The Long View.(politicians - humor)(Column)

The Candidates' Diaries

Special "Back to the Future" Edition(tm)

From Strom Thurmond's Diary, September 3, 1948:

. . . just some kind of wonderful, wonderful dancers, which I and my people have no problem with. No problem at all. But as I have said time and time again, this campaign isn't just about making sure our children and our children's children can find a place to eat at a lunch counter without a lot of "problems" -- no, it's about much more than that. It's about our national defense and our coming fight with the Communists. It's about how to handle the Red Peril that threatens our homes and our schools and our drinking fountains and our swimming pools. As I said in my speech to the Great Kristian Men of the South Konvocation, we need to make sure that the Communists stay on their side of the fence. We need to segregate them, if you will . . .

. . . a little boy with a hard-looking helmet of a head of hair just cheering and shouting and holding up a hand-lettered "Thurmond '48" sign . . . must have been no more than seven or eight, and I called him over to my side and I said, "What's your name, boy?" and he told me what it was, and that he was from Mississippi and that he had walked all the way to the tent meeting just to shake my hand. It was pretty hot right there next to all of those crosses, and I was sweating, but not that little boy. His hair was just so . . . so . . . so firm, I guess is the word. Anyway, he told me that his dream in life was to be a United States Senator from Mississippi, and I wished him well. And then he told me that he hoped that he and I could serve in the Senate together, and I laughed a little and chucked him under the chin and said, "Boy, I'll be long, long dead by then! Why, I'm an old man now!" And he said, "You don't look old to me, sir. You look like you'll live forever!" Charming boy. Later, as I was going off to another event, I saw a red-hot ember fly off one of the crosses and hit that boy's head and damned if the ember didn't just bounce right off it like it was some kind of solid steel something and not even hair at all . . .

From So I Can't Raise Taxes a Bissell? Who Knew? by Joe Lieberman, published December 17, 2005:

. . . even though I had made it clear that I wasn't going to debate anyone on a Saturday. But then the media got hold of it and ...