Lott provoked controversy when he declared at the Thurmond birthday celebration: "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president,
we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond#Run_for_President
In 1948, President
Harry S. Truman ordered the end of racial discrimination in the U.S. Army,
[22][23] proposed the creation of a permanent
Fair Employment Practices Commission, supported the elimination of state
poll taxes (which effectively discriminated against poor blacks and whites in voting), and supported drafting federal anti-
lynching laws.
In response, Thurmond became a candidate for president on the third party ticket of the States' Rights Democratic Party (also known as the Dixiecrats). It split from the national Democrats over the threat of federal intervention in state affairs regarding segregation and Jim Crow. Thurmond's supporters took control of the Democratic Party in the Deep South, and Truman was not included on the presidential ballot in Alabama because that state's Supreme Court ruled void any requirement for party electors to vote for the national nominee.[24] Thurmond stated that Truman, Thomas Dewey and Henry A. Wallace would lead the U.S. to totalitarianism.[25] He called civil rights initiatives dangerous to the American constitution and making the country susceptible to communism in the event of their enactment,[26] challenging Truman to a debate on the issue.[27] Thurmond carried four states and received 39 electoral votes, but Truman was reelected.
During his 1948 campaign, Thurmond said the following in a speech, being met with loud cheers by the assembled supporters:
listen (
help·
info)
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.
[a][7]