Thurmond collapses on Senate floor, reportedly OK

By Jesse J. Holland

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the nation’s longest-serving senator, collapsed Tuesday in the Senate after complaining of chest pains. But a few minutes later the 98-year-old Republican was standing and talking.

The senior senator was described as waving as he was being taken away by wheelchair, Senate officials said. He was later taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center by ambulance.

Shortly after 10:30 a.m. EDT, Thurmond slumped over at his desk, then was helped to a lying position on the floor by several people. Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott told reporters Thurmond was able to stand before he was taken to the ambulance, an oxygen mask on his face.

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., was standing next to Thurmond when the senior senator tried to stand with the help of an aide and collapsed back into his chair, nearly unconscious, said Allard spokesman Sean Conway.

Allard and staffers then helped lay Thurmond on the floor. Conway said Thurmond had been complaining of chest pains before he collapsed.

Thurmond was in the chamber as the Senate was debating a defense bill when the incident occurred. When he collapsed, most Republicans were in a closed-door senators’ meeting a few paces down the hall from the Senate chamber.

Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a heart surgeon, immediately left the meeting and ran to Thurmond’s aid. When he got there, Thurmond was lying in the aisle near his desk at the front of the chamber with three people surrounding him.

The Senate recessed immediately after Thurmond collapsed. When it resumed business at 10:50 a.m., Thurmond was not in the chamber.

A Capitol guard, who refused to allow his name to be used, told reporters after the chamber had been cleared that Thurmond was conscious and standing. Lott said Thurmond was “standing and talking and seemed OK.”

Capitol police then clamped an extraordinary ring of security around the Senate chamber, the corridors outside and even the parking lot outside the Capitol.

Thurmond, born in December 1902, is legendary for both his political and physical endurance. He was elected South Carolina’s governor in 1946 and two years later mounted a campaign for the presidency as a Dixiecrat in protest of Harry Truman’s support for civil rights.

He was first elected to the Senate in 1954. A one-time Democratic segregationist, he holds the record for a solo Senate filibuster. He has gradually scaled back his duties in recent years as his health declined.

In 1996, at the age of 93, he became the oldest person ever to serve in Congress, and the following year, became the longest-serving member.

When Republicans controlled the Senate from 1981-87, Thurmond was at the peak of his power. He was both chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and, as the longest-serving member of the majority party, also president pro tem, a chiefly ceremonial job that made him third in line to succeed the president.

When the Republicans regained a majority in 1995, Thurmond again was president pro tem and became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he pushed for increased military spending.

He stepped aside as chairman two years later as age began to take its toll. When Democrats regained control of the Senate earlier this year, he also turned over the title of president pro tem to Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.

South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges was told of the collapse and had called Thurmond’s office, a spokeswoman said. Hodges, a Democrat, would appoint a replacement if Thurmond could not complete his term, which ends in 2003. Thurmond has said he will not seek re-election next year.

“Governor Hodges wishes the senator well and has every belief that the senator will finish his term,” said Hodges’ spokeswoman, Cortney Owings.