Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-08-08
The Political Mill
WhitherD in Sc,
Solid or Ruptured?
6. o. P. Hopes Her Divorce
From Democrats Is Final
By Gould Lincoln

The "solid South" ace in the hole
on which Northern Democrats have
counted since the days of Grover Cleve-
land first Democratic President elected
following the Civil War, can no longer
be relied upon to take orders from a
Democratic National Convention run
and dominated by the radical elements
of the party. Gov. ByrneS of South
Carolina and Gov. Shivers of Texas
made this abundantly clear while they
were attending the recent Governors
conference in Seattle. Wash. Further.
the South's voting record in the last two
presidential elections amply demon
StrateS the fact.
In 1948, four Of the ii Southern
States additionally considered in the
bag by Northern and Western Demo-
Gratis declined to go along with Truman
and Barley, the ticket nominated by
the Democratic National Convention of
that year. They gave their electoral
votes to an independent, anti-New
Deal-Fair Deal Democrat, former Gov.
Thurmond of South Carolina. Those
States were Alabama, Louisiana, Mis-
SiSSippi and South Carolina. Last year,
four other Southern States, with Gen.
Eisenhower running for President, gave
their electoral votes to the Republican
candidates and turned their backs fatty
upon the ticket nominated by the
Democratic National Convention, Gov.
Stevenson of Illinois and Senator
Sparkman of Alabama. Gen. Eisen-
hover ran well. too, in all the rest Of
the II solid South" States, including
those which went for Gov. Thurmond
in 1948.
Remarkable Vote.
The total vote cast for Gen. EiSen-
hover in these II States was truly re-
markable-4, 1883. This total is only
314,620 less than the total cast for
the Democrat Mr.. Stevenson, 4,428, 1853.
Gov. ByrneS' comment on the election
results in the South were significant.
I'VE were told for half century"
he said. that if people in the South
even thought of voting Republican,
grandfather would turn over in his
grave. Well. no noise was heard from
the cemeteries of my State last No
vember when lots of people, particu-
larly the young. voted their convic-
tons" The vote in South Carolina
was 168,082 for Gen. Eisenhower and
173004 for Gov. Stevenson, much too
close for comfort from the regular
national Democratic point of view.
The big vote cast in the South for
Gen. Eisenhower and against the nomi-
nees of the Democratic National Con-
vention was more significant than the
vote for Mr. Thurmond four years
earlier 1t showed far greater indie
pendence on the part of the voters. It
also showed that voting Republican
may yet come naturally for South
ern voters. There seems no shadow
OF doubt that President Eisenhower
remains tremendously popular with the
people of that section of the country.
Indeed, most of the leaders have only
praise for the general and his conduct
during his first six months in the
White House. The healthy respect in
which he is held in the South was
demonstrated again and again by the
votes cast in the House and Senate,
during the first session of the 83d
Congress, when, Eisenhower proposals
were generally supported by Southern
Democratic Representatives and Sena-
tors. If Gen. Eisenhowers hold on
the voters continues, and he is the
Republican nominee for President in
1856, he will again carry Southern
States, perhaps more than he did last
year-and the habit of voting Re-
publican will grow apace
1948 Remembered.
1t was only year ago that leading
radical Northern Democrats were talk
ing about throwing Virginia and South
Carolina delegates out of the party's
national convention in Chicago because
they would not pledge themselves to
support the nominees of the convention.
The radicals had seen Mr.. Truman win
election in 1948 without the electoral
votes of four Southern States-a fact
over which Mr. Truman himself
boasted Let 'em CO." was the cry OF
the radicals. However, under the lead
erShlp OF the then Speaker of the House,
sam Rayburn of Texas, and other more
SOBER thinkers, the vote which would
have turned the Southerners away was
changed, and the delegates were per-
mitted to remain in the convention.
Southern Democrats resent the at
titude of their Northern brethren which
would force alien ideas and practices on
them. Nor do many of them have any
truck with the creeping socialism" with
which the Fair Dealers and New Dealers
have become associated. 1t is the kind
OF thing which makes voting Republican
easier and easier for them. A test is
coming IN the congressional elections
next year.