Evening star., 1950-07-12
Byrnes and Johnston
Win South Carolina
Primary Contests
By Gould Lincoln

tary of State, former associate
justice of the Supreme Court, and
former Senator, critic of big
Government and big spending,
will be South Cardinals next Gov
ernor.
He won the Democratic nomi-
nation for Governor, which is
tantamount to election, in yester-
days primary with 206,418 votes
to 81 ,94l for Lester L. Bates, Co.
lumbia insurance company presi-
dent, 25,080 for Thomas H. Pope,
speaker of the South Carolina
House, and 1889 for Marcus A..
Stone, Florence lumberman, with
almost the entire vote reported.
Gov. j. Strom Thurmond, who
took the electoral votes of four
Southern States away from Pres
ident Truman in 1948, as States
Rights Democratic candidate for
President, was defeated in his ef-
fort to win the Democratic sena-
torial nomination over incumbent
Senator Olin D. Johnston.
In measure, this is victory
for the Truman administration,
for Senator Johnston has aligned
himself with the Democratic Ma
tional party, although he has been
a severe critic of the Presidents
civil rights program and of Mr.
Truman himself, on occasion.
Returns in Senate Race.
Nearly complete returns save
Senator Johnston I'll 1916 votes to
149,655 for Gov. Thurmond.
Mr.. Byrnes campaigned through
out the State in a promise to give
South Carolina better government.
He never mentioned his opponents
Or criticized them in any way
Mr.. Pope, Mr.. Stone and Mr.. Bates.
however, all were critical of the
former assistant President" as
the late President Roosevelt called
him.
The Johnston -Thurmond cam
pa1gn was waged bitterly, as the
candidates travelled over the State,
speaking from the same platform.
Once Senator Johnston called Gov
Thurmond a liar and the Governor
offered to meet him outside. Moth
ing came of the incident. however.
Coming after the defeats of
Senators Pepper in Florida and
Graham in North Carolina-set-
backs for the Fair Dealers-the
Johnston victory was received in
administration quarters with con-
siderable satisfaction today Sen
ator Johnston has favored Fed
eral aid to education, with the un-
derstanding that State and local
control would be maintained. He
also opposed the Taft-Hartley Act.
However. he voted against the
Marshall Plan.
Byrnes Issues Statement.
Mr.. Byrnes, in a statement made
when the returns showed him a
winner, said:
II believe that in the days
ahead of us we will be confronted
by problems more serious than any
in our lives. My hope and prayer
Is that may be able to contribute
to the solution of these problems. !"
Two of South Carolina's s dele
cation in the House, Representa-
tive Rivers and Representative
,Bryson, won denomination, while |
two others, Representative Hare
and Representative Sims, faced a
runoff primary July Is. Mr.. Hare
will be opposed by former Repre-
sentative Dorm and Mr.. Sims by
former Representative Riley. Rep
resentatives Richards and Nc
MILAN were unopposed and auto
matically renominated.
A. j. Clement, jr., the first Ne
gro candidate to run for Congress
in South Carolina since Recon-
struction days, was defeated in
the Charleston district by Repre-
sentative Rivers.
Gov. Thurmond attacked Sen
ator Johnston during the cam
paign as lukewarm in his opposi-
ton to President Truman and as
the candidate of the Truman
ites," of the CLOS PAC and of
the Negro voters.
The contention was made before
primary day that a majority of
the Negroes would vote for Sen
ator Johnston AS the lesser of
two evils. The Senator had de-