Born in Edgefield, South Carolina, Strom Thurmond graduated from Clemson College in 1923. In 1930, after passing the bar, he served as a city and county attorney in South Carolina. In 1933 Thurmond became a state senator, and in 1938, he held a post as a circuit court judge. After serving in the army during World War II, Thurmond was elected governor of South Carolina. At the Democratic National Convention of 1948, Thurmond voiced his disagreement with the party’s stand on civil rights. He and other southern political leaders formed the States’ Rights Democratic Party, also known as the Dixiecrats. The party nominated Thurmond for president. He won four southern states in the general election. Thurmond lost an election for the U.S. Senate in 1950 but won as a write-in candidate in 1954. Re-elected in 1960, Thurmond soon abandoned the Democratic Party as too liberal. As a Republican, he was elected in 1966 and every term thereafter. In 1980 Thurmond was named chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was elected president pro tempore of the Senate in 1981. Thurmond recently became the oldest person to serve in the Senate.
