Dixiecrat — LLMpedia

Dixiecrat
Unknown author · Public domain · source
Name	States' Rights Democratic Party
Leader	Strom Thurmond
Founded	1948
Dissolved	1948
Ideology	Conservatism, States' rights, Segregationism
Position	Right-wing

Contents

Dixiecrat. The term refers to members of the States' Rights Democratic Party, a short-lived political party that emerged in the United States during the 1948 presidential election. The party was formed by a group of Democratic Party members, including Strom Thurmond, Fielding Wright, and Millard Tydings, who were dissatisfied with the Democratic National Convention's decision to include a civil rights plank in the party's platform, which was supported by Harry S. Truman, Hubert Humphrey, and Lyndon B. Johnson. The Dixiecrats were also opposed to the Fair Employment Practice Committee and the National Labor Relations Act, which were championed by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Wagner Act.

Introduction

The Dixiecrat movement was a response to the growing Civil Rights Movement in the United States, which was led by figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Thurgood Marshall. The Dixiecrats were primarily composed of Southern Democrats who were opposed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which was handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States and upheld by Earl Warren, Hugo Black, and Felix Frankfurter. The party's platform was based on the principles of states' rights and segregationism, which were also supported by George Wallace, Orval Faubus, and Lester Maddox. The Dixiecrats were also influenced by the Byrd Organization and the White Citizens' Council, which were led by Harry F. Byrd and Medgar Evers.

The Dixiecrat party was formed in 1948, when a group of Southern Democrats walked out of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, which was attended by Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The party held its own convention in Birmingham, Alabama, where Strom Thurmond was nominated for President of the United States and Fielding Wright was nominated for Vice President of the United States. The Dixiecrats campaigned on a platform of states' rights and segregationism, which was opposed by Republican Party candidates Thomas E. Dewey and Earl Warren. The party's campaign was also supported by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Time magazine, which were owned by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., Katharine Graham, and Henry Luce.

The Dixiecrat ideology was based on the principles of states' rights and segregationism, which were also supported by The Southern Manifesto and the White Supremacy movement. The party's platform was opposed to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which were championed by Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks. The Dixiecrats were also influenced by the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan, which were led by Robert Welch and David Duke. The party's ideology was criticized by The NAACP, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which were led by Roy Wilkins, Martin Luther King Jr., and Stokely Carmichael.

Some notable Dixiecrats include Strom Thurmond, Fielding Wright, and Millard Tydings, who were all Democratic Party members before joining the States' Rights Democratic Party. Other notable Dixiecrats include George Wallace, Orval Faubus, and Lester Maddox, who were all Governors of Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia. The Dixiecrats also included Congressmen such as John Bell Williams and James Eastland, who represented Mississippi and Alabama in the United States Congress. The party's supporters also included Theodore Bilbo, Eugene Talmadge, and Coley Blease, who were all Senators from Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina.

The Dixiecrat movement had a significant impact on the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, which was led by figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Thurgood Marshall. The party's ideology of states' rights and segregationism was opposed by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which was upheld by Earl Warren, Hugo Black, and Felix Frankfurter. The Dixiecrat movement also influenced the Republican Party's Southern strategy, which was developed by Richard Nixon and Kevin Phillips. The party's legacy continues to be felt in modern-day American politics, with many politicians and activists still debating the issues of states' rights and segregationism, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. Category:Defunct political parties in the United States