JAMES FRANCIS BYRNES
James Francis Byrnes was a Congressman, U.S. Senator, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, "Assistant President," Secretary of State and Governor of South Carolina.
He was also a philanthropist who dedicated the earning from his personal and political memoirs Speaking Frankly and All In One Lifetime to providing college scholarships for South Carolina children who had one or both parents die.
Byrnes was born May 2, 1879 in Charleston to Elizabeth E. Byrnes. His father had died shortly before James was born and left his mother to take care of the family.
Byrnes left school at age 14 to help support the family. One skill his mother taught him was shorthand. That skill help him land the official court reporter position in the state's Second Judicial Circuit in 1900 and would prove to be useful later as Secretary of State.
From 1903 to 1907, Byrnes served as editor of the Journal and Review in Aiken, S.C. He also studied law and eventually was admitted to the bar.
On his birthday in 1906, Byrnes married Maude Bush of Aiken.
He served as the Second Circuit Solicitor from 1908 until 1910 before being elected at age 31 as a Democrat to the 62nd Congress. He would serve seven terms.
Byrnes decided to run for U.S. Senate against Cole Blease in 1924, but was defeated. He moved to Spartanburg, S.C. and returned to praticing law. In 1930, he was successful in another bid for U.S. Senate and served until he resigned in 1941.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt had asked Byrnes in 1941 to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court as an Associate Justice. One year later, Roosevelt asked Byrnes to resign his lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
Roosevelt asked Byrnes to serve as Director of Economic Stabilization to control domestic prices, rents, wages and services. While Roosevelt concentrated on World War II, Byrnes, oversaw every aspect of the economy from regulating farm wages and food production to regulating the sales of shoes. The main goal was to make sure U.S. forces were adequately equipped where ever they were fighting.
Later, Byrnes took over the Office of War Mobilization, where he governed all aspects connected with production, procurement, transportation and distribution of goods and service to the civilian and military populations. In this role, he was nicknamed "Assistant President" because of his close working relationship with Roosevelt.
Byrnes resigned from the post April 2, 1945 and returned to his Spartanburg law practice. Shortly thereafter, Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Ga. and Byrnes was called back to the White House to assist new President Harry Truman.
Ironically, Byrnes had been considered for the Vice-Presidential nomination in 1944, but had been ruled out because he was a Southerner.
In July 1945, Truman asked Byrnes to take over as Secratary of State. He maintained good relations with the wartime Allies, except the Soviet Union which had established several puppet governments and erected the figurative Iron Curtain across Eastern Europe.
Byrnes inked six peace treaties and attended seven international conference (including one in Potsdam) which kept him out of the country more than 300 days of his 500-plus day term.
He had been advised by his doctor in April 1946 to retire, but Truman convinced him to stay in office until all peace treaties were completed. He officially resigned January 1947 .
However, he did not stay inactive for long, returning to his law practice in Spartanburg and writing Speaking Frankly in 1947.
In 1948, he established the James. F. Byrnes Foundation from the proceeds of the book and gave out the first $500 scholarship in 1949.
Byrnes did not stay on the political sidelines long, either. In 1950, he was elected Governor. During his term, he concentrated on improving education throughout the state.
Segregation and the ficticious "seperate but equal" doctrine had divided the state's public school system into a system of "have's" from whites and "have-not's" for blacks.
In his "Education Revolution," Byrnes pushed through a 3-cent sale tax and $75 million bond issue to benefit the state's schools. He wanted to insure there was at least one modern school for blacks and an adequate bus systems for both races in each county. (The political climate of the time would not have allowed for desegregation.)
Byrnes retired from public life in 1955 and remained living in Columbia. In 1958, he wrote All In One Lifetime.
Byrnes died April 9, 1972 and was buried in Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery across from the Statehouse. A statue was erected in his honor on the Statehouse grounds on the corner across from the church.
Information for this biography came from Byrnes' books Speaking Frankly and All In One Lifetime and the teacher information packet The Making of a Statesman prepared by the Byrnes Foundation and Byrnes Scholars.
My class: the 1992 Byrnes Foundation college graduates
The James. F. Byrnes Foundation provides college scholarships for students who have had one or both parents die.
For more information about the foundation, write to:
James F. Byrnes Foundation
P.O. Box 6781
Columbia, SC 29260-6781
Check out the Byrnes Scholars Web Site.
PHOTOS FROM SUPERWEEKEND 2000
Alumni group picture
Alumni group picture
Benji Anderson get OOO-GAA BOO-GAA'd
Brent McDonald sings
Ron Cobb sings "Little Ditches"
Kimberlee Duncan sings and play the piano
Can you put a candle out with a water pistol?
Can you put a candle out with a water pistol? - part 2
How many nursery rhymes do you remember?
I fill in for Judge Mallard on Sunday during the 1999 Superweekend
PHOTOS FROM SUPERWEEKEND 1998
Group picture
Alumni group picture
Late Night Sing-along
Late nights also mean lots of card games
OOO-GAA BOO-GAA #1
OOO-GAA BOO-GAA #2
OOO-GAA BOO-GAA #3
Click here for a related story published in the Augusta Chronicle.
Click here for a related story published in Time Magazine.
Click here for a related web site about President Truman.
Click here for a related story on the decision to use the Atomic Bomb.
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