National Democratic Party of Alabama: Difference between revisions
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[[Category:Political parties in Alabama]] |
[[Category:Political parties in Alabama]] |
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[[Category:Political parties established in 1968]] |
[[Category:Political parties established in 1968]] |
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[[Category:African-American history of |
[[Category:African-American history of Alabama]] |
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Revision as of 08:24, 16 July 2012
The National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA) was a political party active in the state of Alabama that opposed the segregationist former governor George Wallace.
1968 Election
During the 1968 Presidential election, Alabama's Democratic Party supported the former Governor George Wallace who was the Presidential nominee of the American Independent Party. The supporters of the national Democratic Party, the Vice President Hubert Humphrey left the party to support the national slate.
In 1968 led by John L. Cashin, Jr., a dentist from Huntsville who had been active in the voter registration group the Alabama Democratic Conference, Democrats loyal to Humphrey and national Democratic Party formed the NDPA as a vehicle to field a slate of electors pledged to him. Although national Democratic Party supported Humphrey, Wallace was put on ballot in his home state as official Democratic nominee.
There were precedent for the behviour of the state party machinery such as when Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond was the Democratic nominee in 1948 in some southern states despite Harry S. Truman being the Democratic nominee. In 1964, the Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson was not in ballot in Alabama, and an unpledged electors slate was officially nominated by Alabama's Democrats.
The Wallace ticked garnerred 65.86% of the Alabama vote, with Humphrey coming second with 18.72%.[1]
Post 1968 activity
In 1970, John Cashin ran as the NDPA candidate for governor against George Wallance,[2] getting 15% of the vote.[3]
The American Bald Eagle was the symbol of the NDPA, which was often opposed by the Democratic Rooster in local Democratic elections.
Local politics
The party became a prominent voice for African American voting rights and an important player in local politics in Black-dominated communities such as Greene County, Hale County, Perry County, Lowndes County and Dallas County, although it failed to make a lasting impact on state politics.[4][5]
The NDPA was able to get around hundred of local officials elected, especially in the Western parts of the state.[4][5]
The importance of the NDPA must be viewed in terms of the impact that it had on politics in the Alabama Black Belt. Probate Judge William McKinley Branch (1st Black Probate Judge in the nation) credits Cashin and the NDPA with his success. Branch's nephew, Sheriff without a Gun Thomas Gilmore (2nd elected Black Sheriff in the nation) credits Cashin and the NDPA with his success. Peter Kirksey, 1st Black member of the Greene County Board of Education, cites Cashin and the NDPA for his success. Even after the revolution of the mid-1960s that brought these pioneers to power in Greene County, the shadow of the eagles hovered over Greene County for a generation.