Theodore Bilbo
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| “ | This is a white man's country with a white man's civilization, and any dream on the part of the Negro race to share social and political equality will be shattered in the end. | „ |
| ~ Theodore Bilbo |
Theodore Gilmore Bilbo (October 13, 1877 – August 21, 1947) was an American politician who twice served as governor of Mississippi (1916–20, 1928–32) and later was elected a U.S. Senator (1935–47).
A lifelong Democrat, he was a filibusterer whose name was synonymous with white supremacy. Like many Southern Democrats of his era, Bilbo believed that black people were inferior; he defended segregation, and was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Bilbo was of short stature (5 ft 2 in), frequently wore bright, flashy clothing to draw attention to himself, and was nicknamed "The Man" because he tended to refer to himself in the third person.
Biography edit
Bilbo was born in the small town of Juniper Grove in Hancock (later Pearl River) County. His parents, Obedience "Beedy" (née Wallis or Wallace) and James Oliver Bilbo, were of Scotch-Irish descent, and James was a farmer and veteran of the Confederate States Army who rose from poverty during Theodore Bilbo's early years to become Vice President of the Poplarville National Bank.
Theodore Bilbo obtained a scholarship to attend Peabody Normal College in Nashville, Tennessee, and later attended Vanderbilt University Law School, but did not graduate from either. He also taught school and worked at a drug store during his legal studies.
During his teaching career, Bilbo was accused of being overly familiar with a female student. He was admitted to the bar in Tennessee in 1906, and began a law practice in Poplarville, Mississippi, the following year.
In 1907 he won a seat in the Mississippi state senate, running as an antirailroad populist and supporter of white supremacy. In 1911 he was elected lieutenant governor and then became governor in 1916. He lost a bid for Congress in 1920 and was defeated once again when he ran for governor in 1924.
Leaning heavily on racist invective, Bilbo regained the governorship in 1928. He fired many faculty members of Mississippi’s colleges and universities and brought the state almost to bankruptcy. In 1934, after a campaign in which he made more than a thousand speeches—characterized by biblical phraseology and highly imaginative language—Bilbo won a seat in the U.S. Senate. There he remained for almost the rest of his life, blocking any attempt at ameliorating racial injustice and advocating the deportation of blacks to Africa in order to preserve “racial purity.”
The Democrats assigned Bilbo to what was considered the least important Senate committee, one on governance of the District of Columbia, to try to limit his influence. Bilbo, however, used his position to advance his white supremacist views. Bilbo was against giving any vote to district residents, especially as the district's black population was increasing because of the Great Migration. After re-election, he advanced to sufficient seniority to chair the committee, 1945–47. He also served on the Pensions Committee, chairing it 1942–45.
Critics accused Bilbo of giving war contracts out to his friends. In 1946, he wrote to General MacArthur, head of the Allied occupation of Japan, that the Japanese should "all be sterilized."
After evidence of influence peddling was uncovered and during further investigation of his unethical practices, several senators recommended that Bilbo be barred from the Senate chambers, a suggestion that met with firm opposition from Bilbo’s Southern supporters in the Senate. Before the issue was resolved, Bilbo, who was ill, left Washington, D.C., for medical treatment and never recovered.