Thurmond, Strom(James Strom Thurmond) (thûr`mənd), 1902–2003, U.S. senator from South Carolina (1954–2003), b. Edgefield, S.C. He read law while teaching (1923–29) in South Carolina schools and was admitted to the bar in 1930. Thurmond was elected (1933) a state senator and became (1938) a circuit-court judge. After serving in World War II, he was elected (1946) governor of South Carolina. In 1948, Thurmond was nominated for president by the States' Rights Democrats ("Dixiecrats"), southerners who bolted the Democratic party in opposition to President Truman Truman, Harry S., 1884–1972, 33d President of the United States, b. Lamar, Mo.

Early Life and Political Career

He grew up on a farm near Independence, Mo., worked at various jobs, and tended the family farm.
..... Click the link for more information. 's civil-rights program; he won 39 electoral votes. In 1954 he was a successful write-in candidate for U.S. Senate. In 1957 he staged the longest filibuster in Senate history, speaking for over 24 hours against a civil-rights bill. Thurmond switched from the Democratic to the Republican party in 1964, and later chaired the Senate judiciary (1981–87) and armed services (1995–99) committees. In 1996 he became the oldest sitting, in 1997 the longest serving, U.S. senator in history. The posthumous revelation in 2003 that he had an illegitimate child in 1925 with an African-American maid and that he and his daughter had had a long-standing, warm relationship proved a thought-provoking footnote to his political career.

Bibliography

See J. Bass and M. Thompson, Ol' Strom (1999).

Thurmond, (James) Strom

(born Dec. 5, 1902, Edgefield, S.C., U.S.—died June 26, 2003, Edgefield) U.S. senator (1954–2003). He served as a South Carolina state senator (1933–38) and circuit court judge (1938–41). As governor (1947–51), he expanded the state educational system. At the 1948 Democratic convention, Thurmond led the bolt of Southern delegates who objected to the civil rights plank in the party platform; called Dixiecrats, they nominated Thurmond as their presidential candidate, and he won 39 electoral votes. In 1954 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and in 1964 he switched party affiliation to the Republican Party. In 1996 he became the oldest person to serve in Congress. An archconservative, he advocated states' rights, opposed civil rights legislation, and supported increases in military spending.