Michael E Johnson
Banned
President Harry S Truman did alot to advance the cause of Civil Rights in the United States through supporting a Civil Rights bill and of course his famous executive order to desegregate the US military.However Truman was nearly never president. FDR's first choice as VP to replace VP Henry Wallace in 1944 was South Carolina senator James Byrnes . Truman was ultimately selected over Byrnes because Democrats thought his opposition to labor and civil rights would hurt them. But what if FDR had stuck to his guns? Byrnes became Secretary of State in January 1945 but he would have become president in April 1945 if FDR had supported him. How would American history have looked under a President Byrnes from at least 1945-1949? One thing is almost certain-no civil rights bill or desegregation of the US military. As South Carolina governor in the 1950's he staunchly opposed integration. Along with other Southern "Dixiecrats",like Strom Thurmond,he bolted and became Republican when it became clear the Democrats would stand for civil rights. What of the election of 1948? While there would be no Dixiecrat rebellion,the Progressives under Wallace would likely still split. Would Dewey win? Also how would Byrnes have handled some of the famous foreign policy issues at the time? How do the future roles of the Democrats and Republicans pan out? Below I have posted some info in regard to Byrnes and the Dixiecrats.
James Byrnes (1882-1972)
James Byrnes, U.S. senator and secretary of state, was born on May 2, 1879, in Charleston, South Carolina, a few weeks after his father's death. When he reached fourteen, Byrnes dropped out of school to help his dressmaker mother, Elizabeth McSweeney Brynes, support the family by working as a messenger in a local law office. After studying shorthand and lying about his age, he worked as a court reporter. Two of the judges for whom he worked took special interest in Byrnes and helped tutor him in literature, the law, and history. In 1903, after passing the South Carolina bar, he moved to Aiken where he opened his practice and continued to work as a court reporter.
Jimmy Byrnes, as he was known to his constituents, quickly climbed the political ladder. After serving two years as a local prosecutor, he represented the Second District in the House of Representatives from 1911 to 1924 and worked with FDR, then assistant secretary of the navy, to help secure additional funding for naval forces. Although Byrnes eventually won election to the Senate in 1930, he had to run twice to secure the seat – after having been defeated by Coleman Blease, who exploited Byrnes's Catholicism and distaste for the Ku Klux Klan.
While in the Senate, Byrnes supported the fiscal conservatism promoted by Bernard Baruch and became known around the Senate cloak room as "the New Deal's legislative ball carrier." However, as FDR moved to the left and addressed civil rights and labor issues, Byrnes' support for the New Deal waned while his affection for FDR did not. In 1941, FDR appointed him to the United States Supreme Court, which he left in 1942 to accept FDR's request that he direct the Office of Economic Stabilization. The following year, FDR appointed Byrnes head of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, a superagency charged to "initiate policies, plan programs, and coordinate all federal agencies in the production, procurement, and distribution of all war materials – military and civilian."(1) In short, FDR let "assistant president" Byrnes manage the home front while FDR managed the war.
Byrnes wanted the vice-presidential nomination in 1944 and FDR supported him; however, Byrnes' antilabor and civil rights positions convinced party leaders that he would hurt the ticket. Byrnes then hoped that FDR would appoint him secretary of state, which he refused to do; however, FDR did ask his friend to accompany him to Yalta. Byrnes finally became secretary of state when Truman reorganized the Roosevelt cabinet in 1945. Although he supported the immediate use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese, Byrnes refused to use the bomb as a weapon against the Soviets and to mend postwar differences with the USSR, leading Truman and critics in Congress to question his leadership. Byrnes resigned January 1947 when Truman refused to defend his stewardship.
The South Carolinian grew increasingly critical of Truman's Fair Deal policies and campaigned for governor on a platform critical of federal interference in state and local affairs. As a strong opponent of racial integration and governor of South Carolina from 1951-55, Byrnes opposed school integration and encouraged massive resistance. He broke with the Democrats in 1960, supporting Nixon in 1960 and Goldwater in 1964. He died on April 9, 1972, in Columbia.
Who were the Dixiecrats ?
From 1932 until 1944, the Democratic Party was held together by the political leadership and personal charisma of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Urban machines, labor unions, intellectual liberals and Southern reactionaries, despite their differences, were all Democrats. With the death of FDR, the party divided into its natural components, and a fractured organization faced the presidential election of 1948.
At its national convention, the party passed a strong (for the times) civil rights plank, a position fully endorsed by the party's presidential nominee, Harry S. Truman of Missouri, who had served as Roosevelt's vice president since their election in 1944.
Enraged at this positive stance on civil rights, many white Southern delegates literally walked out of the convention. There were several consequences. This was one of the first national conventions to be televised, and viewers at home could actually see the angry withdrawal from their party of white segregationists. Also, the camera continued to show their empty chairs, dramatically revealing to blacks and white liberals that these Democrats were motivated firstly by racism.
The Southerners moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where they organized themselves into a rump faction, the States Rights Democratic Party, and nominated Gov. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president and Gov. Fielding Wright of Mississippi for Vice President. "States rights" is a familiar euphemism for pro-slavery or pro-racist segregation. This Southern party was immediately labeled Dixiecrats, and campaigned vigorously for the continuation of legalized racial segregation.
As the Democratic right wing broke off to become Dixiecrats, so the left wing broke off to create the Progressive Party. It nominated Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace for president and Governor Glen Taylor of Idaho as vice president.
With both the right and left wings gone, President Truman was left with a shaky center and little hope for winning the election. This was accentuated by the fact that former New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey was the Republican candidate. Dewey was a popular, racket-busting district attorney, and all the polls showed him taking the election easily, and some of his potential appointees even bought houses in Washington.
In fact, the feisty, straight-talking Truman won. But the victory of moderation did not mask the disturbingly wide appeal of Strom Thurmond's and the Dixiecrats' slogan, "Segregation forever!" The Dixiecrats carried four states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Nationally, they won 1,169,032 popular votes and 39 electoral votes, not insignificant numbers.
The longer-term consequences were important. The election showed that African Americans, who had voted for Roosevelt, were loyal to the party as well, and suggested they would continue to vote Democratic. The Dixiecrats, however, realized they had no future in the Democratic Party and began to become Republicans.
The South started to transform itself from a one-party region, conservative at home and liberal nationally. This process was deliberately encouraged by President Richard Nixon and his notorious Southern Strategy. This meant making the Republicans more conservative, including more racist. The result is that the South has become again as a one-party region, this time Republican, and seriously conservative both locally and nationally. American politics has been dramatically changed, probably forever.
The Dixiecrats lost in 1948, but they have been winning ever since: their basic position of race has been taken by a major, even the majority, party.
James Byrnes (1882-1972)
James Byrnes, U.S. senator and secretary of state, was born on May 2, 1879, in Charleston, South Carolina, a few weeks after his father's death. When he reached fourteen, Byrnes dropped out of school to help his dressmaker mother, Elizabeth McSweeney Brynes, support the family by working as a messenger in a local law office. After studying shorthand and lying about his age, he worked as a court reporter. Two of the judges for whom he worked took special interest in Byrnes and helped tutor him in literature, the law, and history. In 1903, after passing the South Carolina bar, he moved to Aiken where he opened his practice and continued to work as a court reporter.
Jimmy Byrnes, as he was known to his constituents, quickly climbed the political ladder. After serving two years as a local prosecutor, he represented the Second District in the House of Representatives from 1911 to 1924 and worked with FDR, then assistant secretary of the navy, to help secure additional funding for naval forces. Although Byrnes eventually won election to the Senate in 1930, he had to run twice to secure the seat – after having been defeated by Coleman Blease, who exploited Byrnes's Catholicism and distaste for the Ku Klux Klan.
While in the Senate, Byrnes supported the fiscal conservatism promoted by Bernard Baruch and became known around the Senate cloak room as "the New Deal's legislative ball carrier." However, as FDR moved to the left and addressed civil rights and labor issues, Byrnes' support for the New Deal waned while his affection for FDR did not. In 1941, FDR appointed him to the United States Supreme Court, which he left in 1942 to accept FDR's request that he direct the Office of Economic Stabilization. The following year, FDR appointed Byrnes head of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, a superagency charged to "initiate policies, plan programs, and coordinate all federal agencies in the production, procurement, and distribution of all war materials – military and civilian."(1) In short, FDR let "assistant president" Byrnes manage the home front while FDR managed the war.
Byrnes wanted the vice-presidential nomination in 1944 and FDR supported him; however, Byrnes' antilabor and civil rights positions convinced party leaders that he would hurt the ticket. Byrnes then hoped that FDR would appoint him secretary of state, which he refused to do; however, FDR did ask his friend to accompany him to Yalta. Byrnes finally became secretary of state when Truman reorganized the Roosevelt cabinet in 1945. Although he supported the immediate use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese, Byrnes refused to use the bomb as a weapon against the Soviets and to mend postwar differences with the USSR, leading Truman and critics in Congress to question his leadership. Byrnes resigned January 1947 when Truman refused to defend his stewardship.
The South Carolinian grew increasingly critical of Truman's Fair Deal policies and campaigned for governor on a platform critical of federal interference in state and local affairs. As a strong opponent of racial integration and governor of South Carolina from 1951-55, Byrnes opposed school integration and encouraged massive resistance. He broke with the Democrats in 1960, supporting Nixon in 1960 and Goldwater in 1964. He died on April 9, 1972, in Columbia.
Who were the Dixiecrats ?
From 1932 until 1944, the Democratic Party was held together by the political leadership and personal charisma of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Urban machines, labor unions, intellectual liberals and Southern reactionaries, despite their differences, were all Democrats. With the death of FDR, the party divided into its natural components, and a fractured organization faced the presidential election of 1948.
At its national convention, the party passed a strong (for the times) civil rights plank, a position fully endorsed by the party's presidential nominee, Harry S. Truman of Missouri, who had served as Roosevelt's vice president since their election in 1944.
Enraged at this positive stance on civil rights, many white Southern delegates literally walked out of the convention. There were several consequences. This was one of the first national conventions to be televised, and viewers at home could actually see the angry withdrawal from their party of white segregationists. Also, the camera continued to show their empty chairs, dramatically revealing to blacks and white liberals that these Democrats were motivated firstly by racism.
The Southerners moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where they organized themselves into a rump faction, the States Rights Democratic Party, and nominated Gov. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president and Gov. Fielding Wright of Mississippi for Vice President. "States rights" is a familiar euphemism for pro-slavery or pro-racist segregation. This Southern party was immediately labeled Dixiecrats, and campaigned vigorously for the continuation of legalized racial segregation.
As the Democratic right wing broke off to become Dixiecrats, so the left wing broke off to create the Progressive Party. It nominated Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace for president and Governor Glen Taylor of Idaho as vice president.
With both the right and left wings gone, President Truman was left with a shaky center and little hope for winning the election. This was accentuated by the fact that former New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey was the Republican candidate. Dewey was a popular, racket-busting district attorney, and all the polls showed him taking the election easily, and some of his potential appointees even bought houses in Washington.
In fact, the feisty, straight-talking Truman won. But the victory of moderation did not mask the disturbingly wide appeal of Strom Thurmond's and the Dixiecrats' slogan, "Segregation forever!" The Dixiecrats carried four states: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Nationally, they won 1,169,032 popular votes and 39 electoral votes, not insignificant numbers.
The longer-term consequences were important. The election showed that African Americans, who had voted for Roosevelt, were loyal to the party as well, and suggested they would continue to vote Democratic. The Dixiecrats, however, realized they had no future in the Democratic Party and began to become Republicans.
The South started to transform itself from a one-party region, conservative at home and liberal nationally. This process was deliberately encouraged by President Richard Nixon and his notorious Southern Strategy. This meant making the Republicans more conservative, including more racist. The result is that the South has become again as a one-party region, this time Republican, and seriously conservative both locally and nationally. American politics has been dramatically changed, probably forever.
The Dixiecrats lost in 1948, but they have been winning ever since: their basic position of race has been taken by a major, even the majority, party.