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Encyclopedia > James F. Byrnes
James F. Byrnes
James F. Byrnes

In office
July 8, 1941 – October 3, 1942
Nominated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Preceded by James Clark McReynolds
Succeeded by Wiley Blount Rutledge

In office
July 3, 1945 – January 21, 1947
Preceded by Edward Stettinius, Jr.
Succeeded by George Marshall

Born May 2, 1879(1879-05-02)
Charleston, South Carolina
Died April 09, 1972 (aged 92)
Columbia, South Carolina
Political party Democratic
Religion Episcopalian

James Francis Byrnes (May 2, 1879April 9, 1972) was an American politician from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a member of the House of Representatives (1911–1925), as a Senator (1931–1941), as Justice of the Supreme Court (1941–1942), as Secretary of State (1945–1947), and as Governor of South Carolina (1951–1955). He therefore became one of very few politicians to be active in all three branches of the federal government while also being active in state government. He was also a confidant of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was one of the most powerful men in American domestic and foreign policy in the mid-1940s. Image File history File linksMetadata James_Francis_Byrnes,_at_his_desk,_1943. ... Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. ... is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... Justice McReynolds, c. ... Wiley Blount Rutledge (July 20, 1894 - September 10, 1949) was a U.S. educator and jurist. ... Seal of the United States Department of State. ... is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Portrait of U.S. Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. ... For other persons named George Marshall, see George Marshall (disambiguation). ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... Year 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Nickname: Motto: Aedes Mores Juraque Curat (She cares for her temples, customs, and rights) Location of Charleston in South Carolina. ... Official language(s) English Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Largest metro area Columbia Area  Ranked 40th  - Total 34,726 sq mi (82,965 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 260 miles (420 km)  - % water 6  - Latitude 32° 2′ N to 35° 13′ N  - Longitude 78° 32′ W to 83... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Columbia (disambiguation). ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... This article is about the Episcopal Church in the United States. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... Year 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official language(s) English Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Largest metro area Columbia Area  Ranked 40th  - Total 34,726 sq mi (82,965 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 260 miles (420 km)  - % water 6  - Latitude 32° 2′ N to 35° 13′ N  - Longitude 78° 32′ W to 83... Type Bicameral Speaker of the House of Representatives House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Steny Hoyer, (D) since January 4, 2007 House Minority Leader John Boehner, (R) since January 4, 2007 Members 435 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party... Type Upper House President of the Senate Richard B. Cheney, R since January 20, 2001 President pro tempore Robert C. Byrd, D since January 4, 2007 Members 100 Political groups Democratic Party Republican Party Last elections November 7, 2006 Meeting place Senate Chamber United States Capitol Washington, DC United States... Federal courts Supreme Court Circuit Courts of Appeal District Courts Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Local Government Other countries Atlas  US Government Portal      The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the... Seal of the United States Department of State. ... A list of South Carolina Governors. ... FDR redirects here. ...

Contents

Early life and career

Byrnes's mother was an Irish-American dressmaker in Charleston, South Carolina. He left Catholic parochial school at 14 to work in a law office, and became a court stenographer. He left the Catholic church to marry Maude Perkins Busch of Aiken in 1906; they had no children, but for the rest of their lives they supported a number of orphans financially. He became an Episcopalian. He never attended high school, college or law school, but apprenticed to a lawyer and was admitted to the bar in 1903. Irish Americans (Irish: Gael-Mheiriceánach) are citizens of the United States who can claim ancestry originating in the west European island of Ireland. ... Nickname: Motto: Aedes Mores Juraque Curat (She cares for her temples, customs, and rights) Location of Charleston in South Carolina. ...


In 1910 he narrowly won the Democratic primary for the United States Congress from the state's 3rd Congressional District, which was tantamount to election. Byrnes proved a brilliant legislator, working behind the scenes to form coalitions and avoiding the high-profile oratory that characterized much of Southern politics. He was a champion of the "good roads" movement that attracted motorists, and politicians, to large-scale road building programs in the 1920s. He became a close ally to President Woodrow Wilson, and Wilson often entrusted important political tasks to the capable young Congressman, rather than turning to more experienced lawmakers on the Hill. Byrnes was also a protege of "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, and often had a moderating influence on the fiery segregationist Senator. Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives President of the Senate President pro tempore Dick Cheney, (R) since January 20, 2001 Robert C. Byrd, (D) since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D) since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political... Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856–February 3, 1924), was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. ... Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 - July 3, 1918) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894 and as a United States Senator from 1895 until his death. ...


United States Senate and Supreme Court

Senator James Francis Byrnes
Senator James Francis Byrnes

Thanks largely to the opposition of his candidacy by the Ku Klux Klan, Byrnes lost the 1924 Senate primary to Coleman L. Blease, often considered a notorious demagogue. Out of office, he moved his law practice to Spartanburg, in the industrializing Piedmont region. Between his law practice and investment advice from friends such as Bernard Baruch, Byrnes became a wealthy man, but he never took his eyes off of a return to politics. He used his new base to gain the support of factory workers, and defeated Blease in 1930. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... Coleman Livingston Blease (October 8, 1868 - January 19, 1942) was a politician from South Carolina known for his populist appeals and racism. ... Spartanburg is the largest city and the county seat of Spartanburg CountyGR6 in South Carolina, and is the second-largest city of the three primary cities in the Upstate region of South Carolina. ... Bernard Baruch, 1920 Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870–June 20, 1965) was an American financier, stock market speculator, statesman, and presidential adviser. ...


He had long been friends with Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he supported for the Democratic nomination in 1932, and made himself the President's spokesman on the Senate floor, where he guided much of the early New Deal legislation to passage. He won easy reelection in 1936, promising: FDR redirects here. ...

"I admit I am a New Dealer, and if [the New Deal] takes money from the few who have controlled the country and gives it back to the average man, I am going to Washington to help the President work for the people of South Carolina and the country."

Since the colonial era, South Carolina's politicians had dreamed of an inland waterway system that would not only aid commerce, but also control flooding. By the 1930s, Byrnes took up the cause for a massive dam building project, the Santee Cooper, that would not only accomplish those tasks, but also electrify the entire state with hydroelectric power. With South Carolina financially strapped by the Great Depression, Senator Byrnes managed to get the Federal government to pay for the entire project, which was completed and put into operation in February of 1942. Santee Cooper, also known as the South Carolina Public Service Authority, is South Carolinas state-owned electric and water utility. ... For other uses, see The Great Depression (disambiguation). ...


In 1937 he supported Roosevelt on the highly controversial court packing plan, but voted against the minimum wage law of 1938 that would have made, as he argued, the textile mills in his state uncompetitive. He opposed Roosevelt's efforts to purge conservative Democrats in the 1938 primary elections. On foreign policy, however, he was a champion of Roosevelt's positions of helping Britain and France against Germany in 1939-41, and of maintaining a hard diplomatic line against Japan. The Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937, frequently called the Court-packing Bill, was a law proposed by United States President Franklin Roosevelt. ...


In part as a reward for his crucial support on many issues, Byrnes was named as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by FDR in 1940, a role which quickly bored him at a time when the country was about to go to war. He only served in that position for a year and a half from 1941 to 1942, whereupon he resigned in order to serve Roosevelt in a new, and in many ways unprecedented, capacity. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...


World War II and beginning of the Cold War

Byrnes left the Supreme Court to head Roosevelt's Economic Stabilization Office, which dealt with the vitally important issues of prices and taxes. How powerful the new office would become depended entirely on Byrnes's political skills, and Washington insiders soon reported he was in full charge. In May 1943 he also became head of the War Mobilization Board. Thanks to his political experience, his probing intellect, his close friendship with Roosevelt, and in no small part to his own personal charm, Byrnes was soon exerting influence over many facets of the war effort which were not technically under his departmental jurisdiction. Many in Congress and the press began referring to Byrnes as the "Assistant President."


He was a serious possibility for vice president in 1944. However, he was too conservative for the labor unions, big city bosses vetoed any ex-Catholic, and blacks were wary of his opposition to racial integration. The nomination went to Senator Harry S Truman. Roosevelt brought Byrnes to the Yalta Conference in early 1945, where he seemed to favor Soviet plans. Writing in shorthand, his notes comprise one of the most complete records of the "Big Three" Yalta meetings. Children at a parade in North College Hill, Ohio Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation). ... For the victim of Mt. ... The Big Three at the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. ...


Upon his succession to the presidency after Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945, Truman relied heavily on Byrnes's counsel, he (Byrnes) having been a mentor to Truman from Truman's earliest days in the U.S. Senate.[1]


The evidence now suggests that it was Byrnes alone of all of Truman's civilian and military advisors, who urged the use of the atomic bomb on Japanese cities at the end of World War II.[2] Byrnes not only believed it would speed the surrender of Japan, but that it might also give the Soviets pause in their supposed expansionist plans, thus helping to secure a stronger peace.


In 1946 he took an increasingly hardline position in opposition to Stalin, culminating in the speech held in Stuttgart September 6, 1946. "Restatement of Policy on Germany", also known as the "Speech of hope" it set the tone of future U.S. policy as it repudiated the Morgenthau Plan economic policies and gave the Germans hope for the future. Byrnes was named TIME magazine's Person of the Year. Although his tough position against the Soviets paralleled the feelings of the President, personal relations between the two men grew strained, particularly when Truman felt that Byrnes was attempting to set foreign policy by himself, and only informing the President afterward; Truman and others believed that Byrnes had grown resentful that he had not been FDR's running mate and Oval Office successor, and in his resentment he was disrespecting Truman. Whether this was true or not, Byrnes felt compelled to resign from the Cabinet in 1947 with some feelings of bitterness. For other uses, see Stuttgart (disambiguation). ... Restatement of Policy on Germany is a famous speech by James F. Byrnes, then United States Secretary of State, held in Stuttgart on September 6, 1946. ... The Morgenthau Plan showing the planned partitioning of Germany into a North State, a South State, and an International zone. ... Look up time in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Person of the Year is an annual issue of United States (U.S.) newsmagazine Time that features a profile on the man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that [1] // The tradition of selecting a Man of the Year began in 1927, when Time editors contemplated what they could...

Image File history File links Emblem-important. ...

Later political career

At an age when most of his contemporaries were retiring from political life, Byrnes was not yet ready to give up public service, and at age 72 he was elected governor of South Carolina, serving from 1951 to 1955, in which capacity he vigorously criticized the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Official language(s) English Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Largest metro area Columbia Area  Ranked 40th  - Total 34,726 sq mi (82,965 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 260 miles (420 km)  - % water 6  - Latitude 32° 2′ N to 35° 13′ N  - Longitude 78° 32′ W to 83... Holding Segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ...


Ironically, Byrnes was initially seen as a strong progressive voice for moderate Negro rights. Recognizing that the South could not continue with its entrenched segregationist policies much longer, but fearful of Congress imposing sweeping civil rights upon the South, he opted for a course of change from within. To that end, he sought to at last fulfill the Supreme Court's promise of "separate but equal," particularly in regard to public education, and he poured state money into improving Negro schools, buying new textbooks and new buses, and hiring additional teachers. He also sought to curb the power of the Ku Klux Klan by passing a law that prohibited adults from wearing a mask in public on any day other than Halloween; by this measure, he knew that many Klansmen feared exposure, and would not appear in public in their robes unless their faces were hidden as well. Byrnes hoped to make South Carolina an example for other Southern states to modify their "Jim Crow" policies. That didn't stop the NAACP from filing a suit against South Carolina to force the state to desegregate its schools. Byrnes turned to Kansas, a Northern state which also segregated its schools, to provide a "friend of the court" statement supporting the right of school segregation on his state's behalf in the trial. This gave the NAACP's lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, the idea to shift the suit from South Carolina over to Kansas, which led directly to Brown v. Board of Education. Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... This article is about the holiday. ... Jim Crow can refer to several subjects: Jim Crow laws, state and local laws in the Southern and border states of the United States from 1876 to 1964 that required racial segregation James F. Crow, Professor Emeritus of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Jump Jim Crow, the blackface... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is one of the oldest and most influential hate organizations in the United States. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. ...


The South Carolina state constitution limited governors to one four-year term, and Byrnes retired from active political life following the 1954 election.


In his later years, Byrnes foresaw the South as a much more important player in national politics, and to hasten that development, he sought to end the South's automatic support of the Democratic Party (which Byrnes felt had grown too liberal, and which took the "Solid South" for granted at election time, yet otherwise ignored the region and its needs), and to realign it with the Republican Party. This was despite the fact that Byrnes remained a registered Democrat for much of the rest of his life. The phrase Solid South describes the electoral support of the Southern United States for Democratic Party candidates for almost a century after the Reconstruction era, 1876-1964. ...


Byrnes endorsed Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, Richard Nixon in 1960 and 1968 and Barry Goldwater in 1964. He gave his private blessing to South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond to bolt the Democratic Party in '64 and declare himself a Republican, but Byrnes himself remained a registered Democrat that year. He eventually switched formal allegiances to the Republican Party. In 1968, he secretly advised Nixon on how to win over old-time Southern Democrats to the Republican Party. Dwight David Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American General and politician, who served as the thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). ... Nixon redirects here. ... Barry Morris Goldwater (January 1, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–87) and the Republican Partys nominee for president in the 1964 election. ... James Strom Thurmond (December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and as a United States Senator representing that state. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...


Legacy

Today, a building housing international programs is named after Byrnes at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina, and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Richard L. Walker, was the James F. Byrnes Professor Emeritus of International Studies there. An auditorium is named after him at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. A dormitory on the east campus of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina is named for him and he was on the board of trustees there. A high school in Spartanburg, James F. Byrnes High School, is also named after him, as well as a school in Quinby, South Carolina, called The James F. Byrnes School. His papers are in the Special Collections of the Clemson Universities Libraries. The University of South Carolina, Columbia (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a public, co-educational, research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. ... Richard Louis Dixie Walker (13 April 1922 – 22 July 2003) was an American scholar, author, and ambassador to South Korea. ... , Winthrop University (formerly Winthrop College) is an American public, four-year liberal arts college in Rock Hill, South Carolina, within the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan area. ... Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina, and a satellite city of Charlotte, North Carolina. ... Clemson University is a public, coeducational, land-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States. ... Clemson is a city located in South Carolina, a state of the United States of America. ... Spartanburg is a city located in Spartanburg County in South Carolina, a state of the United States of America, and 98 miles north of Columbia. ... Quinby is a town located in Florence County, South Carolina. ... Clemson University is a public, coeducational, land-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States. ...


External links

References

Primary sources

  • Byrnes, James. Speaking Frankly (1947)
  • Byrnes, James. All in One Lifetime (1958).

Footnotes

  1. ^ Robert L. Messer, The End of an Alliance: James F. Byrnes, Roosevelt, Truman, and the Origins of the Cold War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), 13. (Cited in reliance on citation in Robert J. Lifton and Greg Mitchell, Hiroshima in America, Fifty Years of Denial (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1995), 136 (footnote, Byrnes “as a kindly ‘older brother’ to Truman in” the Senate).<ref>{{Fact|date=May 2007}} One of the first people whom Truman saw on the following day was Byrnes, who shared information with the new President on the atomic bomb project (Truman had known nothing about the [[Manhattan Project]] beforehand). When Truman met Roosevelt's coffin in Washington, he asked Byrnes and former vice-president [[Henry A. Wallace]], the two other men who might well have been FDR's successor, to join him at the train station, and he intended for them to play leading roles in his administration as a sign of continuity with Roosevelt's policies; while Truman quickly fell out with Wallace, he began turning more and more to Byrnes for support. Truman appointed him as [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] on [[July 3]], [[1945]]. He played a major role at the [[Potsdam Conference]], the [[Paris Peace Treaties, 1947|Paris Peace Conference]], and other major postwar conferences. According to historian Robert H. Ferrell, Byrnes knew little more about foreign relations than Truman. He made decisions after consulting a few advisors, such as [[Donald S. Russell]] and [[Benjamin V. Cohen]], and Byrnes and his small group paid little attention to the department and similarly ignored the president.<ref>Robert H. Ferrell, ''Harry S. Truman: a Life'' (1995), ISBN 0826210503, pp. 236-237.</li> <li id="_note-1">'''[[#_ref-1|^]]''' Davidson, James <u>The Art of Historical Detection</u> page 337-338.</li></ol></ref>
    United States House of Representatives
    Preceded by
    James O'H. Patterson
    Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
    from South Carolina's 2nd congressional district

    1911 – 1925
    Succeeded by
    Butler B. Hare
    United States Senate
    Preceded by
    Coleman L. Blease
    United States Senator (Class 2) from South Carolina
    April 5, 1931 – July 17, 1941
    Served alongside: Ellison D. Smith
    Succeeded by
    Alva M. Lumpkin
    Legal offices
    Preceded by
    James Clark McReynolds
    Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
    July 8, 1941 – October 3, 1942
    Succeeded by
    Wiley Blount Rutledge
    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Edward Stettinius Jr.
    United States Secretary of State
    July 3, 1945 – January 21, 1947
    Succeeded by
    George C. Marshall
    Preceded by
    Strom Thurmond
    Governor of South Carolina
    1951 – 1955
    Succeeded by
    George Bell Timmerman, Jr.
    Honorary titles
    Preceded by
    Harry Truman
    Time's Man of the Year
    1946
    Succeeded by
    George Marshall
    The Stone Court Seal of the U.S. Supreme Court
    1941–1942: O.J. Roberts | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | F. Murphy | J.F. Byrnes | R.H. Jackson


 

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