Strom Thurmond can be criticized for many things, but nobody can doubt his dedication. He was determined to fight the Civil Rights Act of 1957. That Act would establish the Civil Rights Division within the Department of Justice and a U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican, was President at the time. The Act aimed to remove restrictions imposed by states and local governments designed to make it harder for Black people to vote. The Fifteenth Amendment supposedly guaranteed those rights, but lawmakers were just as busy suppressing votes in the 1950s as they are today.
The Act had been passed in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The Democratic-controlled Senate insisted on a watered-down version of the bill. The House passed the weakened version, and Southern Democratic Senators agreed not to conduct an organized filibuster. Thurmond considered the Act “cruel and unusual punishment” and declared he would go it alone to enlighten the American public of the evils of civil rights.
The Senate allowed an individual unlimited time to speak before a vote. If Thurmond left the chamber or even sat down, his speech would be considered over. For those who only remember Thurmond as an old man, he was 54 at the time and had more energy than one might imagine. He took steps to prepare for the ordeal. Thurmond took several steam baths to dehydrate himself to prevent having to use the bathroom. It was reported but not confirmed that he wore a catheter to pee in place and remain speaking. He consumed diced pieces of pumpernickel bread and small pieces of ground steak. Thurmond had throat lozenges and malted milk tablets in his pockets.
Thurmond was given small breaks from other senators, including Barry Goldwater, and did go to the bathroom once about three hours into the filibuster. He began at 8:54 p.m. on August 28, 1957, with a reading of the election laws of each of the 48 states. There were initially over 100 spectators, which dwindled in the night to where it was only NAACP lobbyist Clarence Mitchell, Jr. and Thurmond’s wife, Jean. The filibuster ended at 9:12 p.m. on August 29th after 24 hours and 18 minutes, which is still a record length for an individual filibuster.
Two hours after Thurmond left the floor, the Senate passed the bill on a 60–15 vote. The Act was a moral victory but did little to ease the plight of Black people. Civil Rights leaders pushed for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (that Thurmond also filibustered with a group of Southern Senators). Thurmond became one of several Democrats to defect to the Republican Party months later as part of the Dixiecrat movement. The following year saw the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 three years later. Thurmond was co-author of the Southern Manifesto, resisting the end of segregation and demanding the reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. Thurmond was definitely dedicated to his cause.
Thurmond served another 45 years in the Senate after his filibuster. He was also known for sexual misconduct, including groping women in elevators. He attempted to fondle Senator Patty Murray in 1994 (Thrumond was 91 then), not realizing she was a fellow Senator. His office said, “ he was showing gentlemanly courtesy by assisting Murray into the elevator.”
Despite his racism, perhaps because of it, Thurmond remains a popular figure in his home state of South Carolina. In 2011, eight years after his death, Public Policy Polling said he was the most popular politician in South Carolina, outpolling Lindsey Graham and Nikki Haley. Praising Thurmond didn’t work out so well for Trent Lott of Mississippi, who had to resign from a Senate leadership position after these comments.
“I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years. You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today.” — Trent Lott
Some claim Thurmond mellowed in his racist views over time. Maybe having a daughter with a Black 16-year-old domestic servant (rape anyone?)could be credited for the change, but that happened when Thurmond was 22, and he was racist long after that time. He didn’t meet his daughter until he was 38, but that was still over a decade before the Southern Manifesto and filibuster in 1957. Thurmond did provide his daughter minimal support over the years. I only give Thurmond credit for slowing down with age. Thurmond never retracted his racist comments over decades, so why should I give him undue credit?
“We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race.”
One could wonder why monuments still exist to this man. Perhaps it’s because others share his dedication to the cause.
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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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