Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

The Thurmond Legacy

Aired June 27, 2003 - 05:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the men and women who had been his colleagues learned of Strom Thurmond's death at his workplace of 47 years, the Senate chambers. A debate on Medicare legislation was stopped and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist took the floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It was a century ago when Mark Twain was alive and Teddy Roosevelt was president and James Strom Thurmond was born in South Carolina and at that time began a life really unmatched in public service. Many of us have had -- all of us, just about all of us in this body have had the real privilege of serving alongside of Strom Thurmond. A long time friend of Strom Thurmond's, Hortense Woodson, once said of him, "Everything he's done has been to the full. There's no halfway doings about Strom."

Indeed, Strom Thurmond will forever be a symbol of what one person can accomplish when they live life, as we all know he did, to the fullest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: After the Frist eulogy, senators paused for a moment of silence. Thurmond retired in January, a month after turning 100.

Strom Thurmond's political career began in the 1920s and he enjoyed a relationship with voters unlike anyone else.

CNN's Brian Cabell looks at the Thurmond legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. STROM THURMOND (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: The committee will come to order.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than one half century, Strom Thurmond played a leading role in American politics, an icon to arch conservatives, a enemy to liberals. In his hometown of Edgefield, South Carolina, he's a legend, celebrated not only for his public service, but for his WWII record. He flew a glider behind German lines. For his remarkable devotion to physical fitness, even in his latter years. And to his eye for young ladies. His first wife was 23 years younger than he; his second wife 44 years younger.

(on camera): Many South Carolinians would describe Thurmond, above all, as a masterful politician. He knew how to charm people. He knew how to get elected. And he knew when to change positions to stay elected.

(voice-over): In his early years as a school superintendent, judge, state senator and governor, he was considered a progressive for his state. But then came 1948.

THURMOND: He has recommended under the guise of so-called civil rights...

CABELL: He bolted from the Democratic Party, which he considered too liberal on the issue of integration. He ran for president as a Dixiecrat and won four states, including South Carolina, in the election. His reputation as a hard-line segregationist was established.

TOM MCCAIN, FORMER EDGEFIELD CITY ADMINISTRATION: I think he felt that for him to be successful and continue he had to represent that same posture. So I think it was a reflection of the time.

CABELL: Throughout the '50s and much of the '60s, he remained a staunch opponent of civil rights. But then came another change.

LEE BANDY, POLITICAL REPORTER: After the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when blacks began to register in great numbers, Thurmond saw what was happening. He put his finger to the wind and he saw that with the number of blacks registering, I'd better change my attitude.

CABELL: And he did. He began meeting and working with blacks.

THURMOND: I've never said a word in my life against black people. I always want to help people, regardless of what their race is.

CABELL: His constituents say he provided them with help. He was remarkably accessible and accommodating over the years.

BANDY: Every high school graduate gets a congratulatory message. If there's a death in the family, you get a message of condolence and sorrow. And if there's a birth in the family, you get a congratulatory message.

CABELL: Most South Carolinians have welcomed Thurmond's attention to their personal lives. He won most of his eight Senatorial elections by huge margins.

JACK BASS, THURMOND BIOGRAPHER: If every member of Congress was as good as Strom Thurmond on constituent service, the Congress of the United States would have a much higher rating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he is fair, he's honest, he's loyal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He have done some good for the blacks and he have did a whole lots, I know, for the whites.

CABELL: Most South Carolinians admit he's brought home the bacon, steered millions of dollars to military bases in the state, to prisons, to state programs, to city redevelopment. But Edgefield newspaperman Walter Mims, a long time critic, isn't impressed.

WALTER MIMS, "THE EDGEFIELD ADVERTISER": Thurmond is all for himself and everything that he does is really to promote his own interests.

CABELL: Whether or not that's true, he's profoundly changed American politics. Some point to his switch to the Republican Party in 1964 as a turning point.

HARRY DENT, FORMER THURMOND AID: When he did that, he turned the South into a two party political system.

CABELL: Prior to that, the South, including Thurmond and most of his congressional colleagues, had been solidly Democrat.

Thurmond's legacy here in Edgefield and throughout the state seems secure. He was a maverick, a conservative, a man of enduring appeal who celebrated his 100th birthday while still in the Senate. He connected with the voters.

DENT: It was because they said this man is for real. He's not a regular politician.

CABELL: Nothing regular about Strom Thurmond.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Edgefield, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thurmond is the third Southern politician who lived through the civil rights era to die this week. Former Georgia Governor Lester Maddox died at the age of 87 this week. Maddox never backed down from his segregationist stand, though friends pointed out that he was not a racist.

Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson died at the age of 65 of a heart attack this week. The great grandson of slaves, Jackson was elected the first black mayor of Atlanta 30 years ago while just 35 years old.

Cnn.com is the place to go to learn more about the lives of all three of these politicians who passed away this week. Just go to cnn.com.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired June 27, 2003 - 05:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the men and women who had been his colleagues learned of Strom Thurmond's death at his workplace of 47 years, the Senate chambers. A debate on Medicare legislation was stopped and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist took the floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It was a century ago when Mark Twain was alive and Teddy Roosevelt was president and James Strom Thurmond was born in South Carolina and at that time began a life really unmatched in public service. Many of us have had -- all of us, just about all of us in this body have had the real privilege of serving alongside of Strom Thurmond. A long time friend of Strom Thurmond's, Hortense Woodson, once said of him, "Everything he's done has been to the full. There's no halfway doings about Strom."

Indeed, Strom Thurmond will forever be a symbol of what one person can accomplish when they live life, as we all know he did, to the fullest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: After the Frist eulogy, senators paused for a moment of silence. Thurmond retired in January, a month after turning 100.

Strom Thurmond's political career began in the 1920s and he enjoyed a relationship with voters unlike anyone else.

CNN's Brian Cabell looks at the Thurmond legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. STROM THURMOND (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: The committee will come to order.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than one half century, Strom Thurmond played a leading role in American politics, an icon to arch conservatives, a enemy to liberals. In his hometown of Edgefield, South Carolina, he's a legend, celebrated not only for his public service, but for his WWII record. He flew a glider behind German lines. For his remarkable devotion to physical fitness, even in his latter years. And to his eye for young ladies. His first wife was 23 years younger than he; his second wife 44 years younger.

(on camera): Many South Carolinians would describe Thurmond, above all, as a masterful politician. He knew how to charm people. He knew how to get elected. And he knew when to change positions to stay elected.

(voice-over): In his early years as a school superintendent, judge, state senator and governor, he was considered a progressive for his state. But then came 1948.

THURMOND: He has recommended under the guise of so-called civil rights...

CABELL: He bolted from the Democratic Party, which he considered too liberal on the issue of integration. He ran for president as a Dixiecrat and won four states, including South Carolina, in the election. His reputation as a hard-line segregationist was established.

TOM MCCAIN, FORMER EDGEFIELD CITY ADMINISTRATION: I think he felt that for him to be successful and continue he had to represent that same posture. So I think it was a reflection of the time.

CABELL: Throughout the '50s and much of the '60s, he remained a staunch opponent of civil rights. But then came another change.

LEE BANDY, POLITICAL REPORTER: After the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when blacks began to register in great numbers, Thurmond saw what was happening. He put his finger to the wind and he saw that with the number of blacks registering, I'd better change my attitude.

CABELL: And he did. He began meeting and working with blacks.

THURMOND: I've never said a word in my life against black people. I always want to help people, regardless of what their race is.

CABELL: His constituents say he provided them with help. He was remarkably accessible and accommodating over the years.

BANDY: Every high school graduate gets a congratulatory message. If there's a death in the family, you get a message of condolence and sorrow. And if there's a birth in the family, you get a congratulatory message.

CABELL: Most South Carolinians have welcomed Thurmond's attention to their personal lives. He won most of his eight Senatorial elections by huge margins.

JACK BASS, THURMOND BIOGRAPHER: If every member of Congress was as good as Strom Thurmond on constituent service, the Congress of the United States would have a much higher rating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he is fair, he's honest, he's loyal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He have done some good for the blacks and he have did a whole lots, I know, for the whites.

CABELL: Most South Carolinians admit he's brought home the bacon, steered millions of dollars to military bases in the state, to prisons, to state programs, to city redevelopment. But Edgefield newspaperman Walter Mims, a long time critic, isn't impressed.

WALTER MIMS, "THE EDGEFIELD ADVERTISER": Thurmond is all for himself and everything that he does is really to promote his own interests.

CABELL: Whether or not that's true, he's profoundly changed American politics. Some point to his switch to the Republican Party in 1964 as a turning point.

HARRY DENT, FORMER THURMOND AID: When he did that, he turned the South into a two party political system.

CABELL: Prior to that, the South, including Thurmond and most of his congressional colleagues, had been solidly Democrat.

Thurmond's legacy here in Edgefield and throughout the state seems secure. He was a maverick, a conservative, a man of enduring appeal who celebrated his 100th birthday while still in the Senate. He connected with the voters.

DENT: It was because they said this man is for real. He's not a regular politician.

CABELL: Nothing regular about Strom Thurmond.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Edgefield, South Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thurmond is the third Southern politician who lived through the civil rights era to die this week. Former Georgia Governor Lester Maddox died at the age of 87 this week. Maddox never backed down from his segregationist stand, though friends pointed out that he was not a racist.

Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson died at the age of 65 of a heart attack this week. The great grandson of slaves, Jackson was elected the first black mayor of Atlanta 30 years ago while just 35 years old.

Cnn.com is the place to go to learn more about the lives of all three of these politicians who passed away this week. Just go to cnn.com.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com