Srom Thurmond Quotes

“I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches” (Strom Thurmond”). One of Strom Thurmond's many controversial quotes, shows one of the racial slurs he's made towards people of color. Strom Thurmond was known for being racially aggressive towards people of color. In the longest filibuster in U.S. history with a time of 24 hrs and 18 mins against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 Strom Thurmond showed his absolute hatred and utter dislike toward people of color, and yet unsuccessful, will be stamped into our U.S. history as a defined moment.

Being

elected to congress Strom Thurmond held a strong opposition to civil rights of colored people. “Although relatively progressive as a governor, with a platform that included aid to black educational institutions, fair wages for women and rent control, he was opposed to his party's Civil Rights program and led the walkout of the Southern Democrats at the 1948 convention” (Strom Thurmond Biography 1). Even though strom thurmond helped in the aid of black people he was still ultimately opposed to their rights. Strom thurmond's Background and biography shows a strong support on segregation in public schools. Going against the Brown v.s. Board of education decision, Strom thurmond with others, helped compose a manifesto against the ruling, which was signed by many southern senators which pushed against the Supreme Court decision to desegregate schools (Strom thurmond Biography 1). This action take by Strom Thurmond helped advance his stance against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. One of the oldest senators, Strom Thurmond did make many public statements against the rights of black people. “Thurmond made public statements that advocated staunchly barring African-American citizens from predominantly white establishments during the Civil Rights Movement, though he would later recognize that part of his constituency was African-American due to expansion of voting rights” (Strom Thurmond Biography 2).
The term filibuster defined by senate.gov states an action that is meant to, “delay or block legislative action” In 1917 senators adopted a 2/3rds rule for filibustering, which allowed the senate to end a debate with 2/3rds majority rule. This was called a cloture but was reevaluated and changed in 1975 to a 3/5ths majority vote because of long filibusters trying to block civil rights legislation. Being one of those senators, Strom Thurmond holds the record for longest filibuster with a time of 24 hrs and 18 mins protesting against the civil rights act of 1957.
On August 28th 1957 at precisely 8:54 Strom Thurmond started his filibuster against the Civil Rights act of 1957. Strom Thurmond prepared for this long filibuster by taking steam baths to dehydrate his body in that he would not have to go to the bathroom. And according to Business insider, “armed with cough drops and malted milk tablets.” Strom Thurmond Started his filibuster by reading the voting laws for each state verbatim, than the criminal code, jury trials, the declaration of independence and other national documents. Strom Thurmond's filibuster although he longest was not supported by other democrat members. Strom Thurmond had to fight the civil rights act alone because other democrats agreed not to run an organized filibuster. Strom Thurmond was bent on fighting this civil rights bill so he completed a filibuster on his own. Strom Thurmond did not even intend to stay on the senate floor for 24 hrs and 18 mins. According to time magazine “Arizona Republican Barry Goldwater approached Thurmond's desk, asked in a whisper how much longer Strom would last. Back came the answer: 'About another hour” (Mark Memmott) Turmond would have left the floor if it were not for Gold water, in fact Goldwater asked Thurmond to yield the floor so he could talk about the congressional record. While Goldwater was talking Thurmond temporarily yielded the stage to take a bathroom brake. Because of this some people say Thurmond does not hold the record for the longest filibuster. Some say it should go to sen. Alphonse D’mato who spoke for 23 hrs and 30 minutes. Strom Thurmond even held backup in case he had to relieve himself on the stage. Village Voice says his staff had come up with a solution: "Aides tried to avoid defeat by the toilet by setting up a bucket in the cloakroom where Thurmond could pee, keeping one foot on the Senate floor while doing so” (Mark Memmott).
Strom Thurmond hated this bill because of the usual list of things put on it, like no segregation, public transportation, and being able to eat in public restaurants, the thing that stood out to him was the area of voting rights.

Thurmond filibuster against the part that states Federal judges, not local would determine if these voting rights were being infringed upon. This is what gave the Civil Rights Act of 1957 major ground and also sunk in with many other southern senators and politicians (Kauffmann, Bruce). According to the article written by Bruce Kauffmann, “In the 1950s, most Southern politicians couldn't have cared less about what a civil rights "law" actually said because they knew that all-white juries in their states would decide the outcome as they saw fit. Putting that decision-making power in the hands of federal judges was another matter entirely. BEcause of that the article states, “entire southern contingent of the Senate began a filibuster, and when the filibuster stretched into its third week, pro-civil rights senators finally agreed to remove the language that gave federal judges total judicial review over civil rights violations. Satisfied, the Senate's southern bloc ended its filibuster” (Kaufmann Bruce). But Strom Thurmond continued with his filibuster. Another reason was because of segregation and less privilege for colored people. He also protested section 104 of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 that states, “the commission shall investigate allegations in writing under oath or affirmation that certain citizens of the United States are being deprived of their right to vote and have that vote counted by reason of their color, race, region, or national origin; which writing under oath or affirmation shall set forth these facts upon which such belief or beliefs are based” Strom Thurmond did not want the same rights to for white men to be applied to colored men in a trial of jury. According to the takeaway, “It is a lyric of hatred and

an endorsement of violence and bigotry that stands as a national shame” (Ira Gay Sealy). At the end of his filibuster he said "I am convinced that this is bad proposed legislation, which never should have been introduced, and which never should have been approved by the Senate. I urge every member of this body to consider this bill most carefully. I hope the Senate will see fit to kill it." This statement was disguised as “state rights” and was a cover up for segregation, vigilantism, death, and hatred of colored people (Iga Gay Sealy).
The outcome of Strom Thurmond's Filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was little to nothing. According to an article by the post gazette, “By the time Thurmond began his filibuster, the bill already had been heavily watered down, including an amendment supported by Southern senators to guarantee a jury trial for anyone accused of violating the law, said Joseph Crespino, an Emory University historian who is writing a biography of Thurmond.” Thurmond's Filibuster, although pressured by the governor of South Carolina, had about no impact on the civil right legislation. In fact most senators were angered by Thurmond's filibuster because they had prior, made negotiations with republicans and president eisenhower not to filibuster, and to some this felt like a betrayal. Some southern senators even disgusted Strom Thurmond's filibuster because they, “worried his grandstanding would lead to more restrictive filibuster rules.” Yet Thurman went on with his enormous speech and nothing came of it, the Bill was passed and Thurmond was seen as an enemy by some Senators because he couldn’t “keep his mouth shut.”
Today we commemorate Strom Thurmond for his long and tiring Political years. Serving as a senator, governor, legislator, and also fighting in a war, Strom Thurmond is loved by his state of South Carolina. Serving until he was 100 years old, Strom Thurmond is congratulated as one of the longest serving senators. As for his famous Filibuster, Strom Thurmond does hold the record for the longest time ever filibuster, although it could be debated because he left to go to the bathroom he still had a time of 24 hrs and 18 minutes. Although he is seen as a racist for not supporting Civil Rights Acts he did have a huge impact on american politics. Even though Thurmond's filibuster was unsuccessful in having any outcome he did serve 30 years as a senator which is impressive. And although some may say Thurman is a hypocrite because he secretly had a daughter with an african american, overall Strom Thurmond should be remembered as a national and political hero, not because of his stand on Civil Rights, but because of his absolutely amazing accomplishments during his lifetime.