Date of Award
Spring 2026
Document Type
Open Access Thesis
Department
History
First Advisor
Kent Germany
Abstract
Although fought on a distant East Asian peninsula, the Korean War loomed large in the minds of South Carolina conservatives. Between 1950 and 1953, Palmetto State conservatives penned hundreds of letters to Senator Olin Johnston and Third District Representative William Jennings Bryan Dorn apprising both congressmen of their feelings regarding the Korean War. These letters reveal the anxieties which influenced conservative perception of the war, namely a pervasive belief that Korea was a lost cause because the Truman Administration refused to go all in. Horrified at the American death toll in Korea and frustrated with lack of success, South Carolina conservatives demanded atomic bombing to save American soldiers and win the war. Moreover, Palmetto State conservatives praised MacArthur for his commitment to victory, despite his defeat at the Yalu River, and blamed every setback on alleged subversion by Harry Truman’s State Department. Informed by their belief that the Korean War was an inevitable victory if only America committed every available resource to win it, South Carolina conservatives went to the polls in 1952 ready to elect a president who would commit to winning the Korean War.
The election of 1952 demonstrated that South Carolina conservatives were willing to entertain political alternatives to their Democratic heritage. These “Eisencrats” nearly succeeded in flipping the Dixiecrat stronghold, citing the Korean War as a key factor in their decision to defect. Dwight Eisenhower’s negotiation of a ceasefire with North Korea at Panmunjom convinced many South Carolina conservatives that neither party was a suitable home for southern conservatism, thus delaying realignment. The responses of Palmetto State conservatives to the Korean War and the 1952 election suggest that had the Republican Party nominated a conservative candidate, such as Robert Taft or Douglas MacArthur, South Carolina’s conservatives may have begun defecting to the Republicans decades earlier than the “Southern Strategy” of the 1970s.
Rights
© 2026, Andrew Jan Cerise
Recommended Citation
Cerise, A. J.(2026). From Dixiecrats to MacArthur Men: South Carolina Conservatives, The Korean War, and the 1952 Election. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/8716
Included in
Asian History Commons, Military History Commons, Political History Commons, Public History Commons, United States History Commons