James K. Vardaman

For his son, see James K. Vardaman, Jr.
James K. Vardaman

James K. Vardaman
United States Senator
from Mississippi
In office
March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1919
Preceded by Le Roy 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
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office
1890-1896
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(s) Anna Burleson Robinson
Religion Methodist
Military service
Nickname(s) "The Great White Chief"
Allegiance  United States of America
Service/branch 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 of Mississippi and was the Governor of Mississippi from 1904 to 1908. A Democrat, Vardaman was elected in 1912 to the United States Senate in the first popular vote for the office, following adoption of the 17th Amendment. He defeated incumbent LeRoy Percy, a member of the planter elite. Vardaman served 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] He appealed to the poorer whites, yeomen farmers and factory workers.

Early life and education

Vardaman was born in Jackson County, Texas in July 1861.[2] He moved to Mississippi, where he studied law and passed the bar. He settled in Greenwood, Mississippi, becoming editor of the Greenwood Commonwealth. This newspaper is still in publication as of 2015.

Career

Vardaman along with James Thomas Heflin and Ollie Murray James in 1912.
Vardaman during his time as a U.S. senator.

Mississippi election campaigns frequently were marked by violence and fraud after Reconstruction. A biracial coalition of Republicans and Populists had briefly controlled the governorship and Mississippi House in the late 1880s.

As a Democrat, Vardaman served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1890 to 1896 and was elected as speaker of that body in 1894. He was known for his populist appeal to the common man. The Democrats took action to ensure they did not lose power again in the state. 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 and literacy test, that in practice disenfranchised most blacks.

Referring to the 1890 Mississippi 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.[3]

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

Vardaman ran twice in Democratic primaries for governor, in 1895 and 1899, but was not successful. The state was virtually one-party, and winning the Democratic primary established a candidate as the winning candidate for office. In 1903 Vardaman won the primary and the governorship, serving one four-year term (1904–1908).

By 1910, his political coalition, comprising chiefly poor white farmers and industrial workers, began to describe themselves proudly as "rednecks." They began to wear red neckerchiefs to political rallies and picnics.[4]

Vardaman advocated a policy of state-sponsored racism against African Americans, saying that he supported lynching in order to maintain his vision of white supremacy.[1] He was known as the "Great White Chief".[5]

Vardaman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1912 in the first popular election of senators, defeating the incumbent LeRoy Percy, a member of the planter elite. Vardaman served one term, from 1913 until 1919. He was defeated in his primary reelection bid in 1918. The main factor in Vardaman's defeat was his vote against the US Declaration of War on Germany and entry into World War I. Only five other Senators voted with him.

Vardaman ran in the Democratic primary for the US Senate in 1922, but was defeated in the primary runoff by Congressman Hubert Stephens by 9,000 votes.[6]

Oratory

Vardaman was known for his provocative speeches and quotes, once calling Theodore Roosevelt a "little, mean, coon-flavored miscegenationist."[7] In reference to 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."[8]

After Tuskegee University president Booker T. Washington had dined with Roosevelt, Vardaman said the White House was "so saturated with the odor of the nigger that the rats have taken refuge in the stable."[9]

Referring to Washington's role in politics, Vardaman said: "I am just as much opposed to Booker T. Washington as a voter as I am to the coconut-headed, chocolate-colored typical little coon who blacks my shoes every morning."[10]

Personal life

Vardaman married Anna Burleson Robinson. Their son, James K. Vardaman, Jr., served as the Governor of the Federal Reserve System from 1946 to 1958.[11]

Death

Vardaman died on June 25, 1930 at the Birmingham Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama at the age of 68.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 Public Broadcasting Service (September 2008). "People & Events: James K. Vardaman". American Experience. Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2008. If it is necessary every Negro in the state will be lynched; it will be done to maintain white supremacy.
  2. ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  3. ↑ McMillen, Neil R. "The Politics of the Disfranchised". Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow. pp. 41–44. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  4. ↑ Albert D. Kirwan, Revolt of the Rednecks: Mississippi Politics 1876–1925 (1951) p. 212
  5. ↑ Mullins, Philip. "The Revolt of the Rednecks". The Ancestors Of George & Hazel Mullins. University of Texas at Austin.
  6. ↑ Street, William B. (March 21, 1965). "The Man Who Invented The Redneck". The Commercial Appeal.
  7. ↑ "Theodore Roosevelt and Civil Rights". Theodore Roosevelt Association. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
  8. ↑ Wilkerson, Isabel. The Warmth of Other Suns (2010) p. 40
  9. ↑ Wickham, DeWayne (February 14, 2002). "Book fails to strip meaning of 'N' word". USA Today. 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."
  10. ↑ "The Authentic Voice". Time. March 26, 1956.
  11. ↑ James K. Vardaman, Jr.: Governor (Board of Governors): 1946 - 1958
  12. ↑ "J. K. Vardaman, Ex-senator, Dies. Mississippian Succumbs to Long Illness in a Birmingham Hospital. Was A Former Governor. One of Six Senators Who Voted Against War With Germany. Former Lawyer and Editor.". New York Times. June 26, 1930. Retrieved 2010-03-23. James Kimball Vardaman, former Governor of Mississippi and former 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.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James K. Vardaman.
Political offices
Preceded by
Andrew H. Longino		 Governor of Mississippi
1904–1908 		Succeeded by
Edmond Noel
United States Senate
Preceded by
Le Roy Percy		 U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Mississippi
1913–1919
Served alongside: John Sharp Williams		 Succeeded by
Pat Harrison
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