Dissertation Information for Patricia Ann Sullivan NAME: - Patricia Ann Sullivan
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1983)
ADVISORS: - Dan T. Carter
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - None
MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected
Title: GIDEON'S SOUTHERN SOLDIERS: NEW DEAL POLITICS AND CIVIL RIGHTS REFORM, 1933-1948 (WALLACE; PROGRESSIVE PARTY)
Abstract: Henry Wallace's 1948 Progressive campaign garnered under three percent of the popular vote nationally. In the South that number was even smaller. But the Progressive Party effort on his behalf was an important break in modern Southern politics, for it emphasized the interrelatedness of Southern economic and racial problems. Henry Wallace ran an uncompromising campaign for civil rights and the expansion of New Deal programs to promote economic development in the South. Southern supporters worked to register black voters and actively challenged segregation. After Henry Wallace's campaign tour, no presidential candidate of either major party would campaign from a segregated platform in the Deep South.
This dissertation describes the origins of the Wallace campaign in the South and its roots in Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The Roosevelt administration brought dozens of restive young Southerners to Washington, anxious to improve the economic and social conditions of their region. Washington was their training ground for broader political activity. Frustrated by the powerful opposition of Southern conservatives in Congress, Southern New Dealers looked toward building a politically active constituency for Roosevelt's program in the South. The organization of the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in 1938 marked the beginning of this effort.
The SCHW joined with the CIO Political Action Committee in a major drive to register black and white voters in the South after the war. Under the leadership and influence of Clark Foreman, Jim Dombrowski, Virginia Durr, Palmer Weber and Aubrey Williams, civil rights became central to the SCHW's program. While morally opposed to segregation, they also believed that the end of segregation was critical to the economic advancement of the region. The SCHW recognized allies in an increasingly active black leadership, and looked to the emerging black vote as key to liberalizing Southern politics.
Southern New Dealers had become an important part of the liberal-labor coalition dedicated to keeping the Democratic Party a progressive party. This study further describes how they responded to the breakup of the popular front, their disillusionment with Truman and the ultimate transformation of the SCHW into the Southern wing of the Progressive Party.
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calculated 2008-06-03 09:52:58
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