Theodore G. Bilbo

Theodore Gilmore Bilbo
United States Senator from Mississippi
In office January 3, 1935 – August 21, 1947
Preceded by	Hubert D. Stephens
Succeeded by	John C. Stennis
39th Governor of Mississippi
In office January 18, 1916 – January 18, 1920
Lieutenant	Lee Maurice Russell
Preceded by	Earl L. Brewer
Succeeded by	Lee Maurice Russell
43rd Governor of Mississippi
In office January 16, 1928 – January 19, 1932
Lieutenant	Clayton B. Adams
Preceded by	Dennis Murphree
Succeeded by	Martin Sennett Conner
11th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
In office January 16, 1912 – January 18, 1916
Governor	Earl L. Brewer
Preceded by	Luther Manship
Succeeded by	Lee Maurice Russell
Personal details
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	(1) Lillian S. Herrington (1898-1899, died) (2) Linda R. Gaddy

Theodore Gilmore Bilbo (October 13, 1877–August 21, 1947) was an American politician. Bilbo, a Democrat, twice served as governor of Mississippi (1916–20, 1928–32) and later became a U.S. Senator (1935–47). A master of scathing filibuster and a "rough and tumble" fighter in debate, Bilbo became a synonym for white supremacy. He held unapologetic "anti-Negro" views and was a fiery defender of segregation. He was noted for his short stature (5'2" or 157 cm), wore flashy clothing, and was nicknamed, "The Man".

Education

Bilbo was born to a poor family in Pearl River County. He attended college at Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, and law school at Vanderbilt University, although he did not graduate from either institution. Later, Bilbo worked as a teacher. In 1908, he was admitted to the bar in Tennessee and began a law practice in Poplarville, Mississippi.

State Senate

Bilbo served in the Mississippi State Senate from 1908 to 1912. During this time, he survived impeachment for bribery by one vote, with the Senate passing a resolution calling him "unfit to sit with honest, upright men in a respectable legislative body." During his subsequent campaign for lieutenant governor, he made a comment to a state senator from Yazoo City. The man was insulted, and during the ensuing skirmish the man broke his cane over Bilbo's head. But Bilbo's campaign was successful, and he served as lieutenant governor from 1912 to 1916. One of his first acts as lieutenant governor was removing the resolution calling him "unfit to sit with honest men" from the records.

Governorship

Bilbo was elected to the office of governor in 1915. As governor, his populist program was implemented, including a state highway system. Bilbo was unable to run for re-election in 1919 due to term limits then in the state constitution.

Bilbo then decided to run for the House of Representatives. During the campaign, a bout of "Texas fever" broke out, and Bilbo supported a program to dip cattle in insecticide to kill the ticks carrying the fever. Mississippi farmers were generally not happy about the idea, and Bilbo was unable to win a seat in Congress.

Afterwards, Bilbo once again caused controversy by hiding in a barn to avoid a subpoena in a case involving his friend, then-governor Lee M. Russell, who had served as Bilbo's lieutenant governor, and Russell's former secretary, who accused Russell of breach of promise and of seducing and impregnating her; as a result, she underwent an abortion that left her unable to have children. Bilbo had been sent to try to convince this woman not to sue Russell. He was unsuccessful, but the woman was also unsuccessful in her suit against Russell. Judge Edwin R. Holmes sentenced him to 30 days in prison for "contempt of court" and Bilbo actually served 10 days, declaring to the crowd outside his cell that he would run for governor again in 1923.

But in 1923 Bilbo failed to win back the office, although in 1927 he was elected to a second term in a runoff over Governor Dennis Murphree. His second term was filled with controversy involving his plan to move the University of Mississippi from Oxford to Jackson. That idea was defeated, but Bilbo persuaded the college board to dismiss two college presidents and many of their fellow board members. During the 1928 presidential election, Bilbo helped Al Smith carry the state despite the existence of overwhelming anti-Catholic prejudice by claiming that Herbert Hoover had met with a black member of the Republican National Committee and danced with her. Bilbo also encountered problems with his enemies, who controlled the state legislature. He refused to sign the tax bills and the legislature refused to approve his bills. At the end of his term, the State of Mississippi was broke, as was Bilbo personally.

After his second gubernatorial term ended in 1932, Bilbo worked as a "consultant on public relations" for the Department of Agriculture for a short time, clipping newspaper articles for a high salary, a reward from Senator Pat Harrison for Bilbo's campaign support. Pundits dubbed him the "Pastemaster General". Soon afterwards, Bilbo told Harrison of his plans to run against incumbent Senator Hubert Stephens and Harrison told Bilbo that he would be supporting Stephens.

Senate

In 1934, he defeated Stephens to win a seat in the United States Senate. Bilbo became involved in a feud with Harrison, the senior senator from the state. The feud started when Harrison nominated Edwin R. Holmes for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Bilbo despised Holmes, apparently carrying lots of leftover animus from the contempt citation, and spoke against him for five hours; he was the only senator to vote against Holmes' confirmation. Harrison lost his bid to become Senate Majority Leader in 1937 by one vote. Bilbo had gotten his revenge by voting against Harrison.

In the Senate, Bilbo was a supporter of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Bilbo caused controversy in the Senate due to his outspoken support of segregation and white supremacy. Attracted by the ideas of Black separatists like Marcus Garvey, Bilbo regularly introduced bills providing funds for the deportation of black Americans to Liberia and wrote a book titled Take Your Choice, Separation or Mongrelization, advocating the idea. Garvey praised him in return, saying that Bibo had "done wonderfully well for the Negro".

Bilbo was assigned to what was considered the least important Senate committee, the District of Columbia Committee, as a way to try to limit his power. He used this role to advance his white supremacist views. Bilbo was against giving any vote to district residents, especially as the district's black population continued to increase. He chaired the committee, 1945-47. He also served on the Pensions Committee, chairing it 1942-45.

While Senator Bilbo revealed his membership to the Ku Klux Klan on the radio program Meet the Press. During the interview he stated, "“No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.”

Bilbo was also outspoken in his belief that blacks should not be allowed to vote anywhere, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution to the contrary. There were many allegations of disenfranchisement by black veterans, along with allegations that his campaign tactics provoked violence. Bilbo was also accused of giving war contracts out to his friends.

Bilbo was a prominent participant in the lengthy filibuster of the anti-lynching bill before the Senate in 1938. His language was even more passionate then those of his colleagues:

If you succeed in the passage of this bill, you will open the floodgates of hell in the South. Raping, mobbing, lynching, race riots, and crime will be increased a thousandfold; and upon your garments and the garments of those who are responsible for the passage of the measure will be the blood of the raped and outraged daughters of Dixie, as well as the blood of the perpetrators of these crimes that the red-blooded Anglo-Saxon white Southern men will not tolerate.

Bilbo famously denounced Richard Wright's novel, Black Boy, on the Senate floor, "Its purpose is to plant the seeds of devilment and troublebreeding in the days to come in the mind and heart of every American Negro...It is the dirtiest, filthiest, lousiest, most obscene piece of writing that I have ever seen in print. I would hate to have a son or daughter of mine permitted to read it; it is so filthy and so dirty. But it comes from a Negro, and you cannot expect any better from a person of his type."

He was re-elected to a third Senate term in November 1946, but the newly-elected Republican majority in the United States Senate refused to seat Bilbo for the term due to his being suspected of openly inciting violence against blacks who wanted to vote and a committee finding that he had taken bribes. A filibuster by his supporters delayed the seating of the Senate for days. It was resolved when a supporter proposed that Bilbo's credentials remain on the table while he returned home to Mississippi to seek medical treatment for his oral cancer.

Bilbo died only a few months later at the age of 69 in New Orleans, Louisiana. On his deathbed he summoned the editor of an African American newspaper to make a statement:

I am honestly against the social intermingling of Negroes and whites but I hold nothing personal against the Negroes as a race. They should be proud of their God-given heritage just as l am proud of mine. I believe Negroes should have the right [to indiscriminate use of the ballot], and in Mississippi too—when their main purpose is not to put me out of office and when they won't try to besmirch the reputation of my state.

His funeral at Juniper Grove Cemetery in Poplarville was attended by 5000 mourners, including the governor and the junior senator.

Bilbo is referred to in the 1947 film Gentleman's Agreement, in Pete Seeger's song, 'Listen Mr Bilbo' (1946), and in the novel Sophie's Choice by William Styron (1979).

Sources

• United States Congress. "Theodore G. Bilbo (id: b000460)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Take Your Choice Separation or Mongrelization By Theodore G. Bilbo (Online PDF 600Kb)

External links

• Theodore G. Bilbo's biographic sketch at Find A Grave