Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond

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Summary: Entertaining work by a SC expert
Review: I once had the pleasure of sharing a flight with the author Jack Bass. The man is a walking encyclopedia of anecdotes of South Carolina history and political lore and he was quite entertaining. Reading his take on Thurmond, who he knew well, is similar to an actual conversation with Bass. Put it to you this way, reading this book is like listening to some old-timers reminisce around the cracker barrel in front of the general store. Not a scholarly work,but an enjoyable one. BTW, I wish he would have gone into detail about Thurmond''s meeting with Coretta Scott King. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to hear what the former supreme segregationist had to say to the widow of Dr. King.

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Summary: Your Basic Bio
Review: In Ol' Strom, Bass and Thompson tell the whole story of Senator J. Strom Thurmond's remarkable march across 20th century politics. But they don't do anything else. While it is interesting just to read about a politician so long-lasting that he ran for president in 1948 and still holds office today, the book does not attempt to delve into the meaning of Thurmond's extraordinary tenure. Thurmond's political career is a mirror of the evolution of the South from Dixiecrat to Republican, from racist to mainstream conservative. The authors opted not to tell this story, however, and stubbornly insisted on offering just a journalistic account of Thurmond's life.

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Summary: You may not like him BUT
Review: Insightful, provacative...You may not like Strom, but this book
will make you view him in a different light. This book doesn't take sides. It does give you a view of someone many have thought of as a not very bright, but who has outlived or outsmarted most of his critics. A very good view of politics in South Carolina. Mr. Thurmond won my grudging respect in this book by taking care of his constituents...without regards to race or religion. Well documented facts by the writers!

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Summary: Truth was even worse than his public imagery
Review: Myself and other progressive young southerners who were previously appalled by his well-known Segregationist tactics could not have even imagined Strom Thurmond himself fathering an interracial child, only to gleefully keep his family and other in racial subordination supposedly for their and/or country's own good.

Sure, I was previously aware of slave-owner-slave stories which basically told the same tale in eighteenth century language, but I did not believe somebody intentionally kept their family in segregation today. There has been much discussion about conscience, character, and morals within the public sector and what quantities of these ingredients are required of 'good' public servants versus those that simply keep getting re-elected for tradition sakes---but Thurmond's life (long overdue for an examination) lacks all three components.

After former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond's death, a woman Essie Mae Washington came forward with revelation that she was Thurmond's half-daughter. Her mother was a teenage African American worker in the Thurmond home, and he was a wealthy young adult whose activities were apparently concealed for fear of dominant society retaliation. If word of Thurmond's 'extracurricular' activities had leaked out while he was living, (especially in the segregation era) it would have been the end of his political career.

I don't doubt that the incident (and others) in question happened, or Strom's legendary libido (ironically while courting voters from 'family values' crowd who made a national crisis out of President William Jefferson Clinton's consensual affair with a twenty something adult woman). Apparently because Ol'Strom forces himself on women far less powerful than himself, this is not only appropriate conduct but an expected public service perk that he was not in a hury to give up. Throughout his 'distinguished' life, Thurmond regarded women as objects for his convenience and entertainment, unable to consider us full and three-dimensional people.

I am not shocked by the lurid details contained within this volume, but I sincerely hope conservatives and/or Republicans understand what allegations are in here before continuing to pretend only one political party houses ravenous libidos. Letting neither his switch to the Republican party or increasing age stop him, Strom remained the consummate womanizer, quickly falling out of step with an era that (at least in public relations) saw the importance of treating women as professional equals.

Thurmond's death was one of the 2003 newstories, but it is ultimately telling of his supreme inhumanity that none of the Sunday talk shows devoted significant time to memorializing his influence on the nation. Good riddance!!

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Summary: OL' SEG
Review: Strom Thurmond is widely viewed as a simple racist with just one cause- to fight against civil rights. However, OL STROM helps to explain that while Strom was historically on the wrong side during the civil rights battles, he was and still is a man of character and integrity.

Like him or not,OL STROM makes a strong case to support Strom as "the century's most enduring American political figure". Strom Thurmond was on the cutting edge of the white souths move from the Democratic party to the Republican party with his 1948 presidental bid. He still holds the filibuster record and well being in the Senate for longer than any one in history.

Unlike some of of the hardcore racists, Strom reached out to African-Americans in his later years. At the same time, Strom never "admitted" his earlier positions on civil rights were wrong. Strom still clung to his "States Rights" view which seem to open the only hole in his intergrity. Only Strom knows what's in his heart.

OL STROM also gets into more details, regarding his personal affairs, such as his biracial daughter, that others bio have glossed over.

Strom is not so much "a" southern politian, as he IS the south!

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Summary: Very readable biography of a fascinating political figure
Review: This book does a marvelous job capturing the essence of Strom Thurmond, political master. The book is concise but complete, very well written and readable. Knowing Sen. Thurmond ran for President as a Dixiecrat in 1948 and some of his race baiting campaigns of the 1950s, I have always had a negative impression. This book exposed me to a much broader perspective - Thurmond's liberalism at county education superintendent, providing adult literacy classes to both blacks and whites in the 1920s, his record as governor in the 1940s insisting of the fair prosecution of whites involved in South Carolina's last lynching, and a political career that now spans seven decades. The book could be a text on how to campaign aggressively for public office, using Thurmond as an example; or a text on superior constituent service, using Thurmond as an example; or a text on political endurance or courage, using Thurmond as an example. The book describes authoritatively his womanizing, not limited to his two wives (the first wife was 21 when they married, he was 44; second wife was 22 when they married, he was 66). The authors really know their subject well, having covered his campaigns and public service for decades, and having conducted numerous interviews with family, friends and former close aides. Strom Thurmond will be 100 years old when his current term ends, and he is still effective in the U. S. Senate. Reading this book helps greatly to explain why.

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Summary: A Southern-born political scientist's dream
Review: This book tells the public and private sides of Senator Strom Thurmond. I wasn't sure whether the authors liked or disliked the Senator. That was great! This is a must-read for anyone who wants to appreciate the true Statesman of South Carolina.

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Summary: Great book!
Review: This goes to show that a powerful man like Strom Thurmond can use and abuse women beneath him and has gotten away with it because of his position. Don't get me started on how he took advantage of a black teenage maid and at first didn't support his offspring until 1941. I'll say more about it later. However, I do think Strom Thurmond had that madonna/whore complex when it comes to women in his life. He wanted to have fun with women whom he considered beneath him, yet married virginal nubile beauty queens.

I want people to read that book. It shatters every myth regarding Mr. Thurmond.

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Summary: An Eye-Opener on Strom's Hypocrisy
Review: This goes to show that a powerful man like Strom Thurmond can use and abuse women beneath him and has gotten away with it because of his position. It began in 1925 when he took advantage of a black teenage maid named Carrie "Tunch" Butler which caused the birth of Essie Mae later that year and at first was reluctant to support his "lovely daughter" until 1941, when he saw his daughter Essie Mae Williams for the very first time. Soon after, he started to support her both finacially and personally until his death in 2003. His liaison with a condemned woman almost caused a scandal in 1942. He evaded the scandal by joining the military in 1942. He did it to cover-up his overweening sensual appetites.

I strongly believe that Strom Thurmond had a madonna/magalene complex when it comes to women in his life. He wanted to have fun with women whom he considered beneath him, such as his maid Carrie Butler, yet he married virginal nubile beauty queens such as Jean Crouch and Nancy Moore, "fair flowers of white Southern womanhood," which he has fought to protect by enforcing segregation of whites and people of color(blacks). Those actions has had a bearing on how he perceived black and white women in his love life.


I truly want people to read the book. That book open my eyes to Mr. Thurmond and his hypocisy on race, class, gender, and sex in the South.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is a fun book for anyone familiar with Southern Politics (esp. South Carolina politics). Really looks into Strom's positions with race and his moderations from extreme positions. Unfortunately, Strom has yet to admit to taking unfortunate stances and hasn't admitted that states' rights was no more than a cover term for racist policies. However, he has since moderated his stances and has lived his life in a way that doesn't condone such nasty positions. Also, Strom's abilities with constituent services is praiseworthy. Not too long and fast - read it and learn about the twentieth century's (and now 21st century's) most enduring political character.