Strom Thurmond - Legend Or Foe?

8 Pages 2054 Words

Introduction
Senator Strom Thurmond was the oldest and longest serving member of the United States Senate despite unpopular opinions. Ole’ Strom (McWhorter, Diane http://slate.msn.com/id/2085087) fought relentlessly, making history time and time again for what he believed best served those who elected him for “forty seven years and five months” http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/26/thurmond.obit/. He was a man known for his sexual harassment tendencies, segregationist’s views, and his inability to lead South Carolina out from the racial bias that envelops us. The fact the he remained in the Senate for so long “says much about the racial chasm that still afflicts American society. It also says something about the voters of South Carolina” (Ibbitson, John http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0107-04.htm). By March 30th 1869, ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees that all people regardless of race, creed, or color, “shall not be denied or abridged” the right to vote (http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/amend15.htm). Then how is it that we, the American People, can allow one man to remain in a Senate seat for nearly a half a century with such conflict-ridden social tendencies.
Body
Most people know Strom Thurmond as the oldest, longest reigning Senator, however, very few people know the man behind the office. James Strom Thurmond was born at the turn of the century, in the segregated south, on December 05, 1902. After graduating from Clemson College in 1923, he became a teacher and quickly rose to the job of county school superintendent. He did not go straight into politics. He studied law with his father, and in 1930, was admitted to the South Carolina bar (Clymer, Adam. The New York Times Co). After being elected Eleventh Circuit judgeship in 1933, he was awarded the opportunity to become known statewide and broaden his political contacts (www.strom.clemson.edu...