EFL
Former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, the nation's longest-serving senator and former "Dixiecrat" candidate for the presidency, died Thursday in Edgefield, S.C. He was 100.
| G'bye, Strom. The feelings are mixed, to say the least... |
Thurmond died at 9:45 p.m. after being in poor health in recent weeks, said his older son, Strom Thurmond Jr. Thurmond, born Dec. 5, 1902, had been living in a newly renovated wing of a hospital in his hometown of Edgefield since he returned to the state from Washington in early 2003.
| Direct from the Senate to the geriatric wing... |
The Senate temporarily suspended debate on Medicare legislation to pay tribute to Thurmond. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said, "Strom Thurmond will forever be a symbol of what one person can accomplish when they live life, as we all know he did, to the fullest." Frist, R-Tenn., then led the Senate in a moment of silence. Thurmond's career in public service stretched over almost 70 years, from his election to the South Carolina State Senate in 1933 to his retirement from the U.S. Senate in January 2003. Far from a political wallflower, he was a populist firebrand famous for his defense of segregation and opposition to the civil rights movement. Running for the presidency as a States' Rights Democrat, or "Dixiecrat," in 1948, he declared that, "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." However, after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965, Thurmond's politics shifted with the growing number of black voters. Having switched to the Republican party one year earlier, he found federal money to provide services for his black constituents, and became the first Southern senator to hire black staff members — in 1971 — and appoint blacks to high positions.
What can I say? (Admittedly nothing, but I leave it to the readers ...) |