The Black Vault - Strom Thurmond Remembered as 'Greatest Statesman'

MIAMI (Reuters) - Former U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond was remembered on Friday by friends and colleagues in South Carolina as a dedicated public servant and the "greatest statesman" the state has seen.

The speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives, David Wilkins, a longtime friend, said he would remember Thurmond as "the greatest statesman South Carolina has ever produced, as an individual who helped more people in South Carolina history than any other servant."

"A lot of senators are known for this bill or that bill or for being on one side of an issue. He's not known for that. He's known for helping people," Wilkins said. "That's his legacy."

Thurmond, who was 100 years old, died on Thursday night at a hospital in his hometown of Edgefield, South Carolina.

His body will lie on view at the South Carolina State House in Columbia on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. A horse-drawn caisson will carry his body to the First Baptist Church in Columbia for his funeral Tuesday afternoon, followed by burial with military honors at the Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield.

Born in 1902, the ex-segregationist was a Democrat when the South was solidly Democratic. He ran for president on a State's Rights "Dixiecrat" ticket, winning the vote in four southern states in a 1948 protest against the civil-rights advocacy of Democratic President Harry Truman.

He switched to the Republican Party to back Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential bid, the first conservative southern Democrat to switch allegiance.

"He certainly was the father of the Republican Party here," said Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.

The longest-serving senator in U.S. history was known as a fiery orator and opponent of the civil rights movement. He later moderated his views and in the 1970s, Thurmond was one of the first southern senators to hire a black staff member. He went on to support a number of blacks as judges.

"He was the quintessential leader of our state. There's not a life in South Carolina he didn't touch," Dawson said.

Dawson remembered Thurmond as someone who always phoned and sent a note of congratulation at births, weddings and special events. When new acquaintances learned Dawson was from South Carolina, the first thing they invariably said was "I met Strom Thurmond."

Many South Carolinians remembered Thurmond as a governor and then U.S. senator focused on constituent service. When he retired from the Senate last year, local newspapers were flooded with letters from residents describing how Thurmond helped them or a family member.

The Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University holds tens of thousands of letters Thurmond wrote to constituents.

"In every corner of this state and spread throughout this nation, the number of lives he touched simply cannot be measured," said South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

President Bush too recognized Thurmond's commitment to South Carolina.

"I saw first hand the tremendous love he had for his constituents, and the admiration the people of South Carolina had for him," Bush said in a written statement.

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