Important Past Elected Officials
Strom Thurmond (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was a United States Senator from South Carolina from 1954 to 2003. He has held the records for longest senate career, oldest voting member of the Senate in history, the only Senator to reach 100 years of age while in office, the record for longest filibuster in senate history at 24 hours and 18 minutes, and the longest serving Dean of the United States Senate in United States history after maintaining the position for 14 years.
John C. Calhoun (March 18, 1782- March 31, 1850) was born in South Carolina and held office both within the state and at the national level. He began his political career serving in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1808-1809. He was then elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives and held the office from 1811 to 1817 at which point he resigned to become Secretary of War in the administration of President James Monroe from 1817-1825. During the election of 1824, he was chosen to be Vice President of the United States under President John Quincy Adams. Following this, in the election of 1828, Calhoun was again elected Vice President, this time under President Andrew Jackson. He held that position until his resignation in 1832. Following this resignation, he ran for and was elected to the United States Senate in 1832; he would be re-elected twice and then resign from the Senate in 1843. After this, Calhoun became the Secretary of State in the cabinet of President John Tyler from 1844-1845. In 1845, he was again elected to serve in the United States Senate, a position he held until his death in March 1850.
Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839- February 23, 1915) was an African-American slave in South Carolina that eventually became a free man, a war hero, and a politician. Born into slavery, Smalls was taken by his masters to Charleston, South Carolina in 1851 where he would work several different labor jobs. At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, Smalls was hired to work aboard a steamship named Planter which served as an armed transport for the Confederate Army carrying guns and ammunition. On May 13, 1862, he and other men aboard the "Planter" seized control of the ship and successfully turned it and its cargo over to the forces of the Union Army. This act brought great acclaim to Smalls and would eventually lead to him being named the first African-American captain of U. S. military vessel. These acts of heroics would foster a political career for Smalls who would serve in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1868 to 1870 and the South Carolina State Senate from 1870-1874. Following this, he was elected to three terms in the United State House of Representatives. Smalls would also be the last Republican to win South Carolina's 5th Congressional District until 2010. Robert Smalls was also among the founders of the South Carolina Republican Party.
Read more about this topic: South Carolina Republican Party
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