Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-27T06:53:57.651Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Localism, Factional Fluidity, and Factionalism: Louisiana and Mississippi Gubernatorial Contests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

John R. Van Wingen
John R. Van Wingen*
Affiliation:
University of Southern Mississippi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In his classic, Southern Politics, Key used the term “one-party factionalism” to describe the electoral politics of the South during the 1930s and 1940s: “one-party” because the Republicans offered, at best, only minimal opposition to the Democrats, and “factional” because several groups tended to vie for control of the top state offices via electoral victories in the Democratic primaries. According to Key, severe consequences accompanied one-party factionalism. In most of the southern states, primary voters could not even vote the “ins” out of office, for the competing factions were so fluid that it was never clear who, if anyone, represented the ins. The haves in southern society normally controlled government; although those in power had their differences, particularly in style, most of them agreed that the status quo needed protection. The less privileged lacked organized avenues for expressing their needs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , Winter 1984 , pp. 3 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1984 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

fn00

Author’s Note: This article is a substantially revised version of a paper presented at the 1979 Southern Political Science Convention. I wish to thank both the University of Southern Mississippi for granting me a sabbatical leave during which time most of the revisions were made and the editors and anonymous reviewers of this journal for their most helpful suggestions.

References

Black, E. and Black, M. (1973a) “The demographic basis of Wallace support in Alabama.” Amer. Politics Q. 1 (July): 279–304.Google Scholar
Black, E. (1973b) “The Wallace vote in Alabama: a multiple regression analysis.” J, of Politics 35 (August): 730–736.Google Scholar
Cannon, B. C. (1980) “Isolating causes of factionalism in the south: a revisitation of V.O. Key, Jr.,“ pp. 35–57 in Steed, R. P. et al. (eds.) Party Politics in the South. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Cannon, B. C. (1978) “Factionalism in the south: a test of theory and revisitation of V.O. Key, Jr.” Amer. J. of Pol. Sci. 22 (November): 833–848.Google Scholar
Cotter, P. R. (1982) “Electoral conditions and voting behavior.” Presented at the Citadel Symposium of Southern Politics, Charleston, South Carolina, March 25-27.Google Scholar
Cotter, P. R. (1981) “Southern politics and the second reconstruction: the case of South Carolina.” Western Pol. Q. 34 (December): 543–551.Google Scholar
Echols, M. T. and Ranney, A. (1976) “The impact of interparty competition reconsidered: the case of Florida.” J. of Pol. 38 (February): 142–153.Google Scholar
Fortenberry, C. N. and Abney, F. G. (1972) “Mississippi: unreconstructed and unredeemed,” pp. 472–524 in Havard, W. C. (ed.) The Changing Politics of the South. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Havard, W. C. Heberle, R., and Howard, P. H. (1963) The Louisiana Elections of 1960. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Howard, P. H. (1972) “Louisiana: resistance and change,” pp. 525–587 in Havard, W. C. (ed.) The Changing Politics of the South. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Howard, P. H. (1971) Political Tendencies in Louisiana. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Hy, R. and Saeger, R. T. (1976) “The nature and role of political parties,” pp. 35–56 in Landry, D. M. and Parker, J. B. (eds.) Mississippi Government and Politics in Transition. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.Google Scholar
Jewell, M. E. and Olson, D. M. (1978) American State Political Parties and Elections. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, R. J. (1973) “Spatial patterns and influences on voting in multi-candidate elections: the Christchurch city council elections, 1968.” Urban Studies 10 (February): 69–81.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. Jr., (1949) Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Krane, D. and Allen, T. H. Jr., (1980) “Factional durability in Mississippi gubernatorial elections, 1927-75,” pp. 58–80 in Steed, R. P. et al. (eds.) Party Politics in the South. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Landry, D. M. (1976) “The socioeconomic environment and its impact on the political system,” pp. 1–14 in Landry, D. M. and Parker, J. B. (eds.) Mississippi Government and Politics in Transition. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.Google Scholar
Parker, J. B., and Wolfe, J. H. (1977) “Segmented pluralism in Louisiana.” Presented at the Louisiana Political Science Convention, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, March 11-12.Google Scholar
Louisiana Secretary of State (1904-1980) Compilation of Primary Election Returns. Baton Rouge, LA: State of Louisiana.Google Scholar
Mississippi Secretary of State (1905-1980) Mississippi Official and Statistical Register. Jackson, MS: State of Mississippi.Google Scholar
Rae, D. W. (1971) The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Sindler, A. P. (1966) Political Parties in the United States. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Sindler, A. P. (1956) Huey Long’s Louisiana: State Politics, 1920-1952. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Sindler, A. P. (1955) “Bifactional rivalry as an alternative to two-party competition in Louisiana.” Amer. Pol. Sci. Rev. 44 (September): 641–662.Google Scholar
Tatalovich, R. (1976) “The role of the Mississippi electorate,” pp. 15–34 in Landry, D. M. and Parker, J. B. (eds.) Mississippi Government and Politics in Transition. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.Google Scholar
Tatalovich, R. (1975) ‘“Friends and neighbors’ voting: Mississippi, 1943-1973.” J. of Politics 37 (August): 807–814.Google Scholar
Todd, J. R. and Ellis, K. D. (1974) “Analyzing factional patterns in state politics: Texas, 1944-1972.” Social Sci. Q. 55 (December): 718–731.Google Scholar
Van Wingen, J. R. and Parker, J. B. (1979) “Measuring friends-and-neighbors voting.” Amer. Pol. Q. 7 (July): 376–383.Google Scholar
Wildgen, J. K. (1974) “The detection of critical elections in the absence of two-party competition.” J. of Politics 36 (May): 465–479.Google Scholar