Strom Thurmond's reputation as a ladies man was legendary. Only a few knew it had crossed the color line and bore fruit.

Pam asked, "You obviously felt like your father loved you. Do you think your father loved your mother?"

"Washington-Williams said, "Yes, I do and I'm sure she loved him. But they were in a situation where they could have never gotten together."

Amid the media spotlight, Essie Mae Washington-Williams claimed her birthright more than a year ago. A secret and a burden she inherited at the age of 16. A secret she wishes her father hadn't carried to his grave.

Pam asked,"He's going to set the record straight. He's going to talk about me before he dies.

Washington-Williams said, "That was my hope. It didn't happen. He took it to the grave."

Washington-Williams is a living footnote to history. She also witnessed it too. She was outside looking in at her father's inauguration for governor of South Carolina. She says moments like those, even in later years, didn't make her want to expose her father.

Pam asked, "During these 62 years was there a time when you wanted to say I want to set the record?"

Washington-Williams said, "At the time he was in office, if I had said anything it could have destroyed him. I wouldn't have wanted to do that to a man who had been so good to me."

She sent him cards for father's day, and he wrote back expressing his thanks. A father who at times times she wasn't always proud to claim to family, especially when he ran for president.

Washington-Williams said, "But in 1948 when he ran for president on the Dixicrat ticket and started speaking out against blacks that's the part I didn't like and didn't want to people to know."

She believes her presence made a difference in later years when Thurmond changed his stance of Civil Rights and even supported a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.

Her life has changed since that December day in Columbia. She's now listed as one his children on his statue.

Pam asked, "Does that mean a lot to you to have your name on the monument.

Washington-Williams said, "Well, yes, it makes me feel like part of the family."

There's been specualation she wants to sue her father's estate. Washington-Williams says that she has no intention to do that... her father was very generous to her. Also, she says she is happy her new family. She keeps up with Strom's children, and she even plans to meet with Nancy Thurmond while she's in South Carolina.

You can meet Essie Mae Washington-William on Saturday in Greenville at the Open Book. Her book signing is set for two o'clock in the afternoon. Also, on Monday you can see her at six o'clock at the Pic-A-Book in Spartanburg.

If you would like to read a sample chapter of Washington-Williams book, just click.