Strom Thurmond

James Strom Thurmond Sr. (; December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Before his 47 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South Carolina from 1947 to 1951. Thurmond was officially a member of the Democratic Party in the Senate until 1964, when he joined the Republican Party. He had earlier run for president in 1948 as the Dixiecrat candidate in opposition to Democratic president Harry S. Truman, receiving over a million votes and winning four states.

A staunch opponent of civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s, Thurmond completed the longest single-person Senate filibuster, at 24 hours and 18 minutes in length, in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957. In the 1960s, Thurmond voted against both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Despite his support for Jim Crow laws, Thurmond denied the accusation that he was a racist by insisting he was a supporter of states' rights and an opponent of excessive federal authority. Thurmond switched parties ahead of the 1964 United States presidential election, saying that the Democratic Party no longer represented people like him, and endorsed Republican nominee Barry Goldwater, who also opposed the Civil Rights Act. By the 1970s, Thurmond started to moderate his stance on race, but continued to defend his prior support for segregation based on states' rights and Southern society at the time. With Thurmond's party switch, he became the first Republican U.S. Senator from South Carolina since John J. Patterson in 1879. Since Thurmond switched parties in 1964, only three senators from South Carolina have been Democrats: Olin D. Johnston, Donald S. Russell, and Fritz Hollings. Thurmond served with Johnston as a Democrat from 1954 through 1964, and then as a Republican from his 1964 party switch until 1965, when Johnston died. He then served with Russell in 1965, Johnston's replacement, until the special election to fill Johnston's seat, in which Russell lost to Hollings. Hollings subsequently served alongside Thurmond until Thurmond's resignation in 2003.

As a Republican, Thurmond served three times as President pro tempore of the United States Senate, and chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1981 to 1987 and the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1995 to 1999. He retired in 2003 as the only member of either chamber of Congress to reach the age of 100 while still in office and the oldest-serving senator; he died less than six months later. His 47 years as a senator, a record at the time, is the fourth-longest in U.S. history behind Robert Byrd, Daniel Inouye, and Patrick Leahy. Thurmond was also, at 14 years, the longest-serving Dean of the United States Senate.

Early life and education (1902–1933)

James Strom Thurmond was born on December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina. He was the second of six children born to John William Thurmond (1862–1934) and Eleanor Gertrude Strom (1870–1958). Thurmond's father was a lawyer and politician who served as a county supervisor and representative to the South Carolina General Assembly. In 1902, Thurmond's father unsuccessfully contested the election for United States Congress. Strom's mother came from a well-known Edgefield family. She was a deeply religious woman, known for delivering prayers.

Thurmond learned to ride ponies, horses, and bulls from an early age. When Thurmond was four, his family moved into a larger home, where they owned about six acres (2.4 ha) of land. His parents were frequently visited by politicians and lawyers. At six years old, he had an encounter with Benjamin Tillman, a senator from South Carolina. Thurmond remembered the handshake with Tillman as his first political skill.

Thurmond attended Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina (now Clemson University), where he studied horticulture. At Clemson, he served as the president of the Calhoun Literary Society, where he debated and learned parliamentary procedure. He was deeply influenced by his English professor—David Wistar Daniel, namesake of D. W. Daniel High School. Thurmond graduated from Clemson in 1923 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

After his graduation, Thurmond worked as a farmer, teacher, and athletic coach.

In 1925, Thurmond fathered a child born to Carrie Butler, an African-American teenager who worked as his family's housekeeper. In 2003, the Thurmond family confirmed that Thurmond fathered a mixed-race daughter named Essie Mae with Butler. While her paternity was long hidden, he helped support her and paid for her college education.

In 1929, Thurmond was appointed as Edgefield County's superintendent of education. While serving as superintendent of education, he began studying to become a lawyer by reading law under his father's guidance.

Early career (1933–1947)

South Carolina Senate (1933–1938)

In 1930, Thurmond was admitted to the South Carolina bar. He was appointed as the Edgefield Town and County attorney, serving from 1930 to 1938. Thurmond supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. Thurmond favored Roosevelt's argument that the federal government could be used to assist citizens in the daily plights brought on by the Great Depression. Thurmond raised money for Roosevelt and, following his victory, traveled to Washington to attend Roosevelt's inauguration.

In 1933, Thurmond began his own political career by being elected to the South Carolina Senate. He served there until 1938, when he was elected as a state circuit judge. During his days as a circuit judge, after Sue Logue participated in planning the murder of Davis Timmerman, Thurmond convinced her to surrender to authorities.

World War II

In 1942, at age 39, after the U.S. formally entered World War II, Judge Thurmond resigned from the bench to serve in the U.S. Army, rising to lieutenant colonel. In the Battle of Normandy (June 6 – August 25, 1944), he landed in a glider attached to the 82nd Airborne Division. For his military service, Thurmond received 18 decorations, medals and awards, including the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star with Valor device, Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal, European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Belgium's Order of the Crown and France's Croix de Guerre.

During 1954–55, Thurmond was president of the Reserve Officers Association. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve with the rank of major general.

Governor of South Carolina (1947–1951)

Running as a Democrat in what was virtually a one-party state, since most African Americans (who then favored the Republican Party) were still disenfranchised by state discriminatory laws and practices, Thurmond was elected governor of South Carolina in 1946. He had promised to make state government more transparent and accountable by weakening the power of a group of politicians from Barnwell, whom Thurmond dubbed the Barnwell Ring, led by House Speaker Solomon Blatt.

Many voters considered Thurmond a progressive for much of his term, in large part due to his influence in gaining the arrest of the perpetrators of the lynching of Willie Earle. Though none of the men were found guilty by an all-white jury, in a case where the defense called no witnesses, Thurmond was congratulated by the NAACP and the ACLU for his efforts to bring the murderers to justice.

In 1949, Thurmond oversaw the opening of Camp Croft State Park. In November he was unanimously elected Chairman of the Southern Governors Conference and was considered to be a states' rights nominee.

Various reforms were also carried out in areas such as education, agriculture, working conditions, and social welfare during Thurmond's time as governor.

1948 presidential campaign

During his year as governor, Thurmond publicly supported Truman, declaring during a radio broadcast in the fall of 1947 that

We who believe in a liberal political philosophy, in the importance of human rights as well as property rights, in the preservation and strengthening of the economic and social gains brought about by the efforts of the Democratic Party … will vote for the election of Harry Truman.

In the 1948 presidential election, however, Thurmond ran for president as a third party candidate for the States' Rights Democratic Party, which was formed by White southern Democrats who split from the national party over the threat of federal intervention in state affairs regarding racial segregation and Jim Crow laws and practices.