The Tipping Point
story by Mark W. Buyck, III
As noted last month, South Carolina was an overwhelmingly Democrat state from the end of Reconstruction through the Second World War. In the 12 Presidential elections from 1900 to 1944, no Republican ever carried a single South Carolina county. During that time, the Democrats won every gubernatorial race and there were no Republicans in the State Legislature. Democrat dominance in the state began to crack in the 1948 Presidential race when the state overwhelmingly supported Governor Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats. Republican Dwight Eisenhower nearly carried the state in 1952. Democrat Adlai Stevenson carried the state in 1956; however, the majority of the voters supported either Eisenhower or an independent slate of electors opposed to the national Democrats.
In the run-up to the 1960 Presidential election, South Carolina Democrats generally supported fellow “Southerner” Lyndon Johnson for the party’s nomination. The eventual Kennedy-Johnson ticket was not embraced by South Carolina Democrats. Vice-President Richard Nixon generated interest in the urban areas of the state, particularly Columbia and Charleston. Textile and industrial business owners who had moved to South Carolina from states with competitive 2-party elections openly supported Nixon and the Republican Party platform. Many of the supporters of the 1956 independent slate supported Nixon. Former Governor Byrnes endorsed Nixon. Strom Thurmond did not endorse either Kennedy or Nixon; however, he publicly opposed Kennedy and the Democrat platform. Kennedy won South Carolina in 1960, however, his margin of victory was less than 10,000 votes, 198,129 to 188,558. Nixon carried 21 counties, including Florence, Charleston, Greenville, and Richland.
By the early 1960s, the Republican Party in South Carolina was aspiring to become viable at the statewide level. The Party decided to seriously contest the 1962 U.S. Senate election. The incumbent was Democrat Olin Johnston, a veteran politician who had served two separate terms as Governor as well as 18 years in the United States Senate. He was an economic populist and in his last years of office supported LBJ’s Great Society programs. Johnston easily won the Democrat primary in 1962 defeating former Governor Fritz Hollings by a 2 to 1 margin. The Republican nominee for the seat was W. D. Workman, a noted conservative political journalist. Workman ran a spirited campaign staking himself and the Republican Party as the conservative alternative to Johnston and the liberal national Democrat Party. Drake Edens, a Columbia businessman and entrepreneur, managed Workman’s statewide campaign. Workman finished with 133,390 votes (42.8%) to Johnston’s 178,712 (57.2%). Although defeated, Workman and Edens proved the viability of the Republican Party statewide in South Carolina.
By 1964, the Republican Party was ascendant in South Carolina. W. D. Workman’s unsuccessful Governor’s race proved that Republicans could be competitive statewide. 1962 also saw the first Republican elected to the General Assembly since 1901. Drake Edens was elected as Chairman of the Party in 1963 and his organizational and fund-raising prowess brought energy to the party. Lyndon Johnson had become President in November 1963 following the assassination of President Kennedy. While nominally a Southerner, Johnson’s embrace of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and promotion of other Great Society programs was not popular with the majority of South Carolinians. The competitive balance in the State reached a tipping point in 1964. Early South Carolina Republicans were admirers of Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Goldwater was fiscally conservative, anti-Communist, pro-defense and fiercely libertarian; all characteristics appealing to South Carolina Republicans. Goldwater was an opponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 believing it to be an overreach by the Federal Government, while Johnson was largely responsible for the Act’s passage. During the Fall campaign, Strom Thurmond declared that not only would he support Senator Goldwater but that he was changing his party allegiance to the Republicans. Democrat Congressman Albert Watson of Lexington then announced his public and active support of Goldwater.
Nationally Goldwater lost in a landslide; however, he won 6 states; Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. In South Carolina, Goldwater received 309,048 votes (58.9%) to Johnson’s 215,700 (41.1%). This was the first time that the Republicans had carried the State since 1876. He also carried 33 of the State’s 46 counties. After the election, the U.S. House Democrat Caucus censured Watson for supporting Goldwater. On February 1, 1965, Watson declared he “would not sit around to be bullied by Northern liberals,” and resigned from Congress. He announced that he would run in the special election for his seat as a Republican. Watson won the special election with 59% of the votes becoming the first Republican to represent South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives since 1896. By 1966 the Republicans were prepared to compete statewide, not just in Presidential elections, but also for Congress, the Senate, state legislature, and local offices.
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