National Politics: Democratic Primaries and Convention 1952

Democratic Primaries.

Estes Kefauver's campaign performance dominated the Democratic primaries. His surprise victory over Harry S Truman in New Hampshire embarrassed the president and quickened his decision not to seek another term. Yet, despite Kefauver's impressive showing in the northern primaries, several of his victories came in states such as Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, where the delegates were required by law to remain unpledged. Furthermore, fellow southerners regarded the famous senator from Tennessee to be a traitor to the white South on issues of segregation—and were eager to hand him a string of defeats in the Dixie primaries. Sen. Richard Russell—a Georgia conservative and an anti—Fair Deal candidate who had campaigned little in the early northern primaries—easily defeated Kefauver in Florida, signaling the South's solidarity in their opposition to the Tennessee senator.

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