Recently it was announced that Senator Strom Thurmond, the infamous segregationist, sired a daughter out of wedlock with an African American woman.

The daughter, now in the winter of her life, finally announced that she was in fact Strom Thurmond's daughter, but only after he had died. Apparently Sen. Thurmond had paid her a lump sum of money yearly.

1. Do you think that an earlier announcement could have curtailed Thurmond's career, possibly even changing the face of civil rights and history today?

2. Assuming the announcement would have had some negative impact on Thurmond's career do you think that Williams and her mother did their race a disservice by keeping quiet? This announcement could have removed a racist from office and nullified his political influence on race issues, much of it likely negative, over a multi-decade career.

It might well have curtailed it. But then, to what length would Thurmond's white family have gone to keep it quiet? I don't know his family, but it stands to reason that they would be protective of their boy and his future.



No, I don't think they did their race a disservice, considering that at the time there was no NAACP or other organization to help them, and they did receive some kind of financial support that they otherwise would not have received.

Again, I'm not sure that Thurmond's family would have made it possible for them to go to the newspapers or whoever they would have told. Even in the sixties, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was marching for civil rights, there would have been stiff opposition to printing an expose of an influential white politician with only the word of a black housekeeper. Since the DNA testing has been available, this proves it conclusively.

But at that point, why make trouble for the old man?

They had to make a decision that they could live with. By the time the newspapers and forensic testing made it not only possible but economically feasible, it was too late for it to have much of an impact.

A lot of men in Thurmond's generation believed that there were girls you played around with, and there were girls you took home to meet the family. This boys-will-be-boys attitude was prevalent enough that it might have been laughed away by the most influential, even if his black daughter had attempted to expose him.

Paladin, the NAACP was founded in 1909.

I believe if she went public "back then" there wouldn't have been a single difference. Its not like she could have gone on 20/20 and told her story to Barbara Walters for the whole nation to hear.

Besides, i doubt the opposing parties would have used it to "spear" him, which would no doubt happen today.

However, i heard a talk-show host today mention that the daughtor looked just like Thurmond, which would have helped her case

As Ms. Williams' story unfolded, I was amazed at how many people (all of his staff and people in his hometown) knew about this family secret for decades and still honored Thurmond's wishes to keep it from the general public. In the earliest days of Thurmond's political career, acknowledgement certainly could have raised some eyebrows and maybe prevented him from attaining his political goals and accomplishments.

The fact that Ms. Williams (and family) agreed to honor Thurmond's wishes, had frequent contact with him both at home and in Washington for so many years, and has come forward now only because of her family's urging for getting the truth out rather than for personal financial gain from the Thurmond family is good enough for me regardless of what my personal opinion or thoughts may be.

She seems like a lovely woman who had a successful career in helping others, the moral support of a loving family, and who now can go forward with complete peace of mind. I hope she makes some extra bucks with a book or TV movie contract. She seems like the type who would "pass it forward."