1952 United States presidential election in Mississippi

Main article: 1952 United States presidential election

1952 United States presidential election in Mississippi

←  1948 November 4, 1952 1956  →

Nominee Adlai Stevenson Dwight D. Eisenhower Party Democratic Independent Home state Illinois New York [1] Running mate John Sparkman Richard Nixon Electoral vote 8 0 Popular vote 172,566 112,966 Percentage 60.44% 39.56%

County Results Stevenson   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Eisenhower   50-60%   60-70%

President before election Harry S. Truman Democratic Elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican

The 1952 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 4, 1952, as part of the United States presidential election of 1952. The Democratic Party candidate, Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, won the state of Mississippi over Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former Supreme Allied Commander Europe and General of the Army by a margin of 59,600 votes, or 20.88 percentage points. Eisenhower went on to win the election nationally, with 442 electoral votes and a commanding 10.9 percent lead over Stevenson in the popular vote.

Mississippi in this time period was a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party was virtually nonexistent as a result of disenfranchisement among poor whites and African Americans, ^[2] including voter intimidation against those who refused to vote Democratic. The state Republican Party led by Perry Wilbon Howard II — who resided in Washington D.C. after 1928 — was entirely drawn from the state’s tiny black middle class and never contested non-presidential elections, ^[3] serving entirely to sell federal patronage, ^[4] mostly to white Democrats. ^[5] The 1948 election split the National Democratic Party and segregationist Southern Democrats over the issue of civil rights for African Americans. ^[6] In the 1952 election, Stevenson, a moderate on race issues, selected the segregationist Senator Sparkman as his running mate to avoid another split in the Democratic vote. However, this was not enough for some white Mississippians, who felt that the national Republican Party already offered a better prospect for their conservative social and economic goals. ^[3]

Campaign

Because the state Republican Party remained under black-and-tan control due to state politicians’ longstanding fear of competition with a lily-white GOP, ^[4] national Republican candidates Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon ran as “Independents for Eisenhower”. Both Howard’s black-and-tans and the long-insurgent “lily-white” faction led by George L. Sheldon of Clinton agreed to withdraw their slates in favour of the Eisenhower Democrats in mid-October. ^[7]

Despite Stevenson winning the state, Eisenhower won many Black Belt counties on the Mississippi River with large nonvoting African American populations. ^[8] Eisenhower won five of the nine counties with black populations above 70%. This was due to white Republican voters rather than black voters, who were ineligible to vote. ^[9]

Polls

Source	Ranking	As of
The Columbus Ledger [10]	Safe D (Flip)	September 8, 1952
Lansing State Journal [11]	Safe D (Flip)	September 17, 1952
The Daily Herald [12]	Likely D (Flip)	October 23, 1952
The Salt Lake Tribune [13]	Safe D (Flip)	October 24, 1952
The Greeneville Sun [14]	Certain D (Flip)	October 25, 1952
The Modesto Bee [15]	Safe D (Flip)	October 27, 1952
Wichita Falls Times [16]	Likely D (Flip)	October 29, 1952

Results

1952 United States presidential election in Mississippi [17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Adlai Stevenson	172,566	60.44%	8
	Independent	Dwight Eisenhower	112,966	39.56%	0
Totals			285,532	100.00%	8

Results by county

1952 United States presidential election in Mississippi by county ^[18]

County	Adlai Stevenson II Democratic		Dwight David Eisenhower Independent		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,697	41.71%	2,372	58.29%	-675	-16.59%	4,069
Alcorn	3,275	73.93%	1,155	26.07%	2,120	47.86%	4,430
Amite	1,121	59.06%	777	40.94%	344	18.12%	1,898
Attala	2,258	65.72%	1,178	34.28%	1,080	31.43%	3,436
Benton	963	81.68%	216	18.32%	747	63.36%	1,179
Bolivar	1,843	46.79%	2,096	53.21%	-253	-6.42%	3,939
Calhoun	2,284	76.77%	691	23.23%	1,593	53.55%	2,975
Carroll	1,168	68.58%	535	31.42%	633	37.17%	1,703
Chickasaw	1,805	72.49%	685	27.51%	1,120	44.98%	2,490
Choctaw	1,387	72.58%	524	27.42%	863	45.16%	1,911
Claiborne	496	46.97%	560	53.03%	-64	-6.06%	1,056
Clarke	2,000	72.62%	754	27.38%	1,246	45.24%	2,754
Clay	1,230	53.32%	1,077	46.68%	153	6.63%	2,307
Coahoma	2,115	56.64%	1,619	43.36%	496	13.28%	3,734
Copiah	2,050	57.31%	1,527	42.69%	523	14.62%	3,577
Covington	1,535	66.59%	770	33.41%	765	33.19%	2,305
DeSoto	1,288	63.08%	754	36.92%	534	26.15%	2,042
Forrest	2,936	39.59%	4,480	60.41%	-1,544	-20.82%	7,416
Franklin	1,166	69.40%	514	30.60%	652	38.81%	1,680
George	1,351	69.14%	603	30.86%	748	38.28%	1,954
Greene	1,247	71.14%	506	28.86%	741	42.27%	1,753
Grenada	1,174	54.00%	1,000	46.00%	174	8.00%	2,174
Hancock	1,578	53.95%	1,347	46.05%	231	7.90%	2,925
Harrison	7,181	54.65%	5,960	45.35%	1,221	9.29%	13,141
Hinds	10,933	46.62%	12,520	53.38%	-1,587	-6.77%	23,453
Holmes	1,423	52.16%	1,305	47.84%	118	4.33%	2,728
Humphreys	858	59.30%	589	40.70%	269	18.59%	1,447
Issaquena	170	57.24%	127	42.76%	43	14.48%	297
Itawamba	2,236	80.09%	556	19.91%	1,680	60.17%	2,792
Jackson	4,146	65.64%	2,170	34.36%	1,976	31.29%	6,316
Jasper	1,872	73.70%	668	26.30%	1,204	47.40%	2,540
Jefferson	539	46.91%	610	53.09%	-71	-6.18%	1,149
Jefferson Davis	1,626	77.47%	473	22.53%	1,153	54.93%	2,099
Jones	5,884	59.30%	4,039	40.70%	1,845	18.59%	9,923
Kemper	1,593	81.07%	372	18.93%	1,221	62.14%	1,965
Lafayette	2,363	73.14%	868	26.86%	1,495	46.27%	3,231
Lamar	1,260	54.93%	1,034	45.07%	226	9.85%	2,294
Lauderdale	5,841	58.54%	4,137	41.46%	1,704	17.08%	9,978
Lawrence	1,117	66.77%	556	33.23%	561	33.53%	1,673
Leake	2,667	81.56%	603	18.44%	2,064	63.12%	3,270
Lee	4,174	67.58%	2,002	32.42%	2,172	35.17%	6,176
Leflore	1,845	43.12%	2,434	56.88%	-589	-13.76%	4,279
Lincoln	2,271	52.83%	2,028	47.17%	243	5.65%	4,299
Lowndes	1,618	37.73%	2,670	62.27%	-1,052	-24.53%	4,288
Madison	1,425	48.78%	1,496	51.22%	-71	-2.43%	2,921
Marion	2,597	64.65%	1,420	35.35%	1,177	29.30%	4,017
Marshall	1,847	75.36%	604	24.64%	1,243	50.71%	2,451
Monroe	3,512	71.25%	1,417	28.75%	2,095	42.50%	4,929
Montgomery	1,356	61.75%	840	38.25%	516	23.50%	2,196
Neshoba	3,567	76.74%	1,081	23.26%	2,486	53.49%	4,648
Newton	2,460	74.30%	851	25.70%	1,609	48.60%	3,311
Noxubee	758	46.08%	887	53.92%	-129	-7.84%	1,645
Oktibbeha	1,666	53.72%	1,435	46.28%	231	7.45%	3,101
Panola	2,047	66.48%	1,032	33.52%	1,015	32.97%	3,079
Pearl River	2,060	54.20%	1,741	45.80%	319	8.39%	3,801
Perry	782	60.48%	511	39.52%	271	20.96%	1,293
Pike	2,495	46.18%	2,908	53.82%	-413	-7.64%	5,403
Pontotoc	2,281	77.88%	648	22.12%	1,633	55.75%	2,929
Prentiss	2,672	78.52%	731	21.48%	1,941	57.04%	3,403
Quitman	1,158	70.18%	492	29.82%	666	40.36%	1,650
Rankin	2,077	57.34%	1,545	42.66%	532	14.69%	3,622
Scott	2,208	66.29%	1,123	33.71%	1,085	32.57%	3,331
Sharkey	388	39.27%	600	60.73%	-212	-21.46%	988
Simpson	2,767	75.91%	878	24.09%	1,889	51.82%	3,645
Smith	2,288	75.61%	738	24.39%	1,550	51.22%	3,026
Stone	965	62.91%	569	37.09%	396	25.81%	1,534
Sunflower	2,049	50.52%	2,007	49.48%	42	1.04%	4,056
Tallahatchie	2,350	75.86%	748	24.14%	1,602	51.71%	3,098
Tate	1,575	80.28%	387	19.72%	1,188	60.55%	1,962
Tippah	2,878	84.92%	511	15.08%	2,367	69.84%	3,389
Tishomingo	1,595	70.14%	679	29.86%	916	40.28%	2,274
Tunica	530	58.05%	383	41.95%	147	16.10%	913
Union	2,749	74.99%	917	25.01%	1,832	49.97%	3,666
Walthall	1,357	73.43%	491	26.57%	866	46.86%	1,848
Warren	2,366	40.63%	3,458	59.38%	-1,092	-18.75%	5,824
Washington	2,618	44.23%	3,301	55.77%	-683	-11.54%	5,919
Wayne	1,604	69.11%	717	30.89%	887	38.22%	2,321
Webster	1,765	79.58%	453	20.42%	1,312	59.15%	2,218
Wilkinson	563	44.61%	699	55.39%	-136	-10.78%	1,262
Winston	2,559	76.85%	771	23.15%	1,788	53.69%	3,330
Yalobusha	1,346	64.13%	753	35.87%	593	28.25%	2,099
Yazoo	1,702	50.28%	1,683	49.72%	19	0.56%	3,385
Totals	172,566	60.44%	112,966	39.56%	59,600	20.87%	285,532

Analysis

The Stevenson-Sparkman ticket carried Mississippi and its eight electoral votes with 60.44 percent of the popular vote, amounting to a total of 172,566 votes. These results, however, were the weakest for a state Democrat since the 1872 election when the state remained occupied by Union troops and Republican Ulysses S. Grant carried the state. ^[19] It represented a large swing for the Republicans from 1948, when Thomas E. Dewey won only 2.62 percent of the vote.

Stevenson carried 67 of Mississippi’s 82 counties, running up huge margins in the northeastern corner and rural areas of the state. Eisenhower, whose Mississippi electors were “Independent”, carried fifteen counties, the first time a national Republican had carried any since Herbert Hoover in 1928 carried Pearl River County, George County and Stone County, and only the second since Benjamin Harrison in 1888. ^[8] His main base of support came from the western counties along the Mississippi River, which had a high concentration of nonvoting African Americans, including Hinds County, home to the state capital Jackson. Three counties — Sharkey, Forrest, and Lowndes — gave Eisenhower over sixty percent of the vote. This was the first time ever that a national Republican won Forrest and Sharkey Counties; ^[8] the first since 1872 that the national Republicans won Claiborne, Hinds, Jefferson, Leflore, Lowndes, Madison, Noxubee, Pike, and Warren Counties; ^[8] the first time they carried Adams and Wilkinson Counties since 1876; ^[8] and the first time since 1888 that they won Bolivar and Washington Counties. ^[8]

In contrast, the northeastern hills, which had given President Truman his highest proportion in 1948, ^[20] along with the southeastern pineywoods both voted solidly for Stevenson, although not by the margins pre-1948 Democrats ran up throughout Mississippi. Whereas Delta whites had permanently estranged themselves from the Democratic Party over issues of economics and race, Hills and Pine Belt counties, much more economically populist although even more socially conservative, ^[21] had not shared much in the Dixiecrat upheaval despite all giving majorities to “Democrat” Strom Thurmond in 1948. The divide between traditional Democrat Stevenson and the independent electors pledged to Eisenhower was closely related to the cleavage between “Delta” and “Hills” ^[22] seen in Democratic white primaries during the first half of the twentieth century. ^[20]

1952 began to show signs of the impending collapse of Democratic dominance in Mississippi and the rest of the South. The vote share for the state Democratic candidate would decline in the next two subsequent elections, ultimately paving the way for Barry Goldwater’s victory in Mississippi and the Deep South in 1964.

References

1. "U.S. presidential election, 1952". Facts on File. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2013. Eisenhower, born in Texas, considered a resident of New York, and headquartered at the time in Paris, finally decided to run for the Republican nomination
2. Wright-Austin, Sharon D. (2006). The Transformation of Plantation Politics: Black Politics, Concentrated Poverty, and Social Capital in the Mississippi Delta. p. 45. ISBN   9780791468012.
3. Busbee, Westley F. (2014). Mississippi: A History. pp. 276–278. ISBN   9781118822722.
4. Heersink, Boris; Jenkins, Jeffery A. (2020). Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. Cambridge University Press. pp. 329–331. ISBN   9781108850827.
5. Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks; Gates, Henry Louis, eds. (March 23, 2004). African American Lives. Oxford University Press. pp. 417–418. ISBN   9780199882861.
6. Kehl, James A. "Philadelphia, 1948: City of Crucial Conventions". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 67 (2): 313–326.
7. "Merger of State Ike Factions Near: GOP Groups Set to Withdraw Electors". Hattiesburg American . Hattiesburg, Mississippi. October 20, 1952. p. 1.
8. Menendez, Albert J. (2005). The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 91, 233–237. ISBN   0786422173.
9. Buchanan 1953, p. 5.
10. Lauderdale, W.M.; Allen, Robert S. (September 8, 1952). "Mississippi Is Still Democratic Although Eisenhower Is Strong". The Columbus Ledger . Columbus, Mississippi. p. 5.
11. Cornell, Douglas B. (September 17, 1952). "Ike Given 50–50 Chance To Break into Solid South". Lansing State Journal . Lansing, Michigan. pp. 7, 16.
12. Fuller, Keith (October 23, 1952). "Survey by State Newspapers Indicates Mississippi Will Stay Democrat in Election". The Daily Herald . Biloxi, Mississippi. p. 4.
13. Cornell, Douglas B. (October 24, 1952). "Journalists Bet 50–50 Ike Will Dent South". The Salt Lake Tribune . Salt Lake City. pp. 1–2.
14. "US Poll Shows — Eisenhower Leading Stevenson in Electoral Votes, but Governor Has More States in His Column". The Greeneville Sun . Greeneville, Tennessee. Princeton Research Service. October 25, 1952. pp. 1, 8.
15. "NY Times Survey Indicates Close Election Tuesday". The Modesto Bee . Modesto, California. October 27, 1952. p. 8.
16. Gallup, George (October 29, 1952). "Ferment in Dixie Is Big Campaign Issue". Wichita Falls Times . Wichita Falls, Texas. p. 15.
17. Leip, David. "1952 Presidential General Election Results – Mississippi" . Retrieved May 7, 2017.
18. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; pp. 251-252 ISBN   0405077114
19. Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Mississippi" . Retrieved May 7, 2017.
20. Strong, Donald S. (August 1955). "The Presidential Election in the South, 1952". The Journal of Politics. 17 (3): 343–389.
21. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 262 ISBN   978-0-691-16324-6
22. Key, Valdimer Orlando; Southern Politics in State and Nation, p. 227 Alfred A. Knopf (1949)

Works cited

• Buchanan, William (1953). "Recent Trends in Mississippi Voting". The Social Science Bulletin. Johns Hopkins University Press. 6 (4): 2–6. doi:10.2307/45214742. JSTOR   45214742.