Last Election and Death in Office
In 1944, Johnston again challenged Smith in the Democratic Primary. During the campaign, Johnston, once again Governor of South Carolina, was strongly supportive of Roosevelt's foreign policy, but was now lukewarm towards the New Deal and was able to the snatch the "flag of white supremacy" from Smith by boasting how he countered the US Supreme Court's recent Smith v. Allwright decision, which ruled that racial segregation in state primaries was unconstitutional, by passing a series of laws making the South Carolina Democratic Party a private club which could keep blacks from voting in the state's primary. During the campaign, presented himself as an aged and tired old man and during at least one debate with Johnston, he spoke for only a few minutes and then played a recording of a speech he had made six years earlier. Johnson would go on to win the primary with over 55% of the vote, more than enough needed to avoid a run-off, and Smith would only receive just over 35% of the vote. After hearing word of his defeat on his 2,500 acre farm near Lynchburg, Smith stood up in frustration and said "Well, I guess I better go out and look at the pigs."
On November 17, 1944, a month and a half before he was required to leave office, Smith died at Tanglewood Plantation in the same bed he was born in. He is buried at St. Luke's Cemetery near Wisacky in Lee County.
Read more about this topic: Ellison D. Smith
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