In 1948 the Democrats in two Southern States did not like, Harry Truman, the Democrat Nominee for President. There were still people alive who remembered the Horror of the Reconstruction under the Republicans. As a result they formed their own political party called the Dixiecrats. It consisted of Democrats who were closer to Republicans in philosophy than they were to other Democrats.
The Dixiecrats were formed as a protest party for the 1948 presidential election. Due to the National Democratic Party's embrace of a civil rights plank on the party platform, delegates from Mississippi and Alabama stormed out of the convention in protest. They then held their own convention in Birmingham, Alabama, to nominate Gov. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president for the States' Rights Democratic Party, commonly known as the Dixiecrats (Gov. Fielding Wright of Mississippi was chosen as his running mate).
Their ultimate aim was to carry enough Southern states and thus deny either Harry Truman (Dem) or Thomas Dewey (Rep) enough electoral college votes to win the election. This would force the election into the House of Representatives, where the Dixiecrats would hope to get a concession from either candidate to drop their civil rights policies in exchange for Southern votes.
As history will tell, however, that was not the case. Thurmond and Wright only carried 4 states - South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana - for 39 electoral votes (1 elector from Tennessee cast a vote for Thurmond). It was nowhere near enough to deny either major candidate the presidency and Truman went on to win the election.
They were upset about Truman supporting civil rights so they became Dixiecrats.
The Dixiecrats created the States Rights Party, I think
The Southern Democrats made up most of the membership of the Dixiecrats.
They were officially known as the "States' Rights Democratic Party". However, they are almost always referred to as the Dixiecrats.
Strom Thurmond
they fought against expanding civil rights
During the 1948 presidential election, southern Democrats, known as 'Dixiecrats,' chose to leave the party because of its civil rights policy. It had evolved from its earlier pro-slavery leanings to become more race friendly, and the Dixiecrats didn't like that. They wanted to start a new party that focused on states rights. The Progressives didn't bolt from the party, in fact, they were a separate party, when formed in 1946. The would eventually merge with the Democratic party.
The term Dixiecrats refers to members of the Democrat party from the South who are conservative in politics. This term has been replace mainly by the term Blue Dog Democrats.
The political group formed to challenge the Democrats in 1948 due to the Democrats' embrace of civil rights for African Americans was the States' Rights Democratic Party. The party, also known as the Dixiecrats, was composed mainly of Southern Democrats who were opposed to desegregation and racial equality. They nominated Strom Thurmond as their presidential candidate in the 1948 election.
No, the Dixiecrats did not support Truman. During the 1948 election period, it was a surprise when Truman won because Truman was a victim of bad publicity... he was very unpopular with the people and was always messing up. And the Dixiecrats did not like Truman's policies.
Dixiecrats were angry he supported civil rights. Storm Thurmond took the support of southern Democrats.
dixiecrats
Dixiecrats were angry he supported civil rights. (Apex)