James Eastland
Encyclopedia
James Oliver Eastland was an American
politician from Mississippi
who briefly served in the United States Senate
as a Democrat
in 1941; and again from 1943 until his resignation December 27, 1978. From 1947 to 1978, he served alongside John Stennis, also a Democrat. At the time, Eastland and Stennis were the longest-serving Senate duo in American history, though their record was subsequently surpassed by Strom Thurmond
and Fritz Hollings of South Carolina
, who served together for 36 years. Eastland was also the most senior member of the Senate at the time of his retirement in 1978. He compiled a conservative record in support of the conservative coalition
.
, the son of Woods Caperton Eastland, a cotton planter, and Alma Teresa (Austin) Eastland. In 1905 he moved with his parents to Forest
where he attended public schools. A lawyer in rural Mississippi, he served one term in the state House of Representatives
from 1928 to 1932. In the 1930s, he took over the family's Sunflower County
plantation, which eventually grew to nearly 6000 acres (24.3 km²). Even after entering politics, he considered himself first and foremost a cotton planter.
, but did not run in the special election for the seat later in the year; it was won by 2nd District
Congressman Wall Doxey
. In 1942, Eastland was one of three candidates who challenged Doxey for a full term. Even though Doxey had the support of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
(FDR) and Mississippi's senior U.S. Senator, Theodore G. Bilbo
, Eastland defeated him in the Democratic primary. In those days, winning the Democratic nomination was tantamount to election in Mississippi, and Eastland returned to the Senate on January 3, 1943.
FDR and Eastland developed a working relationship that enabled Eastland to oppose New Deal programs unpopular in Mississippi while he supported FDR's agenda on many other issues. This type of arrangement became the norm with presidents of both parties during his tenure in the Senate. As a result he was able to provide federal largess for Mississippi (including the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and federal relief after Hurricane Camille) throughout his career.
He was re-elected five times, facing substantive Republican
opposition only twice. In 1966, 4th District
Congressman Prentiss Walker
, the first Republican to represent Mississippi at the federal level since Reconstruction, ran against him. Walker ran well to Eastland's right, accusing him of not doing enough to keep integration-friendly judges from being confirmed by the Senate. As is often the case when a one-term Congressman runs against a popular incumbent Senator, Walker was soundly defeated.
In 1972, Eastland was reelected with 58% of the vote in his "closest" contest ever. His Republican opponent, Gil Carmichael, might have been aided by President Richard Nixon
's landslide reelection in 49 states, including 78% of Mississippi's popular vote. However, Nixon worked "under the table" to support Eastland, who was a long-time personal friend and supporter. Nixon and other Republicans provided little support for Carmichael to avoid alienating conservative
Southern Democrats. Eastland recognized that Nixon would handily carry Mississippi, and did not endorse the national Democratic candidate, George McGovern
. Four years later, Eastland supported the candidacy of fellow Southern Democrat Jimmy Carter
.
Eastland was appointed as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
in 1956. Under the Senate's seniority rules, he was next in line for the chairmanship and there was no significant effort to deny him the post, which he held until his retirement.
During his last Senate term, he served as President pro tempore of the Senate
since he was the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate.
When the Supreme Court
issued its decision in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka, Kansas
347 US 483 (1954), Eastland, like most Southern Democrats, denounced it. In a speech given in Senatobia, Mississippi
on August 12, 1955, he said: "On May 17, 1954, the Constitution of the United States
was destroyed because of the Supreme Court's decision. You are not obliged to obey the decisions of any court which are plainly fraudulent sociological considerations."
Eastland did not mince words when it came to his feelings about the races mingling. He testified to the Senate 10 days after the Brown decision came down:
When three civil rights workers Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney
, and Andrew Goodman
went missing in Mississippi on June 21, 1964, he reportedly told President Lyndon Johnson that the incident was a hoax and there was no Ku Klux Klan
in the state, surmising that the three had gone to Chicago
:
Johnson once said that, "Jim Eastland could be standing right in the middle of the worst Mississippi flood ever known, and he'd say the niggers caused it, helped out by the Communist
s."
Eastland, along with Senators Robert Byrd
, John McClellan
, Olin D. Johnston
, Sam Ervin
, and Strom Thurmond
, made unsuccessful attempts to block Thurgood Marshall
's confirmation to the Federal Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court
. Often, offensive statements related to race were attributed to Eastland during this period even though they may have been made by other speakers. Although Eastland was a staunch segregationist, he refrained from the most extreme rhetoric that characterized other civil rights opponents.
Eastland opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
. Its passage caused many Mississippi Democrats to openly support Barry Goldwater
's presidential bid that year
, but Eastland did not publicly oppose the election of Lyndon Johnson. In fact, four years earlier he had quietly supported John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. Although Goldwater was heavily defeated by incumbent Lyndon Johnson, he carried Mississippi with 87% of the popular vote (his best showing in any state) due to his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Eastland was often at odds with Johnson's policy on civil rights, but their friendship remained close and Johnson often sought Eastland's support and guidance on other issues, such as the failed Chief Justice nomination of Abe Fortas
in 1969. In the 1950s, Johnson was one of three Senators from the South who didn't sign the Southern Manifesto
, as did Eastland and most Southern Senators.
Contrary to popular opinion, Eastland did not use the appointment of Harold Cox
to a federal judgeship as leverage against John F. Kennedy
's appointment of Thurgood Marshall to a federal judgeship. Cox was nominated by Kennedy more than a year before Marshall even came up for consideration, and his nomination resulted from a personal conversation between Cox and Kennedy. The president, not wanting to upset the powerful chairman of the Judiciary Committee, generally acceded to Eastland's requests on judicial confirmations in Mississippi, keeping white segregationists in control of the Federal courts in the state.
During his later years, he avoided associating himself with racist stands in the face of increasing black political power in Mississippi. In fact, during this period Eastland hired black Mississippians to serve on the staff of the Judiciary Committee. Eastland noted to aides that his earlier position on race was due primarily to the political realities of the times, i.e., as a major political figure in a southern state in the 1950s and 1960s. He considered running for reelection in 1978, and sought to win black support. He won the support of civil rights leader and NAACP
president Aaron Henry
, but he ultimately decided not to seek re-election in 1978. Due in part to the independent candidacy of Charles Evers
siphoning off votes from the Democratic candidate, Republican 4th District
Representative Thad Cochran
won the race to succeed him. Eastland resigned two days after Christmas, giving Cochran a leg up in seniority. After his retirement, he remained friends with Aaron Henry and sent contributions to the NAACP, but he publicly stated that he "didn't regret a thing" in his public career.
Eastland served on a subcommittee investigating the Communist Party
. As chairman of the Internal Security Subcommittee, he subpoenaed some employees of The New York Times
, which was at the time taking a strong position on its editorial page that Mississippi should adhere to the Brown decision. The Times countered in its January 5, 1956 editorial:
, Joe Biden
and Phil Hart, even though they disagreed on many issues. Following Johnson's retirement from the White House, Eastland frequently visited Johnson at his Texas ranch.
Eastland died on February 19, 1986. The law library at Ole Miss is named after Eastland. This has caused some controversy in Mississippi given Eastland's earlier racist positions, but the University benefited financially from Eastland's many friends and supporters, as it has done from other political figures of Eastland's era.
's resignation until the swearing-in of Gerald Ford
as Vice President, and then from August to December 1974, from the time that Ford became President until Nelson Rockefeller
was sworn in as Vice President. During these periods Eastland was second in the presidential line of succession
, behind only Speaker of the House
Carl Albert
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician from Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
who briefly served in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
in 1941; and again from 1943 until his resignation December 27, 1978. From 1947 to 1978, he served alongside John Stennis, also a Democrat. At the time, Eastland and Stennis were the longest-serving Senate duo in American history, though their record was subsequently surpassed by Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
and Fritz Hollings of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, who served together for 36 years. Eastland was also the most senior member of the Senate at the time of his retirement in 1978. He compiled a conservative record in support of the conservative coalition
Conservative coalition
In the United States, the conservative coalition was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, wing of the Democratic Party...
.
Early life
Eastland was born in DoddsvilleDoddsville, Mississippi
Doddsville is a town in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 108 at the 2000 census.Doddsville was the hometown of longtime United States Senator James Eastland .-Geography:...
, the son of Woods Caperton Eastland, a cotton planter, and Alma Teresa (Austin) Eastland. In 1905 he moved with his parents to Forest
Forest, Mississippi
Forest is a city in Scott County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,987 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Scott County.-Geography:Forest is located at ....
where he attended public schools. A lawyer in rural Mississippi, he served one term in the state House of Representatives
Mississippi House of Representatives
The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi....
from 1928 to 1932. In the 1930s, he took over the family's Sunflower County
Sunflower County, Mississippi
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 34,369 people, 9,637 households, and 7,314 families residing in the county. The population density was 50 people per square mile . There were 10,338 housing units at an average density of 15 per square mile...
plantation, which eventually grew to nearly 6000 acres (24.3 km²). Even after entering politics, he considered himself first and foremost a cotton planter.
Political career
Eastland was first appointed to the Senate in 1941 following the death of Senator Pat HarrisonPat Harrison
Byron Patton "Pat" Harrison was a Mississippi politician who served as a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919 and in the United States Senate from 1919 until his death....
, but did not run in the special election for the seat later in the year; it was won by 2nd District
Mississippi's 2nd congressional district
Mississippi's 2nd congressional district is the only majority-black district in the state, covering much of western Mississippi. The district includes most of Jackson as well as the cities of Clarksdale, Greenville, Greenwood, Clinton and Vicksburg...
Congressman Wall Doxey
Wall Doxey
Wall Doxey was an American politician from Mississippi. He served as a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from 1929 to 1941; after the death of U.S. Senator Pat Harrison, Doxey won a special election to his seat, and served in the United States Senate from 1941 until 1943...
. In 1942, Eastland was one of three candidates who challenged Doxey for a full term. Even though Doxey had the support of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
(FDR) and Mississippi's senior U.S. Senator, Theodore G. Bilbo
Theodore G. Bilbo
Theodore Gilmore Bilbo was an American politician. Bilbo, a Democrat, twice served as governor of Mississippi and later was elected a U.S. Senator . A master of filibuster and scathing rhetoric, a rough-and-tumble fighter in debate, he made his name a synonym for white supremacy...
, Eastland defeated him in the Democratic primary. In those days, winning the Democratic nomination was tantamount to election in Mississippi, and Eastland returned to the Senate on January 3, 1943.
FDR and Eastland developed a working relationship that enabled Eastland to oppose New Deal programs unpopular in Mississippi while he supported FDR's agenda on many other issues. This type of arrangement became the norm with presidents of both parties during his tenure in the Senate. As a result he was able to provide federal largess for Mississippi (including the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and federal relief after Hurricane Camille) throughout his career.
He was re-elected five times, facing substantive Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
opposition only twice. In 1966, 4th District
Mississippi's 4th congressional district
Mississippi's 4th congressional district covers the southeastern region of the state. The people of the Mississippi's 4th are currently represented by Republican Steven Palazzo. During the 111th Congress, MS-4, along with TX-17, was the most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a...
Congressman Prentiss Walker
Prentiss Walker
-Private life:Walker was born in Taylorsville, Mississippi. He served in the United States Army in World War II and, after the war, worked as a chicken farmer in Smith County, Mississippi.-Political career:...
, the first Republican to represent Mississippi at the federal level since Reconstruction, ran against him. Walker ran well to Eastland's right, accusing him of not doing enough to keep integration-friendly judges from being confirmed by the Senate. As is often the case when a one-term Congressman runs against a popular incumbent Senator, Walker was soundly defeated.
In 1972, Eastland was reelected with 58% of the vote in his "closest" contest ever. His Republican opponent, Gil Carmichael, might have been aided by President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's landslide reelection in 49 states, including 78% of Mississippi's popular vote. However, Nixon worked "under the table" to support Eastland, who was a long-time personal friend and supporter. Nixon and other Republicans provided little support for Carmichael to avoid alienating conservative
Conservative Democrat
In American politics, a conservative Democrat is a Democratic Party member with conservative political views, or with views relatively conservative with respect to those of the national party...
Southern Democrats. Eastland recognized that Nixon would handily carry Mississippi, and did not endorse the national Democratic candidate, George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
. Four years later, Eastland supported the candidacy of fellow Southern Democrat Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
.
Eastland was appointed as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges nominated by the...
in 1956. Under the Senate's seniority rules, he was next in line for the chairmanship and there was no significant effort to deny him the post, which he held until his retirement.
During his last Senate term, he served as President pro tempore of the Senate
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
The President pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate. The United States Constitution states that the Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and the highest-ranking official of the Senate despite not being a member of the body...
since he was the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate.
Views on civil rights and race
Eastland is best known for his strong support of states' rights and for his opposition to the civil rights movement.When the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
issued its decision in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
of Topeka, Kansas
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
347 US 483 (1954), Eastland, like most Southern Democrats, denounced it. In a speech given in Senatobia, Mississippi
Senatobia, Mississippi
Senatobia is a city in and the county seat of Tate County, Mississippi, United States, and is the 15th largest municipality in the Memphis Metropolitan Area. The population was 8,165 at the 2010 census....
on August 12, 1955, he said: "On May 17, 1954, the Constitution of the United States
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
was destroyed because of the Supreme Court's decision. You are not obliged to obey the decisions of any court which are plainly fraudulent sociological considerations."
Eastland did not mince words when it came to his feelings about the races mingling. He testified to the Senate 10 days after the Brown decision came down:
The Southern institution of racial segregation or racial separation was the correct, self-evident truth which arose from the chaos and confusion of the Reconstruction period. Separation promotes racial harmony. It permits each race to follow its own pursuits, and its own civilization. Segregation is not discrimination... Mr. President, it is the law of nature, it is the law of God, that every race has both the right and the duty to perpetuate itself. All free men have the right to associate exclusively with members of their own race, free from governmental interference, if they so desire.
When three civil rights workers Mickey Schwerner, James Chaney
James Chaney
James Earl "J.E." Chaney , from Meridian, Mississippi, was one of three American civil rights workers who were murdered during Freedom Summer by members of the Ku Klux Klan near Philadelphia...
, and Andrew Goodman
Andrew Goodman
Andrew Goodman was one of three American civil rights activists murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer in 1964 by members of the Ku Klux Klan.-Early life and education:...
went missing in Mississippi on June 21, 1964, he reportedly told President Lyndon Johnson that the incident was a hoax and there was no Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
in the state, surmising that the three had gone to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
:
- Johnson: Jim, we've got three kids missing down there. What can I do about it?
- Eastland: Well, I don't know. I don't believe there's ... I don't believe there's three missing.
- Johnson: We've got their parents down here.
- Eastland: I believe it's a publicity stunt...
Johnson once said that, "Jim Eastland could be standing right in the middle of the worst Mississippi flood ever known, and he'd say the niggers caused it, helped out by the Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
s."
Eastland, along with Senators Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd
Robert Carlyle Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010...
, John McClellan
John Little McClellan
John Little McClellan was a Democratic Party politician from Arkansas. He represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1943 until 1977. He also earlier represented Arkansas in the United States House of Representatives.-Early life:McClellan was born in Sheridan, Grant County, Arkansas...
, Olin D. Johnston
Olin D. Johnston
Olin DeWitt Talmadge Johnston was a Democratic Party politician from the US state of South Carolina. He served as the 98th Governor of South Carolina, 1935–1939 and 1943–1945, and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1945 until his death in 1965.-Early Life, Military Involvement,...
, Sam Ervin
Sam Ervin
Samuel James "Sam" Ervin Jr. was a Democratic Senator from North Carolina from 1954 until 1974. A native of Morganton, Burke County, North Carolina, he liked to call himself a "country lawyer", and often told humorous stories in his Southern drawl...
, and Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
, made unsuccessful attempts to block Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
's confirmation to the Federal Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
. Often, offensive statements related to race were attributed to Eastland during this period even though they may have been made by other speakers. Although Eastland was a staunch segregationist, he refrained from the most extreme rhetoric that characterized other civil rights opponents.
Eastland opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
. Its passage caused many Mississippi Democrats to openly support Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
's presidential bid that year
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
, but Eastland did not publicly oppose the election of Lyndon Johnson. In fact, four years earlier he had quietly supported John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. Although Goldwater was heavily defeated by incumbent Lyndon Johnson, he carried Mississippi with 87% of the popular vote (his best showing in any state) due to his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Eastland was often at odds with Johnson's policy on civil rights, but their friendship remained close and Johnson often sought Eastland's support and guidance on other issues, such as the failed Chief Justice nomination of Abe Fortas
Abe Fortas
Abraham Fortas was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice from 1965 to 1969. Originally from Tennessee, Fortas became a law professor at Yale, and subsequently advised the Securities and Exchange Commission. He then worked at the Interior Department under Franklin D...
in 1969. In the 1950s, Johnson was one of three Senators from the South who didn't sign the Southern Manifesto
Southern Manifesto
The Southern Manifesto was a document written February–March 1956 by Adisen and Charles in the United States Congress opposed to racial integration in public places. The manifesto was signed by 101 politicians from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South...
, as did Eastland and most Southern Senators.
Contrary to popular opinion, Eastland did not use the appointment of Harold Cox
William Harold Cox
William Harold Cox was a United States federal judge.Born in Indianola, Mississippi, Cox received a B.S. from the University of Mississippi in 1924 and an LL.B. from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1924. He was in private practice in Jackson, Mississippi from 1924 to 1961.On June...
to a federal judgeship as leverage against John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's appointment of Thurgood Marshall to a federal judgeship. Cox was nominated by Kennedy more than a year before Marshall even came up for consideration, and his nomination resulted from a personal conversation between Cox and Kennedy. The president, not wanting to upset the powerful chairman of the Judiciary Committee, generally acceded to Eastland's requests on judicial confirmations in Mississippi, keeping white segregationists in control of the Federal courts in the state.
During his later years, he avoided associating himself with racist stands in the face of increasing black political power in Mississippi. In fact, during this period Eastland hired black Mississippians to serve on the staff of the Judiciary Committee. Eastland noted to aides that his earlier position on race was due primarily to the political realities of the times, i.e., as a major political figure in a southern state in the 1950s and 1960s. He considered running for reelection in 1978, and sought to win black support. He won the support of civil rights leader and NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
president Aaron Henry
Aaron Henry
Aaron Henry was an American civil rights leader, politician, and head of the Mississippi branch of the NAACP. He was one of the founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which tried to seat their delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.-Early life:Henry was born in Dublin,...
, but he ultimately decided not to seek re-election in 1978. Due in part to the independent candidacy of Charles Evers
Charles Evers
James Charles Evers is a prominent American civil rights advocate. The older brother of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, Charles Evers is a leading civil rights spokesman within the Republican Party in his native Mississippi. In 1969 he became the first African American since the...
siphoning off votes from the Democratic candidate, Republican 4th District
Mississippi's 4th congressional district
Mississippi's 4th congressional district covers the southeastern region of the state. The people of the Mississippi's 4th are currently represented by Republican Steven Palazzo. During the 111th Congress, MS-4, along with TX-17, was the most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a...
Representative Thad Cochran
Thad Cochran
William Thad Cochran is the senior United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1978, he is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and was its chairman and 2005 to 2007.-Early life:He was born in Pontotoc,...
won the race to succeed him. Eastland resigned two days after Christmas, giving Cochran a leg up in seniority. After his retirement, he remained friends with Aaron Henry and sent contributions to the NAACP, but he publicly stated that he "didn't regret a thing" in his public career.
Anti-communist efforts
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
. As chairman of the Internal Security Subcommittee, he subpoenaed some employees of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, which was at the time taking a strong position on its editorial page that Mississippi should adhere to the Brown decision. The Times countered in its January 5, 1956 editorial:
Our faith is strong that long after Senator Eastland and his present subcommittee are gone, long after segregation has lost its final battle in the South, long after all that was known as McCarthyismEastland subsequently allowed the subcommittee to become dormant as issues such as the threat of Communism receded.McCarthyismMcCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
is a dim, unwelcome memory, long after the last Congressional committee has learned that it cannot tamper successfully with a free press, The New York Times will be speaking for [those] who make it, and only for [those] who make it, and speaking, without fear or favor, the truth as it sees it.
Later years
In his last years in the Senate, Eastland was recognized by most Senators as one who knew how to wield the legislative powers he had accumulated. Many Senators, including liberals who opposed many of his conservative positions, acknowledged the fairness with which he chaired the Judiciary Committee, sharing staff and authority that chairmen of other committees jealously held for themselves. He maintained personal ties with stalwart liberal Democrats such as Ted KennedyTed Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
, Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
and Phil Hart, even though they disagreed on many issues. Following Johnson's retirement from the White House, Eastland frequently visited Johnson at his Texas ranch.
Eastland died on February 19, 1986. The law library at Ole Miss is named after Eastland. This has caused some controversy in Mississippi given Eastland's earlier racist positions, but the University benefited financially from Eastland's many friends and supporters, as it has done from other political figures of Eastland's era.
Senate President pro tempore
James Eastland is the most recent President pro tempore to have served during a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. He did so twice during the tumultuous 1970s, first from October to December 1973, following Spiro AgnewSpiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
's resignation until the swearing-in of Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
as Vice President, and then from August to December 1974, from the time that Ford became President until Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
was sworn in as Vice President. During these periods Eastland was second in the presidential line of succession
United States presidential line of succession
The United States presidential line of succession defines who may become or act as President of the United States upon the incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office of a sitting president or a president-elect.- Current order :This is a list of the current presidential line of...
, behind only Speaker of the House
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Carl Albert
Carl Albert
Carl Bert Albert was a lawyer and a Democratic American politician from Oklahoma.Albert represented the southeastern portion of Oklahoma as a Democrat for 30 years, starting in 1947. He is best known for his service as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977...
.
Further reading
- Chris Myers Asch, "Reconstruction Revisited: James O. Eastland, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and the Reconstruction of Germany, 1945–1946", Journal of Mississippi History (Spring 2005)
- Chris Myers Asch, The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer (The New Press, 2008)
- Transcript, James O. Eastland Oral History Interview I, February 19, 1971, by Joe B. Frantz, Internet Copy, LBJ Library. Accessed April 3, 2005.
- Finley, Keith M. Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965 (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2008).
- Finding-Aid for the James O. Eastland Collection (MUM00117) from the University of Mississippi Library. Accessed August 17, 2006.
- A Rhetorical Analysis of Senator James O. Eastland's Speeches, 1954–1959 by Patricia Webb Robinson.
- Menace of Subversive Activity by James Oliver Eastland. Publisher: Congressional Record (1966).
- "The South: The Authentic Voice", Time magazineTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, March 26, 1956; article about James Eastland
External links
- The James Oliver Eastland Collection owned by the University of Mississippi
- James Eastland interviewed by Mike WallaceMike Wallace (journalist)Myron Leon "Mike" Wallace is an American journalist, former game show host, actor and media personality. During his 60+ year career, he has interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers....
on The Mike Wallace Interview - Oral History Interview with James Eastland, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library