1948 United States presidential election in Alabama
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County Results
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Elections in Alabama |
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Government |
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.
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,
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)[7] 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".[8]
In May of 1948, Alabama’s Democratic presidential elector primary chose electors who were pledged to not vote for incumbent President Truman,[9] and the state Supreme Court ruled that any statute requiring party presidential electors to vote for that party's national nominee was void.[10] 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.[11] 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
Thurmond overwhelmingly won Alabama by a margin of 60.71 percent, or 130,513 votes, against his closest opponent,
84% of white voters supported Thurmond.[15]
Polls
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
The Montgomery Advertiser[16]
|
Certain I (Flip) | October 24, 1948 |
The Miami News[17] | Certain I (Flip) | October 25, 1948 |
The Charlotte Observer[18] | Certain I (Flip) | October 27, 1948 |
Mount Vernon Argus[19] | Certain I (Flip) | November 1, 1948 |
Oakland Tribune[20] | Certain I (Flip) | November 1, 1948 |
Results
1948 United States presidential election in Alabama[14] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
Democratic/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%[21] |
Results by individual elector
Party | Pledged to | Elector | Votes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Tom Abernathy | 171,443 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Ben Bloodworth | 171,336 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Tully A. Goodwin | 171,284 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Walter C. Givhan | 171,279 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Norman W. Harris | 171,272 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | John A. Lusk, Jr. | 171,272 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Robert B. Albritton | 171,264 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Gessner T. McCorvey | 171,213 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Edmund Blair | 171,212 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Walter F. Miller | 171,201 | |
Democratic Party | Strom Thurmond | Horace C. Walkinson | 170,825 | |
Republican Party | Thomas E. Dewey | O. H. Aycock | 40,930 | |
Republican Party | Thomas E. Dewey | J. A. Downer | 40,853 | |
Republican Party | Thomas E. Dewey | W. H. Gillespie | 40,842 | |
Republican Party | Thomas E. Dewey | V. B. Huff | 40,811 | |
Republican Party | Thomas E. Dewey | Walter J. Kennamer | 40,811 | |
Republican Party | Thomas E. Dewey | L. A. Carroll | 40,774 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Jesse L. Dansby | 1,522 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Joe M. Goodwin | 1,459 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | William A. Upshaw | 1,426 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Robert D. Morgan | 1,398 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Ralph Hopkins | 1,394 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Vivia Thomas | 1,385 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Herbert P. McDonald | 1,384 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Frank R. McGhee | 1,381 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Robert F. Travis, Jr. | 1,377 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Allison H. Stanton | 1,366 | |
Progressive Party
|
Henry A. Wallace | Johanna Newhouse | 1,363 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | Glenn V. Tingley | 1,085 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | Eulalia R. Vess | 1,085 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | J. B. Lockhart | 1,055 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | Cora McAdory | 1,043 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | Jack Moore | 1,040 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | L. E. Barton | 1,038 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | Elizabeth Lewis | 1,036 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | Ethel M. Durham | 1,028 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | H. P. Amos | 1,026 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | M. E. Poland | 1,015 | |
Prohibition Party | Claude A. Watson | Noble M. Israelson | 1,001 | |
Total votes | 214,980 |
Results by county
County | James Strom Thurmond Democratic |
Thomas Edmund Dewey Republican |
Henry Agard Wallace Progressive |
Claude A. Watson Prohibition |
Margin[c] | Total votes cast | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
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% | 727[d] | 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% | 2,468 |
Totals | 171,443 | 79.75% | 40,930 | 19.04% | 1,522 | 0.71% | 1,085 | 0.50% | 130,513 | 60.71% | 214,980 |
See also
Notes
- ^ This poll gave Thurmond 43 percent, Dewey 16 percent, Truman 32 percent, and 9 percent for other candidates or undecided.[13] Its results understated actual support for Thurmond in the Deep South by up to 15 percent.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Because Thurmond was the listed Democratic nominee in Alabama, national Democratic nominee Harry S. Truman was not on the ballot, and Republican Thomas Dewey ran second, all margins given are Thurmond vote minus Dewey vote and percentage margins Thurmond percentage minus Dewey percentage unless stated otherwise for the county in question.
- ^ In 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.
References
- ^ Perman, Michael (2001). Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. Introduction.
- ISBN 0275926737.
- ^ ISBN 9781107158436.
- ISBN 0817300481.
- ISBN 0870000586.
- ISBN 9781501705502.
- ISBN 1931112673
- ^ Boyd, William M. (Third Quarter 1952). "Southern Politics 1948-1952". Phylon. 13 (3): 226–235.
- ISBN 0820341010.
- ISBN 087049435X
- ^ 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
- ISBN 0817302557.
- Chattanooga Daily Times. Chattanooga, Tennessee. p. 12.
- ^ a b c "1948 Presidential General Election Results – Alabama". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ^ Black & Black 1992, p. 147.
- The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, Alabama. p. 16.
- ^ Hall jr., Grover C. (October 25, 1948). "Alabama". The Miami News. Miami, Florida. p. 8.
- ^ Stokes, Thomas (October 27, 1948). "Washington with Thomas Stokes". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. p. 6-A.
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 9781604265958
- ^ Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1951. Alexander City, Alabama: Outlook Publishing Co. pp. 478–489.
- ^ "Popular Vote for Strom Thurmond". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
- ISBN 0405077114
- ^ "Popular Vote for Henry Wallace". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €15)
Works cited
- ISBN 0674941306.