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Article published Jun 27, 2003
South Carolina loses political giant

The State

COLUMBIA -- J. Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina legend who dominated state politics for more than 50 years, died Thursday night. He was 100 years old.
Thurmond's public and political career spanned nearly all of the 20th century. It began in Edgefield County, where he was elected county school superintendent in 1928, and ended in the United States Capitol, where he was the longest-serving senator in history.
In between, he was a state senator, circuit judge and governor. He was a third-party presidential candidate in 1948, campaigning against Harry Truman on a segregationist platform. Six years later, he became the only person ever elected to the U.S. Senate as a write-in.
He holds the Senate filibuster record at 24 hours and 18 minutes.
He led an extraordinary life. Thurmond landed at Normandy on D-Day during World War II, was the first major Southern Democrat to switch to the Republican Party, and served more than 17 years as president pro tem of the U.S. Senate, third in line to the presidency.
Infamous for his Southern drawl, Thurmond amazed America with his longevity. He was the oldest U.S. senator in his-tory. He chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee until his mid-90s, and he continued a vigorous daily exercise regimen into his late 90s.
Thurmond's last major act in office came in January 1999: He swore in Chief Justice William Rehnquist as the presiding officer at President Clinton's impeachment trial.
"I'm just here trying to serve the people of South Carolina and the nation the best way I can," Thurmond said in 1997, when he became the longest-serving senator in history. "And if it means breaking records, OK. If it doesn't mean breaking records, OK. My goal is to serve the people."
Remembered for service, segregation
Beyond his historic milestones, many South Carolinians remember Thurmond for his individual service to them. Tens of thousands wrote him through the decades seeking help for personal and community problems. The list includes military retirees seeking benefits, communities defending their post offices and small towns hoping for sewer systems.
"Senator Thurmond has never been too busy to lend an ear in times of distress by others, not only by listening but taking action in order to help," one constituent wrote in 1988.
Other South Carolinians remember Thurmond as a staunch segregationist for much of his political career.
His 1948 presidential campaign was launched to protest the national Democratic Party's civil rights plank. His record filibuster in 1957 was an attempt to kill part of a civil rights bill. In the 1950s and 1960s, he condemned nearly all court rulings and congressional proposals that extended civil rights to blacks.
Thurmond once vowed 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."
Such segregationist stances still angered many South Carolinians decades later, in part because Thurmond never apolo-gized.
But many black and white people say Thurmond changed his views on racial issues. He be-came the first Southern member of Congress to appoint a black person to his professional staff. He voted for the Voting Rights Act of 1982. And he was honored in 1995 by the presidents of historically black colleges and universities for his support of those schools.
"In most instances I am confident that we have more in common as Southerners than we have reason to oppose each other because of race," Thurmond once told Ebony magazine. "Equality of opportunity for all is a goal upon which blacks and Southern whites can agree."
'I get more pleasure out of helping'
While racial issues often gave Thurmond headlines, he clearly loved his interaction with South Carolinians more.
He was a regular visitor at community festivals throughout the state. Well into his 90s, he rode a horse in Gilbert's annual Fourth of July peach festival. He attended that festival for the 40th consecutive year in 1998.
At nearly every festival, he spent time shaking hands with old and young alike, employing a grip legendary for its strength.
"I have helped people all my life," Thurmond said in 1997. "Who's going to help them if we don't? * I get more pleasure out of helping somebody than if somebody does something for me."
Educator, senator, judge, war hero
Thurmond was born in Edgefield on Dec. 5, 1902, the son of John William and Eleanor Gertrude Strom Thurmond.
One of his early memories was of attending stump meetings during the gubernatorial campaign of 1912, won by Cole Blease. Watching the candidates debate, Thurmond decided then he wanted to one day become governor.
He graduated from Clemson College in 1923 with a degree in horticulture.
Under his picture in the Clemson annual were the words: "One cannot always be a hero, but one can always be a man."
A year after graduating, Thurmond was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve. He served 36 years, ris-ing to the rank of major general.
Between 1923 and 1929, he was a coach and teacher in McCormick, Ridge Spring and Edgefield. He was elected super-intendent of education for Edgefield County in 1928, serving four years.
In 1932, Thurmond was elected to the state Senate from Edgefield County.
Five years later, at age 34, he surprised many of the state's political elite by seeking a Circuit Court judgeship. Despite his young age and limited Senate seniority, he was elected by the General Assembly on Jan. 13, 1938.
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Thurmond joined the Army. He'd just turned 39.
In 1944, he landed in Normandy on D-Day with the 82nd Airborne Division, receiving the Purple Heart because of wounds suffered when his glider crashed.
For his service in World War II, he was awarded five battle stars and 18 decorations, medals and awards, including the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Bronze Star for Valor.
Effective governor, successful suitor
After the war, Thurmond chased his childhood dream by announcing his candidacy for governor in 1946. He won the Democratic primary, which in those days guaranteed election.
Some historians say Thurmond's administration was one of the most effective in South Caro-lina history. During his four years in office, the poll tax was repealed, the school year was ex-tended and state government was streamlined.
He also fell in love. Early in his administration, the 44-year-old Thurmond developed a close friendship with one of his secretaries, a 21-year-old from Elko in Barnwell County. The governor eventually proposed marriage to Jean Crouch, but in an unusual way. On Sept. 13, 1947, he asked her to take dictation. It turned out to be her dismissal letter.
He had a "new assignment" for her, Thurmond said. They were married Nov. 7, 1947.
Long journey from Dixiecrat to GOP
Thurmond's first major act on the national stage came in 1948 when he ran for president.
A group of southern Democrats, angry about the national party's civil rights platform, met in Birmingham, Ala., after the Democratic National Convention. The "Dixiecrats" nominated Thurmond to be their presidential candidate, with Mississippi Gov. Fielding Wright as his running mate.
The campaign was popular only in the South, where Thurmond received 39 electoral votes while carrying South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Thurmond's campaign made headlines again nearly 55 years later. At Thurmond's 100th birthday party on Dec. 5, 2002, incoming Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., mentioned with pride his state's support of Thurmond in 1948.
"And if the rest of the country had followed our lead," he said at the party, "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."
The comments were widely condemned, and Lott gave up his leadership position.
Two years after his presidential campaign, Thurmond suffered his only election defeat in South Carolina, to Olin Johnston for the U.S. Senate.
But he wasn't out of politics for long. In 1954, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in a historic write-in campaign.
He entered the race after incumbent U.S. Sen. Burnet Maybank died on Sept. 1. Maybank had been unopposed in the Democratic primary that year, and no Republican had filed for the November election.
State Democratic leaders drew the ire of many South Carolinians when they shunned a second primary and nominated state Sen. Edgar Brown of Barnwell to succeed Maybank. Thurmond agreed to be an alternative candidate and waged a write-in campaign. On Election Day, he received 63 percent of the vote.
During the campaign, Thurmond promised that if he won, he would resign in time to create a new primary and election in 1956. He kept that promise, winning again two years later.
He was re-elected seven more times.
Early in his Senate career, Thurmond was known as the "rebel with a cause," vigorously supporting segregation, opposing social spending programs and condemning foreign aid. He fought for what he said was the preservation of the Constitution, states' rights and individual liberty.
On Aug. 28, 1957, Thurmond launched a one-man filibuster aimed at killing a compromise civil rights proposal. He spoke nearly nonstop for 24 hours and 18 minutes, finally sitting down on the night of Aug. 29.
Near the end of his filibuster, Thurmond drew a chuckle from Senate colleagues by declaring: "I expect to vote against the bill."
The legislation passed shortly thereafter.
Tragedy struck the Thurmonds in late 1959 when Jean suffered a series of fainting spells. Doctors removed a brain tumor in September, but the treatment proved futile. Jean Thurmond died on Jan. 6, 1960.
In 1964, Thurmond boosted the Republican Party in the South by joining the GOP. The switch was timed to help Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign.
A second marriage, a tragic loss
Thurmond raised a few eyebrows in 1968 when, at 66, he married for the second time. His bride was a 22-year-old former Miss South Carolina, Nancy Moore, an intern in Thurmond's office in 1967 and 1968. Several of his aides strongly opposed the marriage, claiming it would end his political career.
The couple had four children: Nancy in 1971, Strom Jr. in 1972, Julie in 1974 and Paul in 1976.
Thurmond suffered another tragedy in 1993 when his oldest child, 22-year-old Nancy, died after being hit by a car in Columbia's Five Points. Nancy Thurmond was crossing Harden Street about 10:30 p.m. on April 13 when she was hit by a car.
"She was our blessed angel on earth," Nancy's mother said in a statement released the next day, after the Thurmonds removed their daughter from life support.
Years at the peak of power
The highlight of Thurmond's Senate career was his election as Senate president pro tem in 1981, the year Republicans gained control of that 100-member body. Thurmond also became chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and senior majority member on two committees: Armed Services and Veterans Affairs.
In 1996, Thurmond became the oldest person ever to serve in Congress, at 93 years and three months. Then, in 1997, he became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history with 41 years and 10 months of service.
In between, he won a record eighth Senate term by beating Democrat Elliott Close 53 percent to 44 percent.
One major issue embraced by Thurmond throughout his political career was education.
He created the Strom Thurmond Foundation, which helped 40 to 60 students annually.
He established 30 scholarships at 25 educational institutions. He also set up an educational fund at Strom Thurmond High School in Edgefield County to pay for college or technical school scholarships.
He helped establish several Thurmond chairs and scholarships at the University of South Carolina Law School and donated his public papers and memorabilia to the Strom Thurmond Institute for Excellence in Government and Public Service at Clemson University.
Known for love of women and health
The senator also was known for his fondness for women, the younger and more attractive the better. Many who knew him can tell stories of Thurmond's talking to or touching younger women.
"I'll hug any woman who wants to be hugged," Thurmond said during a 1996 campaign stop in Anderson.
In early 2001, just minutes after Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn into the U.S. Senate, Thurmond asked her, "Can I hug you?" Not waiting for an answer, he grasped her around the waist with both hands and kissed her on the cheek.
Thurmond preached a healthy lifestyle. He was fanatical about eating right and exercising daily. Bob Dole, during his 1996 presidential campaign at age 72, quipped: "At dinner time, I follow Strom. I eat what he eats."
Despite Thurmond's healthy lifestyle, his health began failing in his late 90s. After a series of fainting spells, Thurmond moved into a suite at Walter Reed Army Hospital in November 2001. He lived there through the end of his career.
On Dec. 5, 2002, many of Washington's elite honored Thurmond at his 100th birthday party. His daughter, Julie, sprung the biggest surprise that day when she told Thurmond he would become a grandfather for the first time.
"You finally give me what I really wanted," an exultant Thurmond declared.
At the end of the party, held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Thurmond thanked his guests for attending.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know how to thank you. You're wonderful people. I appreciate you. I appreciate what you've done for me and may God allow you to live a long time."