When Lindsey Graham published his memoir in 2015, few outside political circles paid much attention. But the book offers a window into how the late senator navigated questions about race throughout his career, revealing a man shaped by the segregated South who would later deny systemic racism existed in America.
Graham was born in 1955 in Pickens County, South Carolina, a small textile town in the heart of the segregated South. The county holds a darker historical mark: it was the site of the last documented lynching in South Carolina in 1947. As a child, Graham lived above his parents' Sanitary Cafe, a local establishment that initially served Black customers only through a take-out window.
By Graham's own account in "My Story," he was instrumental in convincing his reluctant parents, Millie and Florence James, to finally open the cafe to Black patrons inside the building during the 1970s. Even as a young man, he acknowledged the move came "much later than it should have." His father explained the delay simply: the culture was so entrenched that white customers initially refused to patronize the cafe once Black people were allowed to dine there.
Graham's high school, like many across South Carolina, had only recently been forced by court order to admit a small number of Black students. His path to adulthood was marked by tragedy: both parents died while he was in college, just 15 months apart. He took custody of his teenage sister, Darline, and the two remained close throughout his life. On Monday, after Graham's death, President Donald Trump recommended that Darline Graham Nordone be appointed interim senator. Governor Henry McMaster appointed her to serve the remainder of Graham's term.
Graham entered politics in 1994 as a congressional candidate in South Carolina's third district. To win that race, he secured a crucial endorsement from Strom Thurmond, the state's legendary segregationist who had run for president in 1948 as a Dixiecrat. When Graham took Thurmond's Senate seat in 2003, he inherited much of the aging senator's staff and adopted his constituent service ethos.
Yet throughout three decades in public office, Graham repeatedly faced scrutiny over his approach to racial justice. The disconnect between his upbringing in a slowly integrating South and his later political positions became increasingly stark.
During his 2020 reelection campaign against Jaime Harrison, a Black Democratic challenger and the national party chair, Graham made headlines when he flatly denied that systemic racism plagued the nation. Minorities and immigrants, he argued, could succeed in South Carolina if they simply "go anywhere" and "be conservative." He even pointed to Barack Obama's election as evidence that systemic racism no longer existed.
His stance hardened further in 2021. After Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict in the murder of George Floyd, Graham told Fox News host Chris Wallace: "Our systems are not racist. America is not a racist country."
Contradictions in Graham's record on race emerged in unexpected places. In 2022, he supported South Carolina district judge J. Michelle Childs for a Supreme Court vacancy. Conservative allies criticized the choice, with Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker calling it "affirmative action." Graham pushed back, arguing that qualified minority candidates deserved support based on merit alone. The nomination ultimately went to Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was confirmed to the court.
A year earlier, Representative James Clyburn, the Black South Carolina congressman and longtime Graham colleague, condemned Graham for referring to Covid relief for Black farmers as "reparations." Clyburn told CNN that Graham "ought to be ashamed of himself" and suggested he reconnect with his Christian values.
Clyburn and Graham had served together in Congress for more than three decades, maintaining what Clyburn described as a relationship "grounded in mutual respect, even when our political differences were significant." On Sunday, after Graham's death, Clyburn posted a tribute on X, acknowledging the late senator's commitment to public service and his legacy of representing South Carolina.
Author James Rodriguez: "Graham's life spanned the arc from segregation to the modern civil rights era, yet his politics never quite caught up to his biography. His book reveals a man caught between two worlds, unable to fully reckon with either."
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