As I said, you are too young to remember. Before the Dixiecrat
rebellion, the Democratic party took the South for granted. Did not
take the South into consideration when drawing up the party platform,
etc. They thought the South was always going to vote Democratic
reguardless.

The Dixiecrats were a third party, and as expected lost. But after
that there was an effort to keep the South as part of the Democratic
party. As you say the Democrats were able to hold it together for a
while, but one could see that it was a matter of time before the South
would go Republican.
Dan