Dixiecrats Walk Out of Democratic Convention, Nominate Thurmond for President

On July 17, 1948, after Hubert Humphrey's civil rights plank is adopted at the Democratic National Convention, Southern delegates from Alabama and Mississippi walk out. They form the States' Rights Democratic Party — the Dixiecrats — and nominate Strom Thurmond for president on a platform of racial segregation. Thurmond wins four Deep South states and 39 electoral votes. The Dixiecrat revolt begins the long process of Southern white voters shifting from the Democratic to the Republican Party, ultimately restructuring American politics around racial backlash.