The American for Democratic
Action (ADA) was established in 1947 as an organization to support
the advance of liberal causes. Members included Arthur
Schlesinger, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Walter Reuther, Hubert
Humphrey, David Dubinsky and Chester Bowles.
In 1948 ADA selected civil
rights as its main issue and tried to persuade the Democratic
Party and the Republican Party
to support civil rights legislation.
Harry
S. Truman shared the views of ADA and his Fair Deal proposals
included legislation on civil rights, fair employment practices and
opposition to lynching. When Truman
won the Democratic Party nomination, Southern Democrats formed the
States' Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats) and Storm
Thurmond was chosen as its presidential candidate. He won 1,169,063
votes but came a poor third to Harry S. Truman (24,105,812).
In the 1950s and 1960s
Hubert Humphrey was the main ADA figure
in Congress. Elected as vice-president in 1964, Humphrey was able
to influence the decision by Lyndon
B. Johnson to
support the Voting Rights Act (1965)
and the Immigration Act (1965).
Hubert Humphrey won the
Democratic Party presidential nomination
in 1968 but was defeated by Richard Nixon,
the Republican Party candidate. However,
membership of the American for Democratic Action continued to grow
and reached 75,000 in the early 1970s.
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