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Democratic Platform, 1948
Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey (1911–1978) urged the Democratic Party to "get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights" in a speech before the 1948 Democratic National Convention. He joined Joseph Rauh in drafting a civil rights plank for the party platform. When President Truman inserted the plank, Southern delegates walked out and formed the States' Rights or "Dixiecrat" Party with Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina as its candidate. In November Truman carried seventy-seven percent of the black vote, helping him to win reelection. |