Senators & Representatives - Biography, The United States Senate, General & Miscellaneous U.S. Political Biography, Legislators - U.S. Political Biography, Discrimination & Prejudice - General
A positive, informal look at the career of an individual who helped shape Southern politics. A thoughtful tribute with numerous photographs of the nations oldest senator in history.
Synopsis
A positive, informal look at the career of an individual who helped shape Southern politics. A thoughtful tribute with numerous photographs of the nations oldest senator in history.
Library Journal
Ellers's biography of conservative South Carolina Republican senator Strom Thurmond focuses on the years from 1932 to 1968. It thus gives particular attention to Thurmond's activities in South Carolina state politics, his role in the South's resistance to racial integration, his early years in the U.S. Senate, and his change in party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. Biographer Ellers has managed the campaigns of numerous conservative candidates, and not unexpectedly his appraisal of Thurmond is very favorable. Although generally competently researched, the book repeats a common misconception about the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. (Contrary to the author's assertion, neither the word ``expressly'' nor any word with a similar meaning is found in it. This absence has had a major impact on the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Amendment.) For a more comprehensive and balanced account of Thurmond's career general readers may consult Nadine Cohodas's Strom Thur mond and the Politics of Change ( LJ 12/92) . -- Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette
Ellers's biography of conservative South Carolina Republican senator Strom Thurmond focuses on the years from 1932 to 1968. It thus gives particular attention to Thurmond's activities in South Carolina state politics, his role in the South's resistance to racial integration, his early years in the U.S. Senate, and his change in party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. Biographer Ellers has managed the campaigns of numerous conservative candidates, and not unexpectedly his appraisal of Thurmond is very favorable. Although generally competently researched, the book repeats a common misconception about the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. (Contrary to the author's assertion, neither the word ``expressly'' nor any word with a similar meaning is found in it. This absence has had a major impact on the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Amendment.) For a more comprehensive and balanced account of Thurmond's career general readers may consult Nadine Cohodas's Strom Thur mond and the Politics of Change ( LJ 12/92) . -- Thomas H. Ferrell, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette
