Election in Mississippi
1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi
|
|
|
County Results
Congressional District Results
Stevenson
30-40%
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
|
Eisenhower
30-40%
40-50%
50-60%
|
Unpledged
30-40%
40-50%
50-60%
| |
|
The
1956 United States presidential election in Mississippi
was held on November 6, 1956. Mississippi voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Ever since the end of Reconstruction, Mississippi had been a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party was virtually nonexistent as a result of disenfranchisement among African Americans and poor whites, including voter intimidation against those who refused to vote Democratic.
From the time of
Henry A. Wallace
's appointment as Vice-President and the 1943 Detroit race riots,
[2]
however, the northern left wing of the Democratic Party became committed to restoring black political rights,
[3]
a policy vehemently opposed by all
Southern Democrats
as an infringement upon "
states' rights
". Consequently, the four states with the highest proportions of (disenfranchised) African-Americans in the populations listed
South Carolina Governor
James Strom Thurmond
instead of national Democratic nominee Harry S. Truman as the "Democratic" nominee in
the 1948 Presidential election
. Although Thurmond easily carried South Carolina,
Mississippi
,
Alabama
and
Louisiana
, Truman won the election.
Nevertheless, demands for
civil rights legislation
continued to intensify during the following eight years, although the pressing issue of the
Korean War
meant that Southern Democrats did not run a third-party ticket in 1952;
[4]
however dissatisfaction with Democrat Adlai Stevenson on civil rights meant Dwight Eisenhower (listed as an "Independent" on
the 1952 Mississippi ballot
)
[5]
gained considerable support from the exclusively white electorate of black belt counties,
[6]
despite having a virtually identical position on civil rights.
[4]
After the landmark
Brown v. Board of Education
decision of 1954, however, Mississippi's rulers realized they could not rely on either major party to enforce segregation and white supremacy. The
Citizens' Councils
sought to map a regional caucus to deal with this issue, but it feared a split as had occurred in 1948.
[7]
Nevertheless, the Citizens' Councils did place a slate of
unpledged electors
on the ballot alongside Eisenhower and Stevenson electors, although state officials, especially incumbent Governor
James P. Coleman
, strongly opposed them.
[8]
Polls
[
edit
]
Results
[
edit
]
Results by county
[
edit
]
County
|
Adlai Stevenson
Democratic
|
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican
|
Unpledged Electors
States’ Rights
|
Margin
|
Total votes cast
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
#
|
%
|
Adams
|
1,279
|
31.24%
|
1,664
|
40.64%
|
1,151
|
28.11%
|
-385
|
-9.40%
|
4,094
|
Alcorn
|
3,143
|
77.19%
|
827
|
20.31%
|
102
|
2.50%
|
2,316
|
56.88%
|
4,072
|
Amite
|
802
|
46.74%
|
255
|
14.86%
|
659
|
38.40%
|
143
[c]
|
8.34%
|
1,716
|
Attala
|
1,793
|
67.46%
|
445
|
16.74%
|
420
|
15.80%
|
1,348
|
50.72%
|
2,658
|
Benton
|
786
|
83.26%
|
108
|
11.44%
|
50
|
5.30%
|
678
|
71.82%
|
944
|
Bolivar
|
1,176
|
33.49%
|
754
|
21.48%
|
1,581
|
45.03%
|
-405
[c]
|
-11.54%
|
3,511
|
Calhoun
|
1,763
|
79.52%
|
301
|
13.58%
|
153
|
6.90%
|
1,462
|
65.94%
|
2,217
|
Carroll
|
1,080
|
69.63%
|
234
|
15.09%
|
237
|
15.28%
|
843
[c]
|
54.35%
|
1,551
|
Chickasaw
|
1,650
|
80.25%
|
231
|
11.24%
|
175
|
8.51%
|
1,419
|
69.01%
|
2,056
|
Choctaw
|
1,117
|
79.56%
|
221
|
15.74%
|
66
|
4.70%
|
896
|
63.82%
|
1,404
|
Claiborne
|
339
|
41.24%
|
191
|
23.24%
|
292
|
35.52%
|
47
[c]
|
5.72%
|
822
|
Clarke
|
1,763
|
73.24%
|
500
|
20.77%
|
144
|
5.98%
|
1,263
|
52.47%
|
2,407
|
Clay
|
1,225
|
54.52%
|
410
|
18.25%
|
612
|
27.24%
|
613
[c]
|
27.28%
|
2,247
|
Coahoma
|
1,677
|
50.83%
|
1,082
|
32.80%
|
540
|
16.37%
|
595
|
18.03%
|
3,299
|
Copiah
|
1,270
|
55.12%
|
387
|
16.80%
|
647
|
28.08%
|
623
[c]
|
27.04%
|
2,304
|
Covington
|
1,382
|
67.38%
|
386
|
18.82%
|
283
|
13.80%
|
996
|
48.56%
|
2,051
|
DeSoto
|
1,236
|
66.96%
|
398
|
21.56%
|
212
|
11.48%
|
838
|
45.40%
|
1,846
|
Forrest
|
1,928
|
32.06%
|
2,256
|
37.52%
|
1,829
|
30.42%
|
-328
|
-5.46%
|
6,013
|
Franklin
|
862
|
55.83%
|
177
|
11.46%
|
505
|
32.71%
|
357
[c]
|
23.12%
|
1,544
|
George
|
1,150
|
69.24%
|
403
|
24.26%
|
108
|
6.50%
|
747
|
44.98%
|
1,661
|
Greene
|
734
|
59.72%
|
351
|
28.56%
|
144
|
11.72%
|
383
|
31.16%
|
1,229
|
Grenada
|
949
|
43.37%
|
407
|
18.60%
|
832
|
38.03%
|
117
[c]
|
5.34%
|
2,188
|
Hancock
|
1,179
|
44.09%
|
1,421
|
53.14%
|
74
|
2.77%
|
-242
|
-9.05%
|
2,674
|
Harrison
|
6,549
|
50.37%
|
5,742
|
44.17%
|
710
|
5.46%
|
807
|
6.20%
|
13,001
|
Hinds
|
7,104
|
35.03%
|
7,015
|
34.59%
|
6,159
|
30.37%
|
89
|
0.44%
|
20,278
|
Holmes
|
872
|
40.77%
|
215
|
10.05%
|
1,052
|
49.18%
|
-180
[c]
|
-8.41%
|
2,139
|
Humphreys
|
576
|
44.51%
|
127
|
9.81%
|
591
|
45.67%
|
-15
[c]
|
-1.16%
|
1,294
|
Issaquena
|
172
|
59.52%
|
42
|
14.53%
|
75
|
25.95%
|
97
[c]
|
33.57%
|
289
|
Itawamba
|
2,310
|
86.68%
|
298
|
11.18%
|
57
|
2.14%
|
2,012
|
75.50%
|
2,665
|
Jackson
|
3,882
|
56.21%
|
2,692
|
38.98%
|
332
|
4.81%
|
1,190
|
17.23%
|
6,906
|
Jasper
|
1,958
|
80.08%
|
287
|
11.74%
|
200
|
8.18%
|
1,671
|
68.34%
|
2,445
|
Jefferson
|
440
|
45.74%
|
189
|
19.65%
|
333
|
34.62%
|
107
[c]
|
11.12%
|
962
|
Jefferson Davis
|
1,049
|
73.41%
|
156
|
10.92%
|
224
|
15.68%
|
825
[c]
|
57.73%
|
1,429
|
Jones
|
5,137
|
62.17%
|
2,463
|
29.81%
|
663
|
8.02%
|
2,674
|
32.36%
|
8,263
|
Kemper
|
1,586
|
87.00%
|
173
|
9.49%
|
64
|
3.51%
|
1,413
|
77.51%
|
1,823
|
Lafayette
|
1,968
|
72.86%
|
575
|
21.29%
|
158
|
5.85%
|
1,393
|
51.57%
|
2,701
|
Lamar
|
805
|
46.86%
|
429
|
24.97%
|
484
|
28.17%
|
321
[c]
|
18.69%
|
1,718
|
Lauderdale
|
5,414
|
59.32%
|
2,817
|
30.86%
|
896
|
9.82%
|
2,597
|
28.46%
|
9,127
|
Lawrence
|
1,025
|
67.48%
|
276
|
18.17%
|
218
|
14.35%
|
749
|
49.31%
|
1,519
|
Leake
|
2,475
|
82.53%
|
220
|
7.34%
|
304
|
10.14%
|
2,171
[c]
|
72.39%
|
2,999
|
Lee
|
3,883
|
75.30%
|
929
|
18.01%
|
345
|
6.69%
|
2,954
|
57.29%
|
5,157
|
Leflore
|
1,769
|
49.30%
|
887
|
24.72%
|
932
|
25.98%
|
837
[c]
|
23.32%
|
3,588
|
Lincoln
|
1,942
|
51.47%
|
848
|
22.48%
|
983
|
26.05%
|
959
[c]
|
25.42%
|
3,773
|
Lowndes
|
2,308
|
55.94%
|
1,205
|
29.21%
|
613
|
14.86%
|
1,103
|
26.73%
|
4,126
|
Madison
|
996
|
41.59%
|
377
|
15.74%
|
1,022
|
42.67%
|
-26
[c]
|
-1.08%
|
2,395
|
Marion
|
1,751
|
57.75%
|
611
|
20.15%
|
670
|
22.10%
|
1,081
[c]
|
35.65%
|
3,032
|
Marshall
|
1,192
|
70.37%
|
287
|
16.94%
|
215
|
12.69%
|
905
|
53.43%
|
1,694
|
Monroe
|
3,630
|
78.50%
|
705
|
15.25%
|
289
|
6.25%
|
2,925
|
63.25%
|
4,624
|
Montgomery
|
1,134
|
63.74%
|
278
|
15.63%
|
367
|
20.63%
|
767
[c]
|
43.11%
|
1,779
|
Neshoba
|
2,827
|
77.90%
|
502
|
13.83%
|
300
|
8.27%
|
2,325
|
64.07%
|
3,629
|
Newton
|
2,359
|
75.46%
|
360
|
11.52%
|
407
|
13.02%
|
1,952
[c]
|
62.44%
|
3,126
|
Noxubee
|
690
|
52.27%
|
257
|
19.47%
|
373
|
28.26%
|
317
[c]
|
24.01%
|
1,320
|
Oktibbeha
|
1,552
|
58.79%
|
702
|
26.59%
|
386
|
14.62%
|
850
|
32.20%
|
2,640
|
Panola
|
1,741
|
66.17%
|
519
|
19.73%
|
371
|
14.10%
|
1,222
|
46.44%
|
2,631
|
Pearl River
|
1,274
|
44.73%
|
1,129
|
39.64%
|
445
|
15.63%
|
145
|
5.09%
|
2,848
|
Perry
|
581
|
52.82%
|
347
|
31.55%
|
172
|
15.64%
|
234
|
21.27%
|
1,100
|
Pike
|
1,714
|
41.74%
|
1,210
|
29.47%
|
1,182
|
28.79%
|
504
|
12.27%
|
4,106
|
Pontotoc
|
2,320
|
82.50%
|
335
|
11.91%
|
157
|
5.58%
|
1,985
|
70.59%
|
2,812
|
Prentiss
|
1,942
|
80.95%
|
383
|
15.96%
|
74
|
3.08%
|
1,559
|
64.99%
|
2,399
|
Quitman
|
954
|
63.64%
|
276
|
18.41%
|
269
|
17.95%
|
678
|
45.23%
|
1,499
|
Rankin
|
1,537
|
49.76%
|
556
|
18.00%
|
996
|
32.24%
|
541
[c]
|
17.52%
|
3,089
|
Scott
|
2,077
|
65.50%
|
503
|
15.86%
|
591
|
18.64%
|
1,486
[c]
|
46.86%
|
3,171
|
Sharkey
|
308
|
37.02%
|
211
|
25.36%
|
313
|
37.62%
|
-5
[c]
|
-0.60%
|
832
|
Simpson
|
2,140
|
67.11%
|
467
|
14.64%
|
582
|
18.25%
|
1,558
[c]
|
48.86%
|
3,189
|
Smith
|
2,055
|
80.81%
|
277
|
10.89%
|
211
|
8.30%
|
1,778
|
69.92%
|
2,543
|
Stone
|
761
|
65.15%
|
293
|
25.09%
|
114
|
9.76%
|
468
|
40.06%
|
1,168
|
Sunflower
|
1,585
|
50.80%
|
520
|
16.67%
|
1,015
|
32.53%
|
570
[c]
|
18.27%
|
3,120
|
Tallahatchie
|
1,969
|
73.28%
|
341
|
12.69%
|
377
|
14.03%
|
1,592
[c]
|
59.25%
|
2,687
|
Tate
|
1,414
|
80.85%
|
171
|
9.78%
|
164
|
9.38%
|
1,243
|
71.07%
|
1,749
|
Tippah
|
2,569
|
86.94%
|
287
|
9.71%
|
99
|
3.35%
|
2,282
|
77.23%
|
2,955
|
Tishomingo
|
1,577
|
72.67%
|
516
|
23.78%
|
77
|
3.55%
|
1,061
|
48.89%
|
2,170
|
Tunica
|
470
|
56.22%
|
200
|
23.92%
|
166
|
19.86%
|
270
|
32.30%
|
836
|
Union
|
2,882
|
82.48%
|
427
|
12.22%
|
185
|
5.29%
|
2,455
|
70.26%
|
3,494
|
Walthall
|
1,143
|
66.26%
|
306
|
17.74%
|
276
|
16.00%
|
837
|
48.52%
|
1,725
|
Warren
|
1,857
|
34.85%
|
2,419
|
45.40%
|
1,052
|
19.74%
|
-562
|
-10.55%
|
5,328
|
Washington
|
2,722
|
49.58%
|
1,973
|
35.94%
|
795
|
14.48%
|
749
|
13.64%
|
5,490
|
Wayne
|
1,493
|
70.13%
|
373
|
17.52%
|
263
|
12.35%
|
1,120
|
52.61%
|
2,129
|
Webster
|
1,412
|
80.92%
|
188
|
10.77%
|
145
|
8.31%
|
1,224
|
70.15%
|
1,745
|
Wilkinson
|
260
|
30.55%
|
240
|
28.20%
|
351
|
41.25%
|
-91
[c]
|
-10.70%
|
851
|
Winston
|
2,132
|
78.82%
|
361
|
13.35%
|
212
|
7.84%
|
1,771
|
65.47%
|
2,705
|
Yalobusha
|
1,015
|
59.85%
|
414
|
24.41%
|
267
|
15.74%
|
601
|
35.44%
|
1,696
|
Yazoo
|
911
|
29.50%
|
370
|
11.98%
|
1,807
|
58.52%
|
-896
[c]
|
-29.02%
|
3,088
|
Totals
|
144,498
|
58.23%
|
60,685
|
24.46%
|
42,966
|
17.31%
|
83,813
|
33.77%
|
248,149
|
Analysis
[
edit
]
Ultimately Mississippi was to vote for Stevenson by a convincing margin of 33.76 points, as the 1952 Eisenhower vote in the black belt was substantially turned over to the unpledged slate, whilst Stevenson held almost all of the vote he received in 1952. Mississippi was Stevenson’s second-strongest state behind Georgia and in terms of popular vote Eisenhower's weakest.
As of the
2020 presidential election
[update]
, 1956 would nonetheless remain the last election where a Democrat has gained a majority of the vote in Mississippi. The party's increasing embrace of civil rights for blacks would turn the state over to another unpledged slate in 1960, then overwhelmingly to the Republican nominee
Barry Goldwater
in 1964, who had been one of only six Republicans to vote against the Civil Rights Act.
[14]
With the enfranchisement of the state’s blacks via the Voting Rights Act, the majority white population would overwhelmingly move toward the Republican Party.
[15]
Since 1964 only
Jimmy Carter
in 1976 has carried Mississippi for the Democratic Party ? and even Southern evangelical Carter's performance was his third-weakest in the extended South
[d]
behind his narrow losses in
Virginia
and
Oklahoma
.
No Democratic presidential nominee has carried the following counties since Stevenson did so in this election:
Lamar
,
Lauderdale
,
Lincoln
,
Lowndes
,
Newton
,
Rankin
,
Scott
and
Simpson
.
[16]
Stevenson is also the last Democrat to carry
Clarke County
outright, but Jimmy Carter and
Ronald Reagan
tied there with 3,303 votes apiece in 1980.
[17]
Oktibbeha County
would not vote Democratic again until
Barack Obama
carried it in 2008. This is also the last election in which the Democratic nominee carried Mississippi without winning the presidency or that a Republican won two terms without ever winning the state.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of his election Eisenhower was president of
Columbia University
and was, officially, a resident of New York. During his first term as president, he moved his private residence to
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
, and officially changed his residency to Pennsylvania.
- ^
Eisenhower vote is
a fusion
of 56,372 Mississippi Republican Party votes and 4,313 Mississippi Black and Tan Grand Old Party votes. The two slates had different electors so their votes did not constitute a true fusion.
[13]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
aa
ab
ac
ad
In this county where Eisenhower ran third behind both Stevenson and the unpledged slate, margin given is Stevenson vote minus unpledged vote and percentage margin Stevenson percentage minus unpledged percentage.
- ^
"Extended South" includes all the former
Confederate States
, the five
border slave states
, and Oklahoma, which gained statehood only in 1907 but which had practiced slavery before the Civil War.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The Presidents"
. David Leip
. Retrieved
September 27,
2017
.
Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania
- ^
Scher, Richard K.
Politics in the New South: Republicanism, Race and Leadership in the Twentieth Century
. p. 95.
ISBN
1563248484
.
- ^
Frederickson, Karl A.
The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968
. p. 39.
ISBN
0807849103
.
- ^
a
b
McAdam, Doug; Karina, Kloos.
Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Post-War America
. pp. 76?77.
ISBN
0199937869
.
- ^
Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections;
1952 Presidential General Election Results ? Mississippi
- ^
Ward, Jason Morgan.
Defending White Democracy: The Making of a Segregationist Movement and the Remaking of Racial Politics, 1936-1965
. p. 156.
ISBN
0807869228
.
- ^
McMillen, Neil R.
The Citizens' Council: Organized Resistance to the Second Reconstruction, 1954-64
. p. 317.
ISBN
0252064410
.
- ^
"Coleman Opposes SR Electors on Mississippi Ballot".
The Clarion-Ledger
.
Jackson
,
Mississippi
. September 21, 1956. pp. 1, 12.
- ^
"Final Babson Poll Shows Eisenhower Winning Easily".
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
. CTS. November 2, 1956. p. 22.
- ^
Worth, Gene (November 4, 1956). "State Will Give Nod to Demos, but Reluctantly; Four Slates of Electors Offered for Unenthusiastic Balloters".
The Clarion-Ledger
.
Jackson
,
Mississippi
. p. 1.
- ^
"Stevenson Given Strong Chance to Sweep Mississippi: Little Hope for Ike Supporters, States Righters".
The Daily Herald
.
Biloxi
,
Mississippi
. November 5, 1956. p. 1.
- ^
Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections;
1956 Presidential General Election Results ? Mississippi
- ^
"MS US President Race, November 06, 1956"
. Our Campaigns.
- ^
Thernstrom, Stephan; Thernstrom, Abigail.
America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible
. p. 151.
ISBN
1439129096
.
- ^
See
Black, Earl (2021). "Competing Responses to the New Southern Politics: Republican and Democratic Southern Strategies, 1964-76". In Reed, John Shelton; Black, Merle (eds.).
Perspectives on the American South: An Annual Review of Society, Politics, and Culture
.
ISBN
9781136764882
.
- ^
Menendez, Albert J. (2005).
The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004
. pp. 236?238.
ISBN
0786422173
.
- ^
"1980 Presidential General Election Data Graphs ? Mississippi"
. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.