Conspiracy and Compromise in Segregationist Ideology: James Eastland and the Cold War South

In the 1950s and 1960s, U.S. Senator James Eastland of Mississippi became the quintessential symbol of southern resistance to desegregation. A “mad dog is loose in the streets of justice,” Clarence Mitchell of the NAACP described Eastland’s appointment to the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1956. At the same time, however, the planter-politician from Mississippi was a well-liked figure in the Senate, even among some of his more progressive colleagues. This paradoxical image of James Eastland will be the focus of my paper. My goal is to explain how one of the fiercest defenders of Jim Crow functioned within a party culture that became increasingly liberal during the twentieth century. I am especially interested in the ways conspiracy theory functioned as an organizing principle of segregationist thought. The construction of conspiracy theory was a useful method to create a sense of collective southern identity against a perceived common enemy, and it became a powerful weapon for leaders of the massive resistance movement. But it also created problems, particularly for legislators like James Eastland who were active on the federal level. The conspiratorial style leaves little room for middle ground, but for Eastland, compromise was necessary to be a successful national politician. By analyzing how Eastland managed to balance a conspiracist worldview with the politics of compromise, we can come to a better understanding how southern Democrats earned the respect and power they needed to remain politically effective, both in their home states and on Capitol Hill.