A couple of extraordinary gentleman of the 20th century

By Jackson Murphy
web posted June 30, 2003	

Last week marked the passing of two extraordinary gentlemen.
One was a controversial southerner who will always be
associated with his segregationist past. The other gave meaning
to the phrase behind the most powerful women in Britain lies a
charming man with a penchant for peculiar eating habits and an
early morning gin and tonic.

Both served during WWII, and saw their countries fight the Cold
War, and experienced the rise of the information revolution, and
the fall of communism. But it was the way the lived life that
would distinguished them.

On a day when the US Supreme Court ruled that sodomy is a-
okay with them, it isn't surprising that conservative Strom
Thurmond (1902-2003) decided to check out of this world. As
Homer Simpson would say, "the ironing is delicious." Thurmond
ran for president in 1948 and served in the Senate longer than
any other man (1954-2003). He once spoke for 24 hours and
18 minutes, in a filibuster during the civil rights debate in 1957,
another record. He was a Democrat, a Dixiecrat and a
Republican-a teacher, a lawyer, a judge, a soldier, governor, a
senator, and more recently simply a dirty old man.

He was known for his views on race, stemming from that 1948
campaign, but spent much of his life trying to overcome that.
Most of all he was a man elected, and reelected by the people of
his state over, and over, and over again-a master of politics at its
most primal, and local, level.

The thing about Strom is that while his fundamental political
views were at times pretty insane, he lived a hell of a life, and the
world would be a less colorful place without people like this
womanizing old man.

Mark Steyn recounts a particularly 'Strom' moment when he was
a circuit court judge. He is, "the only circuit court judge in South
Carolina history to have made love to a condemned murderess
as she was being transferred from the women's prison to Death
Row.

This was Sue Logue, the only woman in the state ever to be sent
to the chair, but not before she'd been sent to the back seat of
Strom's car for a lively final ride. (It was a particularly bloody
murder case that had begun when Mr. Logue's calf had been
kicked to death by some other feller's mule.) I mention this not
merely to be salacious and gossipy, but as an example of the
extraordinary pageant that is Strom's life. If this were an
appreciation of John Kerry, we'd have exhausted all the
interesting stuff a couple of paragraphs up and you'd already
have flipped to the sports section."

On the other hand this week also marks the passing of Sir Denis
Thatcher (1915 -2003). He will generally be remembered as the
guy behind the Iron Lady. The husband to Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher -- a task that wouldn't sit well with many but
that Thatcher carried off with a certain dignified grace.

He was everything Thurmond was not and every bit the
understated gentleman that Thurmond could never be. Sir Denis
once remarked, "For 40 wonderful years I have been married to
one of the greatest women the world has ever produced. All I
could produce -- small as it may be -- was love and loyalty."

Thatcher was famous for his bon mots. He once said the trick to
surviving a boring foreign ministry dinner was to, "use the old
army trick of leaning forward and putting my forefinger in the
roof of my mouth. That way, if you fall asleep you either wake
up or you're sick."

It must be said also that in reviewing the two men's obituaries
and lives that one thing the British press do especially well is
summing up a man's life. Here is a sample from The Telegraph:

"Thatcher was a man of simple tastes who favoured soups,
smoked salmon, tinned tongue, corned beef, and baked beans
on toast. Meat had to be cooked almost to a crisp; in a London
restaurant, he once sent back his poussin with the instruction: 'I
want you to take it away, kill it and cook it.' He hated the smell
of fried onions, and detested garlic. As for drink, he refused ice
because it 'diluted the alcohol'"

It was Thatcher who once said to his wife who disapproved of
an 11 am gin and tonic, "My dear, it is never too early for a gin
and tonic." He reminds us of a time when this sort of thing was
carried off with out the scolding and quiet whispers that it would
today -- a time when it was merely eccentric to be drinking in the
morning.

Both men were at the very heart of their countries for most of the
last half century. Always as bridesmaids, never the brides and
they made it interesting to watch as they took every step.

Strom was a walking, or most recently shuffling, talking human
interest story. "Considering that only 100 folks get to be senator
out of a talent pool of almost 300 million, there's a lot of
mediocrities in there. Strom Thurmond, as Democrat or
Republican, as war hero or assiduous tender of his constituents
or squire of generations of Miss South Carolinas, is the size of
fellow a United States senator should be," wrote Steyn.

Many of the American writers detailing Strom's life last week,
spent most of their time talking about how much the world
changed around him, while failing to stop and smell the flowers
that were his life. But the events these men lived through would
not have been half as enjoyable without them being the men they
were, extraordinary. One larger than life, the other happy to
walk in its shadows.

Jackson Murphy is a commentator from Vancouver, Canada.
He a senior writer at Enter Stage Right and the editor of
"Dispatches" a website that serves up political commentary 24-7.
[URL: http://www.dispatches.blogspot.com/] You can contact
him at jacksonmurphy@telus.net.