Strom Thurmond revealed as having stronger than previously known
pro-integration feelings
Mr. Thurmond, a Republican who retired
last year as the nation's longest-serving senator after 48 years in office, died
in June at the age of 100.
Frank K. Wheaton, a lawyer representing Ms. Washington-Williams, said in an interview on Saturday that she was coming forward "at the urging and encouragement of her children" to establish their family history and confirm years of speculation that Mr. Thurmond fathered a child by Carrie Butler, who was 16 years old at the time.
The story of Ms. Washington-Williams's intention to come forward at a news conference next week was reported on Saturday on the Web site of The Washington Post, which interviewed her. She was unavailable for comment on Saturday. Members of the Thurmond family could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Wheaton said Mr. Washington-Williams does not intend to ask the Thurmond estate, valued at some $200,000, for any money. He said she was only interested in an official acknowledgment from the Thurmond family or from a court that she is his daughter. Mr. Wheaton said that if members of the family were not willing to concede the point, Ms. Washington-Williams would seek confirmation through genetic comparisons.
A lawyer representing Mr. Thurmond's estate, J. Mark Taylor, said family members did not expect Ms. Washington-Williams to make a claim against the estate, even if it could lead to financial reward. Bentz Kirby, a South Carolina lawyer representing Ms. Washington-Williams, said that under South Carolina law, only a spouse is automatically entitled to a share of assets.
Mr. Wheaton said that Ms. Washington-Williams, a career educator with a masters degree from the University of Southern California, wanted to wait until Mr. Thurmond died before making her claims public. "She didn't want to do anything to damage or potentially damage his political career or his family," he said.
Mr. Wheaton said Ms. Washington-Williams would make no public comments until Wednesday, when she intends to appear at a news conference in Columbia, S.C.
For years, Mr. Thurmond was a staunch supporter of segregation. He broke with the Democratic Party in the late 1940's to run for president in 1948 as a Dixiecrat, embracing the notion, as he said at the time, that "on the question of social intermingling of the races, our people draw the line." Ms. Washington-Williams was in her early 20's at the time.
Despite rumors of an illegitimate black child that shadowed Mr. Thurmond for decades, and occasional published reports that named her, he never acknowledged Ms. Washington-Williams as anyone more than a friend.
And while outsiders were always left to guess in hushed tones the nature of their relationship, Mr. Wheaton said "it was never a secret" in the Thurmond family and his staff that the woman who saw him nearly every year on one coast or the other was his daughter. In addition to a former wife, Nancy, Mr. Thurmond was officially survived by three children: J. Strom Jr., who is the United States attorney in South Carolina; another son, Paul; and a daughter, Julie Thurmond Whitmer.
Until now, Ms. Washington-Williams, whose name reflects an aunt who helped raise her in Pennsylvania, Mary Washington, and her husband, Julius T. Williams, a lawyer who died in 1964, steadfastly denied that she had any familial relationship to Mr. Thurmond.
Mr. Wheaton said he did not expect any problems arising from Mr. Washington-Williams's efforts to establish her true identity, "at least not from the family itself." But acknowledging a certain reverence with which Mr. Thurmond was held throughout the South, he said that might not be true of others, including "people who are trying to protect the myth of Senator Thurmond."
Frank K. Wheaton, a lawyer representing Ms. Washington-Williams, said in an interview on Saturday that she was coming forward "at the urging and encouragement of her children" to establish their family history and confirm years of speculation that Mr. Thurmond fathered a child by Carrie Butler, who was 16 years old at the time.
The story of Ms. Washington-Williams's intention to come forward at a news conference next week was reported on Saturday on the Web site of The Washington Post, which interviewed her. She was unavailable for comment on Saturday. Members of the Thurmond family could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Wheaton said Mr. Washington-Williams does not intend to ask the Thurmond estate, valued at some $200,000, for any money. He said she was only interested in an official acknowledgment from the Thurmond family or from a court that she is his daughter. Mr. Wheaton said that if members of the family were not willing to concede the point, Ms. Washington-Williams would seek confirmation through genetic comparisons.
A lawyer representing Mr. Thurmond's estate, J. Mark Taylor, said family members did not expect Ms. Washington-Williams to make a claim against the estate, even if it could lead to financial reward. Bentz Kirby, a South Carolina lawyer representing Ms. Washington-Williams, said that under South Carolina law, only a spouse is automatically entitled to a share of assets.
Mr. Wheaton said that Ms. Washington-Williams, a career educator with a masters degree from the University of Southern California, wanted to wait until Mr. Thurmond died before making her claims public. "She didn't want to do anything to damage or potentially damage his political career or his family," he said.
Mr. Wheaton said Ms. Washington-Williams would make no public comments until Wednesday, when she intends to appear at a news conference in Columbia, S.C.
For years, Mr. Thurmond was a staunch supporter of segregation. He broke with the Democratic Party in the late 1940's to run for president in 1948 as a Dixiecrat, embracing the notion, as he said at the time, that "on the question of social intermingling of the races, our people draw the line." Ms. Washington-Williams was in her early 20's at the time.
Despite rumors of an illegitimate black child that shadowed Mr. Thurmond for decades, and occasional published reports that named her, he never acknowledged Ms. Washington-Williams as anyone more than a friend.
And while outsiders were always left to guess in hushed tones the nature of their relationship, Mr. Wheaton said "it was never a secret" in the Thurmond family and his staff that the woman who saw him nearly every year on one coast or the other was his daughter. In addition to a former wife, Nancy, Mr. Thurmond was officially survived by three children: J. Strom Jr., who is the United States attorney in South Carolina; another son, Paul; and a daughter, Julie Thurmond Whitmer.
Until now, Ms. Washington-Williams, whose name reflects an aunt who helped raise her in Pennsylvania, Mary Washington, and her husband, Julius T. Williams, a lawyer who died in 1964, steadfastly denied that she had any familial relationship to Mr. Thurmond.
Mr. Wheaton said he did not expect any problems arising from Mr. Washington-Williams's efforts to establish her true identity, "at least not from the family itself." But acknowledging a certain reverence with which Mr. Thurmond was held throughout the South, he said that might not be true of others, including "people who are trying to protect the myth of Senator Thurmond."
Strom Thurmond & Thomas Jefferson:
unlikely historical brotherhood
From the New York Times:
After a lifetime of public silence, a 78-year-old Los Angeles woman is stepping forward to say she is the daughter of the late Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and a black woman who once worked as the Thurmond family maid.
The woman, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, a retired vocational school teacher, says she has incontrovertible evidence, including financial receipts and cashier's checks demonstrating his support for her and personal notes — showing that Mr. Thurmond, once one of the nation's leading segregationists, was her father....
Posted: Sat - December 13, 2003 at 10:44 PM
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Published On: Sep 17, 2004 12:36 AM
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Published On: Sep 17, 2004 12:36 AM