1956 United States presidential election in North Carolina
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All 14 North Carolina votes to the Electoral College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in North Carolina |
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The 1956 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 14[3] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
As a former Confederate state, North Carolina had a history of Jim Crow laws, disfranchisement of its African-American population and dominance of the Democratic Party in state politics. However, unlike the Deep South, the Republican Party had sufficient historic Unionist white support from the mountains and northwestern Piedmont to gain one-third of the statewide vote total in most general elections,[4] where turnout was higher than elsewhere in the former Confederacy due substantially to the state's early abolition of the poll tax in 1920.[5] Like Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma, the relative strength of Republican opposition meant that North Carolina never had statewide white primaries, although certain counties did use a white primary until it was banned by Smith v. Allwright.[6]
Following the banning of white primaries by the Supreme Court, North Carolina in 1948 offered less support to the Dixiecrat bolt than any other former Confederate state, due to the economic liberalism of its Black Belt and solid Democratic party discipline due to consistent Republican opposition.[7] Although there was little satisfaction with Harry S. Truman during his second term,[8] the loyalty of the white voters of the state’s Black Belt and the previously anti-Al Smith Outer Banks meant that unlike Texas, Florida and Virginia, urban middle-class Republican voting was inadequate to carry North Carolina for Eisenhower.[9]
During the 1940s and 1950s, the proportion of blacks registered to vote in the state increased steadily from less than ten percent to around twenty percent by the time of Brown v. Board of Education. Several Piedmont cities had blacks on their councils,[10] although blacks in rural areas generally remained without hope of registering. The state would largely escape the overt “Massive Resistance” seen in neighbouring Virginia,[11] and four of its congressmen did not sign the Southern Manifesto.[12] Nonetheless, although the Greensboro school board voted 6–1 to desegregate within a day of Brown,[13] no serious desegregation would take place until well into the 1960s, while two non-signers would be challenged and defeated in 1956 primaries.[b]
Polls
[edit]| Source | Rating | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Daily Press[14] | Safe D | September 29, 1956 |
| The Daily Times-News[15] | Safe D | October 26, 1956 |
| Asheville Citizen-Times[16] | Safe D | October 28, 1956 |
| Fort Worth Star-Telegram[17] | Safe D | November 2, 1956 |
| Corpus Christi Times[18] | Likely D | November 3, 1956 |
| The Philadelphia Inquirer[19] | Likely D | November 4, 1956 |
| The Salt Lake Tribune[20] | Likely D | November 4, 1956 |
Results
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Adlai Stevenson | 590,530 | 50.66% | |
| Republican | Dwight D. Eisenhower (inc.) | 575,062 | 49.34% | |
| Total votes | 1,165,592 | 100% | ||
Results by county
[edit]| County[21] | Adlai Stevenson Democratic |
Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican |
Margin | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Alamance | 11,029 | 47.64% | 12,123 | 52.36% | -1,094 | -4.72% | 23,152 |
| Alexander | 2,710 | 41.84% | 3,767 | 58.16% | -1,057 | -16.32% | 6,477 |
| Alleghany | 1,670 | 49.57% | 1,699 | 50.43% | -29 | -0.86% | 3,369 |
| Anson | 3,598 | 68.69% | 1,640 | 31.31% | 1,958 | 37.38% | 5,238 |
| Ashe | 3,982 | 46.46% | 4,588 | 53.54% | -606 | -7.08% | 8,570 |
| Avery | 969 | 19.47% | 4,009 | 80.53% | -3,040 | -61.06% | 4,978 |
| Beaufort | 5,730 | 71.56% | 2,277 | 28.44% | 3,453 | 43.12% | 8,007 |
| Bertie | 3,373 | 87.79% | 469 | 12.21% | 2,904 | 75.58% | 3,842 |
| Bladen | 4,078 | 72.56% | 1,542 | 27.44% | 2,536 | 45.12% | 5,620 |
| Brunswick | 3,297 | 49.98% | 3,299 | 50.02% | -2 | -0.04% | 6,596 |
| Buncombe | 19,044 | 45.67% | 22,655 | 54.33% | -3,611 | -8.66% | 41,699 |
| Burke | 7,999 | 40.35% | 11,823 | 59.65% | -3,824 | -19.30% | 19,822 |
| Cabarrus | 7,173 | 33.15% | 14,462 | 66.85% | -7,289 | -33.70% | 21,635 |
| Caldwell | 6,861 | 38.78% | 10,833 | 61.22% | -3,972 | -22.44% | 17,694 |
| Camden | 813 | 70.33% | 343 | 29.67% | 470 | 40.66% | 1,156 |
| Carteret | 3,875 | 50.46% | 3,804 | 49.54% | 71 | 0.92% | 7,679 |
| Caswell | 2,468 | 67.21% | 1,204 | 32.79% | 1,264 | 34.42% | 3,672 |
| Catawba | 11,424 | 37.25% | 19,246 | 62.75% | -7,822 | -25.50% | 30,670 |
| Chatham | 4,151 | 52.68% | 3,729 | 47.32% | 422 | 5.36% | 7,880 |
| Cherokee | 2,843 | 42.60% | 3,830 | 57.40% | -987 | -14.80% | 6,673 |
| Chowan | 1,485 | 72.76% | 556 | 27.24% | 929 | 45.52% | 2,041 |
| Clay | 1,287 | 47.16% | 1,442 | 52.84% | -155 | -5.68% | 2,729 |
| Cleveland | 8,408 | 54.30% | 7,076 | 45.70% | 1,332 | 8.60% | 15,484 |
| Columbus | 7,805 | 77.24% | 2,300 | 22.76% | 5,505 | 54.48% | 10,105 |
| Craven | 6,317 | 68.12% | 2,956 | 31.88% | 3,361 | 36.24% | 9,273 |
| Cumberland | 8,862 | 56.95% | 6,699 | 43.05% | 2,163 | 13.90% | 15,561 |
| Currituck | 1,425 | 74.49% | 488 | 25.51% | 937 | 48.98% | 1,913 |
| Dare | 839 | 44.94% | 1,028 | 55.06% | -189 | -10.12% | 1,867 |
| Davidson | 9,987 | 38.17% | 16,178 | 61.83% | -6,191 | -23.66% | 26,165 |
| Davie | 2,110 | 31.45% | 4,599 | 68.55% | -2,489 | -37.10% | 6,709 |
| Duplin | 6,931 | 76.66% | 2,110 | 23.34% | 4,821 | 53.32% | 9,041 |
| Durham | 13,835 | 51.13% | 13,226 | 48.87% | 609 | 2.26% | 27,061 |
| Edgecombe | 7,830 | 80.97% | 1,840 | 19.03% | 5,990 | 61.94% | 9,670 |
| Forsyth | 15,819 | 35.01% | 29,368 | 64.99% | -13,549 | -29.98% | 45,187 |
| Franklin | 5,298 | 87.00% | 792 | 13.00% | 4,506 | 74.00% | 6,090 |
| Gaston | 15,671 | 46.32% | 18,159 | 53.68% | -2,488 | -7.36% | 33,830 |
| Gates | 1,244 | 78.49% | 341 | 21.51% | 903 | 56.98% | 1,585 |
| Graham | 1,486 | 45.75% | 1,762 | 54.25% | -276 | -8.50% | 3,248 |
| Granville | 4,013 | 73.28% | 1,463 | 26.72% | 2,550 | 46.56% | 5,476 |
| Greene | 3,285 | 93.67% | 222 | 6.33% | 3,063 | 87.34% | 3,507 |
| Guilford | 21,948 | 40.13% | 32,751 | 59.87% | -10,803 | -19.74% | 54,699 |
| Halifax | 7,860 | 77.01% | 2,346 | 22.99% | 5,514 | 54.02% | 10,206 |
| Harnett | 7,421 | 64.99% | 3,998 | 35.01% | 3,423 | 29.98% | 11,419 |
| Haywood | 7,598 | 52.21% | 6,955 | 47.79% | 643 | 4.42% | 14,553 |
| Henderson | 4,003 | 30.22% | 9,243 | 69.78% | -5,240 | -39.56% | 13,246 |
| Hertford | 2,708 | 78.79% | 729 | 21.21% | 1,979 | 57.58% | 3,437 |
| Hoke | 1,944 | 79.12% | 513 | 20.88% | 1,431 | 58.24% | 2,457 |
| Hyde | 1,028 | 67.68% | 491 | 32.32% | 537 | 35.36% | 1,519 |
| Iredell | 7,286 | 39.57% | 11,125 | 60.43% | -3,839 | -20.86% | 18,411 |
| Jackson | 3,787 | 51.95% | 3,503 | 48.05% | 284 | 3.90% | 7,290 |
| Johnston | 9,852 | 66.82% | 4,893 | 33.18% | 4,959 | 33.64% | 14,745 |
| Jones | 1,952 | 82.47% | 415 | 17.53% | 1,537 | 64.94% | 2,367 |
| Lee | 4,163 | 68.12% | 1,948 | 31.88% | 2,215 | 36.24% | 6,111 |
| Lenoir | 6,847 | 72.76% | 2,564 | 27.24% | 4,283 | 45.52% | 9,411 |
| Lincoln | 5,838 | 46.80% | 6,637 | 53.20% | -799 | -6.40% | 12,475 |
| Macon | 3,025 | 47.02% | 3,408 | 52.98% | -383 | -5.96% | 6,433 |
| Madison | 3,693 | 46.42% | 4,263 | 53.58% | -570 | -7.16% | 7,956 |
| Martin | 5,730 | 92.73% | 449 | 7.27% | 5,281 | 85.46% | 6,179 |
| McDowell | 4,392 | 44.54% | 5,468 | 55.46% | -1,076 | -10.92% | 9,860 |
| Mecklenburg | 27,227 | 37.98% | 44,469 | 62.02% | -17,242 | -24.04% | 71,696 |
| Mitchell | 1,069 | 20.03% | 4,269 | 79.97% | -3,200 | -59.94% | 5,338 |
| Montgomery | 3,088 | 47.90% | 3,359 | 52.10% | -271 | -4.20% | 6,447 |
| Moore | 4,729 | 47.45% | 5,238 | 52.55% | -509 | -5.10% | 9,967 |
| Nash | 9,969 | 78.91% | 2,665 | 21.09% | 7,304 | 57.82% | 12,634 |
| New Hanover | 10,247 | 51.97% | 9,470 | 48.03% | 777 | 3.94% | 19,717 |
| Northampton | 4,242 | 85.03% | 747 | 14.97% | 3,495 | 70.06% | 4,989 |
| Onslow | 4,692 | 74.26% | 1,626 | 25.74% | 3,066 | 48.52% | 6,318 |
| Orange | 4,743 | 51.90% | 4,396 | 48.10% | 347 | 3.80% | 9,139 |
| Pamlico | 1,376 | 59.06% | 954 | 40.94% | 422 | 18.12% | 2,330 |
| Pasquotank | 2,963 | 61.86% | 1,827 | 38.14% | 1,136 | 23.72% | 4,790 |
| Pender | 2,196 | 68.52% | 1,009 | 31.48% | 1,187 | 37.04% | 3,205 |
| Perquimans | 1,022 | 59.04% | 709 | 40.96% | 313 | 18.08% | 1,731 |
| Person | 3,433 | 66.36% | 1,740 | 33.64% | 1,693 | 32.72% | 5,173 |
| Pitt | 11,873 | 82.52% | 2,515 | 17.48% | 9,358 | 65.04% | 14,388 |
| Polk | 2,527 | 47.23% | 2,823 | 52.77% | -296 | -5.54% | 5,350 |
| Randolph | 8,404 | 38.95% | 13,174 | 61.05% | -4,770 | -22.10% | 21,578 |
| Richmond | 6,592 | 69.40% | 2,907 | 30.60% | 3,685 | 38.80% | 9,499 |
| Robeson | 10,516 | 79.06% | 2,785 | 20.94% | 7,731 | 58.12% | 13,301 |
| Rockingham | 8,896 | 49.73% | 8,991 | 50.27% | -95 | -0.54% | 17,887 |
| Rowan | 9,761 | 35.72% | 17,562 | 64.28% | -7,801 | -28.56% | 27,323 |
| Rutherford | 7,208 | 46.78% | 8,200 | 53.22% | -992 | -6.44% | 15,408 |
| Sampson | 7,197 | 51.84% | 6,685 | 48.16% | 512 | 3.68% | 13,882 |
| Scotland | 3,042 | 72.21% | 1,171 | 27.79% | 1,871 | 44.42% | 4,213 |
| Stanly | 6,693 | 38.55% | 10,667 | 61.45% | -3,974 | -22.90% | 17,360 |
| Stokes | 3,948 | 47.63% | 4,341 | 52.37% | -393 | -4.74% | 8,289 |
| Surry | 7,020 | 43.82% | 9,001 | 56.18% | -1,981 | -12.36% | 16,021 |
| Swain | 1,794 | 46.96% | 2,026 | 53.04% | -232 | -6.08% | 3,820 |
| Transylvania | 3,435 | 46.82% | 3,901 | 53.18% | -466 | -6.36% | 7,336 |
| Tyrrell | 615 | 59.42% | 420 | 40.58% | 195 | 18.84% | 1,035 |
| Union | 6,383 | 65.50% | 3,362 | 34.50% | 3,021 | 31.00% | 9,745 |
| Vance | 4,922 | 71.57% | 1,955 | 28.43% | 2,967 | 43.14% | 6,877 |
| Wake | 22,427 | 59.61% | 15,194 | 40.39% | 7,233 | 19.22% | 37,621 |
| Warren | 2,733 | 79.19% | 718 | 20.81% | 2,015 | 58.38% | 3,451 |
| Washington | 1,947 | 65.34% | 1,033 | 34.66% | 914 | 30.68% | 2,980 |
| Watauga | 3,223 | 41.01% | 4,636 | 58.99% | -1,413 | -17.98% | 7,859 |
| Wayne | 6,756 | 61.55% | 4,220 | 38.45% | 2,536 | 23.10% | 10,976 |
| Wilkes | 5,870 | 33.71% | 11,544 | 66.29% | -5,674 | -32.58% | 17,414 |
| Wilson | 8,328 | 74.64% | 2,830 | 25.36% | 5,498 | 49.28% | 11,158 |
| Yadkin | 2,361 | 30.15% | 5,469 | 69.85% | -3,108 | -39.70% | 7,830 |
| Yancey | 2,964 | 51.35% | 2,808 | 48.65% | 156 | 2.70% | 5,772 |
| Totals | 590,530 | 50.66% | 575,062 | 49.34% | 15,468 | 1.32% | 1,165,592 |
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
[edit]Analysis
[edit]North Carolina was carried by Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson of Illinois, with 50.66 percent of the popular vote, over incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 49.34 percent.[22][23] As in 1952, the key to Stevenson’s victory was the powerful loyalty of Black Belt and Outer Banks white voters. The east–west partisan split seen in 1928 and 1952 became so consistent that Stevenson won only four counties in the western bloc — with Eisenhower’s gain vis-à-vis 1952 of around 6 points concentrated in traditionally Democratic mountain and Piedmont counties[21] — but in the coastal plain Eisenhower won only Dare and Brunswick Counties. Critical help for Stevenson also came from gaining a much larger proportion of the growing urban black electorate than elsewhere in the Confederacy.[c] This was the last time until 1992 that North Carolina would vote for the losing candidate in a presidential election, and is also the last time that a Republican has won the presidency without carrying North Carolina.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of the 1952 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.
- ^ These were Charles B. Deane and Richard Thurmond Chatham.[12]
- ^ It is estimated that Eisenhower gained under forty percent of black voters in major North Carolina cities, whereas he gained over seventy percent in Atlanta and Richmond and over half in Memphis.[24]
References
[edit]- ^ "United States Presidential election of 1956 — Encyclopædia Britannica". Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ^ "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania
- ^ "1956 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)". Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ^ Phillips, Kevin P. (November 23, 2014). The Emerging Republican Majority. Princeton University Press. pp. 210, 242. ISBN 978-0-691-16324-6.
- ^ Key, Valdimer Orlando (1949). Southern Politics in State and Nation. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 502.
- ^ Klarman, Michael J. (2001). "The White Primary Rulings: A Case Study in the Consequences of Supreme Court Decision-Making". Florida State University Law Review. 29: 55–107.
- ^ Guthrie, Paul Daniel (August 1955). The Dixiecrat Movement of 1948 (Thesis). Bowling Green State University. p. 183. Docket 144207.
- ^ Grayson, A.G. (December 1975). "North Carolina and Harry Truman, 1944-1948". Journal of American Studies. 9 (3): 283–300. doi:10.1017/S0021875800003005.
- ^ Strong, Donald S. (August 1955). "The Presidential Election in the South, 1952". The Journal of Politics. 17 (3): 343–389. doi:10.1017/S0022381600091064.
- ^ Christensen, Rob (2008). The paradox of Tar Heel politics: the personalities, elections, and events that shaped modern North Carolina. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 264–265. ISBN 9780807831892.
- ^ Christensen. The paradox of Tar Heel politics, pp. 155-156
- ^ a b Badger, Tony (1999). "Southerners Who Refused To Sign the Southern Manifesto". The Historical Journal. 42 (2). Cambridge University Press: 528–532. doi:10.1017/S0018246X98008346.
- ^ Telgen, Diane (2005). Brown v. Board of Education. Detroit, Michigan: Omnigraphics. p. 78. ISBN 9780780807754.
- ^ Lawrence, David (September 29, 1956). "Dissension in South Won't Affect Adlai". The Daily Press. Newport News, Virginia. p. 4.
- ^ "How Do Former Citizens for Eisenhower Stand?". The Daily Times-News. Burlington, North Carolina. October 26, 1956. p. 4.
- ^ Robinson, Charles K.; Ramsey, Claude S., eds. (October 28, 1956). "Polls Favor Ike and Democrats". Asheville Citizen-Times. Asheville, North Carolina: Robert Bunelle. p. 28.
- ^ "Final Babson Poll Shows Eisenhower Winning Easily". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. CTS. November 2, 1956. p. 22.
- ^ Trohan, Walter (November 3, 1956). "Hour of Decision Near: Eisenhower Lead Increasing Daily". Corpus Christi Times. Chicago Tribune Service. p. 4.
- ^ "What the Polls Show — Eisenhower Victory Is Indicated across Nation". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 4, 1956. pp. B 1, B 3.
- ^ Lawrence, W.H. (November 4, 1956). ""Times Team" Counts Up 20-State GOP Margin". The Salt Lake Tribune. p. A 11.
- ^ a b "NC US President Race, November 06, 1956". Our Campaigns.
- ^ "1956 Presidential General Election Results — North Carolina". Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ^ "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1956". Retrieved June 10, 2017.
- ^ Phillips. The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 299
