Strom Thurmond

James Strom Thurmond (1902 - 2003)

Why Is Strom Thurmond the Worst American?

• Remained in office until he was a diaper-wearing hundred-year old.
  
• Conducted the longest filibuster in Senate history in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
• Ran for president in 1948 as the segregationist Dixiecrat candidate.   He won four states (all of them Southern) and carried 39 electoral votes in the election.
• "I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."
• In 1964 switched parties to Republican, primarily because of Johnson's success with the Civil Rights Act.
• During Nixon's 1968 campaign, Thurmond spearheaded the GOP "Southern Strategy."
• Fought the Supreme Court appointment of Abe Fortas.
• Was critical of the Alexander vs. Holmes County Board of Education decision.   
• Brought tons of pork barrel spending to his home state of South Carolina.
• At 66 he married the 23 year old Miss South Carolina.  
• Sired an illegitimate daughter with an African-American woman - which in and of itself is not a bad thing.   But the prolonged secrecy of the birth (70 years!) reflects on the hypocrisy of both the man and the whole issue of segregation.   It is unclear under what circumstances the child was conceived - however, Thurmond was a twenty-two year old man the mother was a sixteen-year old maid under his family's employ.  
• Even before the revelation of the bastard child, his nickname around Capitol Hill was "Sperm" Thurmond.
• Creator of the "Southern Manifesto," which, two years after Brown vs. Board of Education, called for the concerted stalling of the integration called for in the Supreme Court's decision.  
• Carried on the segregationist tradition of his political mentor "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman.  
• Was kind of a lech.  A female would not have wanted to get caught alone in an elevator with the Senator.
• Leo Kerford, professor of law, on how Thurmond became a leader in the segregationist movement: "That's how he got his start, by yelling 'nigger' louder than anyone else."

Mitigating Factors

• Heroically served in WWII.   Participated in Battle of Normandy and was many-decorated.
• Won the 1954 Senate election as a write-in candidate.
• Supported the extension of the Voters Rights Act.
• Supported the creation of the MLK Day holiday.
• First Senator to have an African-American aide.
• At 66 he married the 23-year old Miss South Carolina!
• The Strom Thurmond Foundation actually engages in worthwhile charitable giving.
• Has a lake named after him.
• As governor of South Caroline, Thurmond called for the prosecution of those responsible for the Willie Earl lynching of 1948, even though a jury found those accused not guilty.

Conclusion

In America it is not unusual for people to re-invent themselves; times change, people change.    Americans are willing to forgive past transgressions - as long as those transgressions are acknowledged.  The thing that makes Strom Thurmond a strong candidate for the Worst American Ever is his inability to confront his past.   In his lifetime there was no apology for his segregationist beliefs; and Trent Lott's misguided assertion that America would have been a better place if Strom Thurmond won the presidency in 1948 only highlights that lack of acknowledgement.    Race is the elephant in the room of American history - and Strom Thurmond consistently stood on the wrong side of the issue.