Strom Thurmond marks his 100th birthday today, making him the oldest American to serve as U.S. Senator. To give some idea of the length of his career, it is useful to recall that on D-Day he landed in Normandy (at age 40) having already served 6 years as a school teacher, 4 years as a superintendent of education for his county, 8 years as a attorney, 5 years as a state senator (overlapping his time as a lawyer), and 8 years as a circuit court judge. Following his service in WWII, he became governor of South Carolina, and ran for President against Truman. All of this before becoming a U.S. Senator for South Carolina in 1954, where he has served ever since. And to this day Strom has a certain fondness for . . . life, as evidenced by his parting speech to the Senate:
"I love all of you," Thurmond told colleagues in a farewell speech in the Senate last month, "and especially your wives."
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