Incumbent President Harry S. 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.

[36] Thurmond called civil rights initiatives dangerous to the American constitution and making the country susceptible to communism in the event of their enactment,[37] challenging Truman to a debate on the issue.

During the campaign, Thurmond said the following in a speech met with loud cheers by his assembled supporters: listenⓘ 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.

[41] In July, Thurmond supported the Republican Eisenhower Administration's bill for an expanded military reserve law over the alternate plan proposed by fellow Democratic Senator Richard Russell.

[42] Thurmond co-wrote the first version of the Southern Manifesto, stating disagreement with the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, that declared that segregated public schools were unconstitutional and ordered them integrated.

Though both Byrd and Thurmond had long since moved on from the States Rights' Democratic Party, they were the decided protest ticket of several Southern delegates and unpledged electors, who refused to give their support to Kennedy.

[59] In May 1962, Thurmond was part of a group of Senate orators headed by John C. Stennis who expressed opposition to the Kennedy administration's literacy test bill, arguing that the measure was in violation of states' rights as defined by the Constitution.

Hours after the statement was made public, a Pentagon official disputed his claims as being "at wide variance with carefully evaluated data collected by U.S. intelligence" and called for Thurmond to release his proof to the Defense Department.

[79] Thurmond explained his opposition to the Voting Rights Act as being opposed to its authorization of the federal government to determine the processes behind how statewide elections are conducted and insisted he was not against black voter turnout.

"[107] During the general election campaign, Nixon's running mate Spiro Agnew stated that he did not believe Thurmond was a racist when asked his opinion on the matter,[108] and Thurmond participated in a two-day tour of Georgia during October where he warned that American Independent Party candidate George Wallace would split the vote and give the election to Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey by having the Democratic-majority House of Representatives select him in the event none of the candidates received enough electoral votes to win the presidency outright.

[124][125][126][127] In January 1970, Thurmond asserted that he would work "to reverse the unreasonable and impractical decisions of the Supreme Court", as well as assist with the appointment of "sound judges" and uphold the Nixon administration's position for resumption of tax‐exempt status among all private schools.

Thurmond also defended the Vietnam policy of the Nixon administration, saying that the president was making the best of the situation that he had inherited from Kennedy and Johnson while admitting he personally favored a total victory in the war.

[140] In May 1974, Thurmond, along with William L. Scott and James B. Allen agreed with Senator Carl T. Curtis on the equation of resignation with mob rule and the group declined defending Nixon's conduct.

[168] In July, as the Senate weighed voting on the nomination of Assistant Attorney General Patricia M. Wald to the United States Court of Appeals in Washington, Thurmond joined Paul Laxalt and Alan Simpson in recording their opposition.

[189][190] In December 1980, Thurmond met with President-elect Reagan and recommended former South Carolina governor James B. Edwards for United States Secretary of Energy in the incoming administration.

[207] Thurmond responded to the decision by stating that Reagan had heeded bad advice and added that the veto would produce "more layoffs, more plant shutdowns and more long-term economic damage to an industry that is crucial to this nation.

Brock replied to Thurmond weeks later, asserting that he had "every intention" of fulfilling his commitment to Congress "to take account of the import sensitivity of specific products" in the agreement and that Israel had acknowledged the irregularity of export subsidy programs "with the concept of a free-trade area.

[228][229] Cunningham charged Thurmond with being a follower who no one could validate the seriousness of as a candidate since he had not been challenged in eighteen years, furthering that the South Carolina Republican Party had been involved with the decline in his opposition.

The New York Times observed, "Judge Thomas's remarks in Mr. Thurmond's office were not in response to reporters' specific questions and were clearly intended to rebut critics, including some by members of civil rights organizations, who say he should not be confirmed because of his vociferous opposition to affirmative action and racial quotas in hiring.

Thurmond remarked that the issue was the only one expressed by members of the press,[272] even as polls showed "that the vast majority of South Carolinians believe it is far past time for him to retire.

Clinton stated that the bill being named after Thurmond was a "well-deserved and appropriate tribute" due to his thirty-six years in the U.S. Army Reserve and his primary focus in the Senate being on U.S. national defense.

[277] In February 1999, Thurmond introduced legislation barring health messages on wine bottles, the measure intended to reverse what he called "erroneous and irresponsible" action of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

[278] On May 26, 1999, the Senate voted on an amendment to a spending bill exonerating Husband E. Kimmel and Walter C. Short of charges of failing to anticipate the attack on Pearl Harbor that led to American involvement in World War II.

His supporters argued that, while he lacked physical stamina due to his age, mentally he remained aware and attentive, and maintained a very active work schedule, showing up for every floor vote.

Though the Thurmond family never publicly acknowledged Washington-Williams as his daughter while he was alive, he helped pay her way through a historically black college in South Carolina and continued to give her financial support well into her adult life.

[316][317] Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Diane Norman of the Spartanburg Herald-Journal called Thurmond "a political icon depicted in life-size statues in Columbia and Edgefield and whose name graces seven public buildings, a shopping mall, a high school, a National Guard armory, a lake, a dam and an interstate highway.

"[318] Former Slate senior writer Timothy Noah wrote that Thurmond's most significant political contribution was his backing of segregation and myths had been construed on the part of his contemporaries to explain his continued wielding of national influence.

"[165] Thurmond received black support in his 1978 re-election and African Americans were noted to "praise their onetime nemesis as a driving force behind the influx of more federal dollars to the state's minority neighborhoods.

"[339] After his retirement, Thurmond's early career and those of slave owner John C. Calhoun and Benjamin Tillman were cited as political symbols of South Carolina's historical racism and denial of basic civil rights to minority groups.

[340] In 2011, Public Policy Polling found Thurmond to be the most popular politician in South Carolina, with higher favorability ratings than current lawmakers Lindsey Graham, Nikki Haley, Jim DeMint, and Mark Sanford.