Examine individual changes

'{{Infobox Officeholder | birth_name = James Oliver Eastland | image = James O Eastland.jpg | order = [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]] | term_start = July 28, 1972 | term_end = December 27, 1978 | deputy = [[Hubert Humphrey]] (1977&ndash;1978) | predecessor = [[Allen J. Ellender]] | successor = [[Warren G. Magnuson]] | order1 = [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary]] | term_start1 = January 3, 1957 | term_end1 = December 27, 1978 | predecessor1 = [[Harley M. Kilgore]] | successor1 = [[Ted Kennedy]] | jr/sr2 = United States Senator | state2 = [[Mississippi]] | term_start2 = January 3, 1943 | term_end2 = December 27, 1978 | predecessor2 = [[Wall Doxey]] | successor2 = [[Thad Cochran]] | term_start3 = June 30, 1941 | term_end3 = September 28, 1941 | appointer3 = [[Paul B. Johnson, Sr.]] | predecessor3 = [[Pat Harrison]] | successor3 = [[Wall Doxey]] | office4 = Member of the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] | term4 = 1928–1932 | birth_date = {{birth date|1904|11|28}} | birth_place = [[Doddsville, Mississippi]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1986|2|19|1904|11|28}} | death_place = Doddsville, Mississippi, U.S. | restingplace = Forest Cemetery, [[Forest, Mississippi]] | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | spouse = Elizabeth Coleman Eastland | education = [[University of Mississippi]]<br>[[Vanderbilt University]]<br>[[University of Alabama]] | profession = Attorney<br/>[[Cotton]] planter | children = Four }} '''James Oliver Eastland''' (November 28, 1904{{spaced ndash}} February 19, 1986) was an American politician from [[Mississippi]] who served in the [[United States Senate]] as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] in 1941; and again from 1943 until his resignation on December 27, 1978. He has been called the "Voice of the White South" and the "Godfather of Mississippi Politics."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/eastland_james_t.html |website=Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin}}</ref> A [[Dixiecrat]], Eastland was known as the symbol of Southern resistance to racial integration during the civil rights era, often speaking of blacks as "an inferior race."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hunter |first1=Marjorie |title=JAMES O. EASTLAND IS DEAD AT 81; LEADING SENATE FOE OF INTEGRATION |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/20/obituaries/james-o-eastland-is-dead-at-81-leading-senate-foe-of-integration.html |accessdate=8 March 2019 |publisher=The New York Times |date=20 February 1986}}</ref> From 1947 to 1978, Eastland served alongside [[John C. Stennis]], also a Democrat. At the time, Eastland and Stennis were the longest-serving Senate duo in American history, though their record was subsequently surpassed by [[Strom Thurmond]] and [[Ernest Hollings]] of [[South Carolina]], who served together for thirty-six years. Eastland was also the most senior member of the Senate at the time of his retirement in 1978.<ref>{{cite news |author=Marjorie Hunter |title=James O. Eastland is Dead at 81; Leading Senate Foe of Integration |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/20/obituaries/james-o-eastland-is-dead-at-81-leading-senate-foe-of-integration.html |quote= |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=February 20, 1986 }}</ref> The son of a prominent attorney, politician and cotton planter, Eastland attended the local schools of [[Scott County, Mississippi]], and took courses at several universities, including the [[University of Mississippi]], [[Vanderbilt University]] and the [[University of Alabama]]. He completed his legal education by studying in his father's office, and attained admission to the bar in 1927. Eastland practiced law in [[Sunflower County, Mississippi|Sunflower County]] and took over management of his family's cotton plantation. He became active in politics as a Democrat, and served in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] from 1928 to 1932. In 1941, Senator [[Pat Harrison]] died in office, and the governor appointed Eastland to fill the vacancy on the condition that he not run later in the year in the special election to complete the term. Eastland kept his word, and served from June to September. The special election was won by Congressman [[Wall Doxey]]. In 1942, Eastland defeated Doxey in the primary for the Democratic nomination in the election for a full term. The Democratic primary was then [[tantamount to election]], and Eastland returned to the Senate in January 1943. He was reelected five times, and served until resigning in December 1978, days before the end of his final term. Eastland advanced to the chairmanship of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]] and [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate]]. Eastland died in 1986 and was buried at Forest Cemetery in [[Forest, Mississippi]]. ==Early life== Eastland was born in [[Doddsville, Mississippi|Doddsville]], in the [[Mississippi Delta]], the son of Woods Caperton Eastland, a lawyer and cotton planter, and Alma Teresa (Austin) Eastland. In 1905 he moved with his parents to [[Forest, Mississippi|Forest]], the county seat of [[Scott County, Mississippi]]. His father Woods Eastland was active in [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] politics and served as a district attorney. The son attended the local segregated public schools. Eastland attended the [[University of Mississippi]] (1922-1924), [[Vanderbilt University]] (1925-1926), and the [[University of Alabama]] (1926-1927). He [[Reading law#United States|studied law]] in his father's office, attained [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admission to the bar]] in 1927, and practiced in [[Sunflower County, Mississippi|Sunflower County]]. Active in politics as a Democrat, he was elected to one term in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives|state House of Representatives]], and served from 1928 to 1932. ==Career== In the 1930s, Eastland took over management of his family's Sunflower County plantation; he eventually expanded it to nearly {{convert|6000|acre|km2}}. Even after entering politics, he considered himself first and foremost a cotton planter. [[Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book|Cotton plantations]] were adopting mechanization but he still had many African-American laborers on the plantation, most of whom worked as [[sharecroppers]]. ==Political career== Eastland was appointed to the US Senate in 1941 by [[governor of Mississippi|Governor]] [[Paul B. Johnson Sr.]], following the death of Senator [[Pat Harrison]]. Johnson first offered the appointment to Eastland's father, who declined and suggested his son. Johnson appointed James Eastland on the condition that he would not run for office later that year in the special election to fill the seat. Eastland kept his word, and the election was won by [[Mississippi's 2nd congressional district|2nd District]] Congressman [[Wall Doxey]]. In 1942, Eastland was one of three candidates who challenged Doxey for a full term. Doxey had the support of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and Mississippi's senior US Senator, [[Theodore G. Bilbo]], but Eastland defeated him in the Democratic primary. At the time, Mississippi was effectively a one-party state, dominated by conservative white Democrats since the [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disfranchisement of African Americans]] with the passage of the 1890 state constitution. The state used [[poll tax (United States)|poll taxes]], [[literacy tests]] and [[white primaries]] to exclude African Americans from the political system. Therefore, winning the Democratic nomination was tantamount to election. Eastland returned to the Senate on January 3, 1943. Roosevelt and Eastland developed a working relationship that enabled Eastland to oppose [[New Deal]] programs that were unpopular in Mississippi, while he supported the President's agenda on other issues. Eastland was effective in developing that type of arrangement with presidents of both parties during his long tenure in the Senate. Also effective because of his seniority, he gained major federal investment in the state, such as infrastructure construction including the [[Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway]] and federal relief after disasters such as [[Hurricane Camille]]. Early 1947 saw a renewed effort by the Truman administration to promote civil rights with activities such as President Truman addressing the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] and delivering an address to Congress entirely dedicated to the subject.<ref name=Asch122>{{cite book|title=The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer|year=2008|publisher=New Press|first=Chris Myers |last=Asch|isbn=978-1595583321|page=122}}</ref> Eastland, among many other southerners who saw the civil rights backing of the administration as an attack on their way of life, addressed the Senate floor a week after Truman's speech on the matter, saying Southerners were expected to "remain docile" in light of their laws and culture being destroyed "under the false guise of another civil-rights bill."<ref name=Asch122 /> Six weeks before the 1948 United States Presidential election, Eastland predicted the defeat of the incumbent President [[Harry Truman]], telling an audience in [[Memphis, Tennessee]] that voting for him was a waste.<ref name=Asch124 /> After President Truman's victory in the aforementioned election, Eastland "remained publicly undaunted."<ref name=Asch124>{{cite book|title=The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer|year=2008|publisher=New Press|first=Chris Myers |last=Asch|isbn=978-1595583321|page=124}}</ref> In 1956, Eastland was appointed as chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], and he served in this position until his retirement from the Senate. He was re-elected five times. He did not face substantive [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] opposition until 1966, as party politics were realigning after passage of civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965. In 1966, freshman Representative [[Prentiss Walker]], the first Republican to represent Mississippi at the federal level since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], ran against Eastland. The Walker campaign was an early Republican effort to attract white conservatives to its ranks, because recently passed civil rights legislation had enabled African Americans in the South to begin participating in the political process, and most of them became active as liberals in the Democratic Party. Former Republican Party state chairman [[Wirt Yerger]] had considered running against Eastland but bowed out after Walker announced his candidacy. Walker ran well to Eastland's right, accusing him of not having done enough to keep integration-friendly judges from being confirmed by the Senate. As is often the case when a one-term representative runs against a popular incumbent senator or governor, Walker was soundly defeated. Years later, Yerger said that Walker's decision to relinquish his House seat after one term for the vagaries of a Senate race against Eastland was "very devastating" to the growth of the Mississippi Republicans.<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo: Rubel Lex Phillips and the Mississippi Republican Party (1963-1967)", ''The Journal of Mississippi History'', XLVII, No. 4 (November 1985), p. 256</ref> In February 1960, Senator [[Kenneth B. Keating]] made a motion to report an Eisenhower administration-backed civil rights bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, [[Olin D. Johnston]] objecting to the motion on the grounds that it was out of order since the committee did not have permission to sit while the remainder of the Senate chamber was meeting. Eastland upheld the objection. Keating stated that he did not get recognized by Eastland to motion for the bill to be brought to the Senate, Eastland disputing this right after and advising Keating to not repeat the claim when he came to the Senate floor.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=8_tS2Vw13FcC&dat=19600216&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Carolina Senator Blocks Rights Bill In Committee (February 16, 1960)]</ref> In September 1960, Eastland and [[Thomas J. Dodd|Thomas Dodd]] said officials in the State Department cleared the way for the regime of [[Fidel Castro]] to reign in Cuba and that lower-ranking officials had misinformed Americans about the political climate of Cuba with assistance from the media. Incumbent Secretary of State [[Christian Herter]] responded to the claims by saying they were incorrect or misleading.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=4pF9x-cDGsoC&dat=19600911&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Demos Charge U.S. Aided Castro Regime|date=September 11, 1960|publisher=Eugene Register-Guard}}</ref> Eastland announced his support for [[United States Deputy Attorney General]] [[Byron White]] to replace the retiring [[Charles Evans Whittaker]] as Associate Justice on March 30, 1962, Eastland stating that White would be an able justice.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/03/31/archives/eastland-backs-choice-says-white-will-make-able-supreme-court.html|title=EASTLAND BACKS CHOICE; Says White Will Make 'Able Supreme Court Justice'|date=March 31, 1962|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> White took office the following month. Eastland introduced an amendment that he stated would nullify the Supreme Court prayer decision on June 29, 1962.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/06/30/archives/eastland-offers-amendment.html|title=Eastland Offers Amendment|date=June 30, 1962|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In September 1963, Eastland, Stennis, and Georgia Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.|Richard Russell]] jointly announced their opposition to the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/09/07/archives/3-senators-join-foes-of-test-ban-view-affirmed-by-russell-stennis.html|title=3 SENATORS JOIN FOES OF TEST BAN; View Affirmed by Russell, Stennis and Eastland General Objects |date=September 7, 1963|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> The opposition was viewed as denting hopes of the Kennedy administration to be met with minimal disagreement during the treaty's appearance before the Senate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=A7-hzOuI2KQC&dat=19630907&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|title=Senates Oppose N-Treaty|date=September 7, 1963|publisher=Sarasota Herald-Tribune}}</ref> In 1972, Eastland was reelected with 58 percent of the vote in his closest contest ever. His Republican opponent, [[Gil Carmichael]], an automobile dealer from [[Meridian, Mississippi|Meridian]], was likely aided by President [[Richard Nixon]]'s landslide reelection in 49 states, including taking 78 percent of Mississippi's popular vote. However, Nixon had worked "under the table" to support Eastland, a long-time personal friend. Nixon and other Republicans provided little support for Carmichael to avoid alienating [[Conservative Democrat|conservative]] [[Southern Democrat]]s, who increasingly supported Republican positions on many national issues. The Republicans worked to elect two House candidates, [[Trent Lott]] and [[Thad Cochran]], both of whom later became influential U.S. Senators. Recognizing that Nixon would handily carry Mississippi, Eastland did not endorse the Democratic presidential candidate, [[George McGovern]] of [[South Dakota]], who was considered a liberal. Four years later, Eastland supported the candidacy of fellow Southern Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], rather than Nixon's successor, President [[Gerald R. Ford]]. Eastland's former press secretary, [[Larry Speakes]], a Mississippi native, served as a press spokesman for Gerald Ford and Ford's running mate, US Senator [[Robert J. Dole]]. During his last Senate term, Eastland served as [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate]], as he was the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate. In January 1970, after [[G. Harrold Carswell]] was accused of harboring both sexist and racist beliefs, Eastland told reporters that he believed this was the first instance of a Supreme Court nominee being challenged on his views on the legal rights of women.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/30/archives/carswell-called-foe-of-womens-rights.html|title=Carswell Called Foe of Women's Rights|date=January 30, 1970|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In April, the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a vote for a plan that if enacted would give each state one electoral vote for each congressional district. During a meeting with reporters, Eastland espoused his view that the Senate would not approve any constitutional amendment reforming the Presidential election system that year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/22/archives/eastland-doubts-passage-of-a-new-electoral-plan.html|title=Eastland Doubts Passage Of a New Electoral Plan|date=April 22, 1970|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In November, along with fellow southerners [[Strom Thurmond]] and [[Sam J. Ervin Jr.]], Eastland was one of three Senators to vote against an occupational safety bill that would establish a federal supervision to oversee working conditions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/18/archives/senate-approves-compromise-bill-on-safety-in-jobs-823-vote-sends-to.html|title=SENATE APPROVES COMPROMISE BILL ON SAFETY IN JOBS|date=November 18, 1970|first=John W.|last=Finney|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> Later that month, after President Nixon vetoed a curb on spending for political broadcasts, Republican leader [[Hugh Scott]] announced that he would offer comphrensive campaign reforms the following year and called for senators to join him in sustaining the veto. It was agreed by members of both parties that Eastland was one of eight senators that was essential to supporting Democratic opposition to the veto and thereby make the difference in overriding it.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/22/archives/scott-seeks-votes-to-back-nixon-veto-limiting-tv-funds.html|title=Scott Seeks Votes To Back Nixon Veto Limiting TV Funds|date=November 22, 1970|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In April 1971, Eastland introduced a six‐bill package intended to adjust the [[Internal Security Act of 1950]] in addition to plugging loopholes noted by various decisions made by the Supreme Court, Eastland noting that his proposed version of the Internal Security Act would give the [[Subversive Activities Control Board]] more efficiency.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/06/archives/eastland-urges-bolstering-of-internal-security-laws.html|title=Eastland Urges Bolstering Of Internal Security Laws|date=April 6, 1971|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In October 1971, after President [[Richard Nixon]] nominated [[Lewis F. Powell]] and [[William Rehnquist]] to the Supreme Court,<ref>{{cite web |first=Richard |last=Nixon |title= Address to the Nation Announcing Intention To Nominate Lewis F. Powell Jr. and William H. Rehnquist To Be Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3196 |work=The American Presidency Project. [[University of California, Santa Barbara|UCSB]] |date=October 21, 1971 |accessdate=March 1, 2016}}</ref> Eastland announced his intent to hasten the hearings of Rehnquist and Powell while admitting his doubts that hearings would begin the following week given the Senate being in recess.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/22/archives/2-nominees-given-cautious-backing-eastland-plans-to-expedite.html|title=2 NOMINEES GIVEN CAUTIOUS BACKING|date=October 22, 1971|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In October 1974, Eastland was one of five senators to sponsor legislation authored by [[Jesse Helms]] permitting prayer in public schools and taking the issue away from the Supreme Court which had previously ruled in 1963 that school prayer violated the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]] through the establishment of a religion.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=JPOST19741018-01.1.12&srpos=13&e=------197-en-20--1--txt-txIN-thurmond------|title=School Prayers Bill's Objective|date=October 18, 1974|publisher=Jewish Post}}</ref> In June 1976, Eastland joined a coalition of Democratic politicians that endorsed Georgia Governor [[Jimmy Carter]] for the presidency.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19760611&id=oYtRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3REEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6970,1558340|title=Democrats Stampede To Rally Behind Carter|publisher=The Milwaukee Sentinel|date=June 11, 1976}}</ref> The ''New York Times'' assessed Stennis and Eastland as jointly "trying to pull Mississippi out for Mr. Carter" in their first campaign for a national Democrat in decades.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/01/archives/presidential-race-called-very-close-on-eve-of-the-vote-50state.html|title=PRESIDENTIAL RACE CALLED VERY CLOSE ON EVE OF THE VOTE|date=November 1, 1976|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> On May 18, 1977, Eastland made a joint appearance with President [[Jimmy Carter]] in the Rose Garden in support of proposed foreign intelligence surveillance legislation. Eastland said the legislation was "vitally needed in this country" and that he was satisfied with its bipartisan support.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7526|title=Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Remarks of the President, Attorney General Bell, and Several Members of Congress on Proposed Legislation.|date=May 18, 1977|first=Jimmy|last=Carter|authorlink=Jimmy Carter|publisher=American Presidency Project}}</ref> Over the summer of 1977, the Justice Department enlisted the aid of Eastland as part of its effort to thwart "balkanization" of litigation authority, Eastland and Attorney General [[Griffin Bell]] moving to block six measures that if enacted would have permitted the independent agencies to go to court under certain circumstances in the event the Justice Department did not act on a case 45 days after it was refereed to the department.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/28/archives/agency-control-of-lawsuits-urged.html|title=Agency Control of Lawsuits Urged|date=December 28, 1977|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> By August 1977, the Carter administration reached a compromise plan to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the United States, Eastland, Attorney General Bell, and [[United States Secretary of Labor]] [[F. Ray Marshall]] agreeing to civil penalties up to $1,000 for offending employers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/05/archives/the-illegal-alien-tangle.html|title=The Illegal Alien Tangle|date=August 5, 1977|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> By September 1977, the seventy-three-year-old Eastland was considered for retirement, discussions of [[Ted Kennedy]] assuming his position as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/22/archives/burger-moves-to-aid-courtcongress-ties-judicial-congress-hears.html|title=BURGER MOVES TO AID COURT‐CONGRESS TIES|date=September 22, 1977|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In October 1977, Eastland was one of several influential senators invited to meet with President Carter as the latter tried gaining support in the Senate for the Panama Canal treaties.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/12/archives/carter-in-new-bid-for-canal-backing-he-calls-senators-to-white.html|title=CARTER IN NEW BID FOR CANAL BACKING|date=October 12, 1977|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> === Nixon resignation === On February 14, 1974, Special Prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice [[Leon Jaworski]] wrote to Eastland complaining that President Nixon had refused to give him material that he needed for his [[Watergate]] investigation including 27 tapes relating to the Watergate cover‐up in addition to political donations of milk producers and the activities of the plumbers unit of the White House. The contents of the letter to Eastland were disclosed to the public by Jaworski the following month.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/22/archives/a-subpoena-seeks-more-nixon-files-jaworski-reports-writ-was-served.html|title=A SUBPOENA SEEKS MORE NIXON FILES|date=March 22, 1974|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In May, the House Judiciary Committee opened impeachment hearings against President Nixon after the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides and the administration. That month, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a resolution supporting Jaworski observing that he was "acting within the scope of the authority conferred upon MT". Eastland's support for the resolution was seen by observers as part of a pattern of Nixon backers turning against him in light of the Watergate scandal.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/22/archives/senators-back-jaworski-on-interference-by-nixon-senate-panel-backs.html|title=Senators Back Jaw orski On Interference by Nixon|date=May 22, 1974|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> In August, ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine released Eastland's name as one of thirty-six senators that the White House believed would support President Nixon remaining in office in the event of impeachment. The article mentioned the White House believing some of the supporters were shaky and that thirty-four of them would need to remain firm to override a potential conviction.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/05/archives/36-senators-seen-as-nixon-backers-magazine-says-7-democrats-may.html|title=36 SENATORS SEEN AS NIXON BACKERS|date=August 5, 1974|publisher=New York Times}}</ref> Within days of the article's release, President Nixon announced his resignation in the face of near-certain impeachment.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper = The Washington Post| title = Nixon Resigns| series = The Watergate Story | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part3.html| accessdate = July 16, 2011}}</ref> ===Senate President pro tempore=== Eastland is the most recent President pro tempore to have served during a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. He did so twice during the tumultuous 1970s, first from October to December 1973, following [[Spiro Agnew]]'s resignation until the swearing-in of [[Gerald Ford]] as Vice President, and then from August to December 1974, from the time that Ford became President until [[Nelson Rockefeller]] was sworn in as Vice President. Then, Eastland was second in the [[United States presidential line of succession|presidential line of succession]], behind only [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Carl Albert]]. ==Opposition to civil rights== Eastland is known for having opposed integration and the [[American Civil Rights Movement]], which became increasingly active in the mid-20th century. When the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] issued its decision in the landmark case ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]] of [[Topeka, Kansas]]'' 347 US 483 (1954), ruling that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Eastland, like most Southern Democrats, denounced it. In a speech given in [[Senatobia, Mississippi]] on August 12, 1955, he announced: {{quote|On May 17, 1954, the [[United States Constitution|Constitution of the United States]] was destroyed because of the Supreme Court's decision. You are not obliged to obey the decisions of any court which are plainly fraudulent sociological considerations.<ref>''Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954&ndash;1965'', by Juan Williams, Viking Penguin, January 1, 1987, {{ISBN|978-0-670-81412-1}}, p. 38.</ref>}} Eastland testified to the Senate ten days after the ''Brown'' decision:<ref>{{cite web|last1=Simkin|first1=John|title=James Eastland|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/USAeastland.htm|publisher=[[Spartacus Educational]]|accessdate=18 August 2017|date=September 1997}}</ref> {{quote|The Southern institution of racial segregation or racial separation was the correct, self-evident truth which arose from the chaos and confusion of the Reconstruction period. Separation promotes racial harmony. It permits each race to follow its own pursuits, and its own civilization. Segregation is not discrimination ... Mr. President, it is the law of nature, it is the law of God, that every race has both the right and the duty to perpetuate itself. All free men have the right to associate exclusively with members of their own race, free from governmental interference, if they so desire.}} Civil rights workers [[Mickey Schwerner]], [[James Chaney]], and [[Andrew Goodman]], [[Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner|went missing]] in Mississippi on June 21, 1964, during the [[Freedom Summer]] efforts to register African American voters. Eastland tried to convince President [[Lyndon Johnson]] that the incident was a hoax and there was no [[Ku Klux Klan]] in the state. He suggested that the three had gone to [[Chicago]]:<ref>[http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/exhibits/miss_burning/ WhiteHouseTapes.org :: The secret White House tapes and recordings of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> {{quote| '''Johnson''': Jim, we've got three kids missing down there. What can I do about it? '''Eastland''': Well, I don't know. I don't believe there's&nbsp;... I don't believe there's three missing. '''Johnson''': We've got their parents down here. '''Eastland''': I believe it's a publicity stunt ...}} Johnson once said: {{quote|Jim Eastland could be standing right in the middle of the worst Mississippi flood ever known, and he'd say the niggers caused it, helped out by [[Communist Party of the United States|the Communists]].<ref>{{cite book | last =Schlesinger| first =Arthur M.| title =Robert Kennedy and His Times | publisher =Houghton Mifflin Books |pages =234| year =2002 | isbn =0-618-21928-5}}</ref>}} [[File:LBJ with Eastland.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Senator Eastland with President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in 1968.]] Eastland, like most of his southern colleagues, opposed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], which prohibited segregation of public places and facilities. Its passage caused many Mississippi Democrats to support [[Barry Goldwater]]'s presidential bid [[United States presidential election, 1964|that year]], but Eastland did not publicly oppose the election of Johnson. Four years earlier he had quietly supported [[John F. Kennedy]]'s presidential campaign, but [[United States presidential election in Mississippi, 1960|Mississippi]] voted that year for unpledged electors. Although Republican senator [[Barry Goldwater]] was strongly defeated by incumbent Johnson, he carried [[United States presidential election in Mississippi, 1964|Mississippi]] with 87.14 percent of the popular vote, which constitutes the best-ever Republican showing in any state since the founding of that party.<ref>Thomas, G. Scott; ''The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History'', p. 403 {{ISBN|0313257957}}</ref> In 1964 almost all blacks in Mississippi remained excluded from voting, thus Goldwater's mammoth win essentially constituted the vote of the white population. Eastland was often at odds with Johnson's policy on civil rights, but they retained a close friendship based on long years together in the Senate. Johnson often sought Eastland's support and guidance on other issues, such as the nomination of [[Abe Fortas]] in 1968 as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The Solid South opposed him.<ref name="abe fortas">{{cite book | title =Abe Fortas | author =Laura Kalman | publisher =[[Yale University Press]] | year =1990 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=x-Fbl_xE1E0C | accessdate =2008-10-20 }}</ref> In the 1950s, Johnson was one of three Senators from the South who did not sign the [[Southern Manifesto]] of resistance to ''Brown v. Board of Education'', but Eastland and most Southern Senators did, vowing resistance to school integration. Contrary to popular opinion, Eastland did not use the appointment of [[William Harold Cox|Harold Cox]] to a federal judgeship as leverage against John F. Kennedy's appointment of [[Thurgood Marshall]] to the Supreme Court. Cox was nominated by Kennedy more than a year before Marshall came up for consideration, and his nomination resulted from a personal conversation between Cox and Kennedy. The president, not wanting to upset the powerful chairman of the Judiciary Committee, generally acceded to Eastland's requests on judicial confirmations in Mississippi, which resulted in white segregationists dominating control of the federal courts in the state. Eastland, along with senators [[Robert Byrd]], [[John Little McClellan|John McClellan]], [[Olin D. Johnston]], [[Sam Ervin]], and [[Strom Thurmond]], made unsuccessful attempts to block confirmation of [[Thurgood Marshall]], an African American, to the Federal Court of Appeals and the US [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]. During his later years, in the face of increasing black political power in Mississippi, Eastland avoided associating with racist positions. He hired black Mississippians to serve on the staff of the Judiciary Committee. Eastland noted to aides that his earlier position on race was caused primarily by the political realities of the times, when a major political figure in a Southern state was expected to endorse such positions.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} When he considered running for reelection in 1978, Eastland sought black support from [[Aaron Henry]], civil rights leader and president of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]]. Henry told Eastland that it would be difficult for him to earn the support of black voters given his "master-servant philosophy with regard to blacks."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hunter |first1=Marjorie |title=JAMES O. EASTLAND IS DEAD AT 81; LEADING SENATE FOE OF INTEGRATION |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/20/obituaries/james-o-eastland-is-dead-at-81-leading-senate-foe-of-integration.html |accessdate=8 March 2019 |publisher=The New York Times |date=20 February 1986}}</ref> Partly because of the independent candidacy of [[Charles Evers]] siphoning off votes from the Democratic candidate, Republican [[Mississippi's 4th congressional district|4th District]] Representative [[Thad Cochran]] won the race to succeed Eastland. Eastland resigned two days after [[Christmas]] to give Cochran a leg up in seniority. After his retirement, he remained friends with Aaron Henry and sent contributions to the NAACP, but he said that he "didn't regret a thing" in his public career. ==Anticommunism== Eastland served on a subcommittee in the 1950s investigating the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] in the United States. As chairman of the Internal Security Subcommittee, he subpoenaed some employees of ''[[The New York Times]]'' to testify about their activities. The paper was taking a strong position on its editorial page that Mississippi should adhere to the ''Brown'' decision, and claimed that Eastland was persecuting them on that account. The ''Times'' said in its January 5, 1956 editorial: {{quote|Our faith is strong that long after Senator Eastland and his present subcommittee are gone, long after segregation has lost its final battle in the South, long after all that was known as [[McCarthyism]] is a dim, unwelcome memory, long after the last Congressional committee has learned that it cannot tamper successfully with a free press, The ''New York Times'' will be speaking for [those] who make it, and only for [those] who make it, and speaking, without fear or favor, the truth as it sees it.}} Eastland subsequently allowed the subcommittee to become dormant as communist fears receded. ==Relationship with FBI== [[File:James eastland.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Official U.S. Senate portrait of Senator James Eastland]] Eastland was a staunch supporter of [[FBI]] Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]], and shared intelligence with the FBI, including leaks from the [[United States State Department|State Department]]. An investigation initiated by [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Robert F. Kennedy]] and executed by former FBI agent Walter Sheridan traced some of the unauthorized disclosures to [[Otto Otepka]] of the State Department Office of Security.<ref name="Weiner, 228">{{cite book|last=Weiner|first=Tim|title=Enemies|year=2013|publisher=Random House|isbn=0812979230|pages=228–229}}</ref> Hoover received intelligence that Eastland was among members of congress who had received money and favors from [[Rafael Trujillo]], dictator of the [[Dominican Republic]]. Eastland had regularly defended him from the Senate floor. Hoover declined to pursue Eastland on corruption charges.<ref name="Weiner, 217">{{cite book|last=Weiner|first=Tim|title=Enemies|year=2013|publisher=Random House|isbn=0812979230|pages=217–218}}</ref> ==Marijuana== In 1974, Eastland led congressional subcommittee hearings into marijuana, the report on which concluded: {{quote|... five years of research has provided strong evidence that, if corroborated, would suggest that marijuana in various forms is far more hazardous than originally suspected.''<ref>{{cite book |last=Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate |date=1974 |title=Marihuana-Hashish Epidemic and its Impact on United States Security |url=https://archive.org/stream/marihuanahashish00unit#page/n11/ |location=Washington, DC |publisher=US Government Printing Office |page=ix}}</ref>}} ==Later years== In his last years in the Senate, Eastland was recognized by most Senators as one who knew how to wield the legislative powers he had accumulated. Many Senators, including [[modern liberalism in the United States|liberals]] who opposed many of his conservative positions, acknowledged the fairness with which he chaired the Judiciary Committee, sharing staff and authority that chairmen of other committees jealously held for themselves.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} He maintained personal ties with stalwart liberal Democrats such as [[Ted Kennedy]], [[Walter Mondale]], [[Joe Biden]] and [[Phil Hart]], even though they disagreed on many issues.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} Following Johnson's retirement from the White House, Eastland frequently visited Johnson at his Texas ranch. Eastland died on February 19, 1986. The law library at Ole Miss was named after him, which gave rise to some controversy in Mississippi given his opposition to civil rights. The University benefited financially from Eastland's many friends and supporters, as it has done from other political figures of Eastland's era. In 2012 the law library was renamed after best-selling author, activist, and former state legislator [[John Grisham]], who had earned his law degree there. ==Portrayal in popular culture== Eastland was portrayed by actor Jeff Doucette in the 2016 HBO film All the Way.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3791216/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_16|title=All the Way (2016)|website=IMDb}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * J. Lee Annis, Jr., Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi (University Press of Mississippi, 2016) * Chris Myers Asch, "Reconstruction Revisited: James O. Eastland, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and the Reconstruction of Germany, 1945&ndash;1946", ''Journal of Mississippi History'' (Spring 2005) * Chris Myers Asch, ''The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer'' (The New Press, 2008) * [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011116132645/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/eastland/eastland.asp Transcript, James O. Eastland Oral History Interview I], February 19, 1971, by [[Joe Bertram Frantz|Joe B. Frantz]], Internet Copy, LBJ Library. Accessed April 3, 2005. * Finley, Keith M. ''Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938&ndash;1965'' (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2008). * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060831022339/http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/files/archives/collections/guides/latesthtml/MUM00117.html Finding-Aid for the James O. Eastland Collection (MUM00117)] from the University of Mississippi Library. Accessed August 17, 2006. * ''A Rhetorical Analysis of Senator James O. Eastland's Speeches, 1954&ndash;1959'' by Patricia Webb Robinson. * ''Menace of Subversive Activity'' by James Oliver Eastland. Publisher: Congressional Record (1966). {{CongBio|E000018}} * "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824107,00.html The South: The Authentic Voice]", [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]], March 26, 1956; article about James Eastland * Maarten Zwiers, Senator James Eastland: Mississippi's Jim Crow Democrat (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2015) ==External links== {{wikiquote}} *[http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00117/ The James Oliver Eastland Collection] owned by the University of Mississippi *[http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/eastland_james.html James Eastland] interviewed by [[Mike Wallace]] on ''The Mike Wallace Interview'' *[http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011116132645/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/eastland/eastland.asp Oral History Interview with James Eastland, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library] {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box | before = [[Pat Harrison]] | class = 2 | alongside = [[Theodore G. Bilbo]] | state= Mississippi | years=June 30, 1941 – September 28, 1941 | after = [[Wall Doxey]]}} {{U.S. Senator box | before = [[Wall Doxey]] | class =2 | alongside = [[Theodore G. Bilbo]], [[John Stennis|John C. Stennis]] | state = Mississippi | years= January 3, 1943 – December 27, 1978 | after = [[Thad Cochran]]}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before = [[Allen J. Ellender]]}} {{s-ttl|title = [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]]|years=1972–1978}} {{s-aft|after = [[Warren Magnuson|Warren G. Magnuson]]}} {{s-bef|before = [[Harley M. Kilgore]]}} {{s-ttl|title =Chairman of [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]]|years=1956–1978}} {{s-aft|after = [[Ted Kennedy|Edward Kennedy]]}} {{s-hon}} {{s-bef|before=[[George Aiken]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Dean of the United States Senate]]|years=January 3, 1975 – November 28, 1977|alongside=[[John L. McClellan]]}} {{s-aft|after=''Himself''}} {{s-bef|before=''Himself'' '''and''' <br />[[John Little McClellan|John L. McClellan]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Dean of the United States Senate]]|years=November 28, 1977 – January 3, 1979}} {{s-aft|after=[[Warren G. Magnuson]]}} {{s-end}} {{USSenMS}} {{SenJudiciaryCommitteeChairs}} {{USSenPresProTemp}} {{US Senate Deans}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Eastland, James}} [[Category:1904 births]] [[Category:1986 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]] [[Category:American anti-communists]] [[Category:American planters]] [[Category:Appointed United States Senators]] [[Category:Democratic Party United States Senators]] [[Category:History of racism in the United States]] [[Category:Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives]] [[Category:Mississippi Democrats]] [[Category:Mississippi lawyers]] [[Category:People from Sunflower County, Mississippi]] [[Category:Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate]] [[Category:Racial segregation]] [[Category:United States Senators from Mississippi]] [[Category:University of Alabama alumni]] [[Category:University of Mississippi alumni]] [[Category:Vanderbilt University alumni]] [[Category:American white supremacists]] [[Category:20th-century American politicians]] [[Category:People from Forest, Mississippi]] [[Category:American conservative people]]'