Big Jim Eastland

The Godfather of Mississippi

J. Lee Annis Jr.

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781496830845
  9781496806147
• eBook ISBN:
  9781496806154
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

For decades after the Second World War, Senator James O. Eastland (1904–1986) was one of the more intransigent leaders of the Deep South's resistance to what he called "the Second Reconstruction." And yet he developed, late in his life, a very real friendship with state NAACP chair Aaron Henry. Big Jim Eastland provides the life story of this savvy, unpredictable powerhouse.

From 1947 to 1978, Eastland wore that image of resistance proudly, even while recognizing from the beginning his was the losing side. Biographer J. Lee Annis Jr. chronicles such complexities extensively and also delves into many facets lesser known to the general public.

Born in the Mississippi Delta as part of the elite planter class, Eastland was appointed to the US Senate in 1941 by Democratic Governor Paul B. Johnson Sr. Eastland ran for and won the Senate seat outright in 1942 and served in the Senate from 1943 until his retirement in 1978.

A blunt man of few words but many contradictions, Eastland was an important player in Washington, from his initial stint in 1941 where he rapidly salvaged several key local projects from bungling intervention, to the 1970s when he shepherded the Supreme Court nominees of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford to Senate confirmation. Annis paints a full picture of the man, describing the objections Eastland raised to civil rights proposals and the eventual accommodations he needed to accept after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Key to Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Beginnings of a Southern Solon
• Chapter 2: Bilbo’s Lieutenant
• Chapter 3: Cottonseed Jim
• Chapter 4: Bilbo’s Nemesis
• Chapter 5: The First Full Term of a Deep South Solon
• Chapter 6: Reconstructing Europe
• Chapter 7: Dixiecrat
• Chapter 8: Great Southern Commie Hunter
• Chapter 9: Mississippi Bourbon Politics in the Age of Eisenhower
• Chapter 10: Chairman of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee
• Chapter 11: Massive Resistance, Bourbon Style
• Chapter 12: Big Jim and the Kennedys
• Chapter 13: Big Jim and a Larger-Than-Life Texan
• Chapter 14: The Best Chairman
• Chapter 15: Big Jim and the Nixon-Ford Supreme Court
• Chapter 16: Of Camille and Richard Nixon
• Chapter 17: President Pro Tem
• Chapter 18: Eastland Prepares to Go Home
• Chapter 19: Home to the Plantation
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Letter from James O. Eastland to Theodore G. Bilbo
• Notes
• Sources Consulted
• Index