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5 unusual facts about Strom Thurmond


Country lawyer

Strom Thurmond (1902–2003), Edgefield (South Carolina) Town and County Attorney (1930–1938), Circuit Judge, Governor of South Carolina (1947–1951), United States Senator (1956–2003), Presidential Candidate (1948).

E. Harold Munn

Harry Byrd/Strom Thurmond/Barry Goldwater (I) - 15 electoral votes (unpledged electors from Mississippi, half of unpledged electors from Alabama and faithless elector from Oklahoma; Thurmond won 14 electoral votes for V.P., Goldwater one. Byrd all 15 for President)

Garry Malphrus

From 1997 until 2001, Malphrus served as Chief Counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Oversight under the Senator Strom Thurmond.

Joseph Crespino

Crespino is the author of Strom Thurmond’s America (Hill and Wang, 2012), a political biography of the longtime U.S. Senator from South Carolina.

Robert A. George

George was one of the first conservatives to call for the resignation of Trent Lott as Senate Majority Leader following comments made by Lott at the birthday party of retiring Senator Strom Thurmond.


157th Fighter Squadron

In the early 1980s, the South Carolina congressional delegation in Congress, led by Senators Strom Thurmond and Ernest Hollings, pressured the Department of Defense to upgrade Army and Air National Guard units with front line equipment to better supplement the Active Duty forces as part of the "Total Force" concept.

1948 Democratic National Convention

When Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey addressed the convention, he urged the Democratic Party to "get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights," prompting a walkout by Southern delegates who later nominated Strom Thurmond as the presidential nominee of the States' Rights Party (Dixiecrats).

Emergent democracy

The canonical example of emergent democracy was the December 2002 resignation of Trent Lott as Senate majority leader after bloggers publicized his praising of Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist campaign for the presidency.

John E. Grotberg

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D - Ohio) tells the amusing story of how she as a “sophomore” and Grotberg as a “freshman” walked right into Senator Strom Thurmond’s office unannounced and asked for his help to get the Savings Bond bill taken up by the Senate.

Neesa Hart

Her political career included working for Senator Strom Thurmond, William Rehnquist confirmation hearings, and working in the White House.

Standing Rules of the United States Senate

The longest filibuster speech in the history of the Senate was delivered by Strom Thurmond, who spoke for over twenty-four hours in an unsuccessful attempt to block the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.


see also

Harry Huge

Huge has co-authored articles in the New Republic, with Robert Coles, including: "Strom Thurmond Country: The Way It Is in South Carolina," (November 30, 1968); "FBI on the Trail of the Hunger-Mongers," (December 21, 1968); "Black Lung: Mining As a Way of Death," (January 25, 1969); "Thorns on the Yellow Rose of Texas," April 19, 1969; "Peonage in Florida," (October 19, 1969).

Jakar Hamilton

After graduating from Strom Thurmond High School in Johnston, South Carolina, he chose to attend Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Georgia.