James Eastland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 37th and 38thDean of the United States Senate | |
| In office November 28, 1977 – December 27, 1978 | |
| Preceded by | John L. McClellan and Himself |
| Succeeded by | Warren G. Magnuson |
| In office January 3, 1975 – November 28, 1977 Serving with John L. McClellan | |
| Preceded by | George D. Aiken |
| Succeeded by | Himself |
| President pro tempore of the United States Senate | |
| In office July 28, 1972 – December 27, 1978 | |
| Deputy | Hubert Humphrey (1977–1978) |
| Preceded by | Allen J. Ellender |
| Succeeded by | Warren Magnuson |
| Chair of theSenate Judiciary Committee | |
| In office January 3, 1957 – December 27, 1978 | |
| Preceded by | Harley M. Kilgore |
| Succeeded by | Ted Kennedy |
| United States Senator fromMississippi | |
| In office January 3, 1943 – December 27, 1978 | |
| Preceded by | Wall Doxey |
| Succeeded by | Thad Cochran |
| In office June 30, 1941 – September 28, 1941 | |
| Appointed by | Paul B. Johnson Sr. |
| Preceded by | Pat Harrison |
| Succeeded by | Wall Doxey |
| |
| In office 1928–1932 | |
| Preceded by | William D. Cook |
| Succeeded by | Elwin B. Livingston |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Oliver Eastland (1904-11-28)November 28, 1904 Doddsville, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | February 19, 1986(1986-02-19) (aged 81) Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Resting place | Forest Cemetery,Forest, Mississippi |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Coleman Eastland |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | University of Mississippi Vanderbilt University University of Alabama |
| Profession | Attorney Cotton planter |
James Oliver Eastland (November 28, 1904 – February 19, 1986) was an American attorney, plantation owner, and politician fromMississippi. ADemocrat, he served in theUnited States Senate in 1941 and again from 1943 until his resignation in late 1978. Eastland was asegregationist who led the Southern resistance against racial integration during thecivil rights movement, often speaking of African Americans as "an inferior race".[1] Eastland has been called the "Voice of the White South" and the "Godfather of Mississippi Politics".[2]
The son of prominent attorney, politician, and cotton planter Woods Eastland, he attended the local schools ofScott County, Mississippi, and took courses at theUniversity of Mississippi,Vanderbilt University, and theUniversity of Alabama. He completed his legal education by studying in his father's office, attaining admission to the bar in 1927. Eastland practiced law inSunflower County, Mississippi, and took over management of his family's cotton plantation. Becoming active in politics as a Democrat, he served in theMississippi House of Representatives from 1928 to 1932.
When SenatorPat Harrison died in office in 1941, the governor appointed Eastland to fill the vacancy on the condition that Eastland not run in that year's special election to complete the term. Eastland served from June to September 1941. The special election was won byWall Doxey. Eastland went on to defeat Doxey in the 1942 primary for the Democratic nomination for a full term. The Democratic Party was then essentially the only party in Mississippi, assuring Eastland's return to the Senate in January 1943. Eastland was reelected five times, serving until resigning in December 1978, days before the end of his final term. Eastland advanced through seniority to the chairmanship of theSenate Judiciary Committee, serving over 20 years, andPresident pro tempore of the Senate.
Eastland was born inDoddsville, in theMississippi Delta on November 28, 1904, the son of Woods Caperton Eastland, a lawyer and cotton planter, and Alma Teresa (Austin) Eastland.[3] He was named James after his late uncle, who was allegedly murdered earlier in 1904 byLuther Holbert, who was subsequently lynched.[4] In 1905 he moved with his parents toForest, the county seat ofScott County, Mississippi.[5] His father was active in Mississippi politics and served as a district attorney.[6] The son attended the local segregated public schools and graduated from Forest High School in 1922.[7]
Eastland attended theUniversity of Mississippi (1922-1924),Vanderbilt University (1925-1926), and theUniversity of Alabama (1926-1927).[8] Hestudied law in his father's office, attainedadmission to the bar in 1927, and practiced inSunflower County.[8] Active in politics, he was elected to one term in theMississippi House of Representatives, and served from 1928 to 1932.[8] After completing his House term, Eastland remained active in politics and government.[9] He was a sought-after campaign speaker, including speeches on behalf of the gubernatorial candidacies ofPaul B. Johnson Sr. in 1935 and 1939.[9][10] In addition, he was a member of the board of trustees of the state hospital for the insane.[11]
In the 1930s, Eastland took over management of his family's Sunflower County plantation; he eventually expanded it to nearly 6,000 acres (24 km2). Even after entering politics, he considered himself first and foremost a cotton planter.Cotton plantations were adopting mechanization but he still had many African-American laborers on the plantation, most of whom worked assharecroppers.
Eastland was appointed to the U.S. Senate in June 1941 byGovernorPaul B. Johnson Sr., following the death of SenatorPat Harrison. Johnson first offered the appointment to Woods Eastland, whom he had known since childhood; Woods Eastland declined and suggested his son. Johnson appointed James Eastland on the condition that he would not run later that year in the special election to complete the term, ensuring that no candidate would have the advantage of incumbency. Eastland kept his word, and served until November; the election was won by2nd District CongressmanWall Doxey.
In 1942, Eastland was one of three candidates who challenged Doxey for a full term. Doxey had the support of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and Mississippi's senior U.S. Senator,Theodore G. Bilbo, but Eastland defeated him in the Democratic primary. At the time, Mississippi was effectively a one-party state, dominated by white Democrats since thedisfranchisement of African Americans with the passage of the 1890 state constitution, which allowedpoll taxes,literacy tests andwhite primaries to exclude them from the political system. This made winning the Democratic primarytantamount to election, and Eastland returned to the Senate on January 3, 1943. Roosevelt and Eastland developed a working relationship that enabled Eastland to opposeNew Deal programs that were unpopular in Mississippi, while he supported the President's agenda on other issues. Eastland was effective in developing that type of arrangement with presidents of both parties during his long tenure in the Senate. Also effective because of his seniority, he gained major federal investment in the state, such as infrastructure construction including theTennessee–Tombigbee Waterway and federal relief after disasters such asHurricane Camille.
Early 1947 saw a renewed effort by the Truman administration to promote civil rights with activities such as President Truman addressing theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and delivering an address to Congress entirely dedicated to the subject.[12] Eastland, among many other Southerners who saw the civil rights backing of the administration as an attack on their "way of life", addressed the Senate floor a week after Truman's speech on the matter, saying Southerners were expected to "remain docile" in light of their laws and culture being destroyed "under the false guise of another civil-rights bill."[13] Six weeks before the1948 United States presidential election, Eastland predicted the defeat of the incumbent PresidentHarry Truman, telling an audience inMemphis, Tennessee that voting for him was a waste.[14] After Truman's surprise victory, Eastland "remained publicly undaunted".[14]
In 1956, Eastland was appointed chairman of theSenate Judiciary Committee, and he served in this position until his retirement from the Senate. He was re-elected five times. He did not face substantiveRepublican opposition until 1966, as party politics were realigning after passage of theCivil Rights Act of 1964 and theVoting Rights Act of 1965. In 1966, freshman RepresentativePrentiss Walker, the first Republican to represent Mississippi at the federal level sinceReconstruction, ran against Eastland. The Walker campaign was an early Republican effort to attract white conservatives to its ranks, because recently passed civil rights legislation had enabled African Americans in the South to begin participating in the political process, and most of them became active as liberals in the Democratic Party.
Former Republican Party state chairmanWirt Yerger had considered running against Eastland but bowed out after Walker announced his candidacy. Walker ran well to Eastland's right, accusing him of not having done enough to keep integration-friendly judges from being confirmed by the Senate. As is often the case when a one-term representative runs against a popular incumbent senator or governor, Walker was soundly defeated. Years later, Yerger said that Walker's decision to relinquish his House seat after one term for the vagaries of a Senate race against Eastland was "very devastating" to the growth of the Mississippi Republicans.[15]
In February 1960, SenatorKenneth B. Keating made a motion to report an Eisenhower administration-backed civil rights bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.Olin D. Johnston objected on the grounds that the committee did not have permission to sit while the full Senate was meeting. Eastland upheld the objection. Keating later stated that Eastland intentionally refused to recognize him earlier, which prevented him from making his motion before the full Senate convened. Eastland disputed Keating's claim, stated that he had recognized Keating in an appropriate manner, and advised Keating not to repeat his claim to the full Senate.[16] In September 1960, Eastland andThomas Dodd said officials in the State Department cleared the way for the regime ofFidel Castro to reign inCuba and that lower-ranking officials had misinformed Americans about the political climate of Cuba with assistance from the media. Incumbent Secretary of StateChristian Herter responded to the claims by saying they were incorrect or misleading.[17]
Eastland announced his support forUnited States Deputy Attorney GeneralByron White to replace the retiringCharles Evans Whittaker as Associate Justice on March 30, 1962, Eastland stating that White would be an able justice.[18] White took office the following month. Eastland introduced an amendment that he stated would nullify the Supreme Court prayer decision on June 29, 1962.[19] In September 1963, Eastland, fellow Mississippi SenatorJohn Stennis, and Georgia SenatorRichard Russell jointly announced their opposition to the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty.[20] The opposition was viewed as denting hopes of the Kennedy administration to be met with minimal disagreement during the treaty's appearance before the Senate.[21]
In 1972, Eastland was reelected with 58 percent of the vote in his closest contest ever. His Republican opponent,Gil Carmichael, an automobile dealer fromMeridian, was likely aided by PresidentRichard Nixon's landslide reelection in 49 states, including taking 78 percent of Mississippi's popular vote. However, Nixon had worked "under the table" to support Eastland, a long-time personal friend. Nixon and other Republicans provided little support for Carmichael to avoid alienatingconservativeSouthern Democrats, who increasingly supported Republican positions on many national issues. The Republicans worked to elect two House candidates,Trent Lott andThad Cochran, both of whom later became influential U.S. senators. Recognizing that Nixon would handily carry Mississippi, Eastland did not endorse the Democratic presidential candidate,George McGovern ofSouth Dakota, who was considered a liberal. Four years later, Eastland supported the candidacy of fellow Southern DemocratJimmy Carter ofGeorgia, rather than Nixon's successor, PresidentGerald R. Ford. Eastland's former press secretary,Larry Speakes, a Mississippi native, served as a press spokesman for Gerald Ford and Ford's running mate, US SenatorRobert J. Dole.
In January 1970, afterG. Harrold Carswell was accused of harboring both sexist and racist beliefs, Eastland told reporters that he believed this was the first instance of a Supreme Court nominee being challenged on his views on the legal rights of women.[22] In April, the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a vote for a plan that if enacted would give each state one electoral vote for each congressional district. During a meeting with reporters, Eastland espoused his view that the Senate would not approve any constitutional amendment reforming the presidential election system that year.[23] In November, along with fellow SouthernersStrom Thurmond andSam J. Ervin Jr., Eastland was one of three senators to vote against an occupational safety bill that would establish federal supervision to oversee working conditions.[24] Later that month, after President Nixon vetoed a curb on spending for political broadcasts, Republican leaderHugh Scott announced that he would offer comprehensive campaign reforms the following year and called for senators to join him in sustaining the veto. It was agreed by members of both parties that Eastland was one of eight senators who were essential to supporting Democratic opposition to the veto and thereby make the difference in overriding it.[25]
In April 1971, Eastland introduced a six‐bill package intended to adjust theInternal Security Act of 1950 in addition to plugging loopholes noted by various decisions made by the Supreme Court, Eastland noting that his proposed version of the Internal Security Act would give theSubversive Activities Control Board more efficiency.[26] In October 1971, after PresidentRichard Nixon nominatedLewis F. Powell andWilliam Rehnquist to the Supreme Court,[27] Eastland announced his intent to hasten the hearings of Rehnquist and Powell while admitting his doubts that hearings would begin the following week given the Senate being in recess.[28] In October 1974, Eastland was one of five senators to sponsor legislation authored byJesse Helms permitting prayer in public schools and taking the issue away from the Supreme Court which had previously ruled in 1963 that school prayer violated theFirst Amendment to the United States Constitution through the establishment of a religion.[29] In June 1976, Eastland joined a coalition of Democratic politicians who endorsed Georgia GovernorJimmy Carter for the presidency.[30]The New York Times assessed Stennis and Eastland as jointly "trying to pull Mississippi out for Mr. Carter" in their first campaign for a national Democrat in decades.[31]
On May 18, 1977, Eastland made a joint appearance with PresidentJimmy Carter in the Rose Garden in support of proposed foreign intelligence surveillance legislation. Eastland said the legislation was "vitally needed in this country" and that he was satisfied with its bipartisan support.[32] Over the summer of 1977, the Justice Department enlisted the aid of Eastland as part of its effort to thwart "balkanization" of litigation authority, Eastland and Attorney GeneralGriffin Bell moving to block six measures that if enacted would have permitted the independent agencies to go to court under certain circumstances in the event the Justice Department did not act on a case 45 days after it was referred to the department.[33] By August 1977, the Carter administration reached a compromise plan to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the United States, Eastland, Attorney General Bell, andUnited States Secretary of LaborF. Ray Marshall agreeing to civil penalties up to $1,000 (~$4,028 in 2024) for offending employers.[34] By September 1977, the seventy-three-year-old Eastland was considering retirement, with discussions ofTed Kennedy assuming his position as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.[35] In October 1977, Eastland was one of several influential senators invited to meet with President Carter as the latter tried gaining support in the Senate for thePanama Canal treaties.[36]
On February 14, 1974, Special Prosecutor for the U.S. Department of JusticeLeon Jaworski wrote to Eastland complaining that President Nixon had refused to give him material that he needed for hisWatergate investigation including 27 tapes relating to the Watergate cover‐up in addition to political donations of milk producers and the activities of the plumbers unit of the White House. The contents of the letter to Eastland were disclosed to the public by Jaworski the following month.[37] In May, the House Judiciary Committee opened impeachment hearings against President Nixon after the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides and the administration. That month, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a resolution supporting Jaworski observing that he was "acting within the scope of the authority conferred upon him". Eastland's support for the resolution was seen by observers as part of a pattern of Nixon backers turning against him in light of the Watergate scandal.[38] In August,Newsweek magazine released Eastland's name as one of thirty-six senators who the White House believed would support President Nixon remaining in office in the event of impeachment. The article mentioned the White House believing some of the supporters were shaky and that thirty-four of them would need to remain firm to override a potential conviction.[39] Within days of the article's release, Nixon resigned the presidency in the face of near-certain impeachment.[40]
During his last Senate term, Eastland was the longest-serving member of the majority party and was electedPresident pro tempore. Eastland is the most recent President pro tempore to have served during a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. He did so twice during the tumultuous 1970s, first from October to December 1973, followingSpiro Agnew's resignation until the swearing-in ofGerald Ford as Vice President, and then from August to December 1974, from the time that Ford became President untilNelson Rockefeller was sworn in as Vice President. Then, Eastland was second in thepresidential line of succession, behind onlySpeaker of the HouseCarl Albert.
Eastland opposed integration and thecivil rights movement. DuringWorld War II, Eastland vocally opposed and denigrated the service of African American soldiers in the war. He incited protests and comparisons toHitlerism following a vitriolic speech on the floor of the Senate in July 1945, in which he complained that the Negro soldier was physically, morally, and mentally incapable of serving in combat.[41][42][43][44] Eastland claimed that the "boys from the South were fighting to maintainwhite supremacy".[45][46] In 1944 Eastland said:
I have no prejudice in my heart, but the white race is thesuperior race and theNegro race aninferior race and the races must be kept separate by law.[47][48]
The same year, he protested againstSmith v. Allwright, which bannedwhite primaries:
This decision reveals an alarming tendency to destroy the sovereignty of the states. Our supreme court is usurping the legislative function, and Congress may yet prove the last citadel of constitutional government.[49][50]
As a member of theSenate Judiciary Committee, Eastland would alongside fellow southernersOlin D. Johnston ofSouth Carolina andHarley M. Kilgore ofWest Virginia be one of three senators to report negatively onEarl Warren whenPresident Eisenhower nominated him tothe Supreme Court.[51] He later was one of eleven senators to vote againstJohn Marshall Harlan II[52] and one of seventeen to vote againstPotter Stewart.[53] When theSupreme Court issued its decision in the landmark caseBrown v. Board of Education, ruling that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Eastland, like the majority of Southern Democrats, denounced it. In a speech given inSenatobia, Mississippi on August 12, 1955, he announced:
On May 17, 1954, theConstitution of the United States was destroyed because of the Supreme Court's decision. You are not obliged to obey the decisions of any court which are plainly fraudulent sociological considerations.[54]
Eastland would become actively involved with theWhite Citizens' Council, an organization which boasted 60,000 members across the South and was called "the new Klan that enforces thought control by economic pressures."[55] Eastland testified to the Senate ten days after theBrown decision:[56]
The Southern institution of racial segregation or racial separation was the correct, self-evident truth which arose from the chaos and confusion of the Reconstruction period. Separation promotes racial harmony. It permits each race to follow its own pursuits, and its own civilization. Segregation is not discrimination ... Mr. President, it is the law of nature, it is the law of God, that every race has both the right and the duty to perpetuate itself. All free men have the right to associate exclusively with members of their own race, free from governmental interference, if they so desire.
On July 24, 1957, interviewed byMike Wallace on the occasion of the passing of theCivil Rights Act of 1957, Eastland said segregation was wanted by both races:
As I said, we have more Nigra professional men, more businessmen, we have substantial Nigra cotton planters. In fact, they have made more progress in the South than in the North. The master-servant relationship today is largely a Northern product.[57]
In the 1960s, Eastland belonged to the Genetics Committee of thePioneer Fund.[58][59] Civil rights workersMickey Schwerner,James Chaney, andAndrew Goodmanwent missing in Mississippi on June 21, 1964, during theFreedom Summer efforts to register African American voters. Eastland tried to convince PresidentLyndon Johnson that the incident was a hoax and there was noKu Klux Klan in the state. He suggested that the three had gone toChicago:[60]
Johnson: Jim, we've got three kids missing down there. What can I do about it?
Eastland: Well, I don't know. I don't believe there's ... I don't believe there's three missing.
Johnson: We've got their parents down here.
Eastland: I believe it's a publicity stunt ...
Johnson once said:
Jim Eastland could be standing right in the middle of the worst Mississippi flood ever known, and he'd say the niggers caused it, helped out by the Communists.[61]
Eastland, like most of his Southern colleagues, opposed theCivil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation of public places and facilities. Its passage caused many Mississippi Democrats to supportBarry Goldwater's presidential bidthat year, but Eastland did not publicly oppose the election of Johnson. Four years earlier he had quietly supportedJohn F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, butMississippi voted that year for unpledged electors. Although Republican Senator Goldwater was strongly defeated by incumbent Johnson, he carriedMississippi with 87.14 percent of the popular vote, which constitutes the best-ever Republican showing in any state since the founding of that party.[62] In 1964, almost all blacks in Mississippi remained excluded from voting, thus Goldwater's mammoth win essentially constituted the vote of the white population.
Eastland was often at odds with Johnson's policy on civil rights, but they retained a close friendship based on long years together in the Senate. Johnson often sought Eastland's support and guidance on other issues, such as the nomination ofAbe Fortas in 1968 asChief Justice of the United States. TheSolid South opposed him.[63] In the 1950s, Johnson was one of three senators from the South who did not sign theSouthern Manifesto of resistance toBrown v. Board of Education, but Eastland and mostSouthern senators did, vowing resistance to school integration.
Eastland lobbied for the appointment of his friendHarold Cox to a federal judgeship, promising John F. Kennedy, who planned to appointThurgood Marshall to the United States Court of Appeals, that he would permit Marshall's confirmation to go forward if Cox was also appointed to the bench.[64] This was in keeping with Kennedy's approach to handling Eastland; not wanting to upset the powerful chairman of theJudiciary Committee, Kennedy generally acceded to Eastland's requests on judicial appointments in Mississippi, which resulted in white segregationists dominating the state's federal courts.[64] Though Eastland agreed to allow Marshall's nomination to proceed, he and senatorsRobert Byrd,John McClellan,Olin D. Johnston,Sam Ervin, andStrom Thurmond, made unsuccessful attempts to block Marshall's confirmation to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S.Supreme Court.[65]
In early 1969, Eastland went toRhodesia and came back praising the White minority regime for the "racial harmony" supposedly lacking from America.[66][67] According toKen Flower, head of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Operation, Eastland once complained about the fact a hostel ofSalisbury was integrated, stating "You've inserted the thin end of the wedge by allowing stinking niggers into such a fine hotel".[68][69] When he considered running for reelection in 1978, Eastland sought black support fromAaron Henry, civil rights leader and president of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Henry told Eastland that it would be difficult for him to earn the support of black voters given his "master-servant philosophy with regard to blacks."[1] Eastland decided not to seek re-election. Partly because of the independent candidacy ofCharles Evers siphoning off votes from the Democratic nominee,Maurice Dantin, Republican4th District RepresentativeThad Cochran won the race to succeed Eastland. Eastland resigned the day afterChristmas, enabling the governor to appoint Cochran to complete the last few days of Eastland's term, which gave Cochran a seniority advantage over other senators elected in 1978. After his retirement, Eastland remained friends with Aaron Henry and sent contributions to the NAACP,[70][71] but he said that he "didn't regret a thing" in his public career.
In 1968, after opposing the nomination ofAbe Fortas to Chief Justice, Eastland, as chair of the Judiciary committee, said "After [Thurgood] Marshall, I could not go back to Mississippi if a Jewish chief justice swore in the next president."[72] In 1977, Eastland "sneer(ed) openly at SenatorJacob Javits, saying, 'I don't like you or your kind,' because Javits was Jewish."[73]
Eastland served on a subcommittee in the 1950s investigating theCommunist Party in the United States. As chairman of theInternal Security Subcommittee, hesubpoenaed some employees ofThe New York Times to testify about their activities. The paper was taking a strong position on its editorial page that Mississippi should adhere to theBrown decision, and claimed that Eastland was persecuting them on that account. TheTimes said in its January 5, 1956 editorial:
Our faith is strong that long after Senator Eastland and his present subcommittee are gone, long after segregation has lost its final battle in the South, long after all that was known asMcCarthyism is a dim, unwelcome memory, long after the last Congressional committee has learned that it cannot tamper successfully with a free press, TheNew York Times will be speaking for the men who make it, and only for the men who make it, and speaking, without fear or favor, the truth as it sees it.[74][75]
Eastland subsequently allowed the subcommittee to become dormant as communist fears receded.
In 1974, Eastland led congressional subcommittee hearings intomarijuana, the report on which concluded:
... five years of research has provided strong evidence that, if corroborated, would suggest that marijuana in various forms is far more hazardous than originally suspected.[76]
Eastland was a staunch supporter ofFBI DirectorJ. Edgar Hoover, and shared intelligence with the FBI, including leaks from theState Department. An investigation initiated byAttorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy and executed by former FBI agentWalter Sheridan traced some of the unauthorized disclosures toOtto Otepka of the State Department Office of Security.[77] Hoover received intelligence that Eastland was among members of Congress who had received money and favors fromRafael Trujillo, dictator of theDominican Republic. Eastland had regularly defended him from the Senate floor. Hoover declined to pursue Eastland on corruption charges.[78]
In his last years in the Senate, Eastland was recognized by most senators as one who knew how to wield the legislative powers he had accumulated. Many senators, includingliberals who opposed many of his positions, acknowledged the fairness with which he chaired the Judiciary Committee, sharing staff and authority that chairmen of other committees jealously held for themselves.[79] He maintained friendly personal ties with liberal Democrats such asTed Kennedy,[80][81]Walter Mondale,Joe Biden[82] andPhilip Hart, even though they disagreed on many issues.[79] Following Johnson's retirement from the White House, Eastland frequently visited Johnson at his Texas ranch.[79]
In an event recounted byPatrick Leahy in his 2022 memoir,Ted Kennedy once sought to advance in the Judiciary Committee a bill that Eastland opposed.[83] Eastland promised Kennedy that if Kennedy secured enough votes for the measure to pass, Eastland would place it on the committee agenda, though Eastland would vote against it.[83] Kennedy believed he had secured the votes, and true to his word, Eastland included it on the committee agenda.[83] When the question was called, it failed by one vote.[83] According to Leahy, Eastland questioned one senator who had cast a no vote as to whether he had given Kennedy his word to vote in favor.[83] The senator indicated that he had, but that he had then changed his mind.[83] Eastland told the lawmaker in question that when one senator gave his word to another, he was honor-bound to keep it.[83] Eastland then changed his own vote to yes, allowing Kennedy's bill to pass.[83] Afterward, the senator Eastland questioned never had one of his bills included on the committee agenda.[83] Eastland's closest friend and confidant wasLeander Perez.[84]
Eastland died at a hospital inGreenwood, Mississippi, on February 19, 1986, from pneumonia as a complication of other health issues; he was 81.[85]
While at a fundraiser on June 18, 2019, presidential candidate Biden said that one of his greatest strengths was "bringing people together" and pointed to his relationships with Eastland and fellow segregationist senatorHerman Talmadge as examples. While imitating aSouthern drawl, Biden remarked, "I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me 'boy,' he always called me 'son.'”[86][87] New Jersey SenatorCory Booker was one of many Democrats to criticize Biden for the remarks, issuing a statement that said, "You don't joke about calling black men 'boys.' Men like James O. Eastland used words like that, and the racist policies that accompanied them, to perpetuate white supremacy and strip black Americans of our very humanity".[87]
Eastland was portrayed by actorJeff Doucette in the 2016HBO filmAll the Way and byNicholas Bell in the 2022 filmElvis.[88]
Eastland.
Eastland did soften somewhat in his later years, even becoming friends with civil rights leader Aaron Henry
Eastland sent a $500 check to the Mississippi NAACP, an organization he had once railed against, and a letter to its chairman, Aaron Henry, with whom he had struck a friendship.
Senator Eastland publicly came out for his friendship with the youngest of the Kennedy brothers. In the spring of 1978, when Eastland had already announced his retirement, he invited Ted Kennedy as the commencement speaker at the University of Mississippi
Eastland and Kennedy became friends
Jim Eastland of Mississippi, a fellow Democrat who offered to help Biden in a tough 1978 reelection contest. "What can Jim Eastland do for you?" the senator asked. Biden was at the time worried about the issue of school busing, in which he had sided with the civil rights community, and was concerned with how a boost from a Dixiecrat would play in the housing projects of Wilmington. "Mr. Chairman," Biden said, "quite honestly, some places you can help me, but a lot of places you could hurt me." "I'll just come to Del'ware and campaign for you or agin' you, whichever helps you the most," Eastland drawled.
Leander Perez, who became Eastland's closest friend and confidant.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromMississippi (Class 2) 1942,1948,1954,1960,1966,1972 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Mississippi June 30, 1941 – September 28, 1941 Served alongside:Theodore G. Bilbo | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Mississippi January 3, 1943 – December 27, 1978 Served alongside:Theodore G. Bilbo,John C. Stennis | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President pro tempore of the United States Senate 1972–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman ofSenate Judiciary Committee 1956–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Dean of the United States Senate January 3, 1975 – November 28, 1977 Served alongside:John L. McClellan | Succeeded by Himself |
| Preceded by Himselfand John L. McClellan | Dean of the United States Senate November 28, 1977 – January 3, 1979 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 2 | ||
|  | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
