Strom Thurmond & the Politics of Southern Change [Paperback]

Nadine Cohodas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

Tells the civil rights story from a white perspective through a chronicle of the life and ideological evolution of the South's most provocative and colorful senator, who grew from a white supremacist into an elder statesman respected by black leaders. 15,000 first printing.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This respectful biography traces South Carolina Senator Thurmond's career from his status as a "consummate white reactionary" to that of a savvy politician who courts black voters. Cohodas, a former staffer for Congressional Quarterly , reconstructs Thurmond's long political career, from judge to governor to senator, and describes his political strategies, including his pork-barrel politics. And she interweaves Thurmond's career with the story of civil rights conflicts in the South. But her interviews with Thurmond reveal little, and she does not probe his colleagues. Also, while Cohodas occasionally sees ironies in Thurmond's political transformation, her conclusion that his support of black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas symbolizes a major change is undermined by Thomas's conservatism. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The life of Republican Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina almost spans the 20th century. (He was born in 1902.) In addition to his service in the Senate, Thurmond was both a governor of South Carolina and the Dixiecrat (a state's rights movement) candidate for the presidency in 1948. Examining Thurmond's career, Cohodas pays particular attention to his strong opposition to racial integration and his role in the development of the Republican Party as a viable force in the once solidly Democratic South. She has written a readable, well-documented account of the Southern battle over integration from the perspective of one of its most highly visible conservative opponents. For an examination of how a liberal Southern Congressman reacted to many of the same challenges, readers may consult Carl Elliot and Michael D'Orso's The Cost of Courage: The Journey of an American Congressman ( LJ 2/1/92).
- Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Mercer University Press (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865544468
• ISBN-13: 978-0865544468
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,719,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nadine Cohodas is the author of several books, most recently Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington, which received an award for Excellence in Research in Recorded Jazz Music from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fair account of the politics of racial upheaval, January 28, 2003

By 

J. Gillespie "gettingthere" ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strom Thurmond and the Politics of Southern Change (Hardcover)

Published only a decade ago, the tenor of Strom Thurmond & the Politics of Southern Change seems quaint in its occasional indignation. Yet it also gives context to the firestorm that erupted when then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott recently proclaimed that America would have been better off if Thurmond had defeated President Harry Truman in 1948. As author Nadine Cohodas' work shows, even Sen. Thurmond may not agree with Lott these days.

The Politics of Southern Change, it could be argued, does not devote enough attention to Thurmond's Dixiecrat presidential campaign. From a historic standpoint, Thurmond's most important political decision was to bolt the Democrats and run on a pro-segregationist platform; it is almost a given that in the future this will be the lead in Thurmond's obituary. Yet Cohodas attempts to give a complete picture of a man whose life almost is a metaphor for Southern politics as he evolves from a Yellow Dog Democrat to a Dixiecrat and finally becomes a conventional Republican. The author could not focus solely on the 1948 presidential campaign and tell the whole story of the man and the political and racial tumult of the times. Instead, Cohodas traces Thurmond's remarkable career from his stint as a humble school official, a progressive governor, and finally as a United States senator who transformed with the times. In the process, she avoids what easily could have been a one-dimensional account of the senator, who recently retired and turned 100 years old.

The Thurmond who emerges is a complex man who could be an opportunistic, hate-filled race baiter and at other times a truly courageous figure who put his principles first. Cohodas describes a politician better than many of his contemporaries, including the notorious racist governor "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, but a leader who also appears unable to connect his words and actions to the violence committed against innocent black Southerners who simply wanted to vote and participate in society. Yet as blacks gain the franchise, Thurmond adjusts to court their votes in the two-party contemporary South.

Cohodas tries, with mixed results, to make the case that while most white Southern politicians embraced segregation and racist views until the civil rights movement triumphed, a schism always was below the surface between those who would now be considered "liberal" or "conservative." Thus, with the victory of the civil rights movement, arch-segregationists such as Senator William Fulbright come to represent conventional liberal Democrats, and former race-baiters like Thurmond become traditional Republican conservatives. The glue that held together the one-party South was segregation, and once it ended so did Democratic dominance in the region. Cohodas falls short in explaining these dynamics, which are subtle, difficult to understand, and a harsh reality for members of both major parties to admit. At times, she seems to give a pass to people who are now considered left-of-center Democrats like South Carolina Senator Fritz Hollings, who once held the very same racist beliefs as Thurmond did. The author also glosses over a reality that amused Thurmond and outraged the Rev. Martin Luther King: the rank hypocrisy that whites outside the South demonstrated when attempts were made and often failed to end de facto (and in some cases de jure) segregation in other regions of the country.

Cohodas avoids tabloid pursuit of Thurmond's alleged black child, but she also omits other personal details that leaves the reader with questions. Among these are the reasons that led to the senator's divorce from his second wife, Nancy.

Ultimately, though, this is the story of how a well-bred boy from rough-hewn upcountry Carolina became a national figure and symbolized the transformation of a region and the country as a whole. Thurmond's and the South's long journey into modernity make for a fascinating and important read.