Editing Hubert Humphrey (section)

==1948 Democratic National Convention==
The Democratic Party of 1948 was split between those, mainly Northerners, who thought the federal government should actively protect [[civil rights]] for racial minorities, and those, mainly Southerners, who believed that states should be able to enforce [[racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] within their borders.{{sfn|Solberg|1984|p=13}}

At the [[1948 Democratic National Convention]], the [[political party platform|party platform]] reflected the division by containing only platitudes supporting civil rights.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29599.|title=Democratic Party Platform of 1948|publisher=ucsb.edu|date=July 12, 1948|access-date=April 19, 2013|archive-date=June 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627112034/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29599.|url-status=dead}}</ref> The incumbent president, [[Harry S. Truman]], had shelved most of his 1946 Commission on Civil Rights's recommendations to avoid angering Southern Democrats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/road/s20.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430062426/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/road/s20.cfm|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 30, 2011|title=The Road to Civil Rights President Harry S. Truman and Civil Rights|publisher=[[Federal Highway Administration|Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)]]|date=April 7, 2011}}</ref> But Humphrey had written in ''The Progressive'' magazine, "The Democratic Party must lead the fight for every principle in the report. It is all or nothing."{{sfn|Solberg|1984|p=13}}

[[File:Hubert H. Humphrey--1948 Democratic National Convention--.jpg|thumb|right|Humphrey at the [[1948 Democratic National Convention]] in [[Philadelphia]].]]
A diverse coalition opposed the convention's tepid civil rights platform, including anticommunist liberals like Humphrey, [[Paul Douglas (Illinois politician)|Paul Douglas]] and [[John F. Shelley]], all of whom would later become known as leading progressives in the Democratic Party. They proposed adding a "minority plank" to the party platform that would commit the Democratic Party to more aggressive opposition to [[racial segregation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94011842|title=In 1948, Democrats Weathered Civil Rights Divide|author1=Steve Inskeep |author2=Ron Elving |publisher=NPR|date=August 27, 2008}}</ref> The minority plank called for federal legislation against [[lynching]], an end to legalized school segregation in the South, and ending job discrimination based on skin color.<ref name="Debolt and Baugess, 2011"/> Also strongly backing the minority plank were Democratic urban bosses like Ed Flynn of the [[Bronx]], who promised the votes of northeastern delegates to Humphrey's platform, [[Jacob Arvey]] of Chicago, and [[David L. Lawrence|David Lawrence]] of [[Pittsburgh]]. Although seen as conservatives, the urban bosses believed that Northern Democrats could gain many black votes by supporting civil rights, with only comparatively small losses from Southern Democrats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sas.upenn.edu/polisci/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.polisci/files/Steven%20White.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.sas.upenn.edu/polisci/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.polisci/files/Steven%20White.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title="The Crackpots Hope the South Will Bolt": Civil Rights Liberalism & Roll Call Voting by Northern State Delegations at the 1948 Democratic National Convention|author=Steven White|publisher=sas.upenn.edu|date=March 15, 2013}} {{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Although many scholars{{who|date=May 2012}} have suggested that labor unions were leading figures in this coalition, no significant labor leaders attended the convention, except for the heads of the Congress of Industrial Organizations Political Action Committee ([[CIO-PAC]]), [[Jack Kroll (labor leader)|Jack Kroll]] and A.F. Whitney.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_w_VBgcj7scC&pg=PA57|title=Truman Defeats Dewey|author=Gary A. Donaldson|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|year=2000|isbn=9780813128511}}</ref>

Despite Truman's aides' aggressive pressure to avoid forcing the issue on the Convention floor, Humphrey spoke for the minority plank.<ref name="Debolt and Baugess, 2011"/> In a renowned speech,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nwIdIUVFm4| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/8nwIdIUVFm4| archive-date=2021-10-30|title=Hubert Humphrey 1948 Civil Rights Speech| date=January 25, 2009|via=YouTube|access-date=April 12, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Humphrey passionately told the convention, "To those who say, my friends, to those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are [[American Revolution|172&nbsp;years]] (too) late! To those who say this civil rights program is an infringement on states' rights, I say this: the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00442/pdfa/00442-00187.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00442/pdfa/00442-00187.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=HUBERT H. HUMPHREY'S 1948 SPEECH ON CIVIL RIGHTS|author=Minnesota Historical Society|publisher=mnhs.org|date=April 24, 2013|access-date=September 1, 2014}}</ref> Humphrey and his allies succeeded: the convention adopted the pro-civil-rights plank by a vote of {{Fraction|651|1|2}} to {{Fraction|582|1|2}}.<ref>Ross, p. 126.</ref>

After the convention's vote, the [[Mississippi]] delegation and half of the [[Alabama]] delegation walked out of the hall.<ref name="Smithsonian 1948 DNC"/> Many Southern Democrats were so enraged at this affront to their "way of life" that they formed the [[Dixiecrat]] party<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/now/politics/dixiecrats.html|title=Meet the Dixiecrats|author=NOW on PBS|publisher=PBS|date=December 20, 2002|author-link=NOW on PBS}}</ref> and nominated their own presidential candidate, Governor [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/vote/thirdparties/thirdparties_7.html|title=Third Party Candidates|publisher=library.cornell.edu}}</ref> The Dixiecrats' goal was to take Southern states away from Truman and thus cause his defeat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/347|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524222956/http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/page/347|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 24, 2008|title=the Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932–1968|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|author=Kari Frderickson|year=2001}}</ref> They reasoned that after such a defeat, the national Democratic Party would never again aggressively pursue a pro-civil rights agenda. The move backfired: although the civil rights plank cost Truman the Dixiecrats' support, a significant number of black voters switched their support from [[Henry A. Wallace]] to him.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|567926855}} |title=Colored Voters Backed Truman: Majority Found Giving Support To Democratic Party Nominees Truman's Stand On Civil Rights Seen As One Factor In Election Results |newspaper=[[New Journal and Guide]] |date=13 November 1948 |page=E8A }}</ref> As a result, Truman won an upset victory over his [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] opponent, [[Thomas E. Dewey]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sampler.isr.umich.edu/2012/featured/isr-and-the-truman-dewey-upset/|title=ISR and the Truman/Dewey upset|author=Susan Rosegrant|publisher=isr.umich.edu|date=April 18, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402213551/http://www.sampler.isr.umich.edu/2012/featured/isr-and-the-truman-dewey-upset/|archive-date=April 2, 2013}}</ref> The result demonstrated that the Democratic Party could win presidential elections without the "Solid South" and weakened Southern Democrats. [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning historian [[David McCullough]] has written that Humphrey probably did more to get Truman elected in 1948 than anyone other than Truman himself.<ref name=McCullough>[[McCullough, David]]. ''[[Truman (book)|Truman]]''. Simon & Schuster, 1992, p. 640. {{ISBN|0671456547}}.</ref>