Strom Thurmond Dies at 100

[The_Dude]

WASHINGTON - Sen. Strom Thurmond (news, bio, voting record) of South Carolina, a one-time Democratic segregationist who helped fuel the rise of the modern conservative Republican Party in the South, died Thursday. He was 100 and the longest-serving senator in history.

Thurmond died at 9:45 p.m., his son Strom Thurmond Jr. said. He had been living in a newly renovated wing of a hospital in his hometown of Edgefield since he returned to the state from Washington earlier this year.


Thurmond, whose physical and political endurance were legendary — he holds the record for solo Senate filibustering — retired on Jan. 5, 2003, after more than 48 years in office.


Age took its inevitable toll on Thurmond as he neared retirement, and he was guided through the Capitol in a wheelchair. Yet he wielded political power virtually to the end, prevailing upon President Bush (news - web sites) to appoint his 29-year-old son, Strom Jr., as U.S. Attorney in South Carolina in 2001.


Thurmond is "beyond criticism" in South Carolina, Furman University political scientist Don Aiesi said as the senator's health declined and he underwent a series of hospitalizations late in his congressional tenure. "Strom is the most venerable of institutions here."


In a political career that spanned seven decades, Thurmond won his first election in 1928, to local office, and his last in 1996, to his eighth Senate term. "We cannot and I shall not give up on our mission to right the 40-year wrongs of liberalism," he said during his last campaign. "The people of South Carolina know that Strom Thurmond doesn't like unfinished business."


His voting record was pro-defense, anti-communist and staunchly conservative. His devotion to constituent services was legendary. He was a lifelong physical fitness buff, who shunned tobacco and alcohol and was known for his vigorous handshake. He had a storied, lifelong reputation as a ladies' man.


Thurmond ran for president as a Dixiecrat in 1948 and won 39 Southern electoral votes as part of a states-rights uprising against President Harry Truman's support for civil rights. Nearly a decade later, he set the Senate record for filibustering when he spoke for a straight 24 hours and 18 minutes against a bill to end discrimination in housing.


Ironically, his presidential campaign sparked controversy more than a half-century later, when then-Majority Leader Trent Lott declared at Thurmond's 100th birthday party that voters of Mississippi were proud to have supported the South Carolinian when he ran for the White House. "If the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either," added Lott, who was forced to step down as the Senate's Republican leader in the ensuing uproar.


Thurmond's racial politics changed over the years as blacks began voting in large numbers. He became the first Southern senator to hire a black aide, supported the appointment of a black Southern federal judge and voted to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday.


His outlook seemed far different a half century ago, when he ran for president.


"I want to tell you," he declared in one speech in 1948, "that there's not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Negro race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches."


Thurmond grew up a Democrat — his father once ran for office — but switched to the GOP in 1964 to support Barry Goldwater's conservative campaign for the White House.


He said at the time he had made the move because Democrats were "leading the evolution of our nation to a socialistic dictatorship."


Like other Southern states, South Carolina had been a one-party Democratic state since the end of Reconstruction nearly a century earlier. Thurmond's switch anticipated a broader trend. By the 1990s, the South favored the GOP, and Republican candidates generally triumphed in statewide races in South Carolina.


The first time he ran as a Republican, in 1966, he won easily.


In 1968, Thurmond played a pivotal role in executing the "Southern Strategy" that helped Richard Nixon win the White House. The South Carolinian helped hold Southern delegates in line at the GOP convention when a charismatic conservative, Ronald Reagan (news - web sites), made a late play for the nomination. In the general election, he sought to blunt George Wallace's third-party candidacy in the South, arguing that anything but a vote for Nixon would help elect a liberal Democrat, Hubert Humphrey.





Born Dec. 5, 1902, in Edgefield, S.C., James Strom Thurmond — Strom was his mother's maiden name — was elected county school superintendent, state senator and circuit judge before enlisting in the Army in World War II. He landed in Normandy as part of the 82nd Airborne Division assault on D-Day, and won five battle stars and numerous other awards.

The war over, he returned home to resume his political career and won election as governor in 1946. His record was progressive by contemporary standards for a Southern Democrat. He pushed for repeal of the poll tax and boosted education spending.

He lost a race in South Carolina for the only time in his career four years later, when he challenged incumbent Sen. Olin Johnston for renomination. In defeat, he returned home to practice law.

But in 1954, Sen. Burnet Maybank died unexpectedly. When party officials tapped a state lawmaker to run for the post, Thurmond challenged as a write-in candidate, saying the voters, not the party's leaders, should decide who got the nomination. To underscore his credentials as an insurgent, he pledged to resign his seat before seeking re-election in 1956.

He won, the only person in history to capture a seat in Congress by write-in. Two years later, he kept his pledge to resign before running for the four years remaining in the term.

His presidential race and write-in victory behind him, Thurmond arrived in Washington with a nationwide reputation. The civil rights movement was gathering steam, but he held fast to his segregationist views for years.

He was a leader in drafting the Southern Manifesto of 1956, in which Southern lawmakers vowed resistance to the Supreme Court's unanimous school desegregation order. In 1957, he staged his record nonstop filibuster against housing legislation that he denounced as "race mixing."

Ironically, in earlier decades, Thurmond's segregationist views were more nuanced than those held by other Southern politicians.

As governor, he called for forceful prosecution after a black man, a murder suspect, was lynched by a mob. The result was a trial at which 31 white men were defendants.

His 1950 defeat came at the hands of an opponent who made an issue of Thurmond's gubernatorial appointment of a black physician to a state medical advisory board.

Like many one-time segregationists, Thurmond insisted the issue wasn't race but "federal power vs. state power" — though the state power he wanted to preserve was the power to segregate.

"The question of integration was only one facet of that matter," he said in a November 1992 interview.

Showing how much his world had changed, in 1977, Thurmond's young daughter, Nancy, 6, enrolled in a public school in Columbia, S.C., that was 50 percent black. The girl's teacher also was black.

Thurmond's first wife, Jean Crouch, was 23 years his junior. The couple married in 1947, and she died of a brain tumor in 1960.

His second wife, former beauty queen Nancy Moore, was 44 years younger than Thurmond when they were married in 1968. Thurmond was 68 when their first child, Nancy, was born. The couple had three other children before separating in 1991: Strom Jr., Juliana and Paul. Nancy died in 1993 after being struck by a car.

he definately led an interesting life.

from an ex racist to man w/ a wife 44 years younger than him.

the man's dead, so let's keep the negativity on this thread to a min.

[XenuHubbard]

Originally posted by The_Dude
the man's dead, so let's keep the negativity on this thread to a min.

Dude, you killed your own thread!

[samremy]

Do you think it was today's Supreme Court ruling that did him in? Irony or just the winds of change a blowin'?

[Sparhawk]

Rest in Peace, you ol' horndog.

[The_Dude]

Originally posted by samremy
Do you think it was today's Supreme Court ruling that did him in? Irony or just the winds of change a blowin'?

that's a possibility!

[Darkblack]

Glad to see him go.

Got a few more that need to follow.

[SaltPork]

Originally posted by Darkblack
Glad to see him go.

Got a few more that need to follow.

A little harsh...I'm just glad that he retired from the Senate. WAYYYY too late, though.

[j8ear]

Paul Harvey had some nice things to say about 'ole Strom:

Father, husband, coach, mentor, and Senetor of such substance that when he went from democrat to republican the entire south followed him. Statesmen of such longevity that no one has held office longer.

After touching all the bases, late thursday night he was waved home.

May God rest his soul.

Shame on the New York Times and every other media outlet who see him only as a 'foe to intergration.' Talk about your cat changing it stripes. The evolving convictions of this man are staggering.

[Darkblack]

a little harsh? The guy hated people because of their skin color....

He did his best to make their lives suck.

They give him credit for the longest solo filibuster but they don't say what the issue was, which if I am not mistaken was ending segregating schools.

I am sorry but anyone that hates somene for their race, religion, gender, or anything like that should not have any power in this county.

[Darkblack]

"...and Senetor of such substance that when he went from democrat to republican the entire south followed him..."


Thats because he said all the niggers were going to be democrats.


Please don't act like he was a great man....

[BoCo]

Remember him for what he was:

[j8ear]

A southern white rich ass plantation owner/politician from the post depression first half of last century who hated niggers....COME ON...HOW CAN THAT BE???.

I refer back to the cat changing it's stripes. Thurmond grew up, and so did his constituency. Things ain't like they used to be. Strom figured it out and was the first to do something about it.

I know what he filibustered, and see it in just about every freakin' pub I come across.

To be electable for more than fifty years in and of itself makes him worthy of respect. To offer so much of yourself to public service in and off itself makes him a great man. It could also make him a crook or a scroundrel, or out of touch with reality, but those are other demons all together.

Please don't act like he was the devil incarnate...or if he is please enlighten me. I haven't seen it yet.

For the record, I usually take Paul Harvey at face value.

[samremy]

Originally posted by Darkblack
I am sorry but anyone that hates somene for their race, religion, gender, or anything like that should not have any power in this county.


Please don't act like he was a great man....

<div align=justify>
I agree with Darkblack 100%

I am embarrassed that someone like Strom politcally thrived in this country with his beliefs and agendas being what they were. How horrifying! As far as his record as the longest serving senator ever, that record belongs in the 'Hall of Shame'. What am I saying? the country elected, 'W'. Unbelievable!</div>

[World's King]

Took long enough for that fucker to die.

[YourNeverThere]

well thats the end of that

[gov135]

One less bigot in the world.

It amazes me that he was actually continually elected to office. Maybe it says something about South Carolina.

[Tophat665]

Munchkins the world over celebrate while a Kansas Teen and her dog admire her new shoes and Jesse Helms plots revenge.

Actually, He died about 10 years ago, but just now remebered to fall over.

I have hated this man for as long as I was aware he existed. Today I find that he was one of the paratroopers who took gliders behind German Lines on D-Day. I still hate him, and I am glad he's dead, but he has at least earned my respect.

Strom, if they let you get an ear out of the boiling blood, here's to wishing you had had as much brains as balls, you magnificent bastard.

Next on Discovery Channel, Walking with Dixiecrats.

[sixate]

Doesn't change the fact that he was a racist asshole for many years of his life.. *shrug*

[warmingup2prose]

i like to think people can change. maybe i'm naive. i live down south, and i've seen people--some family members--go from racial-slur-spewing to love-one-another over time. the church my parents attend was all white when i was very young, and now there are as many people of color as caucasians. however, i know things like this run deep. history is one thing, living is another. dying is, too.

(oh, and there's nothing quite like being type-casted because you're from the south. one girl in a group of friends was afraid to meet me because her family is from west africa. she was shocked as hell when i hugged her. there are some retard rednecks down here, but we're not all that way.)

[Darkblack]

Okay. I find it funny about the "He changed" thing. The number of blacks that became able to vote in the south is what changed him. The fact that he had to do something to make them think he was a good man so he could get at least some of their votes.

Pulling the wool over someone's eyes does not make you a good person.

I went back and checked and it wasn't school segregation he filibustered it was store owners not being allowed to stop blacks from coming in their stores. Black money wasn't good enough for good ole Strom.

Like I said, glad he is gone, and will have a beer for a few of his friends when they are gone too.

[chainsawred]

Yeah, I think its pretty funny too that he changed his stance on segregation when black people started voting. The best thing you can say about the man is that he was a consummate politician....

[Bill O'Rights]

I suppose I can't fault the man for his past beliefs. He was from a bygone era when segregation was the norm and many, especially in the South (sorry warmingup2prose), viewed integration as a threat. We fear that which we do not understand. Thankfully, times have changed for the better. I think that it probably would have been best to leave Senator Thurmond by the side of the road, to be a footnote in an embarrasing segment of American history. He did not belong in this era. I would *hope* that time, education and experience opened Senator Thurmond's eyes and heart. But, alas, I fear that his "change" was politically motivated.

In any case...Rest in Peace Senator Thurmond.

[papermachesatan]

oddly enough, reuters/cnn.com said nothing about this(as far as I can tell). i hate having to check foxnews.com...

[Jizzosh]

I'm ashamed of all of you. While I certainly don't agree with Strom's beliefs, he is exactly why this country is great. He held on to a belief system that went against the changing tides of this nation. What does that mean? It means that we live in a nation where its okay to disagree with the government or disagree with legislation. He was a passionate polititian who holds many political records. Especially the one for the longest filibuster. I mean, c'mon... 24+ hours??? That's commendable(sp?) even if the subject matter was not.

Again, I certainly never would have voted for the man, and I also don't agree with his racist mindset. He was from a dying era and an obsolete social structure, but he was an effective polititian, and so passionate about it that he stuck around for almost 50 years.

If you're going to be ashamed of the USA, don't base it on an old-world legacy like Strom. Base it on the fact that there are still taxi drivers that refuse to service minorities, or base it on the fact that states like Nevada are insulting the gay communities by amending the state constitution from "marriage is legal between a man and a woman" to "marriage is only legal between a man and a woman." Or even, base it on the fact that we're spitting in the faces of the international community and effectively further ruining our international reputations.

Just another perspective...

[ARTelevision]

Administrative obesrvation here.
In a way similar to other topics that flame up quicker than a bad case of Spontaneous Human Combustion, this topic is being closely watched for unacceptability.
This guy arouses fierce emotions.
Exercise the necessary restraint.

[Bill O'Rights]

Restraint exercised

[The_Dude]

later thurmond

[ruggerp11]

I will rue the day I heard about him, the dixicrats, his filibuster, and racism. Despite my scorn and the scorn of the other people here, to the best of my knowledge he came around realizing the error in his ways. I believe that he employed some of the first colored aides on the sente and he used to be a respected member in his community. This does not diminish his hatefull ways and actions, but it is something to think about.

BTW...
This

Actually, He died about 10 years ago, but just now remebered to fall over.

Is exactly what I thought, LOL

[WhoaitsZ]

yes. I remember telling TFP chat 'cool'.

i love people who keep their humanity, Strom threw his away decades ago.

one less racist, more oxygen for us.

maybe Trent Lott will be next.

PS: TL did help me in a personal event in my life greatly and I hate to jump on anyone who has shown me a large kindness.... but I cannot accept hate mongers in our leadership.

[locnard]

Geezz . Just forget the old fart. There is more to life than Jurassic Strom. World coming up is scarier than the one we leave behind.

[Macheath]

But was this how he spent his final days?....

http://www.theonion.com/onion3112/stromchange.html

Casual One-Nighter Gives Strom Thurmond Change Of Heart On Gay Issue

WASHINGTON, DC—Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC), widely known for his conservative views, retooled his hard-line stance against homosexuality after a casual one-nighter last weekend with a D.C.-area man identified only as "Stan."


Above: Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC), long known for his opposition to "wicked, homosexual perverts," has rethought his stance in the wake of a recent romantic encounter.
Thurmond, 93, first elected to Congress in 1956 on a segregationist platform, described the homoerotic rendezvous as "a remarkably loving and mutually rewarding exchange of affection between two consenting adults."

"I was mistaken when I said that homosexuals were perverts bent on the destruction of the family and the nation through their wicked, deviant sex acts," a visibly glowing Thurmond told reporters. "Stan respected me for who I was, not just for my body. He was a sharp dresser and a charming conversationalist, not to mention a considerate and attentive lover."

"To all my longtime constituents," Thurmond continued, "I want to stress that this sexual episode was neither planned nor expected. I was heading home from my senate office after working late on a revised defense budget, when I was approached by a tall, handsome man who asked if he could buy me a drink. We had a wonderful conversation about old Judy Garland movies, the sort I used to love back when I was in my mid-70s. Before I knew it, Stan was asking me back to his place to see his house plants. He had incredible blue eyes, the kind that no legislator—liberal or conservative—could resist."

Thurmond went on to state that they had stayed up nearly half the night, talking about such varied topics as men's wear; low-fat gourmet cooking; and the tragic, early deaths of silver-screen luminaries James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.

Thurmond said that his new found friend, a systems analyst in the greater D.C. area, held and cuddled him as he fell asleep, then left him a plate of cheese and fresh fruit salad before leaving for work the following morning.

"He would not have made me breakfast if all he cared about was sex," Thurmond said. "Stan saw me as more than just a piece of meat."

Though reluctant to discuss more personal, intimate details of the encounter, Thurmond did say that "you have not lived until you have brought another man to climax using only your lips and tongue."

Thurmond's aides were quick to point out that despite the homoerotic nature of the encounter and the fact that Thurmond and the gentleman in question have since become "very close," the senator does not consider himself "gay."

"I see no reason why we must put labels on the senator," said Harlan Richardson, Thurmond's longtime press secretary. "It is unfair to judge a man's entire identity on one sexual episode alone. Why must we always speak of 'gay' or 'straight,' when human sexuality is so much more complex than that?"

"Gay, straight, bi—we are all just people," Thurmond said. "Yes, I have known the love that dare not speak its name, but I am still just me, Senator Strom Thurmond—a human being."

Thurmond noted that he had been exploring only one facet of his sexuality, and that he remained deeply devoted to his family. He then thanked his wife for being supportive and understanding of his emotional growth.

"In conclusion, I would just like to say to all the gays and lesbians, against whom I have spoken out so vociferously throughout my career, I am sorry," Thurmond said, shedding tears. "If an old man like me, set in his ways, can in his twilight years open his heart to a new understanding, not only of homosexuality, but also of himself, then perhaps it is not too late for all of us to see the truth. I hope you can find it within yourselves to forgive me."

The senator then died.

[Sparhawk]

bahahaha...

[seretogis]

I, for one, will miss ol' Strom. We need a few bigoted people like him in order to compare ourselves against, and define, some state of normality.

[The_Dude]

that ol' man could get it up @ 93?

[lurkette]

My sister won her local dead pool for Strom. W00t!

[TaLoN]

Originally posted by The_Dude
that ol' man could get it up @ 93?

did someone say that?

[XXXs]

Yes, Strom was a racist when he was a Dixiecrat, but when he joined the Republican party, his racist beliefs began to fade. He was the first southern senator to hire a black staff member. He voted to expand equal rights. The man admitted that his previous views on segregation were wrong. How is he such a bad person? He admitted his mistakes!

For all you Strom haters, what do you think of Senator Robert Byrd? He was a member of the KKK. He recently used n***** in a not too appropriate way. Trent Lott ain't bad compared to Byrd.

[Sen]

The comment about Senator Byrd is particularly relevant in this discussion. Strom is a man who changed over the years and as was pointed out, hired the first black staffer for a southern Senator. Yet somehow, everyone wants to remember 1948 Strom, instead of the man he became. However, Senator Byrd was not only a member of the KKK, he was a Grand Dragon. Why is there not more of an outcry about him? Because he changed??? If that's your answer, then it should apply equally to Strom.

[Opti]

I find everyone cheering over Strom's death to be completely disgusting. The man was a hundred years old, and 50 years ago he had some very cruel hearted, wrong believes. He used his power in government to perpetuate those believes.

However, he seems to have genuinely changed. He admits his mistakes, and I see no reason to believe that he is not telling the truth. It is very possible for someone to change their belief's. Particularly with regards to race. More contact with people of other races tends to wash away previous prejudices. Strom has changed a lot over the past 50 years, as has society as a whole. Criticise his past mistakes, but forgive him for them as well. Some of you seem to have awfully closed minds...

[Phaenx]

Originally posted by Sen
The comment about Senator Byrd is particularly relevant in this discussion. Strom is a man who changed over the years and as was pointed out, hired the first black staffer for a southern Senator. Yet somehow, everyone wants to remember 1948 Strom, instead of the man he became. However, Senator Byrd was not only a member of the KKK, he was a Grand Dragon. Why is there not more of an outcry about him? Because he changed??? If that's your answer, then it should apply equally to Strom.

Should, but doesn't. Politics as usual, we know the drill by now. On this scale however I find it in bad taste to point out all the negatives about the guy after he's dead. He can't hurt you if he ever could or wanted to, and all you'd be doing is sticking a thumb in the eye of said persons loved ones. In this context, I fail to see how debating whether or not he genuinely changed is relevant to anything worth the effort of pointing out.