In 1948, Democrats alienated white Southerners in two ways. The Democratic National Convention adopted a strong civil rights plank, leading to a walkout by Southerners. Two weeks later, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981 ending discrimination against Blacks in the armed forces. In 1948, the Deep South walked out, formed a temporary regional party (the "Dixiecrats") and nominated J. Strom Thurmond for president. Thurmond carried the Deep South, but the outer South stayed with Truman, and most of the Dixiecrats ultimately returned to the Democratic Party as conservative Southern Democrats. While the Dixiecrat movement did not last, the splintering among Democrats in the South paved the way for the later Southern shift towards the Republican Party, which would see Thurmond himself switching to the Republican Party in 1964.