Maybe nobody cares but... The situation among Texas Democrats in 1952 was complicated and revolved around what was called the tidelands oil issue. President Truman had issued an executive order nationalizing offshore oil located on the continental shelf beyond low tide. The governors of CA, TX, and LA objected to this, wanting their oil companies to drill in these areas. Congress passed legislation consistent with these governors, but Truman vetoed it. Texas claimed lands reaching 10.5 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, consistent with the three Spanish leagues Mexico agreed to when Texas became independent. Three relevant lawsuits went to the US Supreme Court, which ruled for Truman, but in the fall of 1952 Eisenhower came out in favor of the Texas claim. In Texas, Gov. Shivers was having a spat with Lyndon Johnson. Shivers met with Stevenson on Aug 23 to make his case, but Stevenson couldn't see a way to overcome the Supreme Court's three rulings. Republicans, hoping for help from Shivers to win the state for Ike, nominated Shivers as the Republican candidate for Governor (he had already won the Democratic nomination). When the state Democratic convention met on Sept. 10, 1952, the delegates faced a three-way division among the states rights Dems, the Loyal Dems, and the Shivers Dems. The states rights Democrats wanted to list Stevenson as the "National Democratic" nominee and Ike as the "Texas Democratic" nominee. LBJ and Sam Rayburn, leaders of the "Loyal Democrats" who supported Stevenson, wanted to list Stevenson as the Democratic nominee and force people to vote Republican if they liked Ike. The convention started a roll call on the states rights plan; it was losing by a 2:1 margin when its leaders withdrew the motion rather than lose in the convention. Then the convention passed a Shivers-supported resolution that allowed Democrats to campaign and vote for Ike if they saw fit (Austin American-Statesman, 9/10/1952). The Texas Democrats didn't endorse Ike but agreed not to punish party members who supported him.

Maybe nobody cares but... ahem Very insightful post! Interesting how the Democrats here ended up backing the Republican...

As always, thanks for the incredibly insight Chronicler!