what if james mcleod won the governor race in 1946 South Carolina?

[morgankingsley]

How do you think things would be different in politics today if Thurmond lost the race in that year? Would there be a dixiecrat run in 1948, and one in 1968, and would the south break the way it did, or at least be delayed? I am curious to see what you guys would think

[UnselfconsciousTeff]

Strom Thurmond was a World War II veteran and advocated a progressive platform whereas, James McLeod, a physician from Florence County, had the support of the "Barnwell Ring" and sought to maintain the status quo  Race was not an issue in the campaign and Strom Thurmond emerged victorious with the support of the returning veterans of World War II who wanted to reform South Carolina.


The Dixiecrat revolt will be inevitable.. all in 1944 even before the dixiecrat revolt.. Unpledged electors won 7% in SC and the Texas regulars won 12% of the vote aganist FDR With the absence of Thurmond they probaly nominated Benjamin Travis Laney or Fielding L. Wright and the latter one makes Thurmond look like a f*ing new south governor so yea but the dixiecrats would be more radicalised and would be less supported by regulars

McLeod would be probaly be a generic boring southren governor that supports the status quo and would be primaried by a devout segergationist 4 years later

[brucejoel99]

History still plays out pretty much the same. The passage of the civil rights platform at the 1948 DNC still causes some three dozen Southern delegates to walk out of the convention, the Southern delegates still nominate somebody for the "Dixiecratic" nomination as a rebuke to Truman, etc., etc.