EXECUTIVE · SC · 1947-1951
Strom Thurmond
Governor · Democrat · South Carolina
NOTABLE
On the record
1948 Dixiecrat presidential nominee; later 48-year U.S. Senator (R from 1964)
Background
James Strom Thurmond (1902–2003) was South Carolina Governor 1947-51 + 48-year U.S. Senator 1954-2003 (longest in Senate history at retirement). 1948 States' Rights Democratic (Dixiecrat) presidential nominee — won 4 states + 39 EVs on a segregationist platform. Switched D→R 1964 in opposition to Civil Rights Act. Held the longest single-speech filibuster in Senate history (24h 18m, August 1957) against the 1957 Civil Rights Act. Posthumously revealed (2003) to have fathered a daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, with a 16-year-old Black housekeeper in 1925.
Curated bio from Officium's editorial pass.
From the article
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Primary sources
Others who held this office in South Carolina
- Henry McMaster (2017-present)
- Nikki Haley (2011-2017)
- Mark Sanford (2003-2011)
- Jim Hodges (1999-2003)
- David Beasley (1995-1999)
- Carroll A. Campbell Jr. (1987-1995)
- Richard Riley (1979-1987)
- James B. Edwards (1975-1979)
- John C. West (1971-1975)
- Robert E. McNair (1965-1971)
- Donald S. Russell (1963-1965)
- Ernest Hollings (1959-1963)
- George Bell Timmerman Jr. (1955-1959)
- James F. Byrnes (1951-1955)