James K. Vardaman | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Vardaman in 1910 | |
| United States Senator fromMississippi | |
| In office March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1919 | |
| Preceded by | LeRoy Percy |
| Succeeded by | Byron P. Harrison |
| 36th Governor of Mississippi | |
| In office January 19, 1904 – January 21, 1908 | |
| Lieutenant | John Prentiss Carter |
| Preceded by | Andrew H. Longino |
| Succeeded by | Edmond Favor Noel |
| Speaker of theMississippi House of Representatives | |
| In office 1894–1896 | |
| Preceded by | Hugh McQueen Street |
| Succeeded by | James F. McCool |
| Member of theMississippi House of Representatives from theLeflore County district | |
| In office January 1890 – January 1896 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Kimble Vardaman (1861-07-26)July 26, 1861 Jackson County, Texas, C.S. |
| Died | June 25, 1930(1930-06-25) (aged 68) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Resting place | Lakewood Memorial Park,Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Anna Burleson Robinson |
| Nickname | "The Great White Chief" |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Rank |  Major |
| Battles/wars | Spanish–American War |
James Kimble Vardaman (July 26, 1861 – June 25, 1930) was an American politician from the U.S. state ofMississippi. ADemocrat, he served as theGovernor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908 and then represented Mississippi in theUnited States Senate from 1913 to 1919.
Known as "The Great White Chief", Vardaman had gained electoral support for his advocacy ofpopulism andwhite supremacy, saying: "If it is necessary everyNegro in the state will belynched; it will be done to maintain white supremacy."[1] Aligning witheconomically left-wing populists and favoringprogressive reforms in railing against banks, railroads, and tariffs,[2] he appealed to the poorer whites, yeomen farmers, and factory workers. Vardaman's tenure as Governor of Mississippi was marked by his advocacy of regulating corporations, enacting child labor laws,segregating streetcars, ending educational opportunities for African Americans, and defending lynching.[3] After finishing his term, he defeated Democratic incumbentLeRoy Percy, a member of the planter elite, in the primary for the1912 U.S. Senate election,[4] and was then elected unopposed in the general election.[5]
Vardaman was born in July 1861 inJackson County, Texas, while it was under the control of theConfederate States of America, a fact he often remembered.[6] He moved to Mississippi, where he studied law and passed the bar.Hernando Money was a cousin and political ally.[7] He settled inGreenwood, Mississippi, becoming editor ofThe Greenwood Commonwealth.[8]
As aDemocrat, Vardaman served in theMississippi House of Representatives from 1890 to 1896 and was elected as its speaker in 1894.[9][10] He was known for his populist appeal to the everyday person. State Democrats took action to ensure that they did not lose power again. After having gained control of the legislature by suppressing the black vote, they passed a new constitution in 1890 with provisions, such as apoll tax[11]: 471 andliteracy test,[12] that raised barriers to voter registration anddisenfranchised most blacks.[13]
Referring to the 1890Mississippi state constitution, Vardaman said:
There is no use to equivocate or lie about the matter.... Mississippi's constitutional convention of 1890 was held for no other purpose than to eliminate the nigger from politics. Not the 'ignorant and vicious', as some of the apologists would have you believe, but the nigger.... Let the world know it just as it is.... In Mississippi we have in our constitution legislated against the racial peculiarities of the Negro.... When that device fails, we will resort to something else.[14]
Vardaman was commissioned as amajor in theU.S. Army during theSpanish–American War and served inPuerto Rico.[15]
Vardaman ran twice in Democratic primaries for governor, in 1895 and 1899, but was unsuccessful. The state was virtually one-party, and winning the Democratic primary wastantamount to victory in the general election for any office. In 1903 Vardaman won the primary and the general elections for governor, serving one four-year term (1904–1908). In the election, he said that "a vote for Vardaman is a vote for white supremacy, a vote for the quelling of the arrogant spirit that has been aroused in the blacks by Roosevelt and his henchmen, ...a vote for the safety of the home and the protection of our women and children."[16]
In late December 1906, he went toScooba, in ruralKemper County, with theMississippi National Guard, to ensure that control was established. Whites had rioted against blacks there and inWahalak and feared retaliation; in total, two white men were killed and 13 blacks. The events were covered by theAssociated Press and theNew York Times, among other newspapers.[17][18] During his term as governor, he called out the National Guard eleven times to prevent lynchings.[19]
By 1910, his political coalition of chiefly poor white farmers and industrial workers began to identify proudly as "rednecks." They began to wear red neckerchiefs to political rallies and picnics.[20] Vardaman advocated a policy of state-sponsored racism against blacks and said that he supportedlynching to maintainwhite supremacy.[1] From 1877 to 1950, Mississippi had the highest number of lynchings in the nation.[21] He was known as the "Great White Chief."[22] Several reforms were also carried out during his time as governor.[23][24][25][26][27][28][29]
Vardaman was elected to theU.S. Senate in 1912 in the first popular election of the state's senators by defeating the incumbentLeRoy Percy, a member of the planter elite, in the Democratic primary.[4] He ran on a platform of repealing theFourteenth andFifteenth Amendment, which gave blacks the vote and other rights. He was unopposed in the general election. Vardaman served one term, from 1913 until 1919. He voted against theU.S. declaration of war on Germany and the entry intoWorld War I, only five other senators voted with him.[30] He was defeated in his primary re-election bid in1918.[31]
Vardaman ran in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in1922 but was defeated in the primary runoff by U.S. RepresentativeHubert Stephens by 9,000 votes.[32]
While serving as senator in Congress, Vardaman supported at the national level many reforms he advocated in Mississippi including higher tax surcharges on high incomes, government ownership of coal mines, shipping companies, telephone lines and railroads, and also long-term credit for farmers. In addition, he advocated guaranteed government pensions for the elderly.[33]
Vardaman was known for his provocative speeches and quotes and once calledTheodore Roosevelt a "little, mean,coon-flavoredmiscegenationist."[34] About the education of black children, he remarked, "The only effect of Negro education is to spoil a good field hand and make an insolent cook."[35] "The knowledge of books does not seem to produce any good substantial result with the Negro, but serves to sharpen his cunning, breeds hopes that cannot be fulfilled, creates an inclination to avoid labor, promotes indolence, and in turn leads to crime."[36]: 105
After the president ofTuskegee University,Booker T. Washington, had dined with Roosevelt, Vardaman said that the White House was "so saturated with the odor of thenigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable."[37] Regarding Washington's role in politics, Vardaman said: "I am opposed to the nigger's voting, it matters not what his advertised moral and mental qualifications may be. I am just as much opposed to Booker Washington, with all his Anglo-Saxon reenforcement, voting, as I am to voting by the coconut-headed, chocolate-colored typical little coon, Andy Dotson, who blacks my shoes every morning. Neither one is fit to perform the supreme functions of citizenship."[38][39]
Vardaman married Anna Burleson Robinson. Their son,James K. Vardaman, Jr., later was appointed as a governor of theFederal Reserve System, serving from 1946 to 1958.[40] Vardaman died on June 25, 1930, at the age of 68, at Birmingham Hospital inBirmingham, Alabama.[41]
The town ofVardaman, Mississippi is named after him. There is also a Vardaman Hall at theUniversity of Mississippi, which has borne his name since it was built in 1929. In July 2017, the University of Mississippi announced that Vardaman's name would be removed from the building, but it still has not been removed as of September 2023.[42][43][44]
InWilliam Faulkner's novelAs I Lay Dying, a character in the Bundren family is named after the governor, presumably because the Bundrens are a family of poor, rural whites, one of Governor Vardaman's key constituencies. And in another of Faulkner's novelFlags in the Dust, Gov. Vardaman was mentioned twice; both characters who mention him express admiration for his moral views and politics.[45]
If it is necessary every Negro in the state will be lynched; it will be done to maintain white supremacy.
It is as noxious today as in 1901 when Mississippi Sen. James Vardaman said after Booker T. Washington had dined with President Theodore Roosevelt that the White House was "so saturated with the odor of the nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable."
James Kimball Vardaman, former Governor of Mississippi and a United States Senator from that State, familiarly known to thousands as 'the White Chief,' died at a hospital here today after a lengthy illness. His age was 68.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Mississippi 1903 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor ofMississippi 1904–1908 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Mississippi 1913–1919 Served alongside:John Sharp Williams | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
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| Class 2 | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
