Strom Thurmond

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James Strom Thurmond (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to April 1956 and November 1956 to 1964 as a Democrat and from 1964 to 2003 as a Republican. He served as Senator through his 90s, and left office at age 100, as the longest-serving senator ever. However, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia is on track to surpass Thurmond's record of length of senatorial service, but not chronological age in the Senate, as of June 10, 2006.

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Early career

After attending Clemson College (now Clemson University), where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity (Eta Alpha Chapter), and graduating in 1923, Thurmond joined the United States Army Reserve in 1924; and practiced law in South Carolina, later becoming an elected judge.

Following the outbreak of hostilities against Nazi Germany, Italy, and the Empire of Japan in 1941, Judge Thurmond resigned his seat on the bench to serve with the U.S. Army during World War II. As a Captain, in the Battle of Normandy (June 6 - August 25, 1944), Thurmond crash landed his glider in Normandy with the 82nd Airborne Division. For his military service, he earned 18 decorations, medals and awards, including the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal with Valor device, Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Belgium Order of the Crown, and the French Croix de Guerre.

Thurmond's political career extended from the days of Jim Crow laws, when he was a strong supporter of racial segregation as a Southern Democrat. He was elected Governor of South Carolina in 1947 and worked hard to preserve the state's existing segregation laws.

In the United States presidential election, 1948 he was a candidate for President of the United States on the third party ticket of the States Rights Democratic Party, better known as the Dixiecrat Party, which had split from the Democrats over the issue of segregation and racism. Thurmond carried four states and received 39 electoral votes. His primary campaign platform was the perpetuation of segregation. One 1948 speech, met with cheers by supporters, included the following:

"I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."
— (Template:Audio)
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Senate career

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1950s

In 1954 he became the only person ever to be elected to the Senate as a write-in candidate. He resigned in 1956 to fulfill a pledge of his write-in campaign to face a contested primary, won the primary, and was elected to the Senate vacancy caused by his resignation. The rest of his career in the Senate remained uninterrupted until his retirement 46 years later, despite his mid-career party switch.

Thurmond supported racial segregation with the longest filibuster ever on the Senate floor, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an unsuccessful attempt to derail the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

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1960s

On September 16, 1964; Thurmond switched his party affiliation, becoming a Republican to help Barry Goldwater with his presidential campaign. Thurmond played an important role in building Republican support in the Southern United States, which was overwhelmingly Democratic prior to the early 1960s.

For instance, his influence played a huge role in South Carolina's support for Republican candidate Barry Goldwater in the United States presidential election, 1964. The state had frequently supported Democrats with as much as 90% of the vote. Republican influence had been growing in the state even before Thurmond's switch, however; John F. Kennedy only carried the state with 52% of the vote in the United States presidential election, 1948. In the United States presidential election, 1968, he campaigned on behalf of Richard Nixon to support the Republicans' Southern Strategy, undoubtedly bringing in Southern voters who otherwise would have voted for segregationalist candidate George Wallace.

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1970s

In the 1970s, many believe that Thurmond had a change of heart and endorsed racial integration earlier than many other southern politicians. Some believe this change of policy was a calculated political move designed to extend his Senate career in a changing social environment. In 1970, the Washington Post reported that a Thurmond staffer advised him to abandon his segregationist views after one of his proteges, Congressman Albert Watson, was badly defeated in a race for governor of South Carolina. Watson himself had been a Democrat who turned Republican after being stripped of his seniority for backing Goldwater. Watson ran what many consider to be the last openly racist campaign in South Carolina, and Thurmond had strongly supported him. Regardless of his motivations, he would later hire African American staffers, enroll his daughter in an integrated public school, and support blacks for federal judgeships.

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Later career

Thurmond became President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 1981, and held the largely ceremonial post for three terms, alternating with his longtime rival Robert Byrd depending on the partisan composition of the Senate. On December 5, 1996, Thurmond became the oldest serving member of the U.S. Senate, and on May 25, 1997, he became the longest serving member (41 years and 10 months). He cast his 15,000th vote in September 1998. He was more moderate than fellow Southern Republicans such as Senator Jesse Helms, being among the minority of Republicans to vote for the Brady Bill.

There was some controversy towards the end of Thurmond's Senate career over his mental condition. Some, including some close friends, claimed that he had lost mental acuity and should not have been serving in the Senate. Concern was also raised whenever he served as President Pro Tempore of the Senate, which is fourth in line for the presidency. However, his supporters claimed that, while he lacked physical stamina due to his age, mentally he remained aware and attentive and maintained a very active work schedule in showing up for every floor vote. Thurmond did not seek re-election in 2002.

Thurmond did not run for reelection in 2002 and left the Senate in January of 2003, as America's longest-serving senator. On June 26, 2003, he died at 9:45 p.m at the age of 100, at a hospital in his hometown of Edgefield, where he had been living since retiring.

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Controversy

Shortly after Thurmond's death, on December 14, 2003, Essie Mae Washington-Williams publicly revealed that she was Strom Thurmond's illegitimate daughter, ending a long agreement to conceal the fact. She was born to an African American maid in the family household, Carrie Butler, on October 12, 1925, when Butler was 16 and Thurmond was 22. The specific relationship between Thurmond and the maid has of yet never been made totally clear. After Ms. Washington-Williams came forward, the Thurmond family publicly acknowledged her parentage. Supposedly many close friends and staff members had long suspected this or something like it to have been the case, stating that Thurmond had long seemed to take a great amount of interest in Ms. Washington-Williams and that she was granted a degree of access to the Senator more appropriate to a family member than to a member of the public or a political ally.

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Political timeline

  • Governor of South Carolina (1947-1951)
  • States Rights Democratic presidential candidate (1948)
  • Eight-term Senator of South Carolina, USA (December 1954-April 1956 and November 1956-January 2003)
    • Democrat (1954-April 1956 and November 1956-September 1964)
    • Republican (September 1964-January 2003)
    • President pro tempore (1981-1987; 1995-January 3, 2001; January 20, 2001-June 6, 2001)
    • Set record for the longest Congressional filibuster (1957)
    • Set record for oldest serving member at 94 years (1997)
    • Set record for longest tenure in the Senate at 43 years (1997)
    • Became the only senator ever to serve at the age of 100
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Trivia

  • Was 41 years old when he fought at the Battle of Normandy
  • One of the few contemporary politicians to have received the votes of American Civil War veterans
  • Intervened in 1971 when Reverend Sun Myung Moon had trouble entering the United States
  • Was a Senate colleague of Prescott Bush - the father of U.S. President George H. W. Bush and grandfather of U.S. President George W. Bush
  • He and his first wife, Jean Crouch (1926-1960) were married in 1947. She died of cancer 13 years later; there were no children.
  • Married his second wife, Nancy Janice Moore, in 1968 when he was 66 years old and she only 23. It is often said that he ran for president before she was born. This is false; however, he was old enough to be eligible. They separated in 1991.
  • Fathered what was believed to be his first child at the age of 68. His four children with Nancy are: Nancy Moore (1971-1993), who was killed in a traffic accident; James Strom, Jr. (1972- ); Juliana Gertrude (1974- ); and Paul Reynolds (1976- ).
  • Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson, in their 1998 biography Ol' Strom, reported that Thurmond's first child was Essie Mae Washington-Williams, born in 1925. Her mother was a black servant named Carrie "Tunch" Butler (1909-1947). On December 15, 2003, an attorney for Thurmond's family confirmed that Thurmond had indeed been the father of Ms. Washington-Williams.
  • Became a grandfather publicly for the first time on June 17, 2003, just nine days before his death. He first became a grandfather privately decades earlier when Ms. Washington-Williams had her first child.
  • Ronald Williams, son of Essie Mae Washington-Williams, has claimed that he was a registered Republican before Strom Thurmond was.
  • A reservoir on the Georgia-South Carolina border is named after him: Lake Strom Thurmond.
  • Thurmond will lose his record of longest-serving senator in 2006 to Robert Byrd.
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External links

Articles

Obituaries

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Further reading

Template:Start box Template:Succession box {{U.S. Senator box | state=South Carolina | class=3 | before=Charles E. Daniel | after=Lindsey Graham | alongside= Olin Johnston, Donald S. Russell, Ernest Hollings | years= December 24, 1954 – April 4, 1956
November 7, 1956 – January 32003}} {{succession box | title=President pro tempore of the United States Senate | before=Warren Magnuson | after=John Stennis | years=1981 – 1987}} {{succession box | title=Dean of the U.S. Senate | before=John Stennis | after=Robert Byrd | years=1989 – 2003}} {{succession box | title=President pro tempore of the United States Senate | before=Robert Byrd | after=Robert Byrd | years=January 3 1995 – January 3, 2001}} {{succession box | title=President pro tempore of the United States Senate | before=Robert Byrd | after=Robert Byrd | years=January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001}} {{succession box | title=President pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate | before=None; first with that title. | after=Robert Byrd | years=June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003}} {{succession box | title=Earliest living US governor | before=Charles Poletti | after=Elbert N. Carvel | years=2002 – 2003}} Template:End box Template:USSenPresProTempda:Strom Thurmond de:Strom Thurmond eo:Strom THURMOND fr:Strom Thurmond he:סטרום ת'ורמונד nl:Strom Thurmond ja:ストロム・サーモンド pl:Strom Thurmond sv:Strom Thurmond

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