1944 United States presidential election in Louisiana

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1944 United States presidential election in Louisiana
Flag of Louisiana (1912-2006).svg
  1940 November 7, 1944 1948  
  1944 portrait of FDR (1)(small).jpg Dewey circa 1946 (cropped).jpg
Nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt Thomas E. Dewey
Party Democratic Republican
Home state New York New York
Running mate Harry Truman John Bricker
Electoral vote100
Popular vote281,56467,750
Percentage80.59%19.39%

Louisiana Presidential Election Results 1944.svg
Parish Results
Roosevelt
  60–70%
  70–80%
  80–90%
  90–100%

The 1944 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 7, 1944, as part of the 1944 United States presidential election. State voters chose ten [1] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Contents

Ever since the passage of a new constitution in 1898, Louisiana had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party became moribund due to the disenfranchisement of blacks and the complete absence of other support bases as Louisiana completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession. [2] Despite this absolute single-party dominance, non-partisan tendencies remained strong among wealthy sugar planters in Acadiana and within the business elite of New Orleans. [3]

Until the rise of Huey P. Long, post-disenfranchisement Louisiana politics was dominated by the New Orleans–based "Choctaw Club", [4] which overcame Socialist, Wobbly, and Progressive challenges from the outlying upcountry, Imperial Calcasieu and Acadiana regions between the late 1900s and early 1920s. [5] The three presidential elections between 1916 and 1924 saw a rebellion in Acadiana over sugar tariffs and Woodrow Wilson's foreign and domestic policies; however, the nomination of Catholic Al Smith in 1928 rapidly restored their Democratic loyalty without causing significant upheaval in the remainder of the state, which was too focused on control of black labour to worry about Smith's Catholicism. [6]

Following the 1928 gubernatorial primary, Louisiana politics until Brown v. Board of Education would be governed by a system of coherent "Long" and "anti-Long" Democratic factionalism, [7] as the administration of Huey Long introduced significant economic reforms, which were strongly opposed by the remnants of the old Choctaws. During the first term of Roosevelt, Long sought to capture the Presidency for himself under a "Share-Our-Wealth" program involving the confiscation of wealthy fortunes, family allowances, and government storage of agricultural surpluses. [8] The Long and anti-Long factions would compete intensely in subsequent primaries, with many controversies, most critically involving New Orleans election officer Patrick Classic's attempt to count ninety-seven ballots for anti-Long Hale Boggs in a House of Representatives primary in September 1940, [9] which reached the Supreme Court and established the right to regulate primary elections. Three years later, Louisiana's lily-white one-party politics was shaken by Smith v. Allwright , which ruled white-only primaries as unconstitutional, and to which Governor Sam Jones responded saying:

We've always handled that question [black disenfranchisement]—and always will. [10]

Results

1944 United States presidential election in Louisiana
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt (inc.) 281,564 80.59%
Republican Thomas Dewey 67,75019.39%
Write-ins 690.02%
Total votes349,383 100%

Results by parish

1944 United States presidential election in Louisiana by parish [11]
ParishFranklin Delano Roosevelt
Democratic
Thomas Edmund Dewey
Republican
Various candidates
Write-ins
MarginTotal votes cast
#%#%#%#%
Acadia 4,43981.27%1,02318.73%3,41662.54%5,462
Allen 2,20586.78%33613.22%1,86973.55%2,541
Ascension 2,29186.29%36413.71%1,92772.58%2,655
Assumption 1,41976.91%42623.09%99353.82%1,845
Avoyelles 3,78992.53%3067.47%3,48385.05%4,095
Beauregard 2,22674.57%75925.43%1,46749.15%2,985
Bienville 1,80171.87%70528.13%1,09643.74%2,506
Bossier 2,43079.59%62220.37%10.03%1,80859.22%3,053
Caddo 12,89668.56%5,88531.29%290.15%7,01137.27%18,810
Calcasieu 7,86180.81%1,86719.19%5,99461.62%9,728
Caldwell 1,14269.34%50530.66%63738.68%1,647
Cameron 1,02592.26%867.74%93984.52%1,111
Catahoula 1,20880.59%29119.41%91761.17%1,499
Claiborne 2,26679.68%57820.32%1,68859.35%2,844
Concordia 97482.89%20117.11%77365.79%1,175
DeSoto 1,85877.55%53822.45%1,32055.09%2,396
East Baton Rouge 14,75782.99%3,02517.01%11,73265.98%17,782
East Carroll 92572.15%35727.85%56844.31%1,282
East Feliciana 86979.80%22020.20%64959.60%1,089
Evangeline 3,02991.68%2758.32%2,75483.35%3,304
Franklin 2,47680.57%59719.43%1,87961.15%3,073
Grant 1,93977.72%55622.28%1,38355.43%2,495
Iberia 3,66176.24%1,14123.76%2,52052.48%4,802
Iberville 2,26583.98%43216.02%1,83367.96%2,697
Jackson 1,84081.52%41418.34%30.13%1,42663.18%2,257
Jefferson 10,26885.21%1,78214.79%8,48670.42%12,050
Jefferson Davis 2,32966.83%1,15633.17%1,17333.66%3,485
Lafayette 4,80186.61%74213.39%4,05973.23%5,543
Lafourche 4,98085.06%87514.94%4,10570.11%5,855
LaSalle 2,01879.20%50419.78%261.02%1,51459.42%2,548
Lincoln 1,70562.29%1,03237.71%67324.59%2,737
Livingston 2,46087.76%34312.24%2,11775.53%2,803
Madison 76469.33%33830.67%42638.66%1,102
Morehouse 1,85979.55%47820.45%1,38159.09%2,337
Natchitoches 2,53669.59%1,10530.32%30.08%1,43139.27%3,644
Orleans 90,41181.74%20,19018.25%70.01%70,22163.49%110,608
Ouachita 6,32970.67%2,62729.33%3,70241.34%8,956
Plaquemines 1,75583.97%33516.03%1,42067.94%2,090
Pointe Coupee 1,43684.12%27115.88%1,16568.25%1,707
Rapides 9,13284.21%1,71215.79%7,42068.42%10,844
Red River 97570.45%40929.55%56640.90%1,384
Richland 2,08781.05%48818.95%1,59962.10%2,575
Sabine 2,04866.34%1,03933.66%1,00932.69%3,087
Saint Bernard 2,04496.23%803.77%1,96492.47%2,124
Saint Charles 1,94591.79%1748.21%1,77183.58%2,119
Saint Helena 68386.35%10813.65%57572.69%791
Saint James 1,38783.96%26516.04%1,12267.92%1,652
Saint John the Baptist 1,32487.16%19512.84%1,12974.33%1,519
Saint Landry 4,42384.94%78415.06%3,63969.89%5,207
Saint Martin 2,38493.97%1536.03%2,23187.94%2,537
Saint Mary 3,59186.97%53813.03%3,05373.94%4,129
Saint Tammany 3,45083.07%70316.93%2,74766.14%4,153
Tangipahoa 4,41973.76%1,57226.24%2,84747.52%5,991
Tensas 63879.95%16020.05%47859.90%798
Terrebonne 3,53986.55%55013.45%2,98973.10%4,089
Union 1,76568.73%80331.27%96237.46%2,568
Vermilion 4,68487.39%67612.61%4,00874.78%5,360
Vernon 3,07575.05%1,02224.95%2,05350.11%4,097
Washington 4,81092.22%4067.78%4,40484.43%5,216
Webster 3,65580.26%89919.74%2,75660.52%4,554
West Baton Rouge 1,04592.31%877.69%95884.63%1,132
West Carroll 1,39070.52%58129.48%80941.05%1,971
West Feliciana 42670.53%17829.47%24841.06%604
Winn 1,40361.43%88138.57%52222.85%2,284
Totals281,56480.59%67,75019.39%690.02%213,81461.20%349,383

Analysis

Incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt carried Louisiana in a landslide, defeating Republican New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey by a margin of 61.20 points, [12] and sweeping every parish in the state. Nevertheless, indications of protest against Roosevelt's policies were seen in the rural hill parishes where the Long dynasty had been strongest in the preceding fifteen years [13] —for instance in Long's ancestral home of Winn Parish, Dewey won almost two-fifths of the vote, and in Winn and nearby Lincoln Parish, the Democratic vote share fell by almost one quarter from the 1940 election. [11]

As of 2024, this election marks the last time that a Democratic presidential nominee has carried Bossier Parish. [14] Plaquemines Parish and Lincoln Parish have both voted for a Democratic presidential candidate only once since—for Bill Clinton in 1996—whilst Caddo Parish and Claiborne Parish would not vote Democratic again until Clinton in 1992. [14] It also marked the end of a 64-year Democratic voting streak; four years later, the state would back Dixiecrat candidate Strom Thurmond instead of Democratic nominee Harry S. Truman. As such, this marks the last time that any presidential candidate would carry every parish in the state.

See also

References

  1. "1944 Election for the Fortieth Term (1945-1949)" . Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  2. Phillips, Kevin P. (November 23, 2014). The Emerging Republican Majority. Princeton University Press. pp. 208, 210. ISBN   9780691163246.
  3. Schott, Matthew J. (Summer 1979). "Progressives against Democracy: Electoral Reform in Louisiana, 1894-1921". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 20 (3): 247–260.
  4. Wall, Bennett H.; Rodriguez, John C. Louisiana: A History. pp. 274–275. ISBN   1118619293.
  5. Collin, Richard H. (Winter 1971). "Theodore Roosevelt's Visit to New Orleans and the Progressive Campaign of 1914". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 12 (1): 5–19.
  6. Wingo, Barbara C. (Autumn 1977). "The 1928 Presidential Election in Louisiana". Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. 18 (4). Louisiana Historical Association: 405–435.
  7. Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo, Hirano; Snyder Jr., James M. (February 27, 2017). "Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980". In Gerber, Alan S.; Schickler, Eric (eds.). Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America. Cambridge University Press. pp. 165–168. ISBN   978-1-107-09509-0.
  8. Sindler, Allan P. (1956). Huey Long's Louisiana: State politics, 1920-1952. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 84–85.
  9. Baker, Liva (1996). The second battle of New Orleans: the hundred-year struggle to integrate the schools. New York City: HarperCollinsPublishers. pp. 97–99. ISBN   0060168080.
  10. Garson, Robert A. (1974). The Democratic Party and the politics of sectionalism, 1941-1948. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 90–91. ISBN   0807100706.
  11. 1 2 "LA US President Race, November 07, 1944". Our Campaigns.
  12. "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1944" . Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  13. Howard, Perry H. (1956). "Longism: An Appraisal". Political Tendencies in Louisiana, 1812-1952; An Ecological Analysis of Voting Behavior (Thesis). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. Louisiana State University. pp. 194–198.
  14. 1 2 Menendez, Albert J. (2005). The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. McFarland. pp. 215–218. ISBN   0786422173.