1948 United States presidential election in Alabama

1948 United States presidential election in Alabama
Thurmond 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% 90–100%	Dewey 60–70%
President before election; Harry S. Truman; Democratic	Elected President ; Harry S. Truman; Democratic

In the 1948 United States presidential election, Alabama was the only state in which the National Democratic Party candidate, incumbent president Harry S. Truman, did not appear on the ballot. The state Supreme Court ruled that any statute requiring party presidential electors to vote for that party's national nominee was void.^[1] A "Loyalist" group did petition governor "Big Jim" Folsom to allow Truman electors, 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.^[2]

In other Southern states where Truman was on the ballot,^[a] Thurmond was forced to run under the label of the States' Rights Democratic Party.

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.^[3] 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 on the election.

Analysis[]

Southern Democrats walked out at the party's national convention in Philadelphia because of Truman's endorsement of civil rights for African Americans. 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.

Thurmond won 66 of Alabama's 67 counties, with the sole holdout being in the northern part of the state where Winston County gave Dewey over sixty percent of the vote.

Results[]

1948 United States presidential election in Alabama^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Dixiecrat/Democratic	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%^[4]

Results by county[]

County	Strom Thurmond^[5] Dixiecrat/Democratic		Thomas E. Dewey^[6] Republican		Henry A. Wallace^[7] Progressive		Claude A. Wilson Prohibition		Margin		Total votes cast
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Autauga	1,160	90.20%	110	8.55%	2	0.16%	14	1.09%	1,159	81.65%	1,286
Baldwin	2,577	74.80%	767	22.26%	67	1.94%	34	0.99%	2,576	52.54%	3,445
Barbour	1,679	93.90%	101	5.65%	2	0.11%	6	0.34%	1,678	88.25%	1,788
Bibb	1,188	88.46%	123	9.16%	8	0.60%	24	1.79%	1,187	79.30%	1,343
Blount	1,768	68.98%	771	30.08%	2	0.08%	22	0.86%	1,767	38.90%	2,563
Bullock	799	98.76%	10	1.24%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	798	97.52%	809
Butler	1,313	93.19%	91	6.46%	2	0.14%	3	0.21%	1,312	86.73%	1,409
Calhoun	3,236	77.40%	856	20.47%	60	1.44%	29	0.69%	3,235	56.93%	4,181
Chambers	1,520	86.02%	218	12.34%	11	0.62%	18	1.02%	1,519	73.68%	1,767
Cherokee	1,055	81.59%	217	16.78%	3	0.23%	18	1.39%	1,054	64.81%	1,293
Chilton	1,966	55.09%	1,584	44.38%	5	0.14%	14	0.39%	1,965	10.71%	3,569
Choctaw	1,440	98.83%	16	1.10%	0	0.00%	1	0.07%	1,439	97.73%	1,457
Clarke	2,059	97.58%	47	2.23%	0	0.00%	4	0.19%	2,058	95.35%	2,110
Clay	1,106	73.64%	387	25.77%	2	0.13%	7	0.47%	1,105	47.87%	1,502
Cleburne	700	68.16%	317	30.87%	7	0.68%	3	0.29%	699	37.29%	1,027
Coffee	2,031	94.38%	113	5.25%	7	0.33%	1	0.05%	2,030	89.13%	2,152
Colbert	2,609	83.49%	488	15.62%	14	0.45%	14	0.45%	2,608	67.87%	3,125
Conecuh	1,339	95.03%	64	4.54%	2	0.14%	4	0.28%	1,338	90.49%	1,409
Coosa	840	74.73%	275	24.47%	3	0.27%	6	0.53%	839	50.26%	1,124
Covington	2,764	94.14%	154	5.25%	6	0.20%	12	0.41%	2,763	88.89%	2,936
Crenshaw	1,386	96.79%	38	2.65%	1	0.07%	7	0.49%	1,385	94.14%	1,432
Cullman	3,587	66.87%	1,755	32.72%	6	0.11%	16	0.30%	3,586	34.15%	5,364
Dale	1,352	84.39%	230	14.36%	7	0.44%	13	0.81%	1,351	70.03%	1,602
Dallas	2,720	94.77%	132	4.60%	9	0.31%	9	0.31%	2,719	90.17%	2,870
DeKalb	3,573	56.42%	2,743	43.31%	7	0.11%	10	0.16%	3,572	13.11%	6,333
Elmore	2,387	92.88%	167	6.50%	6	0.23%	10	0.39%	2,386	86.38%	2,570
Escambia	1,681	89.32%	188	9.99%	11	0.58%	2	0.11%	1,680	79.33%	1,882
Etowah	5,895	76.95%	1,615	21.08%	107	1.40%	44	0.57%	5,894	55.87%	7,661
Fayette	1,023	63.07%	580	35.76%	7	0.43%	12	0.74%	1,022	27.31%	1,622
Franklin	3,226	55.68%	2,555	44.10%	5	0.09%	8	0.14%	3,225	11.58%	5,794
Geneva	1,823	85.87%	286	13.47%	5	0.24%	9	0.42%	1,822	72.40%	2,123
Greene	621	94.66%	31	4.73%	0	0.00%	4	0.61%	620	89.93%	656
Hale	1,041	95.77%	43	3.96%	2	0.18%	1	0.09%	1,040	91.81%	1,087
Henry	1,040	95.59%	47	4.32%	0	0.00%	1	0.09%	1,039	91.27%	1,088
Houston	2,715	85.78%	426	13.46%	18	0.57%	6	0.19%	2,714	72.32%	3,165
Jackson	1,726	73.54%	603	25.69%	3	0.13%	15	0.64%	1,725	47.85%	2,347
Jefferson	30,043	79.35%	7,261	19.18%	361	0.95%	196	0.52%	30,042	60.17%	37,861
Lamar	1,434	88.41%	180	11.10%	2	0.12%	6	0.37%	1,433	77.31%	1,622
Lauderdale	3,258	85.24%	546	14.29%	6	0.16%	12	0.31%	3,257	70.95%	3,822
Lawrence	1,436	79.51%	357	19.77%	3	0.17%	10	0.55%	1,435	59.74%	1,806
Lee	1,731	86.25%	258	12.86%	5	0.25%	13	0.65%	1,730	73.39%	2,007
Limestone	1,853	93.49%	112	5.65%	4	0.20%	13	0.66%	1,852	87.84%	1,982
Lowndes	752	94.95%	13	1.64%	25	3.16%	2	0.25%	751	93.31%	792
Macon	1,098	90.67%	110	9.08%	3	0.25%	0	0.00%	1,097	81.59%	1,211
Madison	2,947	83.58%	466	13.22%	39	1.11%	74	2.10%	2,946	70.36%	3,526
Marengo	1,873	96.40%	67	3.45%	3	0.15%	0	0.00%	1,872	92.95%	1,943
Marion	1,646	66.48%	813	32.84%	4	0.16%	13	0.53%	1,645	33.64%	2,476
Marshall	2,500	73.81%	870	25.69%	8	0.24%	9	0.27%	2,499	48.12%	3,387
Mobile	10,831	78.29%	2,685	19.41%	257	1.86%	62	0.45%	10,830	58.88%	13,835
Monroe	1,688	97.86%	31	1.80%	2	0.12%	4	0.23%	1,687	96.06%	1,725
Montgomery	6,196	86.01%	802	11.13%	146	2.03%	60	0.83%	6,195	74.88%	7,204
Morgan	3,841	87.65%	512	11.68%	9	0.21%	20	0.46%	3,840	75.97%	4,382
Perry	1,032	95.47%	30	2.78%	5	0.46%	14	1.30%	1,031	92.69%	1,081
Pickens	1,423	93.37%	91	5.97%	5	0.33%	5	0.33%	1,422	87.40%	1,524
Pike	1,741	94.93%	87	4.74%	3	0.16%	3	0.16%	1,740	90.19%	1,834
Randolph	1,249	72.20%	469	27.11%	7	0.40%	5	0.29%	1,248	45.09%	1,730
Russell	1,666	93.81%	94	5.29%	11	0.62%	5	0.28%	1,665	88.52%	1,776
Shelby	1,903	63.86%	1,063	35.67%	3	0.10%	11	0.37%	1,902	28.19%	2,980
St. Clair	1,878	66.60%	921	32.66%	8	0.28%	13	0.46%	1,877	33.94%	2,820
Sumter	1,058	95.06%	52	4.67%	0	0.00%	3	0.27%	1,057	90.39%	1,113
Talladega	3,077	83.05%	593	16.01%	12	0.32%	23	0.62%	3,076	67.04%	3,705
Tallapoosa	2,309	93.33%	156	6.31%	1	0.04%	8	0.32%	2,308	87.02%	2,474
Tuscaloosa	4,697	86.10%	658	12.06%	50	0.92%	50	0.92%	4,696	74.04%	5,455
Walker	4,007	66.47%	1,852	30.72%	133	2.21%	36	0.60%	4,006	35.75%	6,028
Washington	1,304	97.02%	31	2.31%	6	0.45%	3	0.22%	1,303	94.71%	1,344
Wilcox	1,162	98.81%	14	1.19%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	1,161	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

References[]

^ Key, V.O. junior; Southern Politics in State and Nation; p. 340 ISBN 087049435X
^ Barnard, William D.; Dixiecrats and Democrats: Alabama Politics, p. 123 ISBN 0817302557
^ ^a ^b "1948 Presidential General Election Results – Alabama". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
^ Gans, Curtis and Mulling, Matthew; Voter Turnout in the United States, 1788-2009, p. 481 ISBN 9781604265958
^ Géoelections; Popular Vote for Strom Thurmond (.xlsx file for €15)
^ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 31–32 ISBN 0405077114
^ Géoelections; Popular Vote for Henry Wallace (.xlsx file for €15)

Notes[]

^ 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.

[1] Key, V.O. junior; Southern Politics in State and Nation; p. 340 ISBN 087049435X

[2] Barnard, William D.; Dixiecrats and Democrats: Alabama Politics, p. 123 ISBN 0817302557

[Leip-4] "1948 Presidential General Election Results – Alabama". Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved March 1, 2017.

[5] Gans, Curtis and Mulling, Matthew; Voter Turnout in the United States, 1788-2009, p. 481 ISBN 9781604265958

[6] Géoelections; Popular Vote for Strom Thurmond (.xlsx file for €15)

[7] Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 31–32 ISBN 0405077114

[8] Géoelections; Popular Vote for Henry Wallace (.xlsx file for €15)

[3] 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.

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