Strom Thurmond's Real Name: James Strom Thurmond

Quick answer: The senator is known professionally as Strom Thurmond. The South Carolina Encyclopedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica independently give the name James Strom Thurmond and date his birth to December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina, and his death to June 26, 2003, in Edgefield.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers identify him under the professional name Strom Thurmond and give the longer name James Strom Thurmond. The South Carolina Encyclopedia dates the birth to December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, and says his parents immediately dropped "James," after which he was known as Strom. It also says he earned a degree from Clemson College in 1923, later passed the state bar in December 1930, served in the state Senate, and was wounded during the D-day landing in France when his glider crashed behind German lines. Encyclopaedia Britannica independently dates the birth to December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina, records the Clemson graduation in 1923, admission to the bar in 1930, service as a state senator (1933-38) and circuit court judge (1938-41), and later military service in World War II, from which it says he emerged a highly decorated lieutenant colonel.

Career highlights

Encyclopaedia Britannica says he was elected governor of South Carolina in 1946 and took office the following year, was nominated for president in 1948 by the States' Rights Democratic Party, popularly known as the Dixiecrats, and won 39 electoral votes. It records a write-in election to the U.S. Senate in 1954, a 1957 filibuster of 24 hours and 18 minutes in opposition to that year's Civil Rights Act, a 1964 departure from the Democratic Party in support of Barry Goldwater, and later notes that his longest-serving-senator distinction was surpassed in 2006 by Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. The South Carolina Encyclopedia independently records the 1948 campaign, the 1954 write-in victory, the 1957 filibuster, and the 1964 party switch. Both sources date his death to June 26, 2003, in Edgefield.

Later family disclosure

The South Carolina Encyclopedia says that six months after Thurmond died, Essie Mae Washington-Williams came forward to say she was his child with Carrie Butler, who in 1925 had been a sixteen-year-old maid working for the family, and that the family would not contest the claim. Encyclopaedia Britannica independently says that soon after his death it was revealed that at age 22 he had fathered a daughter with a 16-year-old African American maid who had worked for his family.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Strom Thurmond or James Strom Thurmond are looking for the same senator, including the later Senate work associated with his name. Search traffic often uses the professional name Strom Thurmond.