James Strom Thurmond was born in Edgefield, S.C., on December 5, 1902. He studied law and passed the South Carolina bar in 1930. In Edgefield, he served as city and county attorney before being elected to the South Carolina state senate in 1932. After service in the Army during World War II, Thurmond served as governor of South Carolina from 1947 to 1951. During the 1948 elections, he left the Democratic Party to run for president as the States Rights Democrat candidate, carrying four states. In September 1954, following the death of Senator Burnet Maybank, the South Carolina Democratic Party selected Edgar Brown as a replacement, arguing there was insufficient time before the election to hold a primary. Strom Thurmond challenged Brown and in November won the election through a write-in vote. During that campaign, he pledged that if elected he would resign to run in next party primary. He carried out that pledge on April 4, 1956. He won the primary and was again elected as a Democrat in November 1956 to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation. He was reelected to the Senate seven times. In 1964, Senator Thurmond joined the Republican Party.

In the Senate, Thurmond chaired the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees, and was elected president pro tempore. On December 5, 2002, he turned one hundred years old, just a month prior to his retirement on January 3, 2003. He thus became the oldest person ever to serve as a senator. Thurmond also has the distinction of holding the Senate's filibuster record of 24 hours and 18 minutes. Senator Thurmond died on June 26, 2003. Read Senator Thurmond's remarks for the Leaders' Lecture Series, review his committee assignments (pdf), or view a Thurmond Timeline (pdf).    

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