Strom Thurmond, the S.C. legend who died in June at age 100, was a man among men in World War II. He jumped into Normandy and won medals for his bravery fighting the Germans. But the recent public revelation of a sexual encounter 78 years ago shows Thurmond, the longest-serving U.S. senator in history, had the courage to face Adolph Hitler's armies, but not enough to publicly confront his past.

Some people have referred to Thurmond's encounter as a tryst, but no one really knows. The term tryst would suggest that 16-year-old Carrie Butler, a maid in the home of 22-year-old Strom Thurmond's parents and mother of Essie Mae Washington-Williams, was a willing partner and met the young white man, a recent Clemson College graduate for a rendezvous. Since both are dead, speculation is a substitute for fact. Was romance involved, or was this just another case of the powerful male-dominated white class overpowering a juvenile to satisfy lust? Many white men did the same thing, not only in the Jim Crow era, but have continued to do so over white and black women into the 21st century.

This much we do know, though. Essie Mae Washington-Williams is a retired school teacher with class. In deference to those who may claim that she tarnished the name of the late senator, it is she who has been tarnished. Though Thurmond discreetly acknowledged her existence, paying for her education at South Carolina State, visiting her in the president's office, visits to her home in California when the opportunity arose and other financial gifts, she was never able to carry the name of her father or have him publicly acknowledge her existence. In an interview with the Washington Post's Marilyn Thompson, Washington-Williams said she didn't want "anybody to know I had an illegitimate father." Today she wants the truth out.

To acknowledge her existence 50 years, even 40 years ago, would have been political suicide for him. Thus, he kept it quiet. But 10 years or 20 years ago, he could have become a hero for acknowledging this transgression. Stepping forward then could have earned him accolades, as hiring young black men and women to his staff did.

Instead, he chose to keep it quiet and Washington-Williams agreed or else she would have outed him 62 years ago when she met him for the first time at 16 years old and her mother was dying.

Thurmond may have been courageous in many ways and a political opportunist in others. Taking some financial responsibility for his progeny is one form of responsibility, but he never accepted full responsibility for his actions whether they were forced or willingly accepted by Carrie Butler.

Thurmond's acknowledged family will not refute Washington-Williams' claim. "We have no reason to believe Ms. Williams was not telling the truth," Strom Thurmond Jr. said in a statement released by the family's attorney. "Everyone has a right to know their heritage."

Yes they do, but his father was never brave enough to acknowledge it before his death. The senator could have given her a better ending.