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CNN Live At Daybreak

Strom Thurmond's Daughter Speaks

Aired December 17, 2003 - 06:05   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The secret is out -- way out. The late longtime Senator Strom Thurmond did indeed have a love child with his family's African-American maid. That love child, who is now 78 years old, is taking her place in history.
David Mattingly records it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you look at the pictures now, it's almost impossible to not see the resemblance. The Thurmond family confirms Essie Mae Washington Williams is the daughter of a young Strom Thurmond and a teenaged African-American housekeeper.

ESSIE MAE WASHINGTON WILLIAMS, STROM THURMOND'S DAUGHTER: I knew that he cared about me, and he was very good to me. And I would not have done anything to hurt him.

MATTINGLY: It was a secret known to white and black South Carolinians alike. In the 1940s, then Governor Thurmond reportedly visited his daughter regularly at the all black South Carolina State University and privately provided her with financial assistance throughout her life.

But publicly, the imposing Strom Thurmond monument at the state capitol lists only his four children by marriage.

And apparently, it was rarely spoken of within the family as well. Strom Thurmond, Jr. quoted in a South Carolina paper says: "My mother, brother and sisters and I have very limited personal knowledge of this."

AARON SHEININ, REPORTER, "THE STATE": His father didn't say whether she was or whether she wasn't. That's what he said. And he never asked him again.

MATTINGLY: With lips sealed, there was never any inconclusive reporting, because there was never any proof. And it might have stayed that way if Essie Mae Williams, now a retired Los Angeles schoolteacher, hadn't decided that 78 years of silence was enough.

WILLIAMS: I would say 50 or 60 years now this thing has been following me. So, the fact that I am coming out now to talk about it is like a burden lifted because I have this secret.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: David Mattingly reporting.

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 December 17, 2003 - 06:05   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The secret is out -- way out. The late longtime Senator Strom Thurmond did indeed have a love child with his family's African-American maid. That love child, who is now 78 years old, is taking her place in history.
David Mattingly records it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you look at the pictures now, it's almost impossible to not see the resemblance. The Thurmond family confirms Essie Mae Washington Williams is the daughter of a young Strom Thurmond and a teenaged African-American housekeeper.

ESSIE MAE WASHINGTON WILLIAMS, STROM THURMOND'S DAUGHTER: I knew that he cared about me, and he was very good to me. And I would not have done anything to hurt him.

MATTINGLY: It was a secret known to white and black South Carolinians alike. In the 1940s, then Governor Thurmond reportedly visited his daughter regularly at the all black South Carolina State University and privately provided her with financial assistance throughout her life.

But publicly, the imposing Strom Thurmond monument at the state capitol lists only his four children by marriage.

And apparently, it was rarely spoken of within the family as well. Strom Thurmond, Jr. quoted in a South Carolina paper says: "My mother, brother and sisters and I have very limited personal knowledge of this."

AARON SHEININ, REPORTER, "THE STATE": His father didn't say whether she was or whether she wasn't. That's what he said. And he never asked him again.

MATTINGLY: With lips sealed, there was never any inconclusive reporting, because there was never any proof. And it might have stayed that way if Essie Mae Williams, now a retired Los Angeles schoolteacher, hadn't decided that 78 years of silence was enough.

WILLIAMS: I would say 50 or 60 years now this thing has been following me. So, the fact that I am coming out now to talk about it is like a burden lifted because I have this secret.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: David Mattingly reporting.

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