The Great Statesmen of the Deep South

The Deep South remains arguably the most controversial region of the United States in all of its history. Not only was it the birthplace of the infamous antebellum cotton-based slave society, it also spearheaded the pushes for secession. The Deep South presents itself throughout history as the mirror opposite of Yankeedom and competes with it for being the two preeminent kingpins of the various nations which comprise North America.

Within contemporary politics, the Deep South remains the premier conservative region within the country, producing some truly great modern Statesmen, such as Chris McDaniel, Phil Bryant, Tate Reeves, John Neely Kennedy, John Bel Edwards, Kay Ivey, and Brian Kemp. However, the greatest era of Southern statesmen was not the antebellum period nor is it today; it was the most notorious period often slandered by the current narrative: the Jim Crow Era of the mid-20th century. These men generally belong to two different groups: the Lost Generation and the Greatest Generation.

World War I often defined the statesmen of the Lost Generation, and they were born between 1880 and 1900. These men, characterized more by radicalism than their successors in the Greatest Generation and generally tended to maintain power until not long after the conclusion of World War II. Effectively, they were the “Fire Eaters” of their time. Afterwords, they quickly began dying off or became impotent within the realm of politics with the longest living members only living as long as the 1960s. The most notable of these men included Eugene Talmadge of Georgia, Huey Long and Leander Perez of Louisiana, and Theodore Bilbo and Ross Barnett of Mississippi. While a plethora of others fit within this category, very few are noteworthy or had enough impact to warrant much memory.

Arguably Georgia’s most notorious state official, Eugene Talmadge rose to prominence on the back of an even more controversial voting system. Talmadge presided over what was mostly a reactionary governorship against growing federal sentiments which favored liberal approaches to racial issues and the New Deal. Having established a law practice after college, Talmadge began his political career in 1926 upon being elected as the state agricultural commissioner and served in that position until 1932. As commissioner, he frequently gave agricultural advice to farmers and discussed his political views via the newspaper, typically lauding the merits of laissez-faire economic practices and individual responsibility. Despite consistent accusations of corruption and a Klan-filled regime, he maintained a great amount of popularity among the rural populace.

Talmadge ran for governor in 1932 and based his campaign on the sentiments of rural areas. He won the election and served until 1937. A plethora of controversies took place during his tenure. Generally, he was viewed by more liberal outlets as a racial demagogue and a dictator. He made a bid for the Senate in 1937 and lost, not being reelected to the governorship until 1940 from which he only served until 1943. Talmadge was elected as governor one last time in 1946 but died shortly after that same year. Talmadge established a controversial legacy for himself a racialist and reactionary in addition to his non-consecutive terms which he miraculously secured through the county unit system Georgia utilized at the time during gubernatorial elections.

Much like his Georgian counterpart, Huey Pierce Long Jr. also achieved political success from his support for the poor, primarily rural populace of the state of Louisiana. However, what separated Long from most other men of the time was his avid support of genuine economic populism as opposed to race-based rhetoric. The Kingfish, as he was called, won the governorship of Louisiana in 1928 based on a coalition he had built from his support of the rural areas in Louisiana. He promised to break the corrupt hold the elitists and corporations held on the state from Baton Rouge and New Orleans; additionally, he criss-crossed the state and visited as many rural areas as possible in his hard fought campaign. Upon becoming governor, Long immediately began firing bureaucrats and filling the vacancies with his allies; furthermore, he utilized aggressive tactics to ensure his policies and bills were passed, angering the majority of Louisiana politicians and wealthy elitist families. Long worked to build and improve Louisiana’s infrastructure, effectively ending much of the isolation many rural communities faced. He also expanded hospitals and education centers. Surprisingly as someone who made many oaths and ruled as a dictator, he kept his promises to his constituents and earned quite a great deal of popularity.

To the surprise of the state, Long announced his intention to run for the Senate in 1930 as a means of proving his popularity among the population to his opponents. Miraculously, he won the election; although his term in the United States Senate began in 1931, he finished his term as governor and did not begin his term as Senator until 1932. As a Senator, Long loathed the New Deal despite supporting it at first; however, this was not for an endorsement of laissez-faire economic practices or racial agitation, the latter which he held a reputation for avoiding. It was instead due to Huey Long justifiably believing the New Deal merely gave to poor ruralites a bread crumb even though the program promised a full meal. Long devised his own economic plan famously known as the Share Our Wealth program. His most famous speech and the phrase for which he became most remembered for was “Every Man a King.” Much like his time as governor, he made few friends in the Senate. Unfortunately, Long’s career tragically ended when an assassination attempt took his life in 1935, not long before he intended to run against FDR in the 1936 presidential election.

Leander Henry Perez Sr. gained widespread notoriety in Louisiana for his long career as a judge, staunch segregationist, political kingmaker, and dictator of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes. Born in Plaquemines Parish and raised in the New Orleans area, Perez’s ancestry descended from the Canary Islands, whose descendants carried the name of Isleños. In 1920, he became a judge in the 29th Judicial District, and in 1924 he was elected district attorney in the area, a role which he served until 1960. Immediately upon becoming a judge, Perez set about building his political machine. He ensured the enforcement of Jim Crow laws in his fiefdom he’d carved out for himself and often forced his will within political disputes through totalitarian means. Additionally, he contributed to Huey Long’s governorship and successfully defended him before the Louisiana State Senate during the attempted impeachment against Long. Perez also spearheaded the States’ Rights Democrat Party campaign and supported the Strom Thurmond ticket during the 1948 Presidential Election; in addition to this, he was one of the few statesmen of the time who attempted to keep that party alive following the election and encouraged its members to keep the Dixiecrats alive. He also later on backed Barry Goldwater’s campaign and heavily supported George Wallace’s 1968 presidential bid. Perez’s life ended at the age of 77 in 1969 as the result of a heart attack.

Leander Perez led a life of political controversy from the moment he became a judge. During the 1920s he became directly involved in a dispute called the Trappers’ War and later became an enemy of Governor Sam Houston Jones during the 1940s. Perez often bought elections, and voter fraud was commonplace in his municipalities. A staunch segregationist, he often went beyond the enforcement of Jim Crow laws. Additionally, he did not shy away from using brute force and intimidation to ensure his political desire were carried out. The Archdiocese of New Orleans excommunicated Perez from the Catholic church due to the latter’s opposition to desegregation, an act which troubled the late judge. Leander Perez’s legacy is mired in his controversial political machinations, but his actions and desires sided with the best options for Louisiana.

A genuine populist like that of Huey Long, Theodore Gilmore Bilbo of Mississippi based his political following on that of poor whites, namely tenant farmers. Bilbo, at a meager 5’2″ tall, often wore gaudy clothing and spoke passionately so as to draw attention to himself. A man of genuine concern and eccentric ideas, Bilbo made quite a name for himself during his non-consecutive gubernatorial terms and his time in the United States Senate. His first term as Governor of Mississippi lasted from 1916 to 1920 and took place following his time serving on the Mississippi State Senate and as lieutenant governor. During this quite successful tenure, Bilbo organized the state finances and backed a series of relatively progressive measures such as mandatory school attendance, the establishment of a charity hospital, and a board of bank examiners. Additionally, he authorized a state highway system, worked to combat tuberculosis, made strides to eradicate the South American tick, built lime crushing plants, and constructed dormitories for the Old Soldiers’ Home, earning himself the nickname “Bilbo the Builder.” Unable at the time to serve a successive term due to state law, Bilbo was reelected again as governor in 1927 and served until 1932. His second term was more shrouded in controversies within the state and generally was not as successful or memorable as his first.

In 1934, Bilbo successfully won an election to the United States Senate and served as a Senator until his death in 1947. Despite some controversies during his second term as governor, Bilbo gained widespread notoriety during his time in the Senate. An outspoken supporter of segregation, Bilbo often proposed bills to the New Deal programs, which he supported to an extent, or made speeches which supported his sentiments. He even at one point during a Meet the Press interview revealed his membership in the Ku Klux Klan. Much of his belligerence, especially in regards to segregation, in the Senate caused other members to assign him to lesser important committees. Much to their chagrin, they were unable to successfully subdue his influence. Another noteworthy aspect of his incumbency in the Senate was the development of a longstanding feud with fellow Mississippi Senator Pat Harrison. Harrison represented the wealthier classes and the merchants in the state as opposed to Bilbo’s tenant farmer base. Their feud became so intense that Bilbo lost Harrison the Senate majority leader position, losing to Alben Barkley by one vote. One of Bilbo’s final acts was solidifying his racial beliefs in his book Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization which was published in 1947. Sadly, he would succumb at the age of 69 to oral cancer in New Orleans.

Ross Robert Barnett rose to prominence in Mississippi politics as a reactionary against Civil Rights legislation. Dedicated to segregation and winning the 1960 gubernatorial election via racial demagoguery, Barnett quickly gained notoriety as a firebrand. The youngest son of a Confederate veteran, Barnett earned two bachelors degrees following his service in the United States Army during World War I and eventually moved on to become a remarkably successful trial lawyer. Capitalizing on his financial success during the time, Barnett attempted and failed twice to run for governor; however, he finally achieved success on his third attempt and was inaugurated as Governor of Mississippi in 1960. During his tenure, he celebrated the centennial of the War Between the States in honor of the “Sons of Mississippi” and often utilized Confederate imagery. His term was dominated by his resistance to the Civil Rights Movement. He arrested Freedom Riders, made efforts to oppose integration of universities, and commonly quoted the Bible to defend his beliefs, which correlated with his position as a Baptist Sunday School teacher. Perhaps his most notorious act, Barnett gave a speech at a football game in protest against James Meredith’s enrollment at Ole Miss the night before the Ole Miss Riots of 1962 took place. In his speech, accompanied by the loud cheers of fans and a multitude of Rebel Flags, he stated, “I love Mississippi! I love her people! Our customs. I love and I respect our heritage.”

Barnett only served one term as governor and left office in 1964. His sole focus on Civil Rights and not fulfilling his promises to some of his constituents cost him a political future. He made an attempt to run for the position again in 1967 but found little success. In the years following, Barnett, when asked, never recanted his positions. In 1982 when questioned about his involvement and actions surround the Ole Miss Riot, he stated, “I have no regrets, no apologies to make.” He eventually passed away at the age of 89 in 1987.

The statesmen of the Greatest Generation presided over tenures with a profound emphasis on resistance to desegregation and Communism and were born between 1901 and 1925. Unlike the previous generation, these men served in the military in much greater numbers with each of the following statesmen discussed having served in the military during World War II, gaining a natural opposition to centralized, tyrannical governments they fought on the battlefield and did not wish to see the same government expansion within America. While their predecessors utilized firebrand speeches and rhetoric, this generation employed more nuance and genuine populism in their incumbencies. Generally speaking, they were superlative statesmen who employed more refinement and political manipulation to achieve goals, providing the last primary defense against the communist led Civil Rights Movement with little remaining political capital and few connections left. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, George Wallace of Alabama, Herman Talmadge of Georgia, Allan Shivers of Texas and Paul B. Johnson Jr. of Mississippi are the most noteworthy men of this era of statesmen and all served within the United States Military.

One of the most influential and important statesmen of the 20th century, James Strom Thurmond of South Carolina presided over a movement which profoundly effected the character of Southern politics. Thurmond, a decorated veteran of the Second World War, carried one of the longest political careers in American history and lived to be over 100 years of age during his tenure. Born in 1902 in South Carolina, Thurmond’s early career centered in education, which he halted in order to serve in the military. Upon returning home, his political career began. He was elected Governor of South Carolina in 1946 and governed over what many considered at the time a progressive regime. He worked to weaken the Barnwell Ring which controlled the state and make the government more transparent. Additionally, he worked to combat lynchings in the state. It was during his governorship that many Democrats left the main party and formed the States’ Rights Democratic Party in opposition to Harry Truman and the Radicals infiltrating the Democrats, and Thurmond was chosen to run for the presidency on the States’ Rights ticket as part of the 1948 presidential election. The Dixiecrat Party, as it became known, ran on the basis of opposition to the political tyranny engulfing the American government, which also including supporting segregation. Thurmond was unsuccessful in winning the presidency, but his party caused a major shift in Southern political alignment and also won 4 states during the election all of which lay within the Deep South.

The Dixiecrat Party marked the beginning of the end of the Solid South. Following that election, Dixie never again voted solidly for the Democratic Party. Supporting Republicans in some states, George Wallace in his 1968 bid in other states, Barry Goldwater during his bid, and finally making the full transition to Republican in 1980 at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, the South had cast away its roots of a one party society, only voting for Democrats primarily in local elections. Thurmond and the party under his leadership catalyzed that change. Despite serving many years in the United States Senate as a relatively moderate conservative, Thurmond’s greatest effect in politics was the Dixiecrat Revolt. Thurmond was elected to the Senate in 1956 and served until his death at the age of 100 in 2003. Regardless of his remarkably long career, he never renounced his previous views on segregation and Jim Crow laws.

Equally as notoriously remembered as Strom Thurmond for his staunch political aspirations, George Wallace represented much of the same strain of populism as his South Carolina contemporary. Potentially the most notorious segregationist statesmen to rise below the Mason-Dixon Line, George Wallace led a long political career of infamy. Drawing the ire of every liberal and Republican, Wallace left in his wake a governorship of staunch segregationism and presidential which continuously drew the attention of Civil Rights supporters. His most well known speech and one of the greatest political speeches ever given was his 1963 inaugural speech as Governor of Alabama and solidified his legacy as the man who uttered the phrase “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.”

Having served as governor from 1963 until 1967, 1971 until 1979, and finally 1983 until 1987, Wallace served 16 years and 1 day as governor and has one of the longest track records of any gubernatorial political career. Despite his success as a governor, he was unsuccessful as a presidential candidate in 1968 and was severely injured by gunshot while campaigning for the 1972 election, leaving him with a debilitating injury which left him paralyzed below the waist for the rest of his life. As of 2019, Wallace remains the last third party candidate to have received electoral college votes during a presidential election.

Living in his father’s shadow and adopting a similar strategic rhetoric, Herman Talmadge carried on his father’s legacy of racial demagoguery. Despite the appearance of riding his father’s coattail, Herman had many merits in his own right. Being one of the three contenders for Governor of Georgia during the 1947 three governors controversy for which the Georgia Supreme Court appointed the governorship to Melvin Thompson, Herman won the position in the special gubernatorial election in 1948. He was reelected in 1950 to a full four year term. During the six years of his governorship, Herman worked to ameliorate the infrastructure of Georgia, improve education, increase teachers’ salaries, and bring in a number of industries to bolster the economy, all while staunchly defending segregation.

In 1956, Herman won election into the United States Senate, having been unable to seek another term in Georgia as governor. Not long after entering office, he received an appointment to both the Agriculture Committee and Finance Committee. Due to his successive reelections to the Senate, he eventually procured the chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture Committee, a powerful and envious position. His appointment to the aforementioned committees led to the primary focus of his Senate terms being rural populaces and agricultural areas.

Herman’s legacy precedes him. Objectively, he found far more success as a politician than his father, and arguably did more for the state of Georgia than Eugene ever did during his many terms as governor. However, not all actions Herman committed were necessarily of good character. He embroiled himself in a series of financial censures due to accusations of monetary misconduct and additionally was not always the best husband to his wife. She testified against him in the censure, and his political career and reputation were ruined. He left office in 1981 and lost the general election to Republican Mack Mattingly, the first Republican to win an election from Georgia to the Senate since Reconstruction.

A major participant in the growing resistance to Civil Rights during the 1950s and the progenitor of the strategy utilized against the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, Robert Allan Shivers remains one of the more underrated Deep Southern statesmen among his coevals. A rare product of Texas politics, Allen Shivers was born in Lufkin, Texas which resides in East Texas, the westernmost extension of the Deep South, and represented the conservative wing of the Democratic Party during a time when Texas Democrats were liberalizing. Texans often do not carry a reputation for populism or genuine right-wing resistance to left-wing political desires. However, Shivers, being a Deep Southerner, did not adhere this trend. Additionally, he served in the United States Army during World War II. As Lieutenant Governor during Beauford Jester’s tenure, Shivers succeeded him as Governor in 1949 upon Jester’s death. Additionally, Shivers won governorship on his own merit in 1950, 1952, and 1954, setting the three-term precedent and being the only Governor of Texas to assume said position upon the death of the current governor. A well spoken populist, Shivers gained a name for himself for leading the conservative faction of the Democrats against the growing liberal faction. His faction became known as the Shivercrats. Much of Shivers’ later governorship became mired in the integration controversies and corruption of his political allies but remained popular nonetheless.

Shivers’ legacy is unique among his Lone Star constituents. Early in his career, he was responsible the rapid increasing of powers and influence of the position of Lieutenant Governor of Texas. He presided over a post-Dixiecrat Texas in which the state began making its transition towards the Party of Lincoln, a transition fostered by Shivers’ support of Dwight Eisenhower during the latter’s presidential bid. Additionally, he set the trend for resistance to Brown v. Board of Education by refusing to allow the forced integration of Mansfield High near Fort Worth in 1956, a strategy which later influenced and was adopted by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus the next year. He also made various internal improvements to the state. Shivers proved a remarkably popular Governor, being elected three times and was nominated for both the Democrat and Republican ticket during the 1952 election. He is the only Governor of Texas, other than Rick Perry, to be inaugurated four times.

However, towards the end of Shivers’ political career, he lost some of his former popularity. While it appears his ties to corrupt state officials, non-adherence to party loyalty, and resistance to segregation were the cause, the reality is the constant propaganda smears produced by the liberal Democrats, especially Ralph Yarborough, damaged his image. Much of his career surrounded an unrelenting battle against those factions, and in one instance, he attempted to have communism labeled a capital offense via the Texas legislature, though a lesser version of the act was passed. Fortunately for Governor Shivers, his popularity and image remained in favorable view, and he chose not to run for reelection in 1956, voluntarily ending his political career.

Unlike most Segregationists of the Lost and Greatest Generations save for Strom Thurmond and the final statesman to feature in this essay, Paul Burney Johnson Jr. gradually embraced a moderated stance on racial relations as the Civil Rights Era reached its conclusion. Having served in the Marine Corps during World War II, Johnson followed his father’s footsteps into state politics. A characteristic of his worthy of note was his deep, somber, well worded speaking voice reminiscent of cultured English and Anglo-Aristocrats of the old South. Furthermore, he attained a postie reputation among Mississippians for his repeals of prohibition laws in the state and worked to expand the state’s economy, one project being the large expansion of the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula.

In comparison to most other segregationists of the time, Johnson notably abated racial rhetoric during his term as governor. He presided over a period of changes brought on by intensifying federal actions against resistance to segregation. Despite utilizing the endorsements of noted segregation supporters such as the Citizens’ Councils and Ross Barnett, Johnson could see the writing on the wall and knew segregation no longer had a future. He foresaw the damage which could be done to the state at the hands of the federal government and already neglectful, anti-Southern economy. He decided to encourage Mississippians to accept the end of the Jim Crow Era and began moving forward into other projects, arguably bringing about an end to much of the racial violence at the time. John Bell Williams, Johnson’s successor to the governor’s mansion and also a World War II veteran, was a staunch segregationist, having signed the Southern Manifesto and supported the States’ Rights Democratic Party in 1948, and even he allowed for the integration of Mississippi’s schools, a trend for which the state was lagging far behind the rest of Dixie. Johnson embraced a position which he believed would be the most beneficial to his home state as opposed to embracing a liberal position. While his faith in the American Empire was mistaken, his intentions were genuine; the improvements he believed would come to Mississippi should it end its resistance to the whims of the federal empire never came.

In conclusion, the Deep South, in its long, controversial history, managed to field many of the greatest statesmen in United States history. Being constituted of the Lost and Greatest Generations, the truly noteworthy men of these eras stood firm in their beliefs and genuinely fought to ensure the well being of their populaces. The actions and legacies of these statesmen can not be done justice via a mere essay; however, their memory has largely faded as time has passed. Though many states of the Deep South employ superior statesmen to their modern contemporaries, the political class of today simply lacks in the tenacity and tact of the bygone era.