A Close Race for Senate
2014 is not the first time Mississippi has had a closely contested, negative race for the United States Senate. In 1947, U.S. Senator Theodore G. Bilbo, infamous for his racist speeches, died of cancer of the mouth.
Six men ran in the special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat from Mississippi, including two sitting congressmen, William Colmer from the Gulf Coast and Will Whittington from the Delta. Colmer, the favorite in the race, was a part of the budding Dixiecrat movement that a year later would orchestrate Mississippi’s historic break with the national Democratic Party over civil rights.
A little known state circuit court judge from east central Mississippi named John Stennis threw his hat into the ring. Stennis was not as well-known across the state as some of the others in the race, but he counted on a network of supporters from his alma mater, known today as Mississippi State University.
William Winter and Frank Smith, two young state lawmakers fresh off their own elections, played significant roles in the U.S. Senate campaign of John Stennis in 1947. William Winter was still a law student at Ole Miss where he organized a Stennis for Senate campus organization. Winter’s father, a former state legislator himself, advised his newly elected son not to help Stennis because Walter Sillers, the powerful Speaker of the House of Representatives, favored Colmer and Whittington. Ignoring his father’s opinion, Winter campaigned vigorously for Stennis, and they became lifelong friends.
Frank Smith, a state senator who later served ten years in Congress, also was attracted to Stennis, who was seen as a racial moderate compared to the others and especially when compared to Bilbo. Unlike most Mississippi leaders, Stennis even supported the United Nations.
According to Smith’s biographer, “Stennis’ opponents tried to use his moderation against him. Congressman William Colmer secretly spread the word that Stennis was tainted with communism. Congressman Will Whittington from the Delta condemned Stennis for his silence on the Taft-Hartley law, which was the hottest labor issue in the country.
Rumors spread that Henry Wallace, the former vice president, had endorsed Stennis.” While untrue, the charge was damaging. Henry Wallace was considered soft on communism and friendly toward the Soviet Union.
In one of the most stunning upsets in Mississippi’s political history, Stennis beat Colmer by more than 6,000 votes. In those days, a candidate did not need a majority to win a special election. Stennis, yes the venerable John Stennis who became a giant in the U.S. Senate and a respected advisor to eight presidents, won the race with only 27 percent of the vote.
Walter Sillers, who served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1916 to 1966, including 22 years as the autocratic Speaker, was apoplectic. In all likelihood, Stennis would not have won a run-off with Colmer. Sillers vowed it would never happen again, and in the next legislative session in Jackson, he pushed through a bill that required a candidate to receive at least 50 percent of the vote to win future special elections.
Dirty politics and smear tactics are not new in our state. Even John Stennis, Mississippi's greatest statesman of the 20th century, had to overcome them to begin his historic Senate career.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News.
Six men ran in the special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat from Mississippi, including two sitting congressmen, William Colmer from the Gulf Coast and Will Whittington from the Delta. Colmer, the favorite in the race, was a part of the budding Dixiecrat movement that a year later would orchestrate Mississippi’s historic break with the national Democratic Party over civil rights.
A little known state circuit court judge from east central Mississippi named John Stennis threw his hat into the ring. Stennis was not as well-known across the state as some of the others in the race, but he counted on a network of supporters from his alma mater, known today as Mississippi State University.
William Winter and Frank Smith, two young state lawmakers fresh off their own elections, played significant roles in the U.S. Senate campaign of John Stennis in 1947. William Winter was still a law student at Ole Miss where he organized a Stennis for Senate campus organization. Winter’s father, a former state legislator himself, advised his newly elected son not to help Stennis because Walter Sillers, the powerful Speaker of the House of Representatives, favored Colmer and Whittington. Ignoring his father’s opinion, Winter campaigned vigorously for Stennis, and they became lifelong friends.
Frank Smith, a state senator who later served ten years in Congress, also was attracted to Stennis, who was seen as a racial moderate compared to the others and especially when compared to Bilbo. Unlike most Mississippi leaders, Stennis even supported the United Nations.
According to Smith’s biographer, “Stennis’ opponents tried to use his moderation against him. Congressman William Colmer secretly spread the word that Stennis was tainted with communism. Congressman Will Whittington from the Delta condemned Stennis for his silence on the Taft-Hartley law, which was the hottest labor issue in the country.
Rumors spread that Henry Wallace, the former vice president, had endorsed Stennis.” While untrue, the charge was damaging. Henry Wallace was considered soft on communism and friendly toward the Soviet Union.
In one of the most stunning upsets in Mississippi’s political history, Stennis beat Colmer by more than 6,000 votes. In those days, a candidate did not need a majority to win a special election. Stennis, yes the venerable John Stennis who became a giant in the U.S. Senate and a respected advisor to eight presidents, won the race with only 27 percent of the vote.
Walter Sillers, who served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1916 to 1966, including 22 years as the autocratic Speaker, was apoplectic. In all likelihood, Stennis would not have won a run-off with Colmer. Sillers vowed it would never happen again, and in the next legislative session in Jackson, he pushed through a bill that required a candidate to receive at least 50 percent of the vote to win future special elections.
Dirty politics and smear tactics are not new in our state. Even John Stennis, Mississippi's greatest statesman of the 20th century, had to overcome them to begin his historic Senate career.
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News.