Talk:Strom Thurmond

Someone might want to replace the photo of Himmler with one of Thurmond. Yeah. [supergiraffe]

This page reeks of bias, and needs a good dose of NPOV. Don't have time to research him myself; perhaps someone else can. For example, his current party, office, and home state shouldn't be too hard to find. Wesley.

With regard to his mental state he still seems to be (reasonably) "with it" when he pulls himself together i have read. -- Paul Melville Austin

I wouldn't refer to the page as reeking of bias, but you have to take into consideration his recanting of the statements he made about segregation. Before you make ludicrous statements like the one above, make sure to research the politics of the man first, and then make your descision.--Longevitymonger

There's only 13 minutes left in June 26, 2003 and I don't see any evidence that he's dead yet. According to [1] he's weak but alert. Where does the info that he's dead come from? Nohat 02:48 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

See, for example [2], [3] --Camembert

Indeed. Please accept my apologies for doubt. I guess Google News is not as up-to-date as I imagined it was. I feel remiss in not mentioning the fact that we're arguing over someone's death, but given who we're talking about, I'll refrain. Nohat 03:02 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Not that it makes a difference in this case, but remember the number of minutes left in any day depends on where you are located.... In South Carolina, it'll be the 26th for another hour. -- Someone else 03:07 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I noticed the change from the 1948 from nigger to negro... can someone check what was actually said? --Dante Alighieri 03:26 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I noticed too. I get 97 Google hits on negro, 18 on nigger. I wonder if [1] it wasn't clear what he said, or [2] it was clear and it's been "cleaned up" for publication.... -- Someone else 03:32 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

We need a better source than google... anyone got easy access to the Library of Congress or some other political archive? --Dante Alighieri 03:35 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I uploaded a clip of the speech in question to media:Strom_Thurmond_1948_Speech_Clip.mp3, from [4]. That's definately Strom, and he definately says 'nigger'. No revisionist P.C. history here; I'm changing it back. Kwertii 21:28 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Great detective work! I guess I'm not surprised that the majority of print media seemed to have "tidied" it up. -- Someone else 21:48 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

All that's missing from that website is the Munchkins singing "Ding, Dong...."! -- Someone else 21:53 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Actually he seems to be using the pronunciation "nigra", which was rather common at the time. It would have been rendered "negro" in writing, but it was certainly intended to be a slur.

MP3 files are not permitted on Wikipedia (and can no longer be uploaded), so I've replaced this with an Ogg/Vorbis file. --Gmaxwell 16:33, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I will presume that Mr. Thurmond died of old age and not of the Supreme Court sodomy ruling. This particular death had been joked about for months before it actually happened, and, had it occurred perhaps a couple of years ago, it would have upset the balance of political power in office. Rickyrab 17:26 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

In 1954 he became the only person ever to be elected to the Senate as a write-in candidate

What is a write-in candidate?

A candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot. Only under rare circumstances do enough people write the candidate's name on the ballot to let the person win. I think I remember something about a local election in which a write-in candidate won because one of the candidates on the ballot murdered the only other candidate, and was found out before election day.... Paullusmagnus 20:09 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

The case in question was to the Tennessee State Senate several years ago (1998, I think), and yes, one candidate did murder the other, expecting to then win as the only one left on the ballot. However, an eyewitness placed him at the scene right before his opponent's murder, and as this became public well before the election, the dead man's widow ran as a write-in and won, but that was the Tennessee State Senate, and the article means that Strom Thurmond was the only U.S. Senator elected as write-in. (Also, the Tennessee law was then amended so that the name of a dead person could stay on the ballot in such a circumstances and the seat then be declared vacant and new elections scheduled in order to prevent the repetition of such an event.)

Rlquall 17:57, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It said in the paper today that he was the father of a black girl in 1925 that he never publicly acknowledged although he paid for her college education .. her mom was a servant at his house. User:Karlwick

I removed the following from the "quotes" section:

"Sen. Jim Jeffords made huge news when he switched political parties. Everyone was talking about it. Then it was pointed out that Strom Thurmond once switched parties. Apparently, years ago, Strom switched from the hunters to the gatherers." -- Conan O'Brien

Yes, this gave me a good chuckle, but if anything, this article should only include quotes by Thurmond. -- Minesweeper 03:20, 7 Nov 2003 (UTC)

There probably should be one of those Preceded-Succeeded by tables for him, like for most major politicians. I would put it in, but I don't really have the time to research everything.

Clarification?

The article says that Thurmond was a US Senator (Class 3). I wasn't sure what that meant so I followed the link, and found a list of South Carolina's senators, divided into Class 2 and Class 3 - and Thurmond is listed as Class 2. Can someone explain? DS 12:42, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

This page a list of South Carolina's senators, divided into Class 2 and Class 3 also refered to the SC scession as "purported". I deleted "purported". I don't know what the 'class' reference means. Perhaps it refers to Senior and Junior senators? DJ Silverfish 03:24, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I know I'm talking to people who posted in April, but just for future reference, the Senate is divided into three classes. This has nothing to do with seniority or influence. It just means that the Senators from the same classes run for election/reelection in the same year. I believe class 1 is up again next year.

Removed "aka"s

I removed two "aka's" on his name, which read "aka Stromboli aka Pastrami." If somebody can show me evidence he was ever called that, then it would be fine to mention it further down in the article, but not on his main name.

Longest-serving senator?

The opening paragraph claims Thurman was "the longest-serving senator ever", and the last Trivia item claims "Thurmond will hold the record for the longest serving senator for at least a while." I believe this is false. Carl T. Hayden served over 56 years; Thurmond served only 49. Thurmond was the oldest, but did not serve the longest. – Quadell ^(talk) 22:01, 22 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Quadell: Hayden served in Congress for 56 years, but spent only 42 of those years in the Senate. He served in the House of Representatives from 1912-1927. Thurmond did, indeed, serve longer in the Senate than Hayden. Hope that clears things up. ----Heath 66.32.86.79 05:14, 26 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Lott controversy

I think this section should be removed from the article, as it has nothing to do with Mr. Thurmond other than the fact that a celebration of his 100th birthday was the venue for the comments. The controversy is properly covered on Trent Lott's page and need not be placed here as well. Indrian 18:41, 29 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This comment has now been in place for twenty-four hours without response. I am therefore carrying out the removal of the aforementioned section. Indrian 19:15, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Opening paragraph

Someone should edit the opening paragraph of this article, it is clunky and hard to follow.

Wasn't this man a racist?

He was also a straightforward racist, for segregation and stuff like that.

Thurmond Quote

I have changed the Thurmond quote to read 'nigra', which is what can be heard on the audio clip in question, instead of 'nigger'. These are in fact two very different words. 'Nigger' is a derogatory term and always has been. The word 'nigra' was used in South Carolina for decades in much the same way that one woud have used the word 'colored', the speaker generally meant no harm by the use of the term, however it may sound to us today. It is possible that Thurmond did intend to use the word 'nigger', but slured the word thanks to his thick Edgefield accent. However, Thurmonds first daughter, Essie Mae Washington Williams, reports in her book Dear Senator that she confronted Thurmond directly when she heard about his speech. According to Williams, Thurmond was genuinly upset that she would think he would have used the word at all, much less in public.