# James F. Byrnes *American jurist and politician from South Carolina (1882–1972)* **James Francis Byrnes** (May 2, 1882 – April 9, 1972) was a South Carolina lawyer and politician of the [[Democratic Party (United States)]]. He held federal office in all three branches. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, sat on the U.S. Supreme Court, and served in the executive branch, most prominently as the 49th U.S. Secretary of State under President Harry S. Truman. He later became the 104th [[governor]] of South Carolina.[^1] Byrnes represented South Carolina in the House from 1911 to 1925. He lost a Senate runoff in 1924, then beat Coleman Livingston Blease in the 1930 Democratic primary and took a Senate seat in 1931.[^1] Franklin D. Roosevelt named him to the Supreme Court in 1941. After the United States entered the Second World War, Byrnes left the bench for the executive branch, having served 1 year and 87 days. No justice has served a shorter term, and he was the last justice without a law degree.[^1] As governor from 1951 to 1955, he used his inaugural address to commit the state to keeping its schools racially separate. He also directed state money to the schools it maintained for black students.[^6] In later decades he endorsed Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater for president while remaining a Democrat.[^7] ## Early life and career Byrnes was born and raised in Charleston, at 538 King Street. His father died soon after his birth. His mother, Elizabeth McSweeney Byrnes, worked as a dressmaker.[^2] He left St. Patrick's Catholic School at age 14 for work in a law office and went on to become a court stenographer. In that job he transcribed the 1903 trial of South Carolina Lieutenant Governor James H. Tillman, who was charged with murdering a newspaper editor.[^2] In 1900 his cousin, Governor Miles B. McSweeney, appointed him clerk to Judge Robert Aldrich of Aiken. Because the post required the holder to be 21, Byrnes, his mother and McSweeney changed his recorded date of birth to that of his older sister, Leonora.[^2] He did not attend law school. Instead he apprenticed to a lawyer, read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1903. In 1906 he married Maude Perkins Busch of Aiken, and the couple had no children. Around that time he left the Catholic Church for the Episcopal Church.[^2] He was solicitor for South Carolina's second circuit from 1908 to 1910. He was also a protégé of Senator and former governor Benjamin "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman.[^2] ## United States Senate and Supreme Court In 1924 Byrnes did not seek renomination to the House. He ran instead for the Senate seat held by Nathaniel B. Dial. In the primary Blease took 42 percent, Byrnes 34 percent and Dial 22 percent.[^3] The Ku Klux Klan favored Blease and spread rumors that Byrnes remained a Catholic in secret. Three days before the runoff, 20 Catholics who said they had been altar boys with Byrnes published an endorsement of him. The group's leader was a Blease ally, and the endorsement was circulated in anti-Catholic areas. Blease won the runoff 51 to 49 percent.[^3] When his House term ended in 1925, Byrnes moved his law practice to Spartanburg. There he cultivated the Piedmont textile workers who had backed Blease. In the 1930 primary Blease again finished first, 46 percent to 38 percent. This time Byrnes won the runoff, 51 to 49 percent.[^3] Historian George E. Mowry described Byrnes as "the most influential Southern member of Congress", placing him between John Calhoun and [[Lyndon Johnson]].[^1] In the Senate, Byrnes backed the New Deal and the foreign policy of his longtime friend Roosevelt. He pressed for federal investment in South Carolina water projects. He opposed some of Roosevelt's labor measures, among them the minimum-wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.[^1][^3] ## World War II Byrnes left the Court to direct the Office of Economic Stabilization, which handled prices and taxes.[^4] In May 1943 he took charge of the new Office of War Mobilization, which oversaw the stabilization office.[^4] According to the article, members of Congress and the press began calling him the "Assistant President."[^4] Before the 1944 election, many expected Byrnes to replace Henry A. Wallace as Roosevelt's running mate. Roosevelt endorsed no one but Wallace. He personally preferred Justice [[William O. Douglas]], and Byrnes was on his list but not at the top.[^4] Party leaders pressed for Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri, and the 1944 Democratic National Convention nominated Truman.[^1][^4] ## Secretary of State Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. As the new president, Truman turned often to Byrnes for advice; Byrnes had guided him since Truman's first days in the Senate.[^5] Truman named Byrnes Secretary of State on July 3, 1945. There was no vice president during Truman's first term, so Byrnes stood first in the line of presidential succession until the 1947 succession act was adopted.[^5] Byrnes personally objected to any guarantee that Hirohito would be kept. Even so, his draft reply to Japan's August 10 surrender offer left that question open.[^5] He took a leading part at the Potsdam Conference, the Paris Peace Conference and other postwar meetings.[^5] Historian Robert Hugh Ferrell wrote that Byrnes knew little more about foreign relations than Truman. Ferrell also wrote that Byrnes relied on a few advisers, among them Donald S. Russell and Benjamin V. Cohen, and gave little attention to the State Department's experts.[^5] ## Governor of South Carolina Byrnes won the 1950 gubernatorial election at age 68 and held the office from 1951 to 1955.[^6] In his inaugural address he stated: "Whatever is necessary to continue the separation of the races in the schools of South Carolina is going to be done by the white people of the state. That is my ticket as a private citizen. It will be my ticket as governor."[^6] He sought to carry out the "separate but equal" policy in public education. To that end, the state spent money on the schools for black students, including new textbooks, new buses and more teachers.[^6] He also moved against the Ku Klux Klan with a law that barred adults from wearing masks in public on any day except Halloween.[^6] The NAACP sued South Carolina to compel desegregation of its schools. Byrnes then asked Kansas, which also kept segregated schools, to file an amicus curiae brief supporting a state's right to segregate its schools.[^6] ## Later political career One historian notes that in 1949 Byrnes publicly attacked the growth of the welfare state and Truman's Fair Deal.[^7] He worked to end the South's near-automatic support for the Democratic Party. He endorsed [[Dwight Eisenhower]] in 1952, Harry Byrd in 1956, Richard Nixon in 1960 and 1968, and Barry Goldwater in 1964.[^7] In 1964 he privately approved Senator Strom Thurmond's departure from the Democratic Party to become a Republican. Byrnes himself stayed a Democrat.[^7] After the 1964 election, the House Democratic Caucus stripped Representative Albert Watson of South Carolina of his seniority because Watson had endorsed Goldwater. In 1965 Byrnes objected publicly to Watson's "punishment" and "humiliation". Watson resigned, became a Republican and won the 1965 special election for the seat, with Byrnes's endorsement.[^7] Byrnes died at 89 on April 9, 1972. He was buried in the churchyard of Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbia, South Carolina.[^1][^7] ## Legacy Several South Carolina institutions carry his name:[^8] - the University of South Carolina's James F. Byrnes Building, which houses the Byrnes International Center, and the university's first endowed professorship, in international studies; - Byrnes Auditorium at Winthrop University; - Byrnes Hall, a dormitory at Clemson University, where he was a Life Trustee; - James F. Byrnes High School in Duncan. In 1948 Byrnes and his wife founded the James F. Byrnes Foundation Scholarships. Clemson University's Special Collections Library holds his papers, and his portrait hangs in the South Carolina Senate chamber.[^8] Pat Skipper played Byrnes in Christopher Nolan's 2023 film *Oppenheimer*.[^8] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, lead section (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — life dates; party; House, Senate, Court and executive service; Court tenure of 1 year and 87 days; Mowry assessment; 1944 nomination; 49th Secretary of State; 104th governor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes [^2]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, section *Early life and career* (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — birth, family, stenography, 1900 clerkship and altered birth date, 1903 bar admission, 1906 marriage, conversion, 1908–1910 solicitorship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes [^3]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, section *United States Senate and Supreme Court* (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — 1924 and 1930 primary and runoff results; Klan role; move to Spartanburg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes [^4]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, section *World War II* (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Office of Economic Stabilization; Office of War Mobilization (May 1943); 1944 vice-presidential selection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes [^5]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, section *Secretary of State* (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — appointment on July 3, 1945; line of succession; Japanese surrender reply; postwar conferences; Ferrell assessment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes [^6]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, section *Governor of South Carolina* (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — 1950 election; 1951–1955 term; inaugural address text; school spending; mask law; NAACP suit; Kansas amicus request. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes [^7]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, section *Later political career* (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — 1949 criticism of the Fair Deal; presidential endorsements, 1952–1968; Thurmond; Watson; death and burial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes [^8]: Wikipedia, *James F. Byrnes*, section *Legacy* (revision 1381242972, retrieved 2026-10-26) — named buildings and professorship; 1948 scholarships; papers at Clemson; portrait; 2023 film portrayal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Byrnes