In 1948 Alabama's Democratic chairman, Gessner T. McCorvey, turned the state's May primary, in which voters also chose presidential electors, into a states'-rights referendum.1 He asked candidates for elector to pledge to vote against any Democratic nominee who supported the entire civil rights program, and all 11 electors chosen signed.2 When the Democratic National Convention adopted a strong civil rights platform in July, half of Alabama's delegation left in protest.3
On July 17, 1948, southern Democrats opposed to Harry Truman's nomination met in Birmingham and nominated Governors J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Fielding Wright of Mississippi as the States' Rights Democratic candidates.4 On July 29, Alabama's 11 Democratic electors pledged their votes to Thurmond and Wright.5 Alabama law allowed only the names of candidates supported by the state's electors to appear on the ballot.6 Truman, the sitting president, was not on Alabama's ballot; Alabama Public Radio, citing Time magazine's reporting in 1948, says he was denied a place on it.7
Thurmond and Wright were listed in Alabama as the Democratic Party nominees, and they carried the state, along with South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana.8 Truman was elected anyway, and the States' Rights ticket's 39 electoral votes were too few to affect the outcome.9 In 1950 the states'-rights forces lost control of Alabama's Democratic Party to the national party loyalists.10
Sources for each sentence
Each numbered entry quotes the words that support that sentence, as they appear on the linked page.
- Back to sentence 1
Chairman McCorvey turned Alabama's early May primary into a states'-rights referendum.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats voters also chose the state's presidential electors and delegates to the upcoming July national convention.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats state Democratic Party chairman Gessner T. McCorvey of Mobile
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 2
McCorvey asked all candidates for elector to sign statements pledging to vote against any Democratic nominee who supported the entire civil rights program. Ultimately all of the chosen 11 electors signed the pledge.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 3
At its national convention in July, the Democratic Party adopted a strong civil rights platform. In response, half of Alabama's delegation stormed out in protest.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 4
After the southern conservatives failed to prevent the nomination of Harry Truman at the 1948 Democratic National Convention, some 6,000 individuals from 13 southern states converged on Birmingham on July 17, 1948, to hold their own convention.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats Governors J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Fielding Wright of Mississippi were nominated as the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the States' Rights Democrats.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 5
On July 29, Alabama's 11 Democratic Party electors convened and pledged their votes to Thurmond and Wright
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 6
Alabama law permitted only the names of candidates supported by the state's electors to appear on the ballot.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 7
Time Magazine reported in 1948 how President Harry Truman was denied inclusion on Alabama's ballot.
apr.org/news/2024-04-16/biden-off-the-november-ballot-in-alabama-there-are-other-examples-in-the-states-political-history - Back to sentence 8
The Dixiecrats carried Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana, where Thurmond and Wright were listed as the Democratic Party nominees.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 9
To the surprise of most Americans, Truman was elected president on November 2, 1948.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats The party received only 39 electoral votes; too few to affect the outcome.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats - Back to sentence 10
In 1950, the states' rights forces in Alabama lost control of the party to the national party loyalists.
encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/dixiecrats
Sources checked on October 3, 2026
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