James K. Vardaman Explained

Jr/Sr:United States Senator
State:Mississippi
Party:Democratic
Term:March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1919
Preceded:LeRoy Percy
Succeeded:Byron P. Harrison
Order1:36th
Title1:Governor of Mississippi
Term Start1:January 19, 1904
Term End1:January 21, 1908
Lieutenant1:John Prentiss Carter
Predecessor1:Andrew H. Longino
Successor1:Edmond Favor Noel
Birth Name:James Kimble Vardaman
Birth Date:26 July 1861
Birth Place:Jackson County, Texas, C.S.A.
Death Place:Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Restingplace:Lakewood Memorial Park, Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Spouse:Anna Burleson Robinson
Branch: United States Army
Rank: Major
Battles:Spanish–American War
Nickname:"The Great White Chief"
Office2:Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives
Termstart2:1894
Termend2:1896
Predecessor2:Hugh McQueen Street
Successor2:James F. McCool
State House4:Mississippi
District4:Leflore County
Term Start4:January 1890
Term End4:January 1896

James Kimble Vardaman (July 26, 1861 – June 25, 1930) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Mississippi. A Democrat, he served as the Governor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908 and then represented Mississippi in the United States Senate from 1913 to 1919.

Known as "The Great White Chief", Vardaman had gained electoral support for his advocacy of populism and white supremacy, saying: "If it is necessary every Negro in the state will be lynched; it will be done to maintain white supremacy."[1] Aligning with economically left-wing populists and favoring progressive 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 completing his term as governor, he defeated Democratic incumbent LeRoy Percy, a member of the planter elite, in the primary for the 1912 U.S. Senate election,[4] and was then elected unopposed in the general election.[5]

Early life and education

Vardaman was born in July 1861 in Jackson County, Texas, while it was under the control of the Confederate 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 in Greenwood, Mississippi, becoming editor of The Greenwood Commonwealth.[8]

Political career

Early political career

As a Democrat, Vardaman served in the Mississippi 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 a poll tax[11] and literacy test,[12] that raised barriers to voter registration and disenfranchised most blacks.[13]

Referring to the 1890 Mississippi state constitution, Vardaman said:

Vardaman was commissioned as a major in the U.S. Army during the Spanish–American War and served in Puerto Rico.[14]

Governor of Mississippi

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 was tantamount 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."[15]

In late December 1906, he went to Scooba, in rural Kemper County, with the Mississippi National Guard, to ensure that control was established. Whites had rioted against blacks there and in Wahalak and feared retaliation; in total, two white men were killed and 13 blacks. The events were covered by the Associated Press and the New York Times, among other newspapers.[16] [17] During his term as governor, he called out the National Guard eleven times to prevent lynchings.[18]

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.[19] Vardaman advocated a policy of state-sponsored racism against blacks and said that he supported lynching to maintain white supremacy.[1] From 1877 to 1950, Mississippi had the highest number of lynchings in the nation.[20] He was known as the "Great White Chief."[21]

U.S. Senate

Vardaman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1912 in the first popular election of the state's senators by defeating the incumbent LeRoy Percy, a member of the planter elite, in the Democratic primary.[4] He ran on a platform of repealing the Fourteenth and Fifteenth 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 the U.S. declaration of war on Germany and the entry into World War I, only five other senators voted with him.[22] He was defeated in his primary re-election bid in 1918.[23]

Vardaman ran in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in 1922 but was defeated in the primary runoff by U.S. Representative Hubert Stephens by 9,000 votes.[24]

Rhetoric

Vardaman was known for his provocative speeches and quotes and once called Theodore Roosevelt a "little, mean, coon-flavored miscegenationist."[25] 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."[26] "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."[27]

After the president of Tuskegee University, Booker T. Washington, had dined with Roosevelt, Vardaman said that the White House was "so saturated with the odor of the nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable."[28] 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."[29] [30]

Personal life, death, and legacy

Vardaman married Anna Burleson Robinson. Their son, James K. Vardaman, Jr., later was appointed as a governor of the Federal Reserve System, serving from 1946 to 1958.[31] Vardaman died on June 25, 1930, at the age of 68, at Birmingham Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.[32]

The town of Vardaman, Mississippi is named after him. There is also a Vardaman Hall at the University 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.[33] [34] [35]

In popular culture

In William Faulkner's novel As 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 novel Flags in the Dust, Gov. Vardaman was mentioned twice; both characters who mention him express admiration for his moral views and politics.[36]

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: If it is necessary every Negro in the state will be lynched; it will be done to maintain white supremacy. . People & Events: James K. Vardaman . Public Broadcasting Service . Public Broadcasting Service . . September 2008 . . September 21, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120320165033/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/flood-vardaman/ . March 20, 2012 .
  2. Web site: Mullins . Philip . Ancestors Of George & Hazel Mullins: Chapter 14 - The Revolt of the Rednecks . Half Empty . 8 September 2023 . September 25, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210925034619/http://halfempty.com/georgemullins/chapter14.htm . live .
  3. Web site: Vardaman, James K. . Mississippi Encyclopedia . 8 September 2023 . November 21, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211121152353/https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/james-k-vardaman/ . live .
  4. Book: The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, 1912 . 1904 . Press of Brandon Printing Company . Nashville, Tennessee . 124–125 . Rowland . Dunbar . September 8, 2023 . September 8, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230908063805/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4046983&view=1up&seq=132&skin=2021 . live .
  5. Book: The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1913 . 1913 . . . 457 . United States Senators Chosen, 1912 . . . September 8, 2023 . April 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230412095044/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015026454366;view=1up;seq=487 . live .
  6. Web site: VARDAMAN, James Kimble (1861-1930) . Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress . 8 September 2023 . November 25, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201125001836/https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=V000070 . live .
  7. Gatewood, Willard B. “A Republican President and Democratic State Politics: Theodore Roosevelt in the Mississippi Primary of 1903.” Presidential Studies Quarterly, vol. 14, no. 3, 1984, p. 430. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27550103. Accessed 5 Feb. 2024.
  8. Web site: James Vardaman . National Governors Association . 8 September 2023 . 10 January 2012 . March 16, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230316030220/https://www.nga.org/governor/james-vardaman/ . live .
  9. Web site: 1890 HOUSE . Mississippi State University Libraries . 12 September 2023 . September 28, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220928220950/http://msstate-exhibits.libraryhost.com/items/show/1098#page-5 . live .
  10. Web site: 1894 HOUSE . Mississippi State University Libraries . 12 September 2023 . September 13, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230913052638/http://msstate-exhibits.libraryhost.com/items/show/1099#page-1 . live .
  11. Williams . Frank B. Jr. . The Poll Tax as a Suffrage Requirement in the South, 1870-1901 . . November 1952 . 18 . 4 . 469–496 . 10.2307/2955220 . 28 October 2020 . . Athens, Georgia . 2955220 . 0022-4642 . February 15, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230215023842/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2955220 . live .
  12. Web site: Nov. 1, 1890: Mississippi Constitution . Zinn Education Project . 10 September 2023 . August 20, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230820183333/https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mississippi-constitution/ . live .
  13. The Latest Phase of Negro Disfranchisement . 1324271 . Monnet . Julien C. . Harvard Law Review . 1912 . 26 . 1 . 42–63 . 10.2307/1324271 . September 11, 2023 . February 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230206044041/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1324271 . live .
  14. Web site: Spanish-American War . A Sense of Place . 8 September 2023 . December 6, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221206003519/http://senseofplace.mdah.ms.gov/tag/spanish-american-war/ . live .
  15. News: How White Women Use Themselves as Instruments of Terror. Charles M.. Blow. Charles M. Blow. New York Times. May 27, 2020. May 29, 2020. May 28, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200528023029/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/opinion/racism-white-women.html. live.
  16. Web site: Whites in Race War Kill Blacks Blindly . New York Times . 8 September 2023 . December 2, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151202050652/http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/race/122606race-ra.html . live .
  17. Situation in Scooba Is Now Under Full Control . The Pensacola Journal . 8 September 2023 . May 18, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230518001410/https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00075911/00546/1x . live .
  18. Dougherty Kevin. Weapons of Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi 2010. pp. 168 f. ISBN 9781604734515.
  19. Book: Kirwan, Albert D. . Revolt of the Rednecks: Mississippi Politics 1876–1925 . University of Kentucky Press . 1951 . 212 . 3371463 .
  20. Web site: Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror . Equal Justice Initiative . 8 September 2023 . March 20, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170320183933/http://eji.org/ . live .
  21. Book: Mullins, Philip . The Ancestors Of George & Hazel Mullins . . The Revolt of the Rednecks . http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~pmullins/chapter14.htm . September 21, 2008 . February 12, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120212191814/http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~pmullins/chapter14.htm . dead .
  22. Web site: TO PASS S.J. RES. 1,(40 STAT-1)M DECKARUBG WAR ON GERMANY … -- Senate Vote #2 -- Apr 4, 1917 . GovTrack . 8 September 2023 . en . November 26, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221126195122/https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/65-1/s2 . live .
  23. Book: Rowland . Dunbar . The Official and statistical register of the state of Mississippi. . 1904 . 345 . 10 September 2023 . September 10, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230910140000/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015074697163&view=1up&seq=355&skin=2021 . live .
  24. Web site: Our Campaigns - MS US Senate - D Runoff Race - Sep 05, 1922. September 8, 2023. August 3, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220803162907/https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=377234. live.
  25. News: Theodore Roosevelt and Civil Rights . . 2008-09-21 . December 19, 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081219081314/http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/Civil%20Rights.htm . live .
  26. Book: Wilkerson . Isabel . The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration . 7 September 2010 . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group . 978-0-679-60407-5 . 40 . en . September 8, 2023 . September 8, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230908062019/https://books.google.com.tw/books/about/The_Warmth_of_Other_Suns.html?id=Y03WKII5m7QC&redir_esc=y . live .
  27. The Earliest Black Graduates of the Nation's Highest-Ranked Liberal Arts Colleges. Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 38. 2002. 104–109. 10.2307/3134222. 3134222.
  28. News: DeWayne . Wickham . Book fails to strip meaning of 'N' word . . 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." . February 14, 2002 . September 1, 2017 . January 6, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120106024422/http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnists/wickham/2002-02-15-wickham.htm . live .
  29. The Authentic Voice . https://web.archive.org/web/20100311061113/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824107-2,00.html . dead . March 11, 2010 . Time . March 26, 1956.
  30. Web site: Morrell . Edward DeVeaux . Negro suffrage : should the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments be repealed? . Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA . 8 September 2023 . November 8, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221108000703/https://www.loc.gov/item/91898529/ . live .
  31. Web site: James K. Vardaman, Jr.: Governor (Board of Governors): 1946 - 1958 . April 3, 2015 . April 4, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150404094704/http://www.federalreservehistory.org/People/DetailView/55 . dead .
  32. News: J. K. Vardaman, Ex-senator, Dies. Mississippian Succumbs to Long Illness in a Birmingham Hospital. Was a governor. One of Six Senators Who Voted Against War With Germany. Lawyer and Editor. . 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. . New York Times . June 26, 1930 . 2010-03-23 . July 23, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180723093514/https://www.nytimes.com/1930/06/26/archives/jk-vardaman-exsenator-dies-mississippian-succumbs-to-long-illness.html . live .
  33. News: University of Mississippi to post sign recognizing slave labor on campus. July 6, 2017. CBS News. December 10, 2018. November 5, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181105172630/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ole-miss-recognizes-slave-labor-campus-buildings-university-of-mississippi-pre-civil-war/. live.
  34. News: Lawton . Jack . Vardaman Hall Name Change Recommended By Committee For Contextualization . 8 September 2023 . HottyToddy . 7 March 2017 . March 13, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170313103004/http://hottytoddy.com/2017/03/07/vardaman-hall-name-change-recommended-committee-contextualization/ . live .
  35. Web site: SASI Calls to Remove Names Ingrained in White Supremacy from Campus Buildings . HottyToddy . October 24, 2019 . 2022-04-11 . August 19, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200819110701/https://hottytoddy.com/2019/10/24/sasi-calls-to-remove-names-ingrained-in-white-supremacy-from-campus-buildings/ . live .
  36. Web site: James Vardaman . The Digital Yoknapatawpha Project . 11 September 2023 . March 29, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230329101710/https://faulkner.drupal.shanti.virginia.edu/content/james-vardaman . live .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "James K. Vardaman".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.