[[Image:{{Officeholder|name=Strom Thurmond|image=StromThurmond1.jpg|rightparty=[[Democrat]] (until 1964)<br>[[Republican]]|250pxspouse=Jean Crouch (died 1960)<br>Nancy Moore|thumbreligion=[[Baptist]]|Senator Strom Thurmondoffices= {{Officeholder/senator |state=South Carolina |terms=November 7, 1956 – January 3, 2003 |preceded=Thomas A. Wofford |status=f |succeeded=[[Lindsey Graham]] }} {{Officeholder/senator |state=South Carolina |terms=December 24, 1954 – April 4, 1956 |preceded=Charles. E. Daniel |status=f |succeeded=Thomas A. Wofford }} {{Officeholder/governor |state=South Carolina |lieutenant=George Bell Timmerman, Jr. |terms=January 21, 1947 – January 16, 1951 |preceded=Ransome Judson Williams |former=y |succeeded=[[James F. Byrnes]] }} {{Officeholder/state senator |state=South Carolina |district=Edgefield County |terms=January 10, 1933 – January 14, 1938 |preceded=Thomas Greneker |former=y |succeeded=William Yonce }}}}
'''James Strom Thurmond, Sr.''' (December 5, 1902-– June 26, 2003) was an a [[United States]] [[Senate|United States Senator]] from [[South Carolina]] for over almost fifty years. He served from 1954 to 1964 as a [[Democrat]] and from 1964 to his death in 2003 as a [[Republican]]. He holds the record for length of service in the Senate, and he is the only major office holder in [[American]] history to serve at age 100. Prior to 2010, Thurmond was the only senator in US history to have been elected by write-in vote; [[Lisa Murkowski]] was elected senator of Alaska by write-in during the [[2010 Midterm Elections]].
In After switching to the late 1940sRepublican party, Strom Thurmond was one of the first Senators to hire an African American staff aide, sponsored a black man to be a federal judge, and voted for the [[liberalMartin Luther King]]federal holiday. Thurmond said he had made the move because Democrats were "leading the evolution of our nation to a [[socialist]]ic [[dictatorship]]."<ref>[httphttps://www.kevinbakerlegacy.infocom/c_wtm.html What Trent Lott Meant], Kevin Bakerobituaries/legacy/obituary.aspx?pid=1118046</ref> As Governor of South Carolina, Thurmond said on a radio broadcast: ''"We need a [[Progressivism|progressiveJoe Biden]] outlook, eulogized Thurmond at a progressive program and a progressive leadership."'' In his inaugural address as governor, memorial service noting that after Thurmond not only called for abolishing left the [[poll taxHistory of Democrat racism|Democrat party and its racist history]]by becoming a Republican, but also advocated expanding Workman's compensation laws, and better working conditions in plants and factories. He repeated his call for better public education, and told his constituents that ''he "more attention should be given came over to Negro educationthe good side."<ref>https://www.'' buzzfeednews.com/article/henrygomez/joe-biden-strom-thurmond-eulogy</ref>
Thurmond also was had a pioneer lifelong family relationship and financially supported an out-of-wedlock daughter he fathered as a Democrat for young man with an [[feminismAfrican American]] and the women's movementwoman. He also demanded in his inaugural speech<ref>https: ''//www.historynet.com/strom-thurmond-meets-his-daughter."equal rights for women in every respect...equal pay for equal work for women."''htm</ref>
==Early career==Thurmond began his career as a Democrat had been . As a supporter of South Carolina state senator in 1938 he publicly opposed [[segregationlynching]] as most were in the South at and declared that time, and ran for President on the breakaway [[DixiecratKu Klux Klan]] platform in 1948stood for "the most abominable type of lawlessness. Like many [[New Deal]]ers, " Thurmond by the 1960s was disenchanted with the called himself a "[[Great Societyprogressive]] and changed parties". At <ref name="The Legacy of Strom Thurmond's one hundredth birthday party, Senate Majority Leader ">[[Trent Lott]] stated if Thurmond had been elected in https://www.counterpunch.org/2004/03/08/the early days -legacy-of the [[Cold War-strom-thurmond/ The Legacy of Strom Thurmond]] "we wouldn('t have had these problems all these years." [[Deceit|Liberals]] were in an uproar, and suggested some racial motivation behind Lott's comments'Warning:''' Article contains foul, demanding he not only apologize, but resign from the Senate and his leadership position. This politically motivated pressure and defamation, a continual distortion and interpretation of his remarks, eventually caused Lott to resign his position as Majority Leader, as Thurmond had indeed run on a segregationist platform. inappropriate language)</ref>
After Thurmond's death==Governor==In the late 1940s, it was revealed that he had fathered Strom Thurmond—a Democrat—was a child with moderate and a women modernizer who represented the middle class, the wealthy landowners, and the business community in his family's employthe state to bring in new industry. The woman In South Carolina terms he fathered the child with was an a [[African-AmericanNew Deal]] domestic worker in the Thurmond family household. She was 16 and Thurmond was 21. This was decades before liberal, but he would run for rejected the [[Presidentpopulism]] on of the "lint heads" (mill workers and poor farmers) led by Cole Blease and [[DixiecratOlin D. Johnston]] ticket that opposed . Thurmond belonged to the more conservative faction of the Democrat Party led by [[miscegenationJames Byrnes]]. [http<ref>Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson, ''Ol' Strom:An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond'' (2003), pp 121-22; ch 8<//www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showplatforms.php?platindex=SR1948] ref> As Governor of South Carolina, Thurmond said on a radio broadcast: ''"We need a progressive outlook, a progressive program and the child did not meet until she was 16 years old and she was unaware of the fact he was her father until that timea progressive leadership. After that meeting"'' In his inaugural address as governor, Thurmond (who had always privately given financial support to not only called for abolishing the mother and child)[[poll tax]], did take a more personal interest but also advocated expanding workman's compensation laws, and better working conditions in her lifeplants and factories. His now 71 year-old daughter spoke affectionately of her fatherHe repeated his call for better public education, and pointedly told reporters she and her mother had never held a grudge or ill feelings toward Thurmondthe state that ''"more attention should be given to Negro education".''<ref name="The Legacy of Strom Thurmond"/>
Strom Thurmond was married twice. His first wife, Jean Crouch, died of cancer advocated in 1960. He married his second wife, Nancy Moore, inaugural speech: ''..."equal rights for women in 1968every respect. She worked on his staff prior to their marriage. .equal pay for equal work for women."''
On February 16, 1947, a young black man from Pickens County was arrested and charged with the murder of Thomas Brown, a white Greenville taxicab driver. The next day a mob broke into the Pickens County jail, took Earle, shot him, stabbed him and then beat him to death on the outskirts of town. The FBI and state officials investigated the crime at the behest of Thurmond, who also called for the prosecution of those accused of lynching.
==ReferencesPresidential candidate==[[Image:Thurmond48.jpg|thumb|300px|''Time'' magazine Oct 11, 1948]]
<references/>Thurmond as a Democrat had been a supporter of [[segregation]] as most were in the South at that time, and ran for President on the breakaway [[Dixiecrat]] platform in 1948.
'''Dixiecrat''' was the informal term for Southern Democrats who in 1948 refused to support President [[Harry S. Truman]] for reelection because he ordered integration of the [[United States Armed Forces]]. The official name was the '''States Rights Party'''. They formed a third party that nominated Thurmond, who carried four states in the Deep South where he was the official nominee of the splinter party, gaining 39 electoral votes. Thurmond had 1.2 million popular votes, or 2.4% of the national total. The party did not nominate any other candidates at any level, and dissolved after Truman won the election. Dixiecrats like Thurmond went back to their old party.
==Senator==
A staunch segregationist who opposed [[civil rights]] efforts led mostly by [[Republicans]] during the 50s and 60s, Thurmond led the longest filibuster ever recorded in U.S. history when attempting to block the [[1957 Civil Rights Act]], speaking continuously for twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes.<ref>Hickey, Walt (March 6, 2013). [https://www.businessinsider.com/longest-filibuster-in-history-strom-thurmond-rand-paul-2013-3?op=1 The Longest Filibuster In History Lasted More Than A Day — Here's How It Went Down]. ''Business Insider''. Retrieved January 2, 2021.</ref> In it, he read the U.S. voting laws by state, the criminal code, and several other documents before the Senate passed the legislation. Thurmond's political stunt was also despite previously reaching a deal with then-[[Senate Majority Leader]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] that he would not filibuster the bill if Johnson significantly watered it down, which he did by removing Title III.<ref>DiEugenio, James (October 7, 2018). [https://kennedysandking.com/reviews/the-kennedys-and-civil-rights-how-the-msm-continues-to-distort-history-part-2 The Kennedys and Civil Rights: How the MSM Continues to Distort History, Part 2]. ''Kennedys and King''. Retrieved January 2, 2021.</ref>
Thurmond joined fellow segregationist Southern senators [[J. William Fulbright]], [[Richard Russell, Jr.]], and several others in blocking the [[1964 Civil Rights Act]], nearly killing the bill until the filibuster had finally been broken and the legislation managed to pass.<ref>https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/civil_rights/filibuster_debate.htm Civil Rights Act of 1964</ref>
Like many [[New Deal]]ers, Thurmond by the late 1960s was disenchanted with [[big government]], the [[War on Poverty]], and the [[Great Society]]'s attack on Black families and traditional values, which led to his defection to the Republicans in 1964. By the 1970s, poverty emerged victorious in the great national struggle, with [[stagflation]], no growth, high unemployment to achieve equality among races, crumbling family structure and rising abortion rates were the hallmarks of the [[Marxist]] utopia that Democrats were seeking to build. Many New Deal era Democrats had already left the party.
After he left the party, he eventually dropped his segregationism. He hired black staffers and was honored by an organization of South Carolina’s black mayors for his service to their communities in 1972, earning endorsements from 10 out of 11 of them. Some civil rights leaders praised him for his efforts to help Black South Carolinians. He voted to renew the Voting Rights Act in 1982 and for a federal holiday to honor King in 1983 and he played a large role in ending [[Jesse Helms]]'s filibuster of it. He also supported the [[Civil Rights Act of 1991]]. In his last campaign for U.S. Senate in 1996, Thurmond received 20 percent of the Black vote, a high for Republicans in the state during that time.<ref>https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/was-strom-thurmond-a-racist-two-of-his-biographers-to-discuss-his-legacy/ar-BB18Aims</ref>
At Thurmond's one hundredth birthday party, Senate Majority Leader [[Trent Lott]] humored Thurmond by saying if he had been elected before Democrat presidents led the [[United States]] into the Korean and [[Vietnam War]]s, "we wouldn't have had these problems all these years." [[Deceit|Liberals]] and [[race baiter]]s were in an uproar, demanding Lott not only apologize, but resign from the Senate. This politically motivated pressure and distortion of the remarks, eventually caused Lott to resign his position as Majority Leader. But no one attacked Thurmond, who remained in the Senate.
After Thurmond's death, it was revealed that he had fathered a child with a woman in his family's employ. The woman he fathered the child with was an [[African-American]] domestic worker in the Thurmond family household. She was 16 and Thurmond was 22. [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showplatforms.php?platindex=SR1948] Thurmond and the child did not meet until she was 16 years old and she was unaware of the fact he was her father until that time. After that meeting, Thurmond (who had always privately given financial support to the mother and child), did take a more personal interest in her life. His daughter spoke affectionately of her father, and pointedly told reporters she and her mother had never held a grudge or ill feelings toward Thurmond.
Strom Thurmond was married twice. His first wife, Jean Crouch, died of cancer in 1960. He married his second wife, Nancy Moore, in 1968 and remained married until his death. She worked on his staff prior to their marriage.
==See also==
*[[Harry F. Byrd]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT==Further reading==* Bass, Jack, and Marilyn W. Thompson ''Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond, '' (2nd ed. 2006) [https://www.amazon.com/Ol-Strom}}-Unauthorized-Biography-Thurmond/dp/1570035148/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229410351&sr=1-4 excerpt and text search of 2003 edition]* Frederickson, Kari ''The Dixiecrat Revolt and the End of the Solid South, 1932-1968'' (2001) 310 pgs. [http://www.questia.com/read/100781200?title=The%20Dixiecrat%20Revolt%20and%20the%20End%20of%20the%20Solid%20South%2c%201932-1968 online edition]* Pietrusza, David ''1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Changed America'', New York: Union Square Press, 2011.* Leip, David "1964 Presidential General Election Results", http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1964, Web. 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurmond, Strom}}[[Category:South Carolina]][[Category:Former United States Senators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party]]
[[Category:Republican Party]]
[[Category:Former Democrats]]
[[Category:South Carolina Governors]]
[[Category:Democratic Governors]]
[[Category:Former Governors]]
[[Category:Segregationists]]
[[Category:Failed Presidential Candidates]]