The South Rises Again

4 February 1949 - Led by President Strom Thurmond, the Confederate States of America re-emerged as a national entity. At the declaration of independence in Birmingham, AL were Reich President Goering, French President Petain, and King George VI.

The new nation is comprised of the former US states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Arkansas with Birmingham as its capital.

The divide occurred over attempts by the federal government of the United States to exert greater control, increasing federal oversight. The United States government had also began a system of desegregation of American military forces which Thurmond and his supporters feared may be the harbinger of an end to Jim Crow laws and segregation policies. With the support of the German Reich, Thurmond and his allies officially withdrew from government following failed attempts at compromise.

Strom Thurmond stated in his address to those in attendance that he was not a traitor. It was the Democratic Party that was guilty of treasonous acts not only against the ideals of the party but to the nation in general and the South in particular. "They would resurrect a new age of Reconstruction. They would strip us of our traditions, our freedoms, our very dignity. Well I will say this to those traitors who turned their backs on the principles of the party. States rights are paramount, our dignity will be upheld, and I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the US 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. Of utmost importance, segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

SOURCE: Courier-Journal