WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We're so glad you're 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:04.400 joining us today. Absolutely. Thanks for being 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:06.940 here. You know, sometimes the most straightforward, 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:12.960 seemingly dry historical documents can secretly 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.519 contain the most dramatic stories. Oh, completely. 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:17.839 You might think a simple list of names and dates 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:21.559 is just data, but... When you look closely, you 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:25.420 find this hidden narrative of ambition, ideological 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:28.699 tectonic shifts, and just the absolute chaos 00:00:28.699 --> 00:00:31.219 of history unfolding in real time. Yeah, it really 00:00:31.219 --> 00:00:33.600 is wild when you start unpacking it. Today, we're 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:35.960 looking at a source that perfectly embodies this. 00:00:36.259 --> 00:00:38.740 It's the Wikipedia article detailing the list 00:00:38.740 --> 00:00:40.659 of United States senators from South Carolina. 00:00:40.859 --> 00:00:43.200 Right, which, I mean, it looks like a standard 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:45.240 reference table on the surface, just rows and 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:48.320 columns. But when we dig into the timeline, it 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:50.549 becomes this incredible... mirror reflecting 00:00:50.549 --> 00:00:53.130 the entire American political experiment row 00:00:53.130 --> 00:00:55.869 by row. Exactly. So our mission for this deep 00:00:55.869 --> 00:00:59.030 dive is to look past those dry tables and extract 00:00:59.030 --> 00:01:01.289 the turbulent, fascinating political history 00:01:01.289 --> 00:01:03.689 of a state that has been at the absolute center 00:01:03.689 --> 00:01:05.590 of American political evolution. For a very long 00:01:05.590 --> 00:01:08.269 time. Yeah. We are talking about a state that 00:01:08.269 --> 00:01:10.609 has been putting people in these seats since 00:01:10.609 --> 00:01:14.469 it ratified the Constitution on, let me check 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:18.829 the exact date, May 23, 1788. That's right. But 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:21.390 before we get into the timeline itself, we need 00:01:21.390 --> 00:01:23.670 to set some ground rules for how we are going 00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:26.030 to look at this source material today. Yeah. 00:01:26.150 --> 00:01:28.629 A mandatory disclaimer is definitely crucial 00:01:28.629 --> 00:01:31.989 here because this historical list covers deeply 00:01:31.989 --> 00:01:35.030 polarizing eras. Very polarizing. We are going 00:01:35.030 --> 00:01:37.030 to be looking at multiple political parties, 00:01:37.230 --> 00:01:40.730 massive ideological shifts involving both left 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:43.109 wing and right wing movements and actions that 00:01:43.109 --> 00:01:45.510 literally tore the country apart. So I want to 00:01:45.510 --> 00:01:47.890 be entirely clear with you. We are not endorsing 00:01:47.890 --> 00:01:50.209 any of the viewpoints, parties or actions of 00:01:50.209 --> 00:01:51.969 the historical figures we are going to discuss 00:01:51.969 --> 00:01:53.609 today. Right. We're just looking at the document. 00:01:53.810 --> 00:01:56.189 Exactly. Our goal is to impartially report the 00:01:56.189 --> 00:01:58.430 facts exactly as they are provided in our source 00:01:58.430 --> 00:02:00.849 material. We are simply tracing the evolution 00:02:00.849 --> 00:02:03.790 of these two specific Senate seats to understand 00:02:03.790 --> 00:02:06.230 the mechanics of our political history. Perfect. 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:08.849 So we're treating this as an architectural blueprint 00:02:08.849 --> 00:02:11.990 of history. I want you to imagine the United 00:02:11.990 --> 00:02:15.039 States Senate as a stage. South Carolina gets 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:17.479 two specific roles on this stage, known as Class 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:20.979 2 and Class 3. And these roles have been recast 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:23.960 over and over across the centuries. But looking 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:26.520 at the source, these two classes don't operate 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:29.060 on the same timeline. Why are they split up like 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:32.349 this? So that class system is actually a brilliant 00:02:32.349 --> 00:02:34.389 structural rhythm built right into the Senate. 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:36.849 The Constitution divides senators into three 00:02:36.849 --> 00:02:39.409 classes so that only about one third of the Senate 00:02:39.409 --> 00:02:41.969 is up for election every two years. Oh, I see. 00:02:42.069 --> 00:02:44.530 Yeah. It prevents the entire chamber from turning 00:02:44.530 --> 00:02:46.590 over all at once. It ensures institutional memory. 00:02:46.729 --> 00:02:49.639 Which means. From the perspective of a voter 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:51.659 in South Carolina, you are never voting for both 00:02:51.659 --> 00:02:53.780 of your senators in the exact same year. Right. 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:55.479 Unless there is some sort of special election 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:58.020 to fill a vacancy or something. Precisely. It 00:02:58.020 --> 00:03:00.719 forces a staggered pulse of Democratic input. 00:03:01.150 --> 00:03:03.949 For South Carolina, the class two seat is on 00:03:03.949 --> 00:03:06.189 an electoral cycle. That means it will next be 00:03:06.189 --> 00:03:09.069 up for election in 2026. And the class three 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:11.889 seat is on a cycle that puts its next election 00:03:11.889 --> 00:03:15.310 in 2028. So you get this continuous alternating 00:03:15.310 --> 00:03:18.189 rhythm of elections that keeps the state constantly 00:03:18.189 --> 00:03:20.030 engaged with the federal government. It is a 00:03:20.030 --> 00:03:23.849 heartbeat that started all the way back in 1789. 00:03:23.930 --> 00:03:26.610 So let's look at the very first faces to hold 00:03:26.610 --> 00:03:28.610 these roles. Let's do it. Looking at the table 00:03:28.610 --> 00:03:31.060 for the class two seat. The very first name is 00:03:31.060 --> 00:03:33.099 Pierce Butler. And under the party column, it 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:35.860 just says pro -administration. And over the class 00:03:35.860 --> 00:03:38.659 three seat, we have Ralph Izard, also listed 00:03:38.659 --> 00:03:41.740 as pro -administration. Just hearing that label 00:03:41.740 --> 00:03:44.319 tells you how new everything was. Yeah, it sounds 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:47.259 so formal. Well, there were no established formal 00:03:47.259 --> 00:03:50.719 political parties yet. The entire political apparatus 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.620 was essentially categorized by whether you supported 00:03:53.620 --> 00:03:55.900 George Washington's administration or opposed 00:03:55.900 --> 00:03:58.319 it. It was incredibly binary. Okay, let's unpack 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.740 this. Because the early days of this list are 00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:02.659 incredibly chaotic. Oh, completely. When you 00:04:02.659 --> 00:04:04.900 scroll through the table for the first few decades, 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:08.699 it is not a list of people serving a long, predictable 00:04:08.699 --> 00:04:12.490 six -year term. It's a barrage of rapid -fire 00:04:12.490 --> 00:04:15.090 turnover. People are constantly stepping down, 00:04:15.229 --> 00:04:17.589 moving around, passing away. You have to remember 00:04:17.589 --> 00:04:20.709 the physical realities of travel, health, and 00:04:20.709 --> 00:04:23.110 just the sheer experimental nature of the federal 00:04:23.110 --> 00:04:25.629 government made serving in the Senate a very 00:04:25.629 --> 00:04:27.910 different job back then. You can see it right 00:04:27.910 --> 00:04:31.189 here in the data. In the late 1790s, Sean Hunter 00:04:31.189 --> 00:04:33.490 gets elected to finish a term, and then he just 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:36.180 resigns. Right. A few years later, Charles Pinckney 00:04:36.180 --> 00:04:38.139 is elected, serves a couple of years, and then 00:04:38.139 --> 00:04:40.240 the notes say he resigns to become the U .S. 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:42.519 minister to Spain. Which is a massive deal at 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:44.899 the time. And then you have Johnny Calhoun, who 00:04:44.899 --> 00:04:48.060 was elected in 1800, but tragically dies in office 00:04:48.060 --> 00:04:51.459 by October 1802. It just feels like a high stakes 00:04:51.459 --> 00:04:54.079 game of musical chairs. What's fascinating here 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:56.519 is how this constant turnover connects to the 00:04:56.519 --> 00:04:59.879 broader picture of a young nation. We see a state. 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:02.889 and a country desperately trying to figure out 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:05.250 its political identity. Look at how the party 00:05:05.250 --> 00:05:07.850 labels morph in the source material during this 00:05:07.850 --> 00:05:10.350 early era. You go from pro -administration and 00:05:10.350 --> 00:05:13.449 anti -administration to federalist, then to Democratic 00:05:13.449 --> 00:05:16.250 -Republican, and later to Jacksonian. The visual 00:05:16.250 --> 00:05:18.649 of this list is striking because the text in 00:05:18.649 --> 00:05:21.689 that party column keeps changing colors and names 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:24.750 as the factions battle for dominance. It was 00:05:24.750 --> 00:05:27.350 a highly experimental phase. The country was 00:05:27.350 --> 00:05:29.329 testing out different ideological vehicles to 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:31.790 see what could actually govern a rapidly expanding 00:05:31.790 --> 00:05:35.689 territory. And then we hit the 1830s and a completely 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:38.290 unique party label pops up in the source material. 00:05:38.430 --> 00:05:41.490 It's a highly specific anomaly that you do not 00:05:41.490 --> 00:05:44.720 see in modern politics. We see John C. Calhoun 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:47.160 and Stephen Decatur Miller listed under a party 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:49.759 simply called the Nullifier Party. Right. What 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:52.180 exactly is a nullifier in this context? This 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:55.339 is a perfect example of a local ideological crisis 00:05:55.339 --> 00:05:58.579 bleeding into the federal structure. The Nullifier 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:00.639 Party was built around the belief that a state 00:06:00.639 --> 00:06:03.740 had the right to nullify or invalidate any federal 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:06.540 law that the state deemed unconstitutional. Oh, 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:09.480 wow. Yeah. Specifically, in this case, they were 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:11.579 fighting federal tariffs that were hurting the 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:14.319 southern economy. Seeing that word right there 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:17.000 in the official Senate list is a glaring warning 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:19.220 sign of the regional tensions that were beginning 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:21.939 to boil over. And what really stands out is watching 00:06:21.939 --> 00:06:24.519 John C. Calhoun's kind line in the class two 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:27.620 seat. He is elected as a nullifier to finish 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:30.740 a term in 1832. But by the time we get to his 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:34.459 later terms, ending up around 1845, his Cardi 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:36.939 label in the table has transitioned back to Democratic. 00:06:37.709 --> 00:06:40.089 That transition from nullifier back to Democrat 00:06:40.089 --> 00:06:42.689 is the physical proof on the page that regional 00:06:42.689 --> 00:06:45.009 tensions were being temporarily swallowed back 00:06:45.009 --> 00:06:47.449 up by the main party apparatus. Like a temporary 00:06:47.449 --> 00:06:50.290 Band -Aid. Exactly. It shows the reactive nature 00:06:50.290 --> 00:06:52.910 of these splinter factions, but also the deep, 00:06:52.930 --> 00:06:54.790 unresolved fractures that were just going to 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:57.069 keep widening as the century progressed. Which 00:06:57.069 --> 00:06:59.970 brings us right into the 1850s, where the instability 00:06:59.970 --> 00:07:02.529 on this list reaches a fever pitch. It really 00:07:02.529 --> 00:07:05.050 does. We are looking at the years leading right 00:07:05.050 --> 00:07:07.759 up to the Civil War. And the desks just cannot 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:10.040 stay filled. You have figures like Andrew Butler 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:13.560 dying in office in 1857. Then Josiah Evans dies 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:17.519 in office in 1858. It leads to this frantic scramble 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.699 of appointments and special elections. The physical 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:23.279 toll on the senators almost mirrors the institutional 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:25.720 toll on the country. The stress on the political 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:28.319 system was immense. And you can literally count 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:29.939 the number of short term appointments required 00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:32.939 just to keep South Carolina represented. And 00:07:32.939 --> 00:07:35.240 then the source material. delivers a massive 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:38.360 dramatic turn. We get to James Chestnut Jr. Yes. 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:40.699 He's a Democrat who was elected to finish out 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:43.420 Josiah Evans' term. The notes in the electoral 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:46.519 history column are incredibly stark. It states 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:49.060 that he withdrew and was later officially expelled 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:50.879 from the Senate for his support of the Confederacy. 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:54.180 Right. This happens in November 1860. The phrasing 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:57.079 there caught my eye, withdrew and then expelled. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:07:59.519 What is the actual difference between those two 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:02.019 actions? That is a crucial distinction. Withdrawal 00:08:02.019 --> 00:08:04.439 is essentially Senator saying, I quit. I am walking 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:07.019 away from this body. But expulsion is entirely 00:08:07.019 --> 00:08:10.300 different. Expulsion is the United States Senate 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:13.180 utilizing its supreme constitutional authority 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:16.199 to officially kick someone out. It requires a 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.939 two thirds majority vote. So Chestnut walks away. 00:08:19.449 --> 00:08:21.610 But the Senate officially slams the door behind 00:08:21.610 --> 00:08:23.790 him. Yes. And this raises an important question 00:08:23.790 --> 00:08:25.889 about what happens to the machinery of government 00:08:25.889 --> 00:08:28.209 when the very fabric of the nation is tearing. 00:08:28.790 --> 00:08:31.870 The expulsion of a sitting senator is an incredibly 00:08:31.870 --> 00:08:35.879 rare and extreme constitutional mechanism. Chestnut's 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.259 withdrawal and subsequent expulsion is the exact 00:08:38.259 --> 00:08:40.799 moment the political tether snaps. And it creates 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:43.220 the most striking visual in the entire Wikipedia 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:45.559 list. It really is. If you are scrolling through 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:47.940 this chronological table, suddenly there is just 00:08:47.940 --> 00:08:51.679 a massive multi -year blank space across both 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:54.039 the class two and class three seats. The rows 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:56.940 literally just stop. It is chilling to see it 00:08:56.940 --> 00:08:59.809 represented as just empty table cells. In July 00:08:59.809 --> 00:09:02.870 1861, South Carolina Senate seats were officially 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:05.690 declared vacant due to secession. For seven entire 00:09:05.690 --> 00:09:07.990 years, through the entirety of the Civil War 00:09:07.990 --> 00:09:10.389 and the early years of Reconstruction, those 00:09:10.389 --> 00:09:12.350 two desks in the United States Senate chamber 00:09:12.350 --> 00:09:16.169 just sat empty. No representation, no participation. 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:22.389 Just a void from July 1861 until July 1868. When 00:09:22.389 --> 00:09:24.269 you look at the dates, it forces you to pause. 00:09:24.470 --> 00:09:26.950 Think about the sheer weight. Of that missing 00:09:26.950 --> 00:09:29.909 time, the laws passed. The history made while 00:09:29.909 --> 00:09:32.009 a huge portion of the country simply wasn't at 00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:34.509 the table. It is a visual representation of a 00:09:34.509 --> 00:09:37.590 broken constitutional system. The American experiment 00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:40.370 was essentially paused for that region. But eventually 00:09:40.370 --> 00:09:42.870 the gap ends. The seats are filled again in July 00:09:42.870 --> 00:09:46.509 1868 and we enter a brief, entirely new era for 00:09:46.509 --> 00:09:49.129 the state. We do. The immediate aftermath of 00:09:49.129 --> 00:09:51.029 the Civil War brings a complete reversal of the 00:09:51.029 --> 00:09:53.450 previous political order in South Carolina. For 00:09:53.450 --> 00:09:56.769 a brief window. From 1868 into the 1870s, the 00:09:56.769 --> 00:09:58.830 seats are held by the Republican Party. This 00:09:58.830 --> 00:10:01.529 is the Reconstruction era. The political enfranchisement 00:10:01.529 --> 00:10:03.789 of newly freed black citizens and the temporary 00:10:03.789 --> 00:10:06.389 disenfranchisement of former Confederates completely 00:10:06.389 --> 00:10:09.250 flipped the electoral math. We see Thomas J. 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:11.330 Robertson step in to fill the vacant Class II 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:13.549 term. And over in Class III, Frederick A. Sawyer 00:10:13.549 --> 00:10:15.870 and later John J. Patterson hold the seat. It's 00:10:15.870 --> 00:10:18.110 a very specific, defined block of Republican 00:10:18.110 --> 00:10:20.350 control right in the middle of the 19th century. 00:10:20.590 --> 00:10:23.149 But the pendulum swings back incredibly hard. 00:10:23.929 --> 00:10:26.210 By the late 1870s, federal troops are withdrawn, 00:10:26.529 --> 00:10:29.570 the era of Reconstruction wanes, and the Democratic 00:10:29.570 --> 00:10:33.090 Party regains total, absolute control of the 00:10:33.090 --> 00:10:35.470 state's politics. Looking at the table, starting 00:10:35.470 --> 00:10:38.269 with Matthew Butler in the Class 2 seat in 1877 00:10:38.269 --> 00:10:41.669 and Wade Hampton III in the Class 3 seat in 1879, 00:10:41.909 --> 00:10:44.649 we see the beginning of an unbroken streak. A 00:10:44.649 --> 00:10:47.509 massive streak. The list just turns into a solid 00:10:47.509 --> 00:10:51.129 wall of the word Democratic. row after row. And 00:10:51.129 --> 00:10:53.029 this monopoly would last for nearly a century. 00:10:53.250 --> 00:10:55.490 Think about the mathematical improbability of 00:10:55.490 --> 00:10:58.350 that. A single political party holding on to 00:10:58.350 --> 00:11:00.529 both Senate seats in the state for nearly 100 00:11:00.529 --> 00:11:03.549 years without a single break. It speaks to the 00:11:03.549 --> 00:11:06.590 absolute ideological consolidation of the solid 00:11:06.590 --> 00:11:09.009 South during that period. Nearly a century of 00:11:09.009 --> 00:11:12.269 just one column color. But even within that incredibly 00:11:12.269 --> 00:11:15.230 stable one party era, there are some absolutely 00:11:15.230 --> 00:11:17.289 fascinating exits from the Senate that are source 00:11:17.289 --> 00:11:19.470 details. For instance, I'm looking at the entry 00:11:19.470 --> 00:11:22.409 for James F. Burns in the 1930s. Burns is a very 00:11:22.409 --> 00:11:24.950 interesting case study in political career trajectories. 00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:28.789 Right. Because he's elected in 1930, easily reelected 00:11:28.789 --> 00:11:32.490 in 1932, and then reelected again in 1930. He 00:11:32.490 --> 00:11:35.230 is cruising along building power. But then in 00:11:35.230 --> 00:11:38.649 July 1941, the notes say he resigns his seat. 00:11:38.889 --> 00:11:41.350 And he does not resign because of a scandal or 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:43.669 poor health. He leaves the legislative branch 00:11:43.669 --> 00:11:46.289 entirely to join a completely different branch 00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:48.350 of government. He becomes a justice of the U 00:11:48.350 --> 00:11:50.620 .S. Supreme Court. It is a profound reminder 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:53.440 that the Senate, while a pinnacle for many politicians, 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.899 is sometimes viewed as a stepping stone to other 00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:58.779 forms of immense national influence. Moving from 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:01.019 a partisan legislative body to the supposedly 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:04.220 nonpartisan highest court in the land is a massive 00:12:04.220 --> 00:12:06.700 leap. But there is another exit in the 1950s 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:08.440 that caught my attention. Looking at the table 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:10.460 here, there is a guy named Charles E. Daniel. 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:12.659 Oh, this is a great story. He is appointed in 00:12:12.659 --> 00:12:15.320 September 1954 to finish out the term of Burnett 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:18.000 R. Maybank, who had passed away. So Daniel is 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:19.879 only going to be there for a few months. But 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:21.559 according to the source material, he explicitly 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:24.639 resigns a few days early on December 23, 1954. 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:27.320 Why on earth would someone give up even a week? 00:12:27.870 --> 00:12:30.230 of being a U .S. senator. It was a brilliant, 00:12:30.350 --> 00:12:32.970 highly calculated piece of insider political 00:12:32.970 --> 00:12:36.309 maneuvering. He did it to grant a massive institutional 00:12:36.309 --> 00:12:39.269 advantage to his successor, Strom Thurmond. How 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:41.370 does resigning a few days early help the next 00:12:41.370 --> 00:12:44.590 guy? Imagine waiting in line for a highly anticipated 00:12:44.590 --> 00:12:48.049 blockbuster movie. Yep. Daniel essentially held 00:12:48.049 --> 00:12:50.830 a spot at the very front of the line. Right before 00:12:50.830 --> 00:12:53.649 the theater doors opened, he stepped aside and 00:12:53.649 --> 00:12:56.789 let Strom Thurmond take his exact spot, pushing 00:12:56.789 --> 00:12:59.009 Thurmond ahead of all the other people who were 00:12:59.009 --> 00:13:01.730 just arriving at the theater. Wow. In the Senate, 00:13:01.889 --> 00:13:05.629 power is heavily dictated by seniority. By resigning 00:13:05.629 --> 00:13:07.889 early, Daniel allowed Thurmond to be appointed 00:13:07.889 --> 00:13:09.990 the seat right before the new term officially 00:13:09.990 --> 00:13:12.970 started. Gaining even a few days of seniority 00:13:12.970 --> 00:13:15.110 over the incoming freshman class of senators 00:13:15.110 --> 00:13:17.950 gave Thurmond a preferential rank for committee 00:13:17.950 --> 00:13:20.769 assignments and leadership roles. That is wild. 00:13:20.809 --> 00:13:23.370 Just a pure calculated seniority hack. You are 00:13:23.370 --> 00:13:25.590 literally exploiting the procedural rules of 00:13:25.590 --> 00:13:27.970 the chamber to benefit your state's long term 00:13:27.970 --> 00:13:31.009 influence. And it perfectly sets the stage for 00:13:31.009 --> 00:13:33.289 what we can call the era of the modern titans. 00:13:33.450 --> 00:13:35.529 Up until this point, we saw a lot of turnover, 00:13:35.769 --> 00:13:38.909 a lot of partial terms and musical chairs. But 00:13:38.909 --> 00:13:41.350 as we move into the mid -20th century, there 00:13:41.350 --> 00:13:44.429 is a drastic shift in the data. We enter an era 00:13:44.429 --> 00:13:47.169 where senators serve for decades at a time. You 00:13:47.169 --> 00:13:49.990 see it vividly in the tenure links. Olin D. Johnston 00:13:49.990 --> 00:13:53.490 held his seat from 1945 all the way to 1965. 00:13:54.539 --> 00:13:57.000 And then you have Fritz Hollings, who took office 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:01.340 in 1966 and held that seat until 2005. That's 00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:04.539 incredible. That is nearly 40 years for Hollings 00:14:04.539 --> 00:14:07.220 alone. Think about how many presidential administrations 00:14:07.220 --> 00:14:09.720 he worked with over four decades. It fundamentally 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:12.240 changes how a state wields power in Washington. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.120 When voters return the same figures to the Capitol 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.539 term after term, those representatives spend 00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:19.740 decades building committee chairmanships and 00:14:19.740 --> 00:14:22.620 deep legislative relationships. The state's influence 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:24.980 compounds over time. But no one embodies this 00:14:24.980 --> 00:14:27.340 phenomenon more than the successor to that seniority 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:30.100 hack we just discussed, Strom Thurmond. Furman's 00:14:30.100 --> 00:14:33.000 timeline in this Wikipedia list is legendary. 00:14:33.379 --> 00:14:35.799 He's the state's longest serving senator by a 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:39.639 mile. He serves from 1954 to 1956, and then from 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.379 1956 all the way to 2003. But wait, why is there 00:14:43.379 --> 00:14:46.539 a break in 1956? He is sitting in the United 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:49.159 States Senate and the table shows he just resigns 00:14:49.159 --> 00:14:53.720 in April 1956. It is a truly wild piece of electoral 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:56.299 history. Thurmond was originally elected as a 00:14:56.299 --> 00:14:58.779 write -in candidate in 1954, which in itself 00:14:58.779 --> 00:15:00.759 is incredibly rare. Yeah, you don't see that 00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:02.840 often. But he had made a campaign pledge that 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:05.980 he would resign prior to the 1956 primary. He 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:08.159 wanted the voters to have a standard open election 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:10.980 for the seat rather than him relying on the massive 00:15:10.980 --> 00:15:13.179 advantage of incumbency he gained from his write 00:15:13.179 --> 00:15:28.019 -in victory. Okay, let's unpack. Yes. That is 00:15:28.019 --> 00:15:29.779 a level of confidence in your political base 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:32.139 that is almost hard to comprehend today. It is 00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:35.320 highly unusual, but it solidified his mandate 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:38.179 in a way few other politicians could claim. He 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:40.700 proved he didn't need a technicality to hold 00:15:40.700 --> 00:15:43.500 the seat. However, the most consequential moment 00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:45.779 in Thurmond's tenure is not his resignation. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:48.779 No, it is not. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:50.840 If you look closely at the table for Thurmond, 00:15:50.980 --> 00:15:54.419 there is a specific date noted in the text, September 00:15:54.419 --> 00:15:59.320 16, 1964. On that exact day, the column listing 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:02.139 his political party shifts from Democratic to 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:04.919 Republican. After almost a century of a solid 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:07.340 blue wall on this table, we get a sudden shift. 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:10.480 And that single date on this Wikipedia page serves 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.019 as a tangible marker for one of the most significant 00:16:13.019 --> 00:16:15.399 shifts in American political history. Thumann 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:17.879 changing his party affiliation on September 16th, 00:16:17.879 --> 00:16:20.700 1964, was the canary in the coal mine for the 00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:22.620 broader political realignment of the American 00:16:22.620 --> 00:16:25.120 South. The century -long Democratic stronghold 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:27.799 we talked about earlier was fracturing. Precisely. 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:30.379 It was fracturing over civil rights and the role 00:16:30.379 --> 00:16:33.610 of the federal government. Thurman's switch signaled 00:16:33.610 --> 00:16:35.830 a sea change that would eventually turn the South 00:16:35.830 --> 00:16:38.570 solidly Republican in federal elections over 00:16:38.570 --> 00:16:41.490 the coming decades. The data on the page captures 00:16:41.490 --> 00:16:43.870 the exact moment the tectonic plates shifted. 00:16:44.210 --> 00:16:47.429 It is amazing how much weight one date in the 00:16:47.429 --> 00:16:50.490 spreadsheet can hold. And that shift brings us 00:16:50.490 --> 00:16:52.730 all the way to the current delegation. It does. 00:16:52.990 --> 00:16:56.350 Today is Wednesday, March 4, 2026. The two seats 00:16:56.350 --> 00:16:59.090 are currently held by Republicans. In the class 00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:01.629 two seat, we have Lindsey Graham. who has been 00:17:01.629 --> 00:17:04.470 serving since 2003. He actually replaced Strom 00:17:04.470 --> 00:17:06.690 Thurmond when Thurmond finally retired. And in 00:17:06.690 --> 00:17:08.309 the class three seat, we have Tim Scott, who 00:17:08.309 --> 00:17:10.230 was appointed to the seat and has been serving 00:17:10.230 --> 00:17:13.309 since 2013. But if we look at the electoral history 00:17:13.309 --> 00:17:15.609 notes for Senator Scott, there's a crucial detail 00:17:15.609 --> 00:17:18.009 regarding the future. Yes, the source notes that 00:17:18.009 --> 00:17:19.789 Tim Scott, who was just reelected a few years 00:17:19.789 --> 00:17:22.809 ago in 2022, has stated that he is retiring at 00:17:22.809 --> 00:17:24.740 the end of his current term. Which means the 00:17:24.740 --> 00:17:26.880 class three seat will be entirely open in the 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.039 2028 election. For the first time in over a decade, 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:32.940 there will be a new occupant in that role. Another 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:35.200 historical shift is officially on the horizon. 00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:37.859 The list is going to get a brand new entry and 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:41.640 the cycle continues. It never stops moving. Looking 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:43.900 back at this journey, we just tracked two single 00:17:43.900 --> 00:17:46.700 Senate seats in one state. But doing so took 00:17:46.700 --> 00:17:49.099 us through the chaotic birth of political parties, 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:51.619 the literal tearing apart of the nation resulting 00:17:51.619 --> 00:17:55.160 in years of empty desks, the clever insider political 00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:58.180 favors to manipulate seniority, and the massive 00:17:58.180 --> 00:18:00.579 ideological realignments that reshaped the entire 00:18:00.579 --> 00:18:03.259 map. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.799 it shows us that institutions are just vessels. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.559 The Senate itself is just a room with desks. 00:18:08.579 --> 00:18:10.759 It is the people occupying them and fundamentally 00:18:10.759 --> 00:18:13.819 the changing values and anxieties of the voters 00:18:13.819 --> 00:18:16.140 who put them there that actually shape history. 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:19.480 The data on the page is just the residue of human 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:21.559 choice. So what does this all mean for you right 00:18:21.559 --> 00:18:23.299 now? We've spent all this time looking at party 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:26.000 labels in this source material, Democrat, Republican, 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:28.779 nullifier, Federalist. I want to leave you with 00:18:28.779 --> 00:18:31.339 a thought to ponder on your own. What happens 00:18:31.339 --> 00:18:33.559 to these historical tables if the two -party 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:36.400 system fractures? Oh, that's interesting. Imagine 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.880 a historian looking at a future Wikipedia page 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:41.500 100 years from now where the party column suddenly 00:18:41.500 --> 00:18:44.640 fractures into four, five, or six different independent 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:47.180 labels. How would the machinery of the Senate 00:18:47.180 --> 00:18:49.880 even function if we return to the ideological 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:53.759 chaos of the 1790s? That is a profound question 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:56.559 to walk away with. The structure of the Senate 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.789 relies on majority building. If the labels splinter 00:18:59.789 --> 00:19:02.410 entirely, the entire mechanical rhythm we've 00:19:02.410 --> 00:19:04.809 discussed would be tested in unprecedented ways. 00:19:05.109 --> 00:19:07.009 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:19:07.009 --> 00:19:09.470 dive. We love taking these documents and bringing 00:19:09.470 --> 00:19:11.589 the history inside them to the surface with you. 00:19:11.650 --> 00:19:13.890 Until next time, keep looking past the surface 00:19:13.890 --> 00:19:15.910 of the things you read. Have a wonderful day.