"I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches." Strom Thurmond of South Carolina's campaign speech as the Nominee of the States Rights (Dixiecrats) Party for President in 1948. He won four states ad almost made Thomas Dewey President.
He became the US Senator from South Carolia as a Democrat in 1954. In 1964 he became a Republican, because of widespread support for Civil Rights legislation. He said that the Democratic Party was no longer the place for a (segregationist) like him. He chose the GOP because its 1964 Presidential Nominee, Barry Goldwater, had joined Southern Democrats in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
