document_title: The Walking Dead: The Final Season

question_text: when is episode 2 of the final season coming out

text: The Walking Dead: The Final Season

text: Gameplay[edit]

text: As with other games in The Walking Dead series, The Final Season is a graphic adventure game, where the player controls the protagonist Clementine as she struggles to survive in the wake of a zombie apocalypse.  The player can move Clementine around the environment to examine items, initiate conversation trees with non-player characters, and progress in the game. Decisions made by the player can affect future episodes, and The Final Season can use previous saved games from The Walking Dead to bring a player's choices from these games into The Final Season. Players that have not played previous seasons, or who may want to adjust choices made affecting Clementine's character, will be able to use a web-based Story Builder tool to create a cloud-based save game that can be used to feed into the game. This also addresses issues with various save game limitations due to platform transitions over the course of the series (for example, previous saves from the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 from the first two seasons are not compatible with The Final Season).[1]

text: In portions of the game, the player will be required to react to quick time events in action-driven scenes, such as escaping from a "walker" (the name for zombies in the series). Failure to complete the events typically results in the death of Clementine or another key character, requiring the player to retry the event.  The Final Season introduces more open-ended action sequences that give the player more control during the sequence.[2]

text: Plot[edit]

text: Some years after the events of A New Frontier, Clementine has continued to raise AJ, recalling Lee's own lessons he taught her. They drive along and stop at a train station to scavenge for food. Inside, they find a cellar with a well-stocked supply of food, but the door is rigged with a grenade, and the noise from the blast draws a walker horde. Whilst driving to escape, Clementine crashes the car, and as she blacks out, she sees someone grabbing AJ. Clementine awakens within the ruins of a schoolhouse. She meets Marlon, the leader of a group of teenagers from the school, and finds they have also been taking care of AJ while she recovered. Clementine and AJ meet the other kids, learning that they have been alone for some time after being abandoned by the school staff but have found ways to survive by hunting and fishing from nearby woods and using traps to ward off walkers outside the school grounds. As she gets to know the others and helps AJ learn appropriate social skills, Clementine learns about the loss of a set of twin sisters about a year prior that still troubles the children, particularly Tenn, the younger brother of the siblings.

text: Marlon warns Clementine they are running low on food, the safe area around the school becoming smaller over time, and has her help the next day with hunting and fishing. Neither effort secures enough food, and Clementine suggests returning to the train station to see what food supplies survived the grenade blast, despite the station being outside of the designated safe zone. Clementine and AJ enter the station to secure the food but are confronted by a man named Abel, who demands a ration of the food at gunpoint. After either complying with or subduing Abel, Clementine and the rest of the group make it back to the school, reporting on their encounter. That evening, through the pipe system in the school, Clementine hears two voices arguing, and finds Marlon and Brody, another resident, having a heated discussion in the cellar. Brody reveals to Clementine that Abel is part of a raider group that Marlon had traded the twins to in exchange for safety. Furious at the reveal, Marlon hits her with a flashlight giving her a deep head gash. Before she dies of brain trauma, Brody reveals to Clementine that Marlon also intends to trade her and AJ should the raiders return. In a state of panic, Marlon leaves Brody to turn and locks Clementine in the cellar. Clementine dispatches the re-animated Brody and escapes the cellar to find Marlon being held at gunpoint by AJ, drawing the attention of the rest of the group. Marlon takes the gun from AJ and tries to frame Clementine for Brody's death in an attempt to get the group to turn on her. Clementine is able to convince the other children of Marlon's wrongdoings, and eventually, Marlon surrenders. As the others discuss what to do with Marlon, he is shot and killed by AJ.

text: Despite Clementine and AJ's attempts to make amends, the other children vote to have the pair evicted from the school. Outside, they run into Abel and another member of the raiders, who Clementine is shocked to find is Lilly, a woman who Lee and Kenny had forced out of their group after leaving Macon, Georgia. Despite her attempts to negotiate with Clementine to convince the other kids to give themselves over to her group, she refuses and they start to hunt her and AJ down, during which AJ is shot in the stomach. The pair are saved by James, a former member of the Whisperers, who reveals to them the raiders are forcibly recruiting people to fight in their war against a rival community. James tends to AJ's wounds and accompanies them back to the school the next morning, before departing on his own. Despite some of the children's resentment towards Clementine and AJ, they allow them back in so that AJ can have his wounds treated. Clementine warns them about Lilly and the raiders, and they make plans to prepare the school grounds for an attack.

text: Two weeks go by without the raiders' incoming attack, putting everyone on edge. After playing a game of truth or dare to ease tensions, the children go to check on final preparations. The player can choose to have Clementine accompany Louis or Violet, and in either case, express romantic feelings for these characters. Soon after, the raiders arrive at the school, looking to capture more children. In the midst of the battle, Lilly inadvertently kills one of the kids, Mitch. Clementine gets into a fight with Abel that ends with them falling off a balcony, breaking Abel's leg. After Clementine saves either Violet or Louis from being kidnapped, Lilly and the raiders escape, and the remaining children count their losses, which include Omar, Aasim, and whichever person Clementine did not save. They vow to get them back and as Abel is now their prisoner, they intend to interrogate him for the location of the raider camp.

text: Episodes[edit]

text: The game is separated into four episodes, released every six weeks.[3]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date [4]161"Done Running"Chris Rebbert, Vahram AntonianJessica Krause, Adam Esquenazi Douglas, Mary Kenney, Lauren MeeAugust 14, 2018 (2018-08-14)
Clementine and AJ join a new group made entirely of children set up in Ericson School for Troubled Youth. Clementine aims to prove their worth to the group by helping out while AJ has trouble fitting in. They learn the recent loss of twin sisters, Sophie and Minerva, has left many in the community heartbroken. After a tense encounter with a stranger who has been stealing the group's food, Clementine learns the secret behind how Ericson has remained safe for so long. The episode ends with AJ making a troubling decision of his own.
172"Suffer the Children"Chris RieserJames Windeler, Mary KennySeptember 25, 2018 (2018-09-25)
Clementine and AJ are forced to leave Ericson, and they run into a figure from Clementine's past, now a new threat to their safety. Helped by a former Whisperer, the pair returns to the school to help the students prepare for an enemy attack. After the raiders make their move, Clementine is forced to choose between two friends, and prepares for vengeance against the raiders with the remaining kids.
183"Broken Toys"TBATBATBA
194"Take Us Back"TBATBATBA

text: Development[edit]

text: Announced during the July 2017 San Diego Comic Con, The Walking Dead: The Final Season, is scheduled to launch as a four-episode series on August 14, 2018 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a Nintendo Switch version to launch later that year.[5] Clementine will return as the lead character, voiced by Melissa Hutchinson, as Telltale found that fans of the series were not pleased with how little interactivity there was with Clementine in A New Frontier. Telltale wanted to have the final season call back to what fans had praised about the first season, and knew they needed to make Clementine the focus. With this direction, Telltale decided to make this the final season for The Walking Dead series so that they can create a satisfactory conclusion to Clementine's story arc.[6] For this purpose, Telltale brought back Gary Whitta, the writer for the first season and "400 Days" content, to help close out Clementine's story.[7][6]

text: The story will follow from A New Frontier with Clementine having rescued AJ from the McCarroll Ranch, with a timeskip a few years ahead, where AJ is now a young boy. With diminishing resources amid the apocalypse, Clementine and AJ find the importance of staying with communities of vital importance, meeting other characters who have little memory of the time before the downfall of society. Clementine starts to teach AJ the essentials of survival as Lee had taught her during The Walking Dead: The First Season, as a way of paying Lee's lessons forward.[8] Telltale had initially considered writing a version of Clementine that had become more jaded, but found this was far too different from the established version of the character, and reworked her to be more sympathetic.[6][2][9]

text: The final season will use the updated version of the Telltale Tool first introduced in Batman: The Telltale Series, along with improvements in the visual style to approach the style used in The Walking Dead comic.[6] This included improved dynamic lightning, and a new rendering style Telltale called "Graphic Black" to enforce the comic book rendering style.[10] Some scenes will feature "unscripted" zombies who may attack Clementine if the player is not careful, creating new freeform combat sequences, while other parts of the game will continue to use quick-time events as from previous games.[2]

text: Due to course-corrections made at Telltale in 2017, The Walking Dead: The Final Season was primarily the only game the company released that year, cutting down from twenty episodes across multiple games in 2017 to only this season's four in 2018. The game's executive producer Brodie Andersen said that "We know we ran a little hot in previous years and weren't able to fully deliver the experiences we may have wanted to, so that was important to focus in on a polished quality experience players love."[10] Because of the reduced product schedule, Telltale was able to establish firm release dates for all four episodes in the season, a first for any of Telltale's episodic series. Andersen said that they were able to achieve this by starting from where they wanted The Final Season to end, and then building the narrative backwards from that, establishing four clear episodes for the series to work towards.[10]

text: A free demo of the game, offering approximately the first twenty minutes of the first episode, meant to show off the new gameplay features added in this season, was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 31, 2018.[11] Physical releases of The Final Season for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are expected to be released on November 6, 2018; they will contain the first two episodes and a season pass code to download the final two episodes when they are normally released.[12]

text: Despite the title The Final Season, Telltale originally did not rule out a possible future for The Walking Dead games; Creative Director Kent Mudle said that The Final Season title represented the end of Clementine's journey from Telltale's view, but could revisit the franchise through other characters.[13]

text: On September 21, 2018, Telltale announced they were undergoing a "majority studio closure", laying off nearly all staff and leaving only 25 to complete the studio's remaining obligations. The state of The Final Season is unknown, though other planned studio projects were cancelled.[14][15] The second episode was still released on September 25, 2018, but the fate of the remaining episodes is unknown. Telltale stated on September 24, 2018, that the studio has been approached by "multiple potential partners" that want to help bring these two episodes to completion in some manner.[16] Until they are able to figure out how the last two episodes will be played out, Telltale asked retailers and digital storefronts to pull sales of the game and the season pass.[17]

text: During the 2018 New York Comic Con, Robert Kirkman announced that his production company, Skybound Entertainment, will help to bring the last two episodes to release.[18] According to Skybound, they have acquired the rights of the game from Telltale, and will be working with former Telltale Games employees who worked on the series to finish off the episodes.[19]  Ian Howe, the CEO of Skybound Games, noted that there were logistical difficulties in this. Some of the Telltale team had already moved on to other jobs prior to the Skybound deal, and for those still looking for work, they are not expecting them to relocate from San Francisco (where Telltale was located) to Los Angeles (where Skybound is located), but do need to find them space that makes the completion of development possible. They further needed to account for the time that those seeking jobs would need. Howe stated that he fully expected that the third episode would be released before the end of 2018.[20]

text: Reception[edit]

text: The Walking Dead: The Final Season received generally positive reviews, earning praise for its characterization, visuals, and upgraded gameplay mechanics, and is considered by many critics and fans to be a return to form for the series.[21][22][23][24]

text: Episode 1 - Done Running[edit]

text: Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 76/100 based on 26 reviews,[25] the PlayStation 4 version 75/100 based on 14 reviews,[26] the Xbox One version 70/100 based on 9 reviews,[27] and the Nintendo Switch version 76/100 based on 5 reviews.

text: Episode 2 - Suffer The Children[edit]

text: The second episode received mixed reviews. On Metacritic, PC version of the episode has a rating of 69/100,[28] and PS4 version has a rating of 70/100.[29]


document_title: List of solar eclipses visible from the United States

question_text: when was the last time the usa had a total solar eclipse

root

text:
June 28, 1908

Annular
June 8, 1918

Total
November 22, 1919

Annular
September 10, 1923

Total

January 24, 1925

Total
June 29, 1927

Total
April 28, 1930

Hybrid
August 31, 1932

Total

April 19, 1939

Annular
April 7, 1940

Annular
February 4, 1943

Total
July 9, 1945

Total

May 9, 1948

Annular

tag: table

text:
September 1, 1951

Annular
June 30, 1954

Total
October 2, 1959

Total
July 20, 1963

Total

March 7, 1970

Total
July 10, 1972

Total
February 26, 1979

Total
May 30, 1984

Annular

July 22, 1990

Total
July 11, 1991

Total
January 4, 1992

Annular
May 10, 1994

Annular

text:
May 20, 2012[1]

Annular
August 21, 2017[2]

Total
October 14, 2023[3]

Annular
April 8, 2024[4]

Total

March 30, 2033[5]

Total
June 21, 2039[6]

Annular
August 23, 2044[7]

Total
August 12, 2045[8]

Total

February 5, 2046[9]

Annular
June 11, 2048[10]

Annular

text:
[show]

v
t
e

Solar eclipses

Lists of eclipses

By century

Antiquity
20th BC
19th BC
18th BC
17th BC
16th BC
15th BC
14th BC
13th BC
12th BC
11th BC
10th BC
9th BC
8th BC
7th BC
6th BC
5th BC
4th BC
3rd BC
2nd BC
1st BC
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th
21st
22nd
23rd
24th
25th
26th
27th
28th
29th
30th

Saros series

110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162

Visibility

Australia
China
Philippines
Russia
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States

Historical

Mursili's eclipse (1312 BC)
Assyrian eclipse (763 BC)
Eclipse of Thales (585 BC)

Total/hybrid eclipses

→ symbol denotes
next total/hybrid eclipse

1560 Aug 21
1598 Mar 7
1652 Apr 8
1654 Aug 12
1673 Aug 12
1699 Sep 23
1715 May 3
1724 May 22
1766 Feb 9
1778 Jun 24
1780 Oct 27
1806 Jun 16
1816 Nov 19
1824 Jun 26
1842 Jul 8
1851 Jul 28
1853 Nov 30
1857 Mar 25
1858 Sep 7
1860 Jul 18
1865 Apr 25
1867 Aug 29
1868 Aug 18
1869 Aug 7
1870 Dec 22
1871 Dec 12
1874 Apr 16
1875 Apr 6
1878 Jul 29
1882 May 17
1883 May 6
1885 Sep 8
1886 Aug 29
1887 Aug 19
1889 Jan 1
1889 Dec 22
1893 Apr 16
1896 Aug 9
1898 Jan 22
1900 May 28
1901 May 18
1903 Sep 21
1904 Sep 9
1905 Aug 30
1907 Jan 14
1908 Jan 3
1908 Dec 23
1909 Jun 17
1910 May 9
1911 Apr 28
1912 Apr 17
1912 Oct 10
1914 Aug 21
1916 Feb 3
1918 Jun 8
1919 May 29
1921 Oct 1
1922 Sep 21
1923 Sep 10
1925 Jan 24
1926 Jan 14
1927 Jun 29
1928 May 19
1929 May 9
1930 Apr 28
1930 Oct 21
1932 Aug 31
1934 Feb 14
1936 Jun 19
1937 Jun 8
1938 May 29
1939 Oct 12
1940 Oct 1
1941 Sep 21
1943 Feb 4
1944 Jan 25
1944 Jul 20
1945 Jul 9
1947 May 20
1948 Nov 1
1950 Sep 12
1952 Feb 25
1954 Jun 30
1955 Jun 20
1956 Jun 8
1957 Oct 23
1958 Oct 12
1959 Oct 2
1961 Feb 15
1962 Feb 5
1963 Jul 20
1965 May 30
1966 Nov 12
1967 Nov 2
1968 Sep 22
1970 Mar 7
1972 Jul 10
1973 Jun 30
1974 Jun 20
1976 Oct 23
1977 Oct 12
1979 Feb 26
1980 Feb 16
1981 Jul 31
1983 Jun 11
1984 Nov 22
1985 Nov 12
1986 Oct 3
1987 Mar 29
1988 Mar 18
1990 Jul 22
1991 Jul 11
1992 Jun 30
1994 Nov 3
1995 Oct 24
1997 Mar 9
1998 Feb 26
1999 Aug 11
2001 Jun 21
2002 Dec 4
2003 Nov 23
2005 Apr 8
2006 Mar 29
2008 Aug 1
2009 Jul 22
2010 Jul 11
2012 Nov 13
2013 Nov 3
2015 Mar 20
2016 Mar 9
2017 Aug 21
→ 2019 Jul 2
2020 Dec 14
2021 Dec 4
2023 Apr 20
2024 Apr 8
2026 Aug 12
2027 Aug 2
2028 Jul 22
2030 Nov 25
2031 Nov 14
2033 Mar 30
2034 Mar 20
2035 Sep 2
2037 Jul 13
2038 Dec 26
2039 Dec 15
2041 Apr 30
2042 Apr 20
2043 Apr 9
2044 Aug 23
2045 Aug 12
2046 Aug 2
2048 Dec 5
2049 Nov 25
2050 May 20
2052 Mar 30
2053 Sep 12
2055 Jul 24
2057 Jan 5
2057 Dec 26
2059 May 11
2060 Apr 30
2061 Apr 20
2063 Aug 24
2064 Aug 12
2066 Dec 17
2067 Dec 6
2068 May 31
2070 Apr 11
2071 Sep 23
2072 Sep 12
2073 Aug 3
2075 Jan 16
2076 Jan 6
2077 May 22
2078 May 11
2079 May 1
2081 Sep 3
2082 Aug 24
2084 Dec 27
2086 Jun 11
2088 Apr 21
2089 Oct 4
2090 Sep 23
2091 Aug 15
2093 Jan 27
2094 Jan 16
2095 Jun 2
2096 May 22
2097 May 11
2099 Sep 14
2100 Sep 4
2114 Jun 3
2132 Jun 13
2150 Jun 25
2168 Jul 5
2186 Jul 16

Annular eclipses

→ symbol denotes
next annular eclipse

1820 Sep 7
1854 May 26
1879 Jan 22
1889 Jun 28
1901 Nov 11
1903 Mar 29
1904 Mar 17
1905 Mar 6
1907 Jul 10
1908 Jun 28
1911 Oct 22
1914 Feb 25
1915 Feb 14
1915 Aug 10
1916 Jul 30
1917 Dec 14
1918 Dec 3
1919 Nov 22
1921 Apr 8
1922 Mar 28
1923 Mar 17
1925 Jul 20
1926 Jul 9
1927 Jan 3
1929 Nov 1
1932 Mar 7
1933 Feb 24
1933 Aug 21
1934 Aug 10
1935 Dec 25
1936 Dec 13
1937 Dec 2
1939 Apr 19
1940 Apr 7
1941 Mar 27
1943 Aug 1
1945 Jan 14
1947 Nov 12
1948 May 9
1950 Mar 18
1951 Mar 7
1951 Sep 1
1952 Aug 20
1954 Jan 5
1954 Dec 25
1955 Dec 14
1957 Apr 30
1958 Apr 19
1959 Apr 8
1961 Aug 11
1962 Jul 31
1963 Jan 25
1965 Nov 23
1966 May 20
1969 Mar 18
1969 Sep 11
1970 Aug 31
1972 Jan 16
1973 Jan 4
1973 Dec 24
1976 Apr 29
1977 Apr 18
1979 Aug 22
1980 Aug 10
1981 Feb 4
1983 Dec 4
1984 May 30
1987 Sep 23
1988 Sep 11
1990 Jan 26
1991 Jan 15
1992 Jan 4
1994 May 10
1995 Apr 29
1998 Aug 22
1999 Feb 16
2001 Dec 14
2002 Jun 10
2003 May 31
2005 Oct 3
2006 Sep 22
2008 Feb 7
2009 Jan 26
2010 Jan 15
2012 May 20
2013 May 10
2014 Apr 29
2016 Sep 1
2017 Feb 26
→ 2019 Dec 26
2020 Jun 21
2021 Jun 10
2023 Oct 14
2024 Oct 2
2026 Feb 17
2027 Feb 6
2028 Jan 26
2030 Jun 1
2031 May 21
2032 May 9
2034 Sep 12
2035 Mar 9
2038 Jan 5
2038 Jul 2
2039 Jun 21
2041 Oct 25
2042 Oct 14
2043 Oct 3
2044 Feb 28
2045 Feb 16
2046 Feb 5
2048 Jun 11
2049 May 31
2052 Sep 22
2053 Mar 20
2056 Jan 16
2056 Jul 12
2057 Jul 1
2059 Nov 5
2060 Oct 24
2061 Oct 13
2063 Feb 28
2064 Feb 17
2066 Jun 22
2067 Jun 11
2070 Oct 4
2071 Mar 31
2074 Jan 27
2074 Jul 24
2075 Jul 13
2077 Nov 15
2078 Nov 4
2079 Oct 24
2081 Mar 10
2082 Feb 27
2084 Jul 3
2085 Jun 22
2085 Dec 16
2088 Oct 14
2089 Apr 10
2092 Feb 7
2092 Aug 3
2093 Jul 23
2095 Nov 27
2096 Nov 15
2097 Nov 4
2099 Mar 21
2100 Mar 10

Partial eclipses

→ symbol denotes
next partial eclipse

1902 Apr 8
1902 May 7
1902 Oct 31
1906 Feb 23
1906 Jul 21
1906 Aug 20
1909 Dec 12
1910 Nov 2
1913 Apr 6
1913 Aug 31
1913 Sep 30
1916 Dec 24
1917 Jan 23
1917 Jun 19
1917 Jul 19
1920 May 18
1920 Nov 10
1924 Mar 5
1924 Jul 31
1924 Aug 30
1927 Dec 24
1928 Jun 17
1928 Nov 12
1931 Apr 18
1931 Sep 12
1931 Oct 11
1935 Jan 5
1935 Feb 3
1935 Jun 30
1935 Jul 30
1938 Nov 21
1942 Mar 16
1942 Aug 12
1942 Sep 10
1946 Jan 3
1946 May 30
1946 Jun 29
1946 Nov 23
1949 Apr 28
1949 Oct 21
1953 Feb 14
1953 Jul 11
1953 Aug 9
1956 Dec 2
1960 Mar 27
1960 Sep 20
1964 Jan 14
1964 Jun 10
1964 Jul 9
1964 Dec 4
1967 May 9
1968 Mar 28
1971 Feb 25
1971 Jul 22
1971 Aug 20
1974 Dec 13
1975 May 11
1975 Nov 3
1978 Apr 7
1978 Oct 2
1982 Jan 25
1982 Jun 21
1982 Jul 20
1982 Dec 15
1985 May 19
1986 Apr 9
1989 Mar 7
1989 Aug 31
1992 Dec 24
1993 May 21
1993 Nov 13
1996 Apr 17
1996 Oct 12
1997 Sep 2
2000 Feb 5
2000 Jul 1
2000 Jul 31
2000 Dec 25
2004 Apr 19
2004 Oct 14
2007 Mar 19
2011 Jan 4
2011 Jun 1
2011 Jul 1
2011 Nov 25
2014 Oct 23
2015 Sep 13
→ 2018 Feb 15
2018 Jul 13
2018 Aug 11
2019 Jan 6
2022 Apr 30
2022 Oct 25
2025 Mar 29
2025 Sep 21
2029 Jan 14
2029 Jun 12
2029 Jul 11
2032 Nov 3
2033 Sep 23
2036 Feb 27
2036 Jul 23
2036 Aug 21
2037 Jan 16
2040 May 11
2040 Nov 4
2047 Jan 26
2047 Jun 23
2047 Jul 22
2047 Dec 16
2050 Nov 14
2051 Apr 11
2051 Oct 4
2054 Mar 9
2054 Aug 3
2054 Sep 2
2055 Jan 27
2058 May 22
2058 Jun 21
2058 Nov 16
2062 Mar 11
2062 Sep 3
2065 Feb 5
2065 Jul 3
2065 Aug 2
2065 Dec 27
2068 Nov 24
2069 Apr 21
2069 May 20
2069 Oct 15
2072 Mar 19
2073 Feb 7
2076 Jun 1
2076 Jul 1
2076 Nov 26
2083 Feb 16
2083 Jul 15
2083 Aug 13
2084 Jan 7
2086 Dec 6
2087 May 2
2087 Jun 1
2087 Oct 26
2090 Mar 31
2091 Feb 18
2094 Jun 13
2094 Jul 12
2094 Dec 7
2098 Apr 1
2098 Sep 25
2098 Oct 24

Other bodies

Mars
Moon
Jupiter
Neptune
Pluto
Saturn
Uranus

Related topics

Eclipse chasing

Solar viewer

Planetary transit
Solar eclipses in fiction

 Book
 Category
 Commons
 Portal
 WikiProject


document_title: Workers' compensation

question_text: first workers' compensation law in the united states

question_tokens: first workers ' compensation law in the united states

text: Workers' compensation

text: Common-law remedies[edit]

text: Common law imposes obligations on employers to provide a safe workplace, provide safe tools, give warnings of dangers, provide adequate co-worker assistance (fit, trained, suitable "fellow servants") so that the worker is not overburdened, and promulgate and enforce safe work rules.[1]

tag: p

text: Claims under the common law for worker injury are limited by three defenses afforded employers:

text:
The Fellow Servant Doctrine is that employer can be held harmless to the extent that injury was caused in whole or in part by a peer of the injured worker.
Contributory negligence allows an employer to be held harmless to the extent that the injured employee failed to use adequate precautions required by ordinary prudence.
Assumption of risk allows an employer to be held harmless to the extent the injured employee voluntarily accepted the risks associated with the work.[1]

tag: ul

text: Statutory compensation law[edit]

text: Workers' compensation statutes are intended to eliminate the need for litigation and the limitations of common law remedies by having employees give up the potential for pain- and suffering-related awards, in exchange for not being required to prove tort (legal fault) on the part of their employer. Designed to ensure employees who are injured or disabled on the job are not required to cover medical bills related to their on-the-job injury, the laws provide employees with monetary awards to cover loss of wages directly related to the accident as well as to compensate for permanent physical impairments.

text: The laws also provide benefits for dependents of those workers who are killed in work-related accidents or illnesses. Some laws also protect employers and fellow workers by limiting the amount an injured employee can recover from an employer and by eliminating the liability of co-workers in most accidents. US state statutes establish this framework for most employment. US federal statutes are limited to federal employees or to workers employed in some significant aspect of interstate commerce.[2]

text: The exclusive remedy provision states that workers compensation is the sole remedy available to injured workers, thus preventing employees from also making tort liability claims against their employers.

text: By nation[edit]

text: Australia[edit]

text: As Australia experienced a relatively influential labour movement in the late 19th and early 20th century, statutory compensation was implemented very early in Australia. Each territory has its own legislation and its own governing body.

text: A typical example is  Work Safe Victoria, which manages Victoria's workplace safety system. Its responsibilities include helping employees avoid workplace injuries occurring, enforcement of Victoria's occupational and safety laws, provision of reasonably priced workplace injury insurance for employers, assisting injured workers back into the workforce, and managing the workers' compensation scheme by ensuring the prompt delivery of appropriate services and adopting prudent financial practices.[3]

text: Compensation law in New South Wales has recently (2013) been overhauled by the state government. In a push to speed up the process of claims and to reduce the amount of claims, a threshold of 11% WPI (whole person impairment) was implemented.

text: Workers' compensation regulators for each of the states and territories are as follows:[4]

text:
Australian Capital Territory – Work Safe Act
New South Wales – State Insurance Regulatory Authority (formerly WorkCover NSW)
Northern Territory – NT Work Safe
Queensland – The Workers' Compensation Regulator (formerly Q-COMP)
South Australia – ReturnToWork SA (from 1 July 2015)
Tasmania – WorkCover Tasmania
Victoria – WorkSafe Victoria
Western Australia – WorkCover WA

text: Every employer must comply with the state, territory or commonwealth legislation, as listed below, which applies to them:

text:
Federal legislation - Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988[5]
New South Wales - Workers Compensation Act 1987[6] and the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998[7]
Northern Territory - Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations[8]
Australian Capital Territory - Workers Compensation Act 1951[9]
Queensland - Workers Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003[10]
South Australia - Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1986[11]
Tasmania - Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988[12]
Victoria - Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013[13]
Western Australia - Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981[14]

text: Brazil[edit]

text: The National Social Insurance Institute (in Portuguese, Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social – INSS) provides insurance for those who contribute. It is a public institution that aims to recognize and grant rights to its policyholders. The amount transferred by the INSS is used to replace the income of the worker taxpayer, when he or she loses the ability to work, due to sickness, disability, age, death, involuntary unemployment, or even pregnancy and imprisonment. During the first 15 days the worker's salary is paid by the employer and after that by the INSS, as long as the inability to work lasts. Although the worker's income is guaranteed by the INSS, the employer is still responsible for any loss of working capacity, temporary or permanent, when found negligent or when its economic activity involves risk of accidents or developing labour related diseases.

text: Canada[edit]

text: Workers' compensation was Canada's first social program to be introduced as it was favored by both workers' groups and employers hoping to avoid lawsuits. The system arose after an inquiry by Ontario Chief Justice William Meredith who outlined a system in which workers were to be compensated for workplace injuries, but must give up their right to sue their employers. It was introduced in the various provinces at different dates. Ontario was first in 1915, Manitoba in 1916, and British Columbia in 1917. It remains a provincial responsibility and thus the rules vary from province to province. In some provinces, such as Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, the program also has a preventative role ensuring workplace safety. In British Columbia, the occupational health and safety mandate (including the powers to make regulation, inspect and assess administrative penalties) is legislatively assigned to the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia WorkSafeBC. In most provinces the workers' compensation board or commission remains concerned solely with insurance. The workers' compensation insurance system in every province is funded by employers based on their payroll, industry sector and history of injuries (or lack thereof) in their workplace  (usually referred to as "experience rating").

text: Germany[edit]

text: The German worker's compensation law of 6 July 1884,[15] initiated by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck,[16][17] was passed only after three attempts and was the first of its kind in the world.[18] Similar laws passed in Austria in 1887, Norway in 1894, and Finland in 1895.[19]

text: The law paid indemnity to all private wage earners and apprentices, including those who work in the agricultural and horticultural sectors and marine industries, family helpers and students with work-related injuries, for up to 13 weeks. Workers who are totally disabled get continued benefits at 67 percent after 13 weeks, paid by the accident funds, financed entirely by employers.

text: The German compensation system has been taken as a model for many nations.

text: India[edit]

text: Main article : The Workmen's Compensation Act 1923

text: The Indian worker's compensation law 1923 was introduced on 5 March 1923. It includes Employer's liability compensation, amount of compensation.

text: Japan[edit]

text: Workers' accident compensation insurance is paired with unemployment insurance and referred to collectively as labour insurance.[20][21] Workers' accident compensation insurance is managed by the Labor Standards Office.[22]

text: Malaysia[edit]

text: The Workmen's Compensation Act 1952[23] is modelled on the United Kingdom's Workmen's Compensation Act 1906. Adopted before Malaysia's independence from the UK, it is now used only by non-Malaysian workers, since citizens are covered by the national social security scheme.

text: Mexico[edit]

text: The Mexican Constitution of 1917 defined the obligation of employers to pay for illnesses or accidents related to the workplace. It also defined social security as the institution to administer the right of workers, but only until 1943 was the Mexican Social Security Institute created (IMSS). Since then, IMSS manages the Work Risks Insurance in a vertically integrated fashion: registration of workers and firms, collection, classification of risks and events, and medical and rehabilitation services. A reform in 1997 defined that contributions are related to the experience of each employer. Public sector workers are covered by social security agencies with corporate and operative structures similar to those of IMSS.

text: New Zealand[edit]

text: In New Zealand, all companies that employ staff and in some cases others, must pay a levy to the Accident Compensation Corporation, a Crown entity, which administers New Zealand's universal no-fault accidental injury scheme. The scheme provides financial compensation and support to citizens, residents, and temporary visitors who have suffered personal injuries.

text: United Kingdom[edit]

text: Great Britain followed the German model. Joseph Chamberlain, leader of the Liberal Unionist party and coalition with the Conservatives, designed a plan that was enacted under the Salisbury government in 1897. the Workmen's Compensation Act 1897 was a key domestic achievement. It served its social purpose at no cost to the government, since compensation was paid for by insurance which employers were required to take out. The system operated from 1897 to 1946.[24] It was expanded to include industrial diseases by the Workmen's Compensation Act 1906 and replaced by a state compensation scheme under the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946. Since 1976, this state scheme has been set out in the UK's Social Security Acts.[25]

text: Work related safety issues in the UK are supervised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) who provide the framework by which employers and employees are able to comply with statutory rules and regulations.[26]

text: With the exception of the following, all employers are obliged to purchase compulsory Employer's Liability Insurance in accordance with the Employer's Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. The current minimum limit of indemnity required is £5,000,000 per occurrence. Market practice is to usually provide a minimum £10,000,000 with inner limits to £5,000,000 for certain risks, e.g. workers on oil rigs and acts of terrorism.

text: These employers do not require Employer's Liability Insurance:

text:
local authorities (other than parish councils)
joint boards or committees whose members include members of local authorities
police authorities
nationalised industries or their subsidiaries
certain bodies which are financed out of public funds
employers of crews on offshore installations, ships or hovercraft, if they are covered instead with a mutual insurance association of ship owners or ship owners and others
a health service body or NHS Trust[27]

text: "Employees" are defined as anyone who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship with an employer. The contract may be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, it may be written or verbal and it may be for full-time or part-time work.

text: These persons are not classed as employees and, therefore, are exempt:

text:
persons who are not employees (for example independent contractors who are not the employees of the person engaging them)
people employed in any activity which is not a business (such as domestic servants)
people who are related to the employer – husband, wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother sister, half-brother or half-sister
people who are not normally resident in the United Kingdom and who are working there for fewer than 14 consecutive days.

text: Employees need to establish that their employer has a legal liability to pay compensation. This will principally be a breach of a statutory duty or under the tort of negligence. In the event that the employer is insolvent or no longer in existence, compensation can be sought directly from the insurer under the terms of the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010.

text: For the history of worker's compensation in the UK, see Workmen's Compensation Act 1897 and following acts.[28]

text: United States[edit]

text: In 1855, Georgia and Alabama passed Employer Liability Acts; 26 other states passed similar acts between 1855 and 1907. Early laws permitted injured employees to sue the employer and then prove a negligent act or omission.[29][30] (A similar scheme was set forth in Britain's 1880 Act.[31])

text: The first statewide workers' compensation law was passed in Maryland in 1902, and the first law covering federal employees was passed in 1906.[32] (See: FELA, 1908; FECA, 1916; Kern, 1918.)  By 1949, every state had enacted a workers' compensation program.[33]

text: At the turn of the 20th century workers' compensation laws were voluntary.[citation needed] An elective law made passage easier and some argued that compulsory workers' compensation laws would violate the 14th amendment due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.[citation needed] Since workers' compensation mandated benefits without regard to fault or negligence, many felt that compulsory participation would deprive the employer of property without due process.[citation needed] The issue of due process was resolved by the United States Supreme Court in 1917 in New York Central Railway Co. v. White which held that an employer's due process rights were not impeded by mandatory workers' compensation.[34] After the ruling many states enacted new compulsory workers' compensation laws.[citation needed]

text: In the United States, most employees who are injured on the job receive medical care responsive to the workplace injury, and, in some cases, payment to compensate for resulting disabilities.[citation needed] Generally, an injury that occurs when an employee is on their way to or from work does not qualify for workers' compensation benefits; however, there are some exceptions if your responsibilities demand that you be in multiple locations, or stay in the course of your employment after work hours.[35]

text: Insurance policies are available to employers through commercial insurance companies: if the employer is deemed an excessive risk to insure at market rates, it can obtain coverage through an assigned-risk program.[citation needed] In many states, there are public uninsured employer funds to pay benefits to workers employed by companies who illegally fail to purchase insurance.[citation needed]

text: Various organizations focus resources on providing education and guidance to workers' compensation administrators and adjudicators in various state and national workers' compensation systems. These include the American Bar Association (ABA), the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions (IAIABC),[36] the National Association of Workers' Compensation Judiciary (NAWCJ),[37] and the Workers Compensation Research Institute.[38]

text: In the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2010 National Compensation Survey, workers' compensation costs represented 1.6% of employer spending overall, although rates varied significantly across industry sectors. For instance, workers' compensation accounted for 4.4% of employer spending in the construction industry, 1.8% in manufacturing and 1.3% in services.[39]

text: Clinical outcomes for patients with workers' compensation tend to be worse compared to those non-workers' compensation patients among those undergoing upper extremity surgeries, and have found they tend to take longer to return to their jobs and tend to return to work at lower rates. Factors that might explain this outcome include this patient population having strenuous upper extremity physical demands, and a possible financial gain from reporting significant post-operative disability.[40]

text: State workers' compensation laws[edit]

text: As each state within the United States has its own workers' compensation laws, the circumstances under which workers' compensation is available to workers, the amount of benefits that a worker may receive, and the duration of the benefits paid to an injured worker, vary by state.[41] The workers' compensation system is administered on a state-by-state basis, with a state governing board overseeing varying public/private combinations of workers' compensation systems.[citation needed]  The names of such governing boards, or "quasi-judicial agencies," vary from state to state, many being designated as "workers' compensation commissions". In North Carolina, the state entity responsible for administering the workers' compensation system is referred to as the North Carolina Industrial Commission[42]

text: In a majority of states, workers' compensation is solely provided by private insurance companies.[43] Twelve states operate state funds (that serve as models to private insurers and insures state employees), and a handful of states have state-owned monopoly insurance providers.[44] To keep state funds from crowding out private insurers, the state funds may be required to act as assigned-risk programs or insurers of last resort for businesses that cannot obtain coverage from a private insurer.[45] In contrast, private insurers can turn away the worst risks and may also write comprehensive insurance packages covering general liability, natural disasters, and other forms of insurance coverage.[46] Of the twelve state funds, the largest is California's State Compensation Insurance Fund.

text: Underreporting of injuries is a significant problem in the workers' compensation system.[47] Workers, fearing retaliation from their employers, may avoid reporting injuries incurred on the job and instead seek treatment privately, bearing the cost themselves or passing these costs on to their health insurance provider – an element in the increasing cost of health insurance nationwide.[48]

text: Typically, workers can only receive compensation for injuries received while on the job, but in some states there are exceptions: traveling salespersons and similar employees can be covered if they are injured while taking a work-related trip, employees who are sent on special errands can receive compensation for injuries received on those errands.[49] In some cases workers who, though not currently working, suffer injuries while on the premises of the employer can also receive compensation.[50]

text: In all states except Georgia and Mississippi, it is illegal for an employer to terminate or refuse to hire an employee for having reported a workplace injury or filed a workers' compensation claim.[51] However, it is often not easy to prove discrimination on the basis of the employee's claims history.[citation needed] To abate discrimination of this type, some states have created a "subsequent injury trust fund" which will reimburse insurers for benefits paid to workers who suffer aggravation or recurrence of a compensable injury.[citation needed] It is also suggested that laws should be made to prohibit inclusion of claims history in databases or to make it anonymous.[citation needed] (See privacy laws.)

text: Although workers' compensation statutes generally make the employer completely immune from any liability (such as for negligence) above the amount provided by the workers' compensation statutory framework, there are exceptions. In some states, like New Jersey, an employer can still be held liable for larger amounts if the employee proves the employer intentionally caused the harm,[52] while in other states, like Pennsylvania,[53] the employer is immune in all circumstances, but other entities involved in causing the injury, like subcontractors or product manufacturers, may still be held liable.

text: If a workers' compensation claim is denied, for example because an employer or employee fail to follow proper procedures when reporting the injury or if the insurance company does not believe the claim, the injured worker may appeal the denial.[54][55] Some employers and insurance companies vigorously contest employee claims for workers' compensation payments.[citation needed] Injured workers may be able to get help with their claims from state agencies or by retaining a workers' compensation lawyer.[56] Laws in many states limit a claimant's legal expenses to a certain fraction of an award; such "contingency fees" are payable only if the recovery is successful. In some states this fee can be as high as 40% or as little as 11% of the monetary award recovered, if any.[41]

text: In the vast majority of states, original jurisdiction over workers' compensation disputes has been transferred by statute from the trial courts to special administrative agencies.[57] Within such agencies, disputes are usually handled informally by administrative law judges. Appeals may be taken to an appeals board and from there into the state court system. However, such appeals are difficult and are regarded skeptically by most state appellate courts, because the point of workers' compensation was to reduce litigation. A few states still allow the employee to initiate a lawsuit in a trial court against the employer.  For example, Ohio allows appeals to go before a jury.[58]

text: The California Constitution, Article XIV section 4, sets forth the intent of the people to establish a system of workers' compensation.[59] This section provides the Legislature with the power to create and enforce a complete system of workers' compensation and, in that behalf, create and enforce a liability on the part of any or all employers to compensate any or all of their employees for injury or disability, and their dependents, for death incurred or sustained by said employees in the course of their employment, irrespective of the fault of any employee. Further, the Constitution provides that the system must accomplish substantial justice in all cases expeditiously, inexpensively, and without incumbrance of any character. It was the intent of the people of California when they voted to amend the state constitution in 1918, to require the Legislature to establish a simple system that guaranteed full provision for adequate insurance coverage against liability to pay or furnish compensation. Providing a full provision for regulating such insurance coverage in all its aspects, including the establishment and management of a State compensation insurance fund; full provision for otherwise securing the payment of compensation; and full provision for vesting power, authority and jurisdiction in an administrative body with all the requisite governmental functions to determine any dispute or matter arising under such legislation, in that the administration of such legislation accomplish substantial justice in all cases expeditiously, inexpensively, and without encumbrance of any character. All of which matters is the people expressly declared to be the social public policy of this State, binding upon all departments of the State government.[60]

text: Texas allows employers to opt out of the workers' compensation system, with those employers who do not purchase workers' compensation insurance being called nonsubscribers.[61] However, those employers, known as non-subscribers, are exposed to legal liability in the event of employee injury. The employee must demonstrate that employer negligence caused the injury; if the employer does not subscribe to workers' compensation, the employer loses their common law defense of contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and the fellow employee doctrine.[62] If successful, the employee can recover their full common law damages, which are more generous than workers' compensation benefits.

text: In 1995, 44% of Texas employers were nonsubscribers, while in 2001 the percentage was estimated to be 35%.[61] The industry advocacy group Texas Association of Business Nonsubscription claims that nonsubscribing employers have had greater satisfaction ratings and reduced expenses when compared to employers enrolled in the workers' compensation system.[63] A research survey by Texas's Research and Oversight Council on Workers' Compensation found that 68% of non-subscribing employers and 60% of subscribing employers—a majority in both cases—were satisfied with their experiences in the system, and that satisfaction with nonsubscription increased with the size of the firm; but it stated that further research was needed to gauge satisfaction among employees and to determine the adequacy of compensation under nonsubscription compared to subscription.[61] In recent years, the Texas Supreme Court has been limiting employer duties to maintain employee safety, limiting the remedies received by injured workers.

text: Privatization[edit]

text: In recent years, workers' compensation programs in West Virginia and Nevada were successfully privatised, through mutualisation, in part to resolve situations in which the programs in those states had significantly underfunded their liabilities.[citation needed]  Only four states rely on entirely state-run programs for workers' compensation: North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, and Wyoming.[64]  Many other states maintain state-run funds but also allow private insurance companies to insure employers and their employees, as well.[64]

text: Federal workers' compensation laws[edit]

text: The federal government has its own workers' compensation program, subject to its own requirements and statutory parameters for federal employees.[citation needed] The federal government pays its workers' compensation obligations for its own employees through regular appropriations.[citation needed]

text: Alternate forms of statutory compensation[edit]

text: Employees of common carriers by rail have a statutory remedy under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. sec. 51, which provides that a carrier "shall be liable" to an employee who is injured by the negligence of the employer. To enforce his compensation rights, the employee may file suit in United States district court or in a state court. The FELA remedy is based on tort principles of ordinary negligence and differs significantly from most state workers' compensation benefit schedules.

text: Seafarers employed on United States vessels who are injured because of the owner's or the operator's negligence can sue their employers under the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. App. 688., essentially a remedy very similar to the FELA one.

text: Dock workers and other maritime workers, who are not seafarers working aboard navigating vessels, are covered by the Federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, known as US L&H.

text: Workers' compensation fraud[edit]

text: Workers' compensation fraud can be committed by doctors, lawyers, employers, insurance company employees and claimants, and may occur in both the private and public sectors.[65]

text: The topic of workers' compensation fraud is highly controversial, with claimant supporters arguing that fraud by claimants is rare—as low as one-third of one percent,[66] others focusing on the widely reported National Insurance Crime Bureau statistic that workers' compensation fraud accounts for $7.2 billion in unnecessary costs,[67] and government entities acknowledging that "there is no generally accepted method or standard for measuring the extent of workers' compensation fraud ... as a consequence, there are widely divergent opinions about the size of the problem and the relative importance of the issue."[68]

text: According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, tens of billions of dollars in false claims and unpaid premiums are stolen in the U.S. alone every year.[69]

text: The most common forms of workers' compensation fraud by workers are:

text:
Remote injury. Workers get injured away from work, but say they were hurt on the job so that their workers' compensation policy will cover the medical bills.
Inflating injuries. A worker has a fairly minor job injury, but lies about the magnitude of the injury in order to collect more workers' compensation money and stay away from work longer.
Faking injuries. Workers fabricate an injury that never took place, and claim it for workers' compensation benefits.[70]
Old injury. A worker with an old injury that never quite healed claims it as a recent work injury in order to get medical care covered.
Malingering. A worker stays home by pretending the disability is ongoing when it is actually healed.
Failure to Disclose. A worker knowingly, or unknowingly, makes a false statement or representation about their injury.[71]

tag: ol

text: The most common forms of workers' compensation fraud by employers are:

text:
Underreporting payroll. An employer reports that workers are paid less than they actually are in order to lower their premiums.
Inflating experience. An employer claims workers are more experienced than they actually are in order to make them seem less risky and therefore less expensive to cover.
Evasion. An employer fails to obtain workers' compensation for their employees when it is required by law. Workers are often deceived into thinking they are covered when they are not.[72]
Through the introduction of "opt-out plans" that are governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, which is regulated by the Labor Department. The "opt-out plans"provide lower and fewer payments, make it more difficult to qualify for benefits, control access to doctors and limit independent appeals of benefits decisions.[73]


document_title: Dixiecrat

question_text: why did southern democrats walk out of the democratic convention

text: Dixiecrat

text: Background

text: By the 1870s, the conservative voters of southern United States were heavily voting Democratic in national and presidential elections, and apart from minor pockets of Republican electoral strength in Appalachia plus Gillespie and Kendall Counties of central Texas, forming what was known as the "Solid South". The social and economic systems of the Solid South were based on Jim Crow, a combination of legal and informal segregation acts that made blacks second-class citizens with little or no political power anywhere within the southern United States.[5]

text: Three-time Democratic Party presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan opposed a highly controversial resolution at the 1924 Democratic National Convention condemning the Ku Klux Klan, expecting the organization would soon fold. Bryan disliked the Klan but never publicly attacked it.[6]

text: In the 1930s a realignment occurred courtesy of the New Deal under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. While many of the Democratic Party members in the southern United States had shifted toward favoring economic intervention,[citation needed] their own recognition of full civil rights for Black Americans was not yet incorporated within the New Deal agenda, as Southerners controlled many of the key positions of power within the U.S. Congress.

text: With the entry of the United States military into the Second World War, Jim Crow was indirectly challenged as two million Black Americans would serve in the U.S. military during World War II, receiving equal pay while serving within segregated units, and becoming equally entitled to receive veterans' benefits from the United States government.

text: Members of the Republican Party (nominating Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey in 1944 and 1948), along with many Democrats from the northern United States, supported civil rights legislation that the Deep South Democrats in Congress almost unanimously opposed.[7][8]

text: 1948 presidential election

text: After Roosevelt died, the new president Harry Truman established a highly visible President's Committee on Civil Rights and issued Executive Order 9981 to end discrimination in the military in 1948. A group of Southern governors such as Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Fielding L. Wright of Mississippi met to consider the place of Southerners within the Democratic Party. After a tense meeting with DNC chairman and Truman confidant J. Howard McGrath, the Southern governors agreed to convene their own convention in Birmingham if Truman and civil rights supporters emerged victorious at the 1948 Democratic National Convention.[9] In July, the convention re-nominated Truman and adopted a plank proposed by Northern liberals led by Hubert Humphrey calling for civil rights; 35 southern delegates walked out. The move was on to remove Truman's name from the ballot in the southern United States. This political maneuvering required the organization of a new and distinct political party, which the Southern defectors from the Democratic Party chose to brand as the States' Rights Democratic Party.

text: Just days after the 1948 Democratic National Convention, the States' Rights Democrats held their own convention at Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama on July 17.[10] While several leaders from the Deep South such as Strom Thurmond and James Eastland attended, most major Southern Democrats did not attend the conference.[11] Among those absent were Georgia Senator Richard Russell, Jr., who had finished with the second most delegates in the Democratic presidential ballot.[11]

text: Prior to their own States' Rights Democratic Party convention, it was not clear whether the Dixiecrats would seek to field their own candidate or simply try to prevent Southern electors from voting for Truman.[11] Many in the press predicted that if the Dixiecrats did nominate a ticket, Arkansas Governor Benjamin Travis Laney would be the presidential nominee and South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond or Mississippi Governor Fielding L. Wright would be the vice presidential nominee.[11] Laney traveled to Birmingham during the convention, but he ultimately decided that he did not want to join a third party and remained in his hotel during the convention.[11] Thurmond himself had doubts about a third-party bid, but party organizers convinced him to accept the party's nomination, with Fielding Wright as his running mate.[11] Wright's supporters had hoped that Wright would lead the ticket, but Wright deferred to Thurmond, who had greater national stature.[11] The selection of Thurmond received fairly positive reviews from the national press, as Thurmond had pursued relatively moderate policies on civil rights and did not employ the fiery rhetoric used by other segregationist leaders.[12]

text: The States' Rights Democrats did not formally declare themselves as being a new third party, but rather said that they were only "recommending" that state Democratic Parties vote for the Thurmond-Wright ticket.[11] The goal of the party was to win the 127 electoral votes of the Solid South in the hopes of throwing the election to the Representatives.[11] Once in the House, the Dixiecrats hoped to throw their support to whichever party would agree to their segregationist demands.[11] Even if the Republicans won an outright majority of electoral votes (as many expected in 1948), the Dixiecrats hoped that their third-party run would help the South retake its dominant position in the Democratic Party.[11] In implementing their strategy, the States' Rights Democrats faced a complicated set of state election laws, with different states having different processes for choosing presidential electors.[11] The States' Rights Democrats eventually succeeded in making the Thurmond-Wright ticket the official Democratic ticket in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina.[13] In other states, they were forced to run as a third-party ticket.[13]

text: In numbers greater than the 6,000 that attended the first, the States' Rights Democrats held a boisterous second convention in Oklahoma City, on August 14, 1948,[14] where they adopted their party platform which stated:[15]

text: We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race; the constitutional right to choose one's associates; to accept private employment without governmental interference, and to earn one's living in any lawful way. We oppose the elimination of segregation, the repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed civil rights program. We favor home-rule, local self-government and a minimum interference with individual rights.

text: The platform went on to say:[15]

text: We call upon all Democrats and upon all other loyal Americans who are opposed to totalitarianism at home and abroad to unite with us in ignominiously defeating Harry S. Truman, Thomas E. Dewey and every other candidate for public office who would establish a Police Nation in the United States of America.

text: In Arkansas, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Sid McMath vigorously supported Truman in speeches across the state, much to the consternation of the sitting governor, Benjamin Travis Laney, an ardent Thurmond supporter. Laney later used McMath's pro-Truman stance against him in the 1950 gubernatorial election, but McMath won re-election handily.

text: Efforts by States' Rights Democrats to paint other Truman loyalists as turncoats generally failed, although the seeds of discontent were planted which in years to come took their toll on Southern moderates.

text: On election day 1948, the Thurmond-Wright ticket carried the previously solid Democratic states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina, receiving 1,169,021 popular votes and 39 electoral votes. Progressive Party nominee Henry A. Wallace drew off a nearly equal number of popular votes (1,157,172) from the Democrats' left wing, although he did not carry any states. The splits in the Democratic Party in the 1948 election had been expected to produce a victory by GOP nominee Dewey, but Truman defeated Dewey in an upset victory.

text: Subsequent elections

text: The States' Rights Democratic Party dissolved after the 1948 election, as Truman, the Democratic National Committee, and the New Deal Southern Democrats acted to ensure that the Dixiecrat movement would not return in the 1952 presidential election. Some Southern diehards, such as Leander Perez of Louisiana, attempted to keep it in existence in their districts.[16] Former Dixiecrats received some backlash at the 1952 Democratic National Convention, but all Southern delegations were seated after agreeing to a party loyalty pledge.[17] Moderate Alabama Senator John Sparkman was selected as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1952, helping to boost party loyalty in the South.[17] Regardless of the power struggle within the Democratic Party concerning segregation policy, the South remained a strongly Democratic voting bloc for local, state, and federal Congressional elections, but increasingly not in presidential elections.

text: Presidential candidate performance

text:
Year

Pres. candidate / VP

Popular votes

Percentage

Electoral votes

1948
Strom Thurmond / Fielding L. Wright

1,175,930 #3
2.4%%
39