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The article is not well written, but it is indicating that the Dixiecrats were a Democratic Party alternative to the Marxist road down which FDR was leading the nation. It is also implying that the race issue was a means of deflecting voters from the class issue of the socialist wing of the Democratic Party.

The article is not well written if one has to infer what it is attempting to convey.

Who cares? If the woman does not want to claim Strom as her father, why force the issue? It would seem to me that this woman is a private citizen and does not need the press meddling in her life. It would also seem to me that the other two people who really have any right to know in this situation are dead - her mother is presumably dead and Sen. Thurmond is dead. I'd say this lady (or possibly any children she may or may not have) are the only ones with the right to even suggest a paternity test! And it doesn't sound like she wants one.

Let's not try to revise history. The south of the first half of this century was considerably different than the south of today. We may not like the ethics and mores of the time, but the times were what they were.

However if you want to look at it from the perspective of 2003, AND if you want to accept the story as fact (and I really have no strong opinion either way, I just think it's not really my concern), then consider the following:

1. Sen. Thurmond didn't marry for the first time until the 1950's so he wasn't cheating on a spouse.

2. The story states that he visited her, provided financial support, and probably paid her way through college. (I'm sure she wasn't the only child of a family employee he helped in the same ways over the years.)

So the story says we have a political figure who may have fathered a child out of wedlock, may have supported and educated the child, did so with little or no scandal, the child in question is a retired teacher who has lead an upstanding life. All this in an era 40 years before the birth control pill.

(begin sarcasm) Geez. You're right. That sure does sound irresponsible and scandalous to me too. You'd think he was a married man, cheated with an intern, lied under oath to congress, and had a string of sexual harrassment claims following him around. (end sarcasm)

Speaking of which - despite Sen Thurmond's reputation for admiring beautiful women, does anyone have any recollection of a single sexual harrassment allegation against him? I sure don't!