Chester Trent Lott (born October 9, 1941) is a United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. Lott attended college at Ole Miss. He was Senate Majority Leader from June 12, 1996 through January 3, 2001. Thanks to Al Gore's deciding vote, the Democrats held the majority until January 20, 2001, when Dick Cheney became Vice President. Cheney's deciding vote gave Republicans the majority until June 5, 2001, when Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords became an Independent and decided to vote with the Democrats. Because of this, Lott became Minority Leader. With the Republicans' victory in the 2002 Senate elections, Lott was once again slated to become Majority Leader when the 108th Senate convened on January 7, 2003; however, comments made by Lott that appear to be nostalgic for racial segregation made his leadership position untenable, and he resigned from leadership on December 20, 2002.
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2 Controversy and resignation 3 External Links |
Trent Lott entered public office in 1972, when he was elected to the
House of Representatives from Mississippi. He served eight terms, then successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1988, filling the seat formerly held by retiring John C. Stennis. He was re-elected in 1994 and 2000. He became majority leader in 1996, following the resignation of Senator Bob Dole from the Senate to pursue the Presidency.
Tremendous political controversy ensued following remarks Senator Lott made on December 5, 2002 at the 100th birthday party of Senator Strom Thurmond. Thurmond ran for President of the United States in 1948 on the Dixiecrat ticket, whose primary campaign issue was the perpetuation of racial segregation in the United States. Lott said:
Lott comments on the remark grew from a mild dismissal as an off-the-cuff remark supporting Thurmond's national defense platform to an explicit repudiation of his racist past and assertions of support for affirmative action in a BET interview, by which time his political fate was sealed.
Once reported in newspapers and television, calls for his resignation as Majority Leader from both ends of the political spectrum grew.
Some Democrats and Republicans considered the remark unconscionable, or as Al Gore put it, "fundamentally racist", and many conservative groups and media outlets attempting to create an image for the Republican Party as inclusive of minorities were quick to distance themselves from Lott and criticize the incident. Centrist Democrats and Republicans at first defended Lott insisted the remarks had been blown out of proportion.
After President George W. Bush voiced his own harsh criticism of Lott's remarks: "Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive, and it is wrong. Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized and rightly so. Every day that our nation was segregated was a day our nation was unfaithful to our founding ideals," it was evident that it would be difficult for Lott to remain majority leader, although the official White House line was that Lott did not need to resign.
Lott later agreed with the President's speech. In the aforementioned BET interview, he said, "Segregation is a stain on our nation’s soul.... Segregation and racism are immoral."
Under pressure from Senate colleagues, and without the backing of the White House, Lott resigned as Senate Republican Leader on December 20, 2002. Fellow senator Bill Frist was later elected to the leadership position.
Political Biography
Controversy and resignation
The comment, broadcast on C-SPAN, was largely ignored by the mainstream media but was widely discussed on political blogs such as Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, which also uncovered Lott's history of actively supporting segregation during college and making similar statements at various points throughout his career. Five days later the story was picked up by the mainstream media. External Links