1956 United States presidential election in Alabama

Last updated

1956 United States presidential election in Alabama
Flag of Alabama.svg
  1952 November 6, 1956 [1] 1960  
  Adlai Stevenson close-up.jpg Dwight David Eisenhower 1952 crop.jpg
Nominee Adlai Stevenson Dwight D. Eisenhower
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Illinois Pennsylvania [2] [lower-alpha 1]
Running mate Estes Kefauver Richard Nixon
Electoral vote10 [lower-alpha 2] 0
Popular vote280,844195,694
Percentage56.52%39.39%

Alabama Presidential Election Results 1956.svg
County results

President before election

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

Elected President

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican

The 1956 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven [3] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

Contents

Since the 1890s, Alabama had been effectively a one-party state ruled by the Democratic Party. Disenfranchisement of almost all African-Americans and a large proportion of poor whites via poll taxes, literacy tests [4] and informal harassment had essentially eliminated opposition parties outside of Unionist Winston County and presidential campaigns in a few nearby northern hill counties. The only competitive statewide elections during this period were thus Democratic Party primaries — limited to white voters until the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright , following which Alabama introduced the Boswell Amendment — ruled unconstitutional in Davis v. Schnell in 1949, [5] although substantial increases in black voter registration would not occur until after the late 1960s Voting Rights Act.

Unlike other Deep South states, the state GOP would after disenfranchisement rapidly and permanently turn “lily-white”, with the last black delegates at any Republican National Convention serving in 1920. [6] Nevertheless, Republicans only briefly gained from their hard lily-white policy by exceeding forty percent in three 1920 House of Representatives races, [7] and in the 1928 presidential election when Senator James Thomas Heflin embarked on a nationwide speaking tour, partially funded by the Ku Klux Klan, against Roman Catholic Democratic nominee Al Smith, [8] so that Republican Herbert Hoover lost by only seven thousand votes.

Following Smith, Alabama’s loyalty to the national Democratic Party would be broken when Harry S. Truman, seeking a strategy to win the Cold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric of Communism, [9] launched the first Civil Rights bill since Reconstruction. Southern Democrats became enraged and for the 1948 presidential election, Alabama’s Democratic presidential elector primary chose electors who were pledged to not vote for incumbent President Truman. [10] Truman was entirely excluded from the Alabama ballot, [11] and Alabama’s electoral votes went to Strom Thurmond — labelled as the “Democratic” nominee — by a margin only slightly smaller than Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four victories. Despite this, in 1950 loyalists regained control of the ruling party and few would support Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election. [12]

In the four ensuing years, Alabama’s ruling elite was jolted by the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which ruled unconstitutional the de jure segregated school system in the South. The state attempted to use the doctrine of “interposition” to place its sovereignty above the Court and maintain de jure segregation, although incumbent Governor Jim Folsom viewed the idea as futile [13] despite signing the statutes. [14] The state would also be affected by the Montgomery bus boycott, and as a result an independent elector slate, not pledged to any candidate, would be nominated. [15]

Polls

SourceRankingAs of
The Philadelphia Inquirer [16] Safe DOctober 26, 1956
The Sunday Star [17] Safe DOctober 28, 1956
The Birmingham News [18] Likely DNovember 4, 1956
Chattanooga Daily Times [19] Likely DNovember 4, 1956

Results

General election results [20]
PartyPledged toElectorVotes
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II Jasse Brown280,844
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II J. E. Brantley280,549
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II H. Tom Cochran280,366
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II William M. Kelly, Jr.280,159
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II Lawrence E. McNeil279,999
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II Ben F. Ray279,878
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II Wilma K. Butts279,811
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II Henry H. Sweet279,774
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II Wesley Winchell Acee, Jr.279,542
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II [lower-alpha 3] W. F. Turner 279,484
Democratic Party Adlai Stevenson II H. Floyd Sherrod279,398
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)William H. Albritton195,694
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)Herman E. Dean, Jr.195,200
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)Charles H. Chapman, Jr.195,175
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)Robert M. Guthrie195,012
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)Neil Morgan194,991
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)W. M. Russell194,898
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)George Stiefelmeyer194,708
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)I. L. Smith, Jr.194,699
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)R. S. Cartledge194,687
Republican Party Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)Thomas G. McNaron194,629
Republican Party (i Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)George Witcher194,014
Independent UnpledgedThomas Bellsnyder, Jr.20,323
Independent UnpledgedRussell Carter20,279
Independent UnpledgedTom C. King20,271
Independent UnpledgedM. L. Griffin20,210
Independent UnpledgedJack S. Riley20,149
Independent UnpledgedEdwin T. Parker20,112
Independent UnpledgedJ. S. Payne20,111
Independent UnpledgedJohn Frederick Duggar, III20,082
Independent UnpledgedJoseph S. Mead20,081
Independent UnpledgedJohn C. Eagerton, III20,027
Independent UnpledgedLlewellyn Duggar19,971
Write-in Ace Carter8
Write-in Jim Sherrill2
Total votes496,871

Results by county

CountyAdlai Stevenson
Democratic
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican
Unpledged electors
Independent
MarginTotal votes cast
# %# %# %# %
Autauga 1,16150.77%85737.47%26911.76%30413.30%2,287
Baldwin 3,87846.08%4,29351.02%2442.90%-415-4.94%8,415
Barbour 2,53073.35%77722.53%1424.12%1,75350.82%3,449
Bibb 1,47156.97%1,00438.88%1074.14%46718.09%2,582
Blount 3,20854.17%2,62844.38%861.45%5809.79%5,922
Bullock 81264.86%30424.28%13610.86%50840.58%1,252
Butler 1,95855.42%1,32437.48%2517.10%63417.94%3,533
Calhoun 9,06965.24%4,47332.18%3582.58%4,59633.06%13,900
Chambers 5,16576.67%1,44821.49%1241.84%3,71755.18%6,737
Cherokee 2,66175.75%84524.05%70.20%1,81651.70%3,513
Chilton 1,89136.73%3,13960.98%1182.29%-1,248-24.25%5,148
Choctaw 1,25070.26%45725.69%724.05%79344.57%1,779
Clarke 1,96257.91%1,24636.78%1805.31%71621.13%3,388
Clay 1,67750.47%1,59748.06%491.47%802.41%3,323
Cleburne 1,40756.96%1,05642.75%70.28%35114.21%2,470
Coffee 4,16379.02%97318.47%1322.51%3,19060.55%5,268
Colbert 7,00778.40%1,81920.35%1111.24%5,18858.05%8,937
Conecuh 1,68761.26%88532.14%1826.61%80229.12%2,754
Coosa 1,41156.01%1,07042.48%381.51%34113.53%2,519
Covington 4,88765.25%2,25730.13%3464.62%2,63035.12%7,490
Crenshaw 2,25275.70%56719.06%1565.24%1,68556.64%2,975
Cullman 5,51055.49%4,38144.12%380.38%1,12911.37%9,929
Dale 2,31862.45%1,28434.59%1102.96%1,03427.86%3,712
Dallas 2,12139.59%2,32443.37%91317.04%-203-3.78%5,358
DeKalb 5,76850.30%5,68449.56%160.14%840.74%11,468
Elmore 3,35362.16%1,61930.01%4227.82%1,73432.15%5,394
Escambia 3,43764.86%1,52928.85%3336.28%1,90836.01%5,299
Etowah 12,37462.22%7,19836.20%3141.58%5,17626.02%19,886
Fayette 1,95649.80%1,94849.59%240.61%80.21%3,928
Franklin 3,35449.55%3,39950.21%160.24%-45-0.66%6,769
Geneva 2,84168.99%1,17928.63%982.38%1,66240.36%4,118
Greene 69166.19%30929.60%444.21%38236.59%1,044
Hale 1,31468.54%50426.29%995.16%81042.25%1,917
Henry 2,12778.40%42915.81%1575.79%1,69862.59%2,713
Houston 3,63053.06%2,63238.47%5798.46%99814.59%6,841
Jackson 4,75871.58%1,86828.10%210.32%2,89043.48%6,647
Jefferson 38,60444.11%43,69549.93%5,2145.96%-5,091-5.82%87,513
Lamar 2,50173.58%86725.51%310.91%1,63448.07%3,399
Lauderdale 9,15078.26%2,45821.02%840.72%6,69257.24%11,692
Lawrence 2,96170.75%1,19728.60%270.65%1,76442.15%4,185
Lee 3,30265.37%1,58631.40%1633.23%1,71633.97%5,051
Limestone 4,14587.26%58912.40%160.34%3,55674.86%4,750
Lowndes 62352.27%32627.35%24320.39%29724.92%1,192
Macon 1,02446.69%1,06748.65%1024.65%-43-1.96%2,193
Madison 9,05474.52%2,99324.63%1030.85%6,06149.89%12,150
Marengo 1,85860.88%1,00933.06%1856.06%84927.82%3,052
Marion 2,84952.67%2,53646.88%240.44%3135.79%5,409
Marshall 6,32966.66%3,07132.34%951.00%3,25834.32%9,495
Mobile 17,16343.41%20,63952.21%1,7324.38%-3,476-8.80%39,534
Monroe 2,06969.95%75925.66%1304.39%1,31044.29%2,958
Montgomery 6,89036.57%8,72746.32%3,22417.11%-1,837-9.75%18,841
Morgan 7,67170.56%2,97427.35%2272.09%4,69743.21%10,872
Perry 97453.75%61333.83%22512.42%36119.92%1,812
Pickens 1,66058.78%99335.16%1716.06%66723.62%2,824
Pike 2,63168.53%99725.97%2115.50%1,63442.56%3,839
Randolph 3,15166.18%1,58433.27%260.55%1,56732.91%4,761
Russell 3,06068.32%1,26528.24%1543.44%1,79540.08%4,479
Shelby 2,50244.83%2,90151.98%1783.19%-399-7.15%5,581
St. Clair 2,42048.64%2,44149.07%1142.29%-21-0.43%4,975
Sumter 98158.71%57834.59%1126.70%40324.12%1,671
Talladega 5,24354.63%4,19743.73%1571.64%1,04610.90%9,597
Tallapoosa 5,07072.00%1,87926.68%931.32%3,19145.32%7,042
Tuscaloosa 8,18659.33%4,99436.19%6184.48%3,19223.14%13,798
Walker 7,66159.30%5,17940.09%790.61%2,48219.21%12,919
Washington 1,70566.37%77730.25%873.39%92836.12%2,569
Wilcox 77852.78%49933.85%19713.36%27918.93%1,474
Winston 1,57034.35%2,99865.60%20.04%-1,428-31.25%4,570
Totals280,84456.52%195,69439.39%20,3234.09%85,15017.13%496,871

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Analysis

As expected by the polls, Alabama voted for the Democratic nominees Adlai Stevenson II and running mate Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, with 56.52 percent of the popular vote against Republican–nominees incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon, with 39.39 percent. Eisenhower’s performance was nonetheless the second-best by a Republican in Alabama since 1884, when many blacks were still enfranchised, while Stevenson declined by eight percent compared to his 1952 performance. Eisenhower’s main gains were in upper- and middle-class urban areas, where wealthier whites aligned strongly with GOP economic policies. [21] The unpledged slate had little support and consequently did not make the impact it did in South Carolina, Mississippi or Louisiana, cracking twenty percent only in Lowndes County.

Stevenson received ten of Alabama’s eleven electoral votes; the eleventh was cast by a faithless elector for Walter B. Jones. [22] [23]

As of the 2020 presidential election , this is the last election in which Macon County voted for a Republican nominee, and the only election since 1872 that this majority-black county has voted Republican. [lower-alpha 4] It is also the last time that Houston County voted for a Democratic nominee, [24] and the last time that the state has supported a losing Democratic nominee or that a Republican won two terms without ever carrying the state.

See also

Notes

  1. Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of the 1952 election Eisenhower was president of Columbia University and was, officially, a resident of New York. During his first term as president, he moved his private residence to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and officially changed his residency to Pennsylvania.
  2. A faithless elector cast their vote for Alabama judge Walter Burgwyn Jones and former Georgia governor Herman Talmadge as vice president.
  3. Faithless elector W. F. Turner voted for Walter Burgwyn Jones and Herman Talmadge.
  4. This county also voted Republican in the Reconstruction Era elections of 1868 and 1872.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 United States presidential election</span> 43rd quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1956 United States presidential election was the 43rd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, were re-elected, defeating for a second time Democrat Adlai Stevenson II, former Illinois governor. This election was the sixth and most recent rematch in American presidential history. It was the second time in which the winner was the same both times, the first being William McKinley's victories over William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and 1900. This was the last election before term limits established by the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which first applied to Eisenhower, became effective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election</span> 44th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1960 United States presidential election was the 44th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. The Democratic ticket of Senator John F. Kennedy and his running mate, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, narrowly defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon and his running mate, U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. This was the first election in which 50 states participated, marking the first participation of Alaska and Hawaii, and the last in which the District of Columbia did not. This made it the only presidential election in which the threshold for victory was 269 electoral votes. It was also the first election in which an incumbent president—in this case, Dwight D. Eisenhower—was ineligible to run for a third term because of the term limits established by the 22nd Amendment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixiecrat</span> 1948 U.S. segregationist political party

The States' Rights Democratic Party, also colloquially referred to as the Dixiecrat Party was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States, active primarily in the South. It arose due to a Southern regional split in opposition to the national Democratic Party. After President Harry S. Truman, the leader of the Democratic Party, ordered integration of the military in 1948 and other actions to address civil rights of African Americans, including the first presidential proposal for comprehensive civil and voting rights, many Southern white politicians who objected to this course organized themselves as a breakaway faction. They wished to protect the ability of states to maintain racial segregation. Its members were referred to as "Dixiecrats", a portmanteau of "Dixie", referring to the Southern United States, and "Democrat".

In United States presidential elections, an unpledged elector is a person nominated to stand as an elector but who has not pledged to support any particular presidential or vice presidential candidate, and is free to vote for any candidate when elected a member of the Electoral College. Presidential elections are indirect, with voters in each state choosing electors on Election Day in November, and these electors choosing the president and vice president of the United States in December. Electors in practice have since the 19th century almost always agreed in advance to vote for a particular candidate — that is, they are said to have been pledged to that candidate. In several elections in the 20th century, however, competitive campaigns were mounted by candidates who made no pledge to any presidential nominee before the election. These anomalies largely arose from fissures within the Democratic Party over the issues of civil rights and segregation. No serious general election campaign has been mounted to elect unpledged electors in any state since 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1920 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

The 1920 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 general election, in which all 48 states participated. Alabama voters chose twelve electors to represent them in the Electoral College via popular vote pitting Democratic nominee James M. Cox and his running mate, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt, against Republican challenger U.S. Senator Warren G. Harding and his running mate, Governor Calvin Coolidge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1952 United States presidential election in Virginia</span>

The 1952 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 4, 1952. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 United States presidential election in Texas</span>

The 1948 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 2, 1948. Texas voters chose 23 electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 United States presidential election in Wisconsin</span>

The 1948 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 2, 1948, as part of the 1948 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 United States presidential election in Mississippi</span>

The 1948 United States presidential election in Mississippi took place on November 2, 1948, in Mississippi as part of the wider United States presidential election of 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

The 1948 United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 2, 1948. Alabama voters sent eleven electors to the Electoral College who voted for President and Vice-President. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi</span>

The 1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi was held on November 6, 1956. Mississippi voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina</span>

The 1956 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. South Carolina voters chose eight representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1952 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

The 1952 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 4, 1952, as part of the 1952 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1952 United States presidential election in North Carolina</span>

The 1952 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 4, 1952, as part of the 1952 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 14 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 United States presidential election in Tennessee</span>

The 1948 United States presidential election in Tennessee took place on November 2, 1948, as part of the 1948 United States presidential election. Tennessee voters chose 12 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1944 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1940 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

The 1940 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 5, 1940, as part of the 1940 United States presidential election. Alabama voters chose 11 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1936 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

The 1936 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 3, 1936, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Voters chose eleven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1932 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

The 1932 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 8, 1932, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Alabama voters chose eleven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. In Alabama, voters voted for electors individually instead of as a slate, as in the other states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 United States presidential election in Alabama</span>

The 1924 United States presidential election in Alabama took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the nationwide presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary forty-eight states. Voters chose twelve representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

References

  1. "United States Presidential election of 1956 — Encyclopædia Britannica" . Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  2. "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017. Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania
  3. "1956 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)" . Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  4. Perman, Michael (2001). Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. p. Introduction.
  5. Stanley, Harold Watkins (1987). Voter mobilization and the politics of race: the South and universal suffrage, 1952-1984. p. 100. ISBN   0275926737.
  6. Heersink, Boris; Jenkins, Jeffery A. (2020). Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968. pp. 251–253. ISBN   9781107158436.
  7. Phillips, Kevin P. (1969). The Emerging Republican Majority. p. 255. ISBN   0870000586.
  8. Chiles, Robert (2018). The Revolution of ‘28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal. Cornell University Press. p. 115. ISBN   9781501705502.
  9. Geselbracht, Raymond H. (ed.). The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman. p. 53. ISBN   1931112673.
  10. Jenkins, Ray (2012). Blind Vengeance: The Roy Moody Mail Bomb Murders. p. 38. ISBN   0820341010.
  11. Key, V.O. junior; Southern Politics in State and Nation; p. 340 ISBN   087049435X
  12. Perman, Michael (2009). Pursuit of Unity: A Political History of the American South. University of North Carolina Press. p. 274. ISBN   080783324X.
  13. Weill, Susan (2002). In a madhouse’s din: civil rights coverage by Mississippi’s daily press, 1948-1968. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. pp. 76–77. ISBN   0275969606.
  14. Rogers, Kim Lacy (1993). Righteous lives: narratives of the New Orleans civil rights movement. New York: New York University Press. p. 63. ISBN   0814774318.
  15. Bartley, Numan V. (1976). Southern Politics and the Second Reconstruction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 87–91.
  16. O‘Brien, John C. (October 27, 1956). ""Doubtful States" Seen for President by GOP". The Philadelphia Inquirer . Philadelphia. p. 8.
  17. Latimer, James (October 28, 1956). "Virginia". The Sunday Star . Washington, D.C. p. A-31.
  18. Taylor, Fred (November 4, 1956). "On Tuesday's Vote — State Demos "Sure", Republicans "Hope"". The Birmingham News . Birmingham, Alabama. p. 1A, 4A.
  19. Bartlett, Charles (November 4, 1956). "One Man's Guess: 384 Electoral Votes for Eisenhower". Chattanooga Daily Times . Chattanooga, Tennessee. p. 21.
  20. Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1963. Montgomery, Alabama: Walker Printing Co. 1963. pp. 607–610. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  21. Phillips. The Emerging Republican Majority pp. 221-222
  22. "1956 Presidential General Election Results — Alabama" . Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  23. "The American Presidency Project – Election of 1956" . Retrieved June 10, 2017.
  24. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016.