Strom The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond

by Bass, Jack; Thompson, Marilyn W

• ISBN13: 9781586483920
• ISBN10: 1586483927
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-27
• Publisher: PublicAffairs

Summary

Strom delivers an extraordinary look at the life of Strom Thurmond, the longtime senator from South Carolina. Thurmond was a pivotal figure in the nation's politics-particularly when it came to issues of race: the Dixiecrat presidential candidate in 1948, originator of the 1956 "Southern Manifesto" against the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, holder of the record for a Senate filibuster for his opposition to the 1957 Civil Rights Bill. Yet as a young man, Thurmond had secretly fathered a daughter with the family's black maid, and he quietly supported this daughter through her enrollment at college and beyond.

Author Biography

Jack Bass teaches at the College of Charleston. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, and is the author or co-author of six nonfiction books, including The Transformation of Southern Politics, Taming the Storm, winner of the 1994 Robert Kennedy Book Award, and the 1998 biography, Ol' Strom, on which he collaborated with Marilyn Walser Thompson.
Marilyn Walser Thompson was an award-winning reporter in South Carolina, where she covered Thurmond in the late 1970s. She later served as assistant managing editor for investigations at the Washington Post and in 2004 became vice president and editor of Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader. Thompson is the author or co-author of three previous nonfiction books.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Perfect Strom	ix
PART ONE BRAVE BEGINNINGS
The Boldness of an Edgefield Man	3	(16)
``I Have Good Genes''	19	(12)
``The Commendable Efforts of Mr. Thurmond''	31	(19)
Circuit Judge James Strom Thurmond	50	(9)
The Judge's Women	59	(11)
``So Many Narrow Escapes''	70	(5)
Progressive Outlook, Progressive Program, Progressive Leadership	75	(13)
``My Darling Jean''	88	(7)
``Dear Sir''	95	(7)
Dixiecrat	102	(21)
Campaign of the Century	123	(13)
``Strum Thormond''	136	(11)
Hard Times	147	(8)
PART TWO THE WASHINGTON YEARS
Rambunctious Democrat	155	(27)
The Republican Road	182	(16)
``And You Refuse to Answer That?''	198	(11)
``Nixon's the One''	209	(12)
``Amazement and Wonder''	221	(9)
``Time for Change''	230	(20)
Life in California	250	(10)
Playing the Game	260	(25)
Mainstream Senator	285	(20)
PART THREE A LIFE REVEALED
``My Baby is Dying''	305	(13)
``Alive and Serving''	318	(16)
``Blind, but Now I See''	334	(11)
Breaking the Silence	345	(24)
Notes	369	(24)
Acknowledgments	393	(2)
Index	395