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Strom Thurmond Biography

Strom Thurmond Biography Strom Thurmond began his political career as a Democrat strongly opposed to civil rights laws, but eventually he changed both his party and his ideology. Thurmond has been a strong influence on Southern Politics since his days as the Edgefield County superintendent of education. He has had a hand in most of the major events in the Southern political history of the 20th century. Strom Thurmond’s career has been a reflection of the events in southern politics in several ways: his growing up in Edgefield South Carolina, his early politics on the matter of race, his sense of duty to the armed forces, and his Gubernatorial campaign. To understand the man you have to understand his trajectory, where he is from. “Politics have long been an important part of Edgefield's history. Many of the state's leaders came from this area, including ten former Governors: Andrew Pickens, Jr., George McDuffie, Pierce Mason Butler, James H. Hammond, Francis W. Pickens, Milledge Luke Bonham, Jon C. Sheppard, Benjamin Tillman, John Gary Evans, and Strom Thurmond.” “Edgefield County was one of the first counties to mobilize troops for the Civil War, after the war, Martin Gary and M.C. Butler were instrumental in forming the Red Shirt Movement to combat corruption and violence during the Reconstruction.” The people of Edgefield county “were mean people, but of good and honest character.” “They were good about helping each other, but they would also shoot you. They would fight for what they believed in.” An example of this would be when Willie Harris called Strom’s father George Washington Thurmond a “low, dirty scoundrel”. G.W. Thurmond proceeded to shoot him in the middle of the chest, killing him instantly for that dishonor. Strom Thurmond “introduced and unsuccessful bill to allow hiring only white people to work in the capitol, and he voted to exempt Ku Klux Klan property from state taxation.” He never repeated legislation like this in his career, but this is and example of how the ambiance of Edgefield County, and the South influenced his politics early in his career. Segregation was an absolute in those days. “In 1933 Strom Thurmond was elected to the South Carolina Senate and represented Edgefield until he was elected to the Eleventh Circuit judgeship. When the United States entered World War II he left the judgeship temporarily to serve in the U.S. Army.” Even though at that time Judge Thurmond was exempted from military service because of his position, he must of sensed that the people of Edgefield County expected military service of their men. If he was going to be a successful politician in the future he had to serve at that time. “I will never sign a bill to mix the races.” This was Strom Thurmond’s only mention of race during his Gubernatorial campaign, but it was something that definitely needed to be mentioned if he expected to win. Strom Thurmond “dominated media coverage, emerging as the courageous crusader against the ‘Barnwell Ring.” Returning as a war hero, and with his strong record of public service he was able to defeat 10 other candidates. Strom Thurmond has been a strong personal influence on Southern politics. His influence can be seen through; his early work on the Edgefield school board, his efforts to somewhat improve conditions for African Americans, the “Dixiecrat”, his victory as a write in candidate for the U.S. Senate, his record setting 1957 filibuster, his switch to the Republican Party, his support of Richard Nixon, his influence on Clarence Thomas’ appointment to the supreme court, and him falling asleep during President Clintons impeachment trial. Strom Thurmond took over the school system at the age of 26. He launched an “innovative program in which the state health officer and local dentists went into the schools to examine children and treat defects.” The school system was segregated with whites having the best facilities, salaries, etc. He initiated a “write your name” program to help battle adult illiteracy. “Black illiteracy in the county dropped by more than one fourth, from a twenty nine percent to a twenty-one percent in the 1930 census.” Strom Thurmond felt that “more attention needed to be given to Negro education, the low standing of South Carolina, educationally, is due primarily to the high rate of illiteracy and lack of education among our Negroes.” After hearing news of a lynching a month after taking office, Thurmond called “for a vigorous prosecution resulting in state and local police working with the F.B.I.”10 His firm position prevented future lynching. The Dixiecrat Presidential campaign “transformed Thurmond’s image from a progressive governor of South Carolina to a reactionary national champion of white supremacy.” Thurmond insists that the campaign was for “States Rights,” and to end the use of the South as a doormat for Presidential Candidates, but comments like this show his true colors; “And all the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches, and our places of recreation and amusement.” Here’s a commentary I found on the web by a African American person who lived through the Dixiecrat period of South Carolina; “even before I was 12, the images of Republican politicians, along with their Dixiecrat soul mates, screaming "niggers" this and "niggers" that, were burned into my consciousness as symbols of bigotry and intolerance. Not counting Abe Lincoln, I had nothing good to say about a single Republican until I went to college in 1963.” Strom Thurmond was no ordinary freshman to the United States Senate. “He wasn’t regarded lightly,” anyone that’s in politics who sees someone get elected on a write-in vote to the United States Senate has to have power. Thurmond exercised his power in the 1957 filibuster against the Civil Rights Act, he “began speaking at 8:54 pm. He did not finish until 9:12 pm the next night, twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes later.” “The Democratic Party has abandoned the people…” With that statement Strom Thurmond rocked the political strength that held the South since the Reconstruction. “The Democratic Party has succored and assisted our Communist enemies through trade and aid at the expense of the American people.” His Comments were tailored to have his “Fellow South Carolinians” see the Democrats as an evil group who no longer represented them. In 1965 when blacks first began voting in significant numbers in South Carolina, Thurmond became the first Southern senator to hire black staff members and appoint blacks to high positions. Strom Thurmond’s influence over Southern politics can be seen through his endorsement of Richard Nixon for President in 1968. “He saw Nixon as the vehicle for shifting the center of the G.O.P. to the right.” In order to ensure this “Thurmond possessed the credibility among Southerners to tell them a third-party protest was fruitless, and that a ‘vote for Wallace is a vote for Humphrey.” At least 14 Senators fell asleep for 5 or more minutes during the White House’s defense of Clinton’s impeachment trial. Strom Thurman was one of them. Senator Thurman always leaves his mark somehow. I have to admit that I did not agree with some of Senator Thurmond’s early politics, but the personal change he experienced in ideology through your relationships with Armstrong Williams and Thomas Moss really impressed me. Before reading this biography I believed Strom Thurmond to be an old racist hick. I no longer feel that way. Now, I just think he’s old. Bibliography: http://www.csranet.com/~vlmckie/scinfo2.htm Info and History of Edgefield County. “Ol’ Strom” Bass and Thompson. Long Street Press Inc., 1999. Pg. 27 “Ol’ Strom” Bass and Thompson. Long Street Press Inc., 1999. Pg. 47 http://www.strom.clemson.edu/strom/bio.html Strom Thurmond Biography, Clemson University.

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