1948 United States presidential election in Arkansas

← 1944 November 2, 1948[1] 1952 →
All 9Arkansas votes to theElectoral College
Nominee Harry S. Truman Thomas E. Dewey Strom Thurmond Party Democratic Republican States' Rights Democratic Home state Missouri New York South Carolina Running mate Alben W. Barkley Earl Warren Fielding L. Wright Electoral vote 9 0 0 Popular vote 149,659 50,959 40,068 Percentage 61.7% 21.0% 16.5%
County results Truman   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Dewey   50–60% Thurmond   50–60%   60–70%
President before election Harry S. Truman Democratic Elected President Harry S. Truman Democratic

The1948 United States presidential election in Arkansas took place on November 2, 1948, as part of the1948 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine^[2] representatives, or electors, to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president. This would be the last presidential election where Arkansas had nine electoral votes:the Great Migration would see the state lose threecongressional districts in the next decade-and-a-half.

Except for theUnionistOzark counties ofNewton andSearcy where Republicans controlled local government,Arkansas since the end ofReconstruction had been a classic one-party Democratic "Solid South" state.^[3]Disfranchisement of effectively all black people and most poor whites had meant that outside those two aberrant counties, the Republican Party was completely moribund and Democratic primaries were the only competitive elections.

However, ever since seeing the potential effect on the United States' image abroad (and ability to win theCold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric ofCommunism)^[4] of the beating and blinding ofIsaac Woodard three hours after being discharged from the army, President Truman was attempting to launch a Civil Rights bill, involving desegregation of the military. This produced severe opposition from Southern Democrats, who aimed to haveSouth Carolina GovernorJames Strom Thurmond listed as Democratic presidential nominee andMississippi GovernorFielding Wright as vice-presidential nominee.

Unlike Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina or Virginia, Arkansas did not have a major threat from the Republican Party to block local Democratic support for Thurmond,^[5] but it had only half the proportion of blacks found in Mississippi or South Carolina.^[6] At the time when it became clear that a Southern fracture from the national Democratic Party was on the agenda, Arkansas was deeply divided between aDixiecrat faction headed by outgoing GovernorBen T. Laney and a loyalist faction led bySidney S. McMath,^[7] who went on to win the1948 Arkansas gubernatorial election.

McMath was to win the Democratic gubernatorialprimary that was in thisone-party statetantamount to election, and despite the efforts of Laney and state party chairman Arthur Adams, it was clear from the beginning of the campaign that they held little sway over the Democratic rank and file who were loyal to Truman.^[8] In May 1948 Governor Laney became chairman of the "States' Rights Democrats";^[9] however on July 12 the possibility of Laney himself becoming the nominee ended when he refused to support anyone.^[10] However, as late as the September 22 Democratic Convention the Dixiecrats had hopes of pledging Arkansas' Democratic presidential electors to Thurmond and Wright; however McMath and Congressman Charles Fuller were able to persuade the electors to remain loyal to President Truman.^[11]

With the state's Democratic electors pledged to Truman, theincumbent President and running mateKentucky SenatorAlben W. Barkley easily carried Arkansas with 61.72 percent of the popular vote, againstNew York GovernorThomas E. Dewey andCalifornia GovernorEarl Warren's 21.02 percent of the popular vote.^[12][13] Vis-à-vis the 1944 election, Truman picked up Benton County and Searcy County, the latter of which had previously only voted Democratic once since the Civil War.^[a]

Thurmond, running as a third-party candidate, was able to capture 16.52 percent of Arkansas' vote. The Dixiecrats ran strongest inthe Delta region of the state where Truman's Civil Rights and "Fair Deal" policies were most feared by the powerful Black Belt planters;^[14] Thurmond carried three counties with entirely nonvoting black majorities and was second in twenty-eight others. However, in the hilly northwestern half of the state, Thurmond failed to crack 5 percent of the vote in eighteen counties. As of the2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last election in whichBenton County andSebastian County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.^[15] Arkansas was also the only state in the entire country where Norman Thomas beat Henry Wallace.

TheRepublican Party of Arkansas voted to send an uncommitted fourteen member delegation to theRepublican National Convention.^[16]

Thurmond won 17% of the white vote.^[17]

• Benton
• Searcy

• Crittenden
• Lee
• Phillips

• United States presidential elections in Arkansas

• Black, Earl;Black, Merle (1992).The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected.Harvard University Press.ISBN 0674941306.

• 1948 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Arkansas
• 1948 Arkansas elections

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