The Ideology of the 'Dixiecrat' Movement

TH E introduction into Congress in the winter of 1948 of the Civil Rights Bills precipitated on the part of many southern party leaders action which resulted in a dramatic walk-out from the Philadelphia nominating convention of the Democratic Party the following July. It was not an unexpected excursion, for its roots went back at least as far as the Macon Grass-Roots Convention of 1936 and perhaps farther. But for the first time there was "somewhere to go" for the dissatisfied: the States Rights Democratic Party was organized in Birmingham and its candidates carried four southern States in November. This paper has been limited, however, to a study of the 1948 manifestations of the movement. The idelology of the party has been extracted from books, speeches, articles and letters by persons who were associated with the conservative southern viewpoint, whether actually adherents to the party or not. In the belief that the party aims could be better understood by a sociological study of the backgrounds of its leaders,' information was gathered concerning those named in the press as serving on committees, as candidates, and as financial backers of the party. It is hoped that from this study some implications can be drawn concerning southern politics, in the light of the sociology of knowledge.