Albert Watson (South Carolina politician)
Albert W. Watson | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 2nd district | |
In office June 15, 1965 – January 3, 1971 | |
Preceded by | Himself |
Succeeded by | Floyd Spence |
In office January 3, 1963 – February 1, 1965 | |
Preceded by | Corinne Boyd Riley |
Succeeded by | Himself |
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Richland County | |
In office January 10, 1961 – January 8, 1963 | |
In office January 11, 1955 – January 13, 1959 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Sumter, South Carolina, U.S. | August 30, 1922
Died | September 25, 1994 Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. | (aged 72)
Resting place | Crescent Hill Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum Columbia, South Carolina, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic (1955–1965) Republican (1965–1994) |
Alma mater | North Greenville Junior College University of South Carolina School of Law |
Profession | Attorney |
Military service | |
Branch/service | United States Army Air Forces |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Albert William Watson (August 30, 1922 – September 25, 1994) was an American politician, a Democrat-turned-Republican state and U.S. representative from South Carolina. He is best known for his losing 1970 campaign for governor of South Carolina, which has been described as the last high-profile, openly segregationist campaign in American politics.[1]
Background
Albert William Watson was born in 1922 to Claude Watson, Sr. and his wife in Sumter in central South Carolina.[2] His family moved and he was reared near the state capital of Columbia in Lexington County, where he attended public schools. He subsequently enrolled at the former North Greenville Junior College in Greenville, South Carolina. During World War II, Watson served as a weather specialist in the United States Army Air Forces.
In 1950, he graduated from the
In 1958, Watson lost the Democratic
In 1948, Watson married the former Lillian Audrey Williams (born 1926), and the couple had three children, Laura L. Watson, Albert Watson, Jr., and Clark P. Watson. A
Congressional career
In 1962, Watson first ran for South Carolina's 2nd congressional district seat in the U.S. House to fill the opening created when fellow Democrat John J. Riley died on New Year's Day. His wife, Corinne Boyd Riley, had won a special election to serve out the remainder of the term, but did not run for a full term in November.[6] After securing the Democratic nomination, Watson faced Floyd Spence, a fellow state representative from neighboring Lexington County, who had turned Republican a few months earlier. The ensuing general election was far closer than expected, with Watson winning by only five percentage points. He received crucial support from his mentor, U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond.
Like Thurmond, Watson was an open and unashamed
Watson won the special election with 59.1 percent of the vote
1970 gubernatorial election
In 1970, Watson opted not to run for reelection, instead announcing his candidacy for governor. As a measure of how weak the Republicans were in South Carolina for most of the post-Reconstruction era, in most elections since losing the governorship in 1892 they hadn't even fielded a candidate. He won the nomination with a major assist from Thurmond. He faced strong competition from the Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor John C. West, originally from Camden. State and national Republicans were somewhat cool toward Watson because of his obstinate support for segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was intended to end segregation, and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 meant that African Americans were re-entering the political system. Not a single daily newspaper endorsed Watson for governor.[9]
Hastings Wyman took leave from his position as an aide to Senator Thurmond to serve as Watson's campaign manager.[10]
Gubernatorial campaign
Watson's running mate was James Marvin Henderson, Sr.[11]
1970 election results
Official results gave West 251,151 votes (52.1 percent) to Watson's 221,236 (45.9 percent). Red Bethea of the American Independent Party polled 9,758 votes (2 percent).
African-American voters in 1970 numbered 206,394, or 46 percent of the African-American voting-age population and 35 percent of the total registration.
Historians consider Watson's gubernatorial campaign to be the last openly segregationist campaign in South Carolina and one of the last in the South as a whole.[1] Watson was succeeded in the House by Spence, who had nearly won the seat in 1962. Spence went on to hold the seat for thirty years.
Later years
In 1971, Thurmond asked Nixon to appoint Albert Watson to the United States Court of Military Appeals, but Democratic U.S. Senator George McGovern of South Dakota opposed him. The next year McGovern became Nixon's general election opponent.
Watson died in Columbia at the age of 72 in 1994. He is interred there at Crescent Hill Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum.
See also
- List of members of the House Un-American Activities Committee
- List of United States representatives who switched parties
References
- ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved 2006-09-23.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Greenville Online, 21 March 2004 - ^ "Woodmen of the World politicians". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ^ U.S. Government Printing Office. 1971. p. 1888. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
- ^ The New York Times, November 30, 1969
- ^ ""Alabama Southern Baptist Preaches at White House," September 30, 1969" (PDF). media.sbhla.org. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ^ "Corinne Boyd Wiley". womenincongress.house.gov. Archived from the original on 2011-12-13. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ Billy Hathorn, "The Changing Politics of Race: Congressman Albert William Watson and the South Carolina Republican Party, 1965-1970", South Carolina Historical Magazine Vol. 89 (October 1988), p. 228
- ^ "SC District 2 - Special Election". ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ^ "The Changing Politics of Race," p. 235
- ^ "CRWC Tempo, January 2010" (PDF). alexandriacrwc.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-26. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ "James M. Henderson". knowitall.org. Archived from the original on June 12, 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2012.
External links
- "Crescent Hill Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum". findagrave.com. Retrieved December 21, 2011.