Strom Thurmond’s family will not contest the claim of a woman who says she is the mixed-race daughter of the late senator, his oldest son told The State in an exclusive interview.

“I do not have personal knowledge of the ultimate issue,” Strom Thurmond Jr. said Monday of the relationship between his father and Essie Mae Washington-Williams. “We have no reason to believe Ms. Williams was not telling the truth.”

The Thurmond family’s acknowledgment moves from rumor toward fact the decades-old story that the man who was once the nation’s leading segregationist had fathered a child with a black woman. Through their attorney, the family released a statement acknowledging Williams’ “claim to her heritage.”

Thurmond Jr. said he would like to meet the retired Los Angeles schoolteacher and establish a familial relationship, but would prefer to do it in private. No meeting has been set.

“As far as emotions or how I feel, I feel good, because that’s a feeling you get from doing the right thing,” Thurmond Jr. said from his lawyer’s office in West Columbia.

He said the Thurmond family wants to acknowledge Williams’ claim and put an end to the controversy. “The outcome we’re trying for is finality and closure.”

In a story published last weekend, Williams, 78, told The Washington Post that she is Thurmond’s daughter. Her mother, Carrie Butler, who was black, was a maid in the Thurmond family home in Edgefield. Thurmond was 22 when she was born; Butler was 16.

“I had a conversation with my dad about it about 10 years ago,” Thurmond Jr. said. “I asked about this, and he didn’t tell me whether she was or whether she wasn’t (his daughter). I did not ask again.”

Williams told the Post she wants recognition as the senator’s daughter. Confirming her heritage would give her four children a sense of self, she said.

Before the Thurmond family responded Monday, Williams had scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Adam’s Mark hotel on Main Street in Columbia to “set the historical record straight.”

It was not clear Monday if she would still meet with the media as scheduled.

One of Williams’ sons, Dr. Ronald Williams of Onalaska, Wash., said his mother was being interviewed by the TV newsmagazine “60 Minutes II” in New York on Monday.

In light of the Thurmond family’s statement, Williams said, he will advise his mother “that, in good faith, it will probably be a good idea” not to hold the news conference, but rather to meet privately with the Thurmond family.

Her attorney, Glenn Walters of Orangeburg, said Williams and her Los Angeles attorney, Frank Wheaton, were flying to New York and could not be reached.

“We’re very happy about the Thurmond family’s acknowledgment of Essie Mae Washington-Williams, that she is the daughter of the U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond,” Walters said.

Thurmond died June 26 in Edgefield at age 100.

Strom Thurmond Jr. said he has not spoken directly with Williams or her attorneys. He does not know whether she still plans to come to Columbia.

All of this has come at a lightning-quick pace, he said. He first heard from Williams through a letter from her attorneys in September, which he turned over to the Thurmond family attorney, Mark Taylor.

Wheaton said Sunday he asked Taylor for a copy of the senator’s will when it was filed in October. The will does not mention Williams.

The next thing he knew, Thurmond Jr. said, “I married off my little brother (Paul Thurmond) on Saturday night and woke up Sunday to these very interesting headlines.”

He said his personal knowledge of Williams and her claim is “very limited. I have never met her.”

He said prior to Sunday “this hasn’t really been discussed among members of my family. My mother, brother and sisters and I have very limited personal knowledge of this.”

Thurmond Sr. came to power in a time of racial upheaval in America. He was a staunch segregationist who ran for president as a States Rights Democrat, or Dixiecrat. As senator, he fought integration of the races and civil rights legislation — once holding the Senate floor with a filibuster that lasted more than 24 hours, still a Senate record.

In later years, he seemed to change, becoming the first Southern senator to hire a black aide and eventually championing a federal holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Thurmond Sr. and Williams always publicly denied their relationship — each referred to the other as a friend — but it was one of the most rumored political legends in national politics.

Williams waited until after the senator’s death before coming forward, she said, to honor and protect his reputation and standing while he was alive.

Her decision in no way changes Thurmond’s legacy, Thurmond Jr. said.

“It doesn’t change it for me. His legacy is secure to me. I loved him last week, and I love him this week, and I miss him.”

He said he can’t speak to Williams’ motivations. He said believes her when she says she wants to confirm her heritage for her children. Thurmond Jr. said he understands that.

“Everyone has a right to know their heritage,” he said.

He has appreciated the kind words Williams has had for his father.

“From what I have read, the things she has said about my father only confirm what I already knew about her.”

Thurmond Jr. said any question about whether Williams has a right to money from his father’s estate “is a matter for the estate.”

South Carolina law, however, says surviving children are not automatically entitled to a share of a deceased parent’s estate. As long as the will is valid, Thurmond Sr.’s wishes must be followed.

“I have no intention to alter my father’s wishes,” Thurmond Jr. said. “His will is the controlling document.”

Syndicated columnist Armstrong Williams, who worked for and was a long-time friend of the late senator, said the Thurmond family is doing the right thing.

“With them acknowledging it, they’ve shown respect to her,” said Armstrong Williams, who is not related to Essie Mae Washington-Williams.

He said Thurmond spoke of his relationship with her on more than one occasion.

“It was not something he was ashamed of,” Armstrong Williams said. “He spoke about her in glowing terms.”

Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658 or asheinin@thestate.com.