# Strom Thurmond Dead at 100 **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684 "2003-06-27T02:44:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/21 "2003-06-27T05:16:47Z")
As much as I despised the old dingbat’s politics, I’m attempting to be respectful. However, I hope everyone will be tolerant if I fail and occasionally yell things like “Good riddance, you crusty old bigot.” You know, reminds me of a Simpsons line - Homer is missing and thought dead, and Patty and Selma buy a tombstone that says “We are richer for having lost him.” That comes inexplicably to mind… Oh, right. Being respectful. ---
**Author:** ![SnugTheJoiner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/22 "2003-06-27T05:35:31Z")
I can see the scene now: STROM: What’s in the newspaper today? FRIEND: The Supreme Court’s ruled that sodomy isn’t a crime. STROM: Aacckk! (Clutches heart, falls insensible.) ---
**Author:** ![BornOfStardust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@BornOfStardust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BornOfStardust)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/23 "2003-06-27T05:58:37Z")
Damn you both, **SnugTheJoiner** and **jackelope**!!! That was totally my idea!!! 😉 And don’t worry **Marley** hon, I’m sure you’ll be forgiven. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/24 "2003-06-27T06:13:31Z")
I’m sure that in time the world will forget that he died the same day as the striking down of sodomy laws… I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/25 "2003-06-27T07:15:32Z")
Good. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Too bad it wasn’t 50 years ago. Lion of the South. Goddamn racist homophobic pig, makes me wish I believed there was a hell, so he’d burn in it forever. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/26 "2003-06-27T08:20:10Z")
He did major damage to the South’s image in the 20th Century. As a lifelong Southerner who is educated and (much as I hate the term) progressive, I really would have liked a George Wallace-esque about face before he died, but apparently that’s too much to ask. ---
**Author:** ![sj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@sj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sj2)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/27 "2003-06-27T10:33:13Z")
Good bye. You ass. There is no room in my thoughts for people that violate all that is and could be decent in humanity. And to happen during pride week. Loving the irony. Although I could make some thoughts for him in the hell that he will burn in for his racist attitudes… ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/28 "2003-06-27T11:19:46Z")
Well since no one else is saying it… _Ding dong the witch is dead which old witch? the wicked witch! Ding dong the wicked witch is dead_😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/29 "2003-06-27T11:37:52Z")
My next robot’s battery should last a minimum of _150_ years! ---
**Author:** ![Kn\_ckers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/96bed5/32.png) [@Kn\_ckers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kn_ckers)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/30 "2003-06-27T12:42:40Z")
**Gordon Heap** , that was damn funny. 😃 _sounds of Kn_ckers not giving a tinker’s cuss about the crazy old dead bastard and making no effort to have respect for dead people if she didn’t respect them when they were alive\* ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/31 "2003-06-27T13:25:46Z")
You people. I suppose it’s not possible to change your ways. From [cnn.com](http://www.cnn.com/books/beginnings/9904/ol.strom/Old.Strom.html) > [@](#): > > He abandoned his ship of “states rights” opposition to civil rights progress and swam into the mainstream. He voted in 1982 to extend the Voting Rights Act he had bitterly opposed. He became a champion of traditionally black colleges. He supported legislation to make the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a national holiday. He reached out, politically and personally, to blacks in South Carolina, recognizing that they too had become constituents who should get service from his office. I wonder if the hatred will be as ripe when Robert “Sheets” Byrd kicks the can. I often think people scream “Racist!” because it makes them feel better about themselves as in “Whew, I’m much better than _that_ guy!” Strom was a faithful servant of the state of South Carolina. Just this morning on a local talk show stories were told about Strom’s life and career. There were countless anecdotes about Thurmond’s resolve to handle problems that everyday people had, be it weighty or insignificant. (He once had a neighborhood sprayed because the mosquitos were so bad, according to one caller.) My condolences to the Thurmond family. Strom was a great man. I will forever be grateful for the letter he sent the Naval Academy on my behalf and I am proud to have shook his hand. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/32 "2003-06-27T13:40:53Z")
Meh. Based on your quote, I see he was a politician, through and through. He knew on which side his bread was buttered. It sounds like you have a reason to be supportive of the man because he did something for you personally. For others, he’ll remain a steadfast symbol of what’s wrong with this country. ---
**Author:** ![magog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@magog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magog)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/33 "2003-06-27T14:34:02Z")
Obligatory Onion Link. [http://www.theonion.com/onion3112/stromchange.html](http://www.theonion.com/onion3112/stromchange.html) Current events makes the last sentence a bit morbid, eh? ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/34 "2003-06-27T14:48:17Z")
The gods have given us all an extra special Sodomy Day present. 😉 I am not one to relish in other people’s misery but this is like a wicked Methuselah dying. Now for Phelps and company! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/35 "2003-06-27T14:51:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by whistlepig \* > \*\*If I prayed, I would pray that God is black. \*\* And Gay! ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/36 "2003-06-27T16:03:04Z")
Darn everybody in this thread! I wanted to post the Only the Good Die Young line. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/37 "2003-06-27T16:13:34Z")
You know, glad as I am that hopefully he’s one of the last dinosaurs of his age to finally depart and leave us in peace, you nevertheless have to grant the fact that whether you liked or hated his positions, the man DID have influence and power. Clearly, he represented his state well. And in later years, I know he had a truly spectacular staff that saw that whatever else happened, the people he represented were taken proper care of when they ran into problems dealing with the government. But I still think the timing of his death is just _perfect._ ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/38 "2003-06-27T16:46:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bruce\_Daddy \* > **I wonder if the hatred will be as ripe when Robert “Sheets” Byrd kicks the can.** Although I have no love for Robert Byrd, he at least renounced his past. [from Slate](http://slate.msn.com/id/2075662/) > [@](#): > > _[In an interview with] CNN’s Bernard Shaw in Dec. 1993:_ > > Q: What has been your biggest mistake and your biggest success? > > A: Well, it’s easy to state what has been my biggest mistake. The greatest mistake I ever made was joining the Ku Klux Klan. And I’ve said that many times. But one cannot erase what he has done. He can only change his ways and his thoughts. That was an albatross around my neck that I will always wear. You will read it in my obituary that I was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Thurmon never recanted his segregatist past and in fact said he had “no regrets” and still thought the Dixiecrats were right as late as 1998. His record on gay rights since the 1990s is even more fuel to the fire. ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/39 "2003-06-27T18:23:57Z")
Oh boy, this is a pickle. I’m not gonna say that I’m real sad to see him go, but it’s also not cool to wish death/hell on folks. I mean sure, he was a crusader for the right to lynch people, and actually _impose_ death on folks, but I’m satisfied with him having disappeared from the political scene. His retirement was a cause for celebration in this country. That a modern politician speaking in support of Thurmond’s old politics was a massive scandal is a credit to this country. His death is more or less irrelevant, in my opinion. For all I care, he could have lived to 300, so long as I didn’t have to put up with his crap. LC ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684/40 "2003-06-27T22:16:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I often think people scream “Racist!” because it makes them feel better about themselves as in “Whew, I’m much better than that guy!” No, people scream “Racist!” because racism is wrong. Granted public condemnation isn’t as effective a form of changing public opinion as lynching, but we’ll that tactic to the other side. > [@](#): > > Strom was a faithful servant of the state of South Carolina. Bullshit. Thurmond betrayed South Carolina by pandering to the worst instincts of the worst elements of the state. If Thurmond had really cared about his native state, he’d have tried to make it a better and more enlightened place. > [@](#): > > There were countless anecdotes about Thurmond’s resolve to handle problems that everyday people had, be it weighty or insignificant. What did Thurmond ever do for the millions of “everyday people” in South Carolina who were black? Apparently they didn’t count to Thurmond or any of the people who admired him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strom-thurmond-dead-at-100/184684.md?page=3)