Kind of ironic however that Strom Thurmond was able to retire from the Senate with his background:
- elected state senator in 1933, the same year that Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany.
- elected governor of SC in 1946 (The same year W and Clinton were born). He was governor from 1947 to 1951.
- holds the record for the longest filibuster in U.S. Senate history at 24 hours and 18 minutes, in opposition to the 1957 Civil Rights Act. He began his filibuster by reading the texts of the election laws of all 48 states.
- was rumored to have been sexually involved with the only woman to ever receive the death penalty in South Carolina.
- served as a senator alongside George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush.
- quoted as saying during a speech in 1948: "I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the **** race into our theatres into our swimming pools into our homes and into our churches."
And now - WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Dec. 9, 2002) -- Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White announced a new Army museum will honor Senator Strom Thurmond, who celebrated his 100th birthday last week.
A main part of the National Museum of the U.S. Army, scheduled to open in June 2009 at Fort Belvoir, Va., will be named after Thurmond, who served for 36 years in the active Army and Reserve. Thurman is also the oldest and longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate. He turned 100 years old Dec. 5, just weeks before he retires from the Senate.
White, along with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, hosted a birthday celebration for Thurmond Dec. 4 on Capitol Hill.
"It is our intent with the National Museum of the United States Army . . . that the centerpiece of that museum will be named for Senator Strom Thurmond," White told Thurmond and some of the Army's top leaders assembled in the senator's office.
"Let me tell you how much I appreciate it," Thurmond said.
