In 1948, South Carolina Senator J. Strom Thurmond (South Carolina, Xi 1959) became the second Pike to run for U.S. President. He was the States’ Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrat) candidate in 1948 against Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey. He retired in 2003 as the only member of either chamber of Congress to reach the age of 100 while still in office and the oldest-serving senator. His 48 years as a senator, a record at the time, is the third-longest in U.S. history. Thurmond holds the record as the longest-serving member of Congress to solely serve in the Senate.
