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CNN Live Today
Thurmond's Legacy
Aired June 27, 2003 - 11:34 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, remembering Strom Thurmond. Very few people can recall a time when Strom Thurmond was not a major political presence in South Carolina. Thurmond, who retired this year, died last night at age 100. He was the longest serving U.S. senator in history.
Strom Thurmond cast a long shadow over the 20th century. And Lee Bandy is a political writer for the state newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina. He has had a front row seat to the Thurmond legacy. He joins us now by phone from Asheville, North Carolina.
Thanks for being with us, Lee.
I want to ask you, what will you remember most? You covered him for such a very long time -- what will you remember most?
LEE BANDY, STATE NEWSPAPER: When he switched parties in 1964 to endorse Barry Goldwater. That opened the door to Republicanism in the South. Of course, that's the strongest region today for the Republican Party, and Thurmond blazed the trail.
COLLINS: When that actually happened, why did he say he did it?
BANDY: I'm sorry, I missed what you said.
COLLINS: What were his reasonings for switching parties way back when that happened?
BANDY: He thought the Democratic Party had become too socialistic, and he said it was a party represented by minority groups, and that was the reason he switched parties.
COLLINS: All right, tell us a little bit more, though, if you would, about what kind of impact he had on both state and national politics, you know, with reference to his legacy that he left behind.
BANDY: Well, Strom Thurmond really left a dual legacy. The one legacy in South Carolina was his constituent service. That was the secret to his political success. He enjoyed helping people, and he spent a lifetime doing that in South Carolina. His legacy nationally was he blazed a trail for the Republican Party in the South.
COLLINS: But he also began his career as a blatant segregationist. In his last election in 1996, he had 22 percent of the black vote. How does that happen?
BANDY: Well, Strom Thurmond was very good at wetting his finger and picking up the shifts in the political wind. And he saw that the South was changing. In the 1965 Voting Rights Act changed everything because it -- because of that law, blacks began to register in large numbers in the South, including...
COLLINS: Lee Bandy, what are your final thoughts about this man that you had become to know so well?
BANDY: My final thoughts about Strom?
COLLINS: Yes, sir.
BANDY: There will never be another Strom Thurmond because he was...
COLLINS: Unfortunately, I think that our connection with Lee Bandy with the state newspaper has unfortunately failed us today. But as you know, Strom Thurmond passed away last night at 100 years of age, and Lee was giving us insight as to his political career and what he knew of him in the long time of public service.
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 - 11:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, remembering Strom Thurmond. Very few people can recall a time when Strom Thurmond was not a major political presence in South Carolina. Thurmond, who retired this year, died last night at age 100. He was the longest serving U.S. senator in history.
Strom Thurmond cast a long shadow over the 20th century. And Lee Bandy is a political writer for the state newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina. He has had a front row seat to the Thurmond legacy. He joins us now by phone from Asheville, North Carolina.
Thanks for being with us, Lee.
I want to ask you, what will you remember most? You covered him for such a very long time -- what will you remember most?
LEE BANDY, STATE NEWSPAPER: When he switched parties in 1964 to endorse Barry Goldwater. That opened the door to Republicanism in the South. Of course, that's the strongest region today for the Republican Party, and Thurmond blazed the trail.
COLLINS: When that actually happened, why did he say he did it?
BANDY: I'm sorry, I missed what you said.
COLLINS: What were his reasonings for switching parties way back when that happened?
BANDY: He thought the Democratic Party had become too socialistic, and he said it was a party represented by minority groups, and that was the reason he switched parties.
COLLINS: All right, tell us a little bit more, though, if you would, about what kind of impact he had on both state and national politics, you know, with reference to his legacy that he left behind.
BANDY: Well, Strom Thurmond really left a dual legacy. The one legacy in South Carolina was his constituent service. That was the secret to his political success. He enjoyed helping people, and he spent a lifetime doing that in South Carolina. His legacy nationally was he blazed a trail for the Republican Party in the South.
COLLINS: But he also began his career as a blatant segregationist. In his last election in 1996, he had 22 percent of the black vote. How does that happen?
BANDY: Well, Strom Thurmond was very good at wetting his finger and picking up the shifts in the political wind. And he saw that the South was changing. In the 1965 Voting Rights Act changed everything because it -- because of that law, blacks began to register in large numbers in the South, including...
COLLINS: Lee Bandy, what are your final thoughts about this man that you had become to know so well?
BANDY: My final thoughts about Strom?
COLLINS: Yes, sir.
BANDY: There will never be another Strom Thurmond because he was...
COLLINS: Unfortunately, I think that our connection with Lee Bandy with the state newspaper has unfortunately failed us today. But as you know, Strom Thurmond passed away last night at 100 years of age, and Lee was giving us insight as to his political career and what he knew of him in the long time of public service.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
