Strom Thurmond Monument by b1bob
Strom Thurmond (1902-2003) was the country's oldest and longest serving U.S. Senator. He was born in Edgefield on 5 December 1902. He served his country in different ways for nearly 80 years- as a teacher, a coach, a superintendent of schools, a state representative, a World War 2 veteran, governor (1947-51), and U.S. Senator (1955-2003). He ran for President in 1948 against Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey on a third-party ticket. He won 39 electoral votes from 4 Southern states. I know some people in Virgilina who voted for him at that election. Thurmond was most noted for his 48-year long Senate career. He was there long enough to have filibustered against civil rights legislation in 1957, but vote in favour of a national holiday commemorating Martin Luther King a quarter century later. Thurmond also switched parties. He was born a Democrat and was one for most of his life, but in 1964, when he felt the party had gone too far left, he switched to the Republicans. Those who try to transpose today's standards on his early Senate career aren't being fair, the whole national attitude on race has changed markedly and he changed markedly with it.
