Born on December 5, 1902, in Edgefield, South Carolina, James Strom Thurmond would serve in the U.S. Senate for nearly fifty years, from 1954 to 2003. Beginning his career in education, Thurmond went on to practice law. He then served in the South Carolina Senate and also the state’s judiciary. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of major general in the reserve force. Following the war, he won the 1946 South Carolina gubernatorial election as a Democrat, to serve from 1947 to 1951. In 1948 Thurmond ran for president of the United States on the ticket of the States’ Rights Democratic Party, known as the Dixiecrats, in protest of President Harry Truman’s position on civil rights. Thurmond next sought a seat in the U.S. Senate from South Carolina, but after losing his first bid for the office in 1950, he went on to complete his term as governor and then practiced law from 1951 through 1955. In 1952 he broke with the Democratic Party by endorsing Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party’s candidate for president. In retaliation, the Democrats in South Carolina ensured his primary loss in the race for the U.S. Senate in 1954. Thurmond responded, however, by winning the seat through a write-in campaign. He took office early when he was appointed senator following the resignation of Charles E. Daniel, whom he had defeated in the election. Thurmond duly served until his promised resignation in 1956, but he won back the seat in a special election to fill the vacancy that he left. Thurmond was then repeatedly reelected to the Senate, serving until January 2003. He died a few months later, on June 26, 2003.