Final answer:
The Dixiecrats were a Southern off-shoot of the Democratic Party, officially known as the States' Rights Democratic Party, and were led by South Carolina's Strom Thurmond. They formed in response to the Democratic Party's pro-civil rights platform and sought to maintain segregation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Dixiecrats were a Southern off-shoot of the Democratic Party. The Dixiecrats, officially known as the States' Rights Democratic Party, formed in 1948 as a breakaway faction of the Democratic Party in reaction to its increasingly pro-civil rights platform. The movement was led by South Carolina's Strom Thurmond and other Southern delegates who opposed federal intervention in their states' racial policies and sought to maintain segregation and other Jim Crow laws.
The rise of the Dixiecrats came at a time when the national Democratic Party was beginning to show stronger support for civil rights, leading to tension between the party's northern and southern factions. The Dixiecrats were a significant force that threatened Democratic unity throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1948 presidential election, the Dixiecrats made their mark by sweeping four Southern states, mostly because Dixiecrat candidate Strom Thurmond was declared the official Democratic candidate in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and his home state of South Carolina.