winston 865 35.05% 1,588 64.34% 4 0.16% 11 0.45% -723 -29.29% 2,468Totals171,44379.75%40,93019.04%1,5220.71%1,0850.50%130,51360.71%214,980 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Dixiecrat 20em Autauga Baldwin Barbour Bibb Blount Butler Calhoun Chambers Choctaw Clarke Clay Cleburne Coffee Conecuh Coosa Covington Crenshaw Cullman Dale DeKalb Elmore Escambia Etowah Fayette Franklin Geneva Hale Henry Houston Jefferson Lee Lawrence Madison Marengo Marion Marshall Monroe Morgan Mobile Montgomery Shelby Perry Pickens Pike Randolph Russell St. Clair Talladega Tallapoosa Tuscaloosa Walker Washington Bullock Lowndes Wilcox Greene Sumter Macon Cherokee Colbert Jackson Lauderdale Limestone Chilton Dallas Analysis Thurmond overwhelmingly won Alabama by a margin of 60.71 percent, or 130,513 votes, against his closest opponent, Republican New York governor Thomas E. Dewey. This was only a slight decline upon Franklin Roosevelt's performance in Alabama four years previously, and it is known that many Thurmond voters thought incorrectly that they were actually voting for Truman. Two third-party candidates, Henry A. Wallace of the Progressive Party and Claude A. Watson of the Prohibition Party, appeared on the ballot in Alabama, though neither had any impact. This was the first time ever that a Democrat won the presidency without carrying Alabama, and the first time since 1872 that the state failed to vote for the national Democrats. Thurmond won 84% of white voters.Black Black 1992 147 See also United States presidential elections in Alabama Notes References 2 Works cited Black Earl Earl Black (political scientist) Black Merle Merle Black The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected Harvard University Press 1992 https://archive.org/details/vitalsouthhowpre0000blac 0674941306 1948 Alabama presidential election in Alabama