View source for James Eastland

{{Short description|American politician (1904–1986)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| birth_name = James Oliver Eastland
| image = James O Eastland.jpg
| office            = 37th and 38th [[Dean of the United States Senate]]
| term_start        = November 28, 1977
| term_end          = December 27, 1978
| predecessor       = John L. McClellan and Himself
| successor         = [[Warren G. Magnuson]]
| alongside1         = [[John L. McClellan]]
| term_start1        = January 3, 1975
| term_end1          = November 28, 1977
| predecessor1       = [[George D. Aiken]]
| successor1         = Himself
| order2 = [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate]]
| term_start2 = July 28, 1972
| term_end2 = December 27, 1978
| deputy2 = [[Hubert Humphrey]] (1977–1978)
| predecessor2 = [[Allen J. Ellender]]
| successor2 = [[Warren Magnuson]]
| order3 = Chair of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]]
| term_start3 = January 3, 1957
| term_end3 = December 27, 1978
| predecessor3 = [[Harley M. Kilgore]]
| successor3 = [[Ted Kennedy]]
| jr/sr4 = United States Senator
| state4 = [[Mississippi]]
| term_start4 = January 3, 1943
| term_end4 = December 27, 1978
| predecessor4 = [[Wall Doxey]]
| successor4 = [[Thad Cochran]]
| term_start5 = June 30, 1941
| term_end5 = September 28, 1941
| appointer5 = [[Paul B. Johnson Sr.]]
| predecessor5 = [[Pat Harrison]]
| successor5 = [[Wall Doxey]]
| office6 = {{Plainlist|
* Member of the
* [[Mississippi House of Representatives]]
* from [[Scott County, Mississippi|Scott County]]
}}
| term_start6 = 1928
| term_end6 = 1932
| predecessor6 = William D. Cook
| successor6 = Elwin B. Livingston
| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|11|28}}
| birth_place = [[Doddsville, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|2|19|1904|11|28}}
| death_place = [[Greenwood, Mississippi]], U.S.
| restingplace = Forest Cemetery, [[Forest, Mississippi]]
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse = Elizabeth Coleman Eastland
| education = [[University of Mississippi]]<br>[[Vanderbilt University]]<br>[[University of Alabama]]
| profession = Attorney<br />[[Cotton]] planter
| children = 4
}}
'''James Oliver Eastland'''  (November 28, 1904{{spaced ndash}} February 19, 1986) was an American attorney, plantation owner, and politician from [[Mississippi]]. A [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], he served in the [[United States Senate]] in 1941 and again from 1943 until his resignation in late 1978. Eastland was a [[segregationist]] who led the Southern resistance against racial integration during the [[civil rights movement]], often speaking of African Americans as "an inferior race".<ref name="The New York Times">{{Cite news |last=Hunter |first=Marjorie |date=20 February 1986 |title=James O. Eastland is Dead at 81; Leading Senate Foe of Integration |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/20/obituaries/james-o-eastland-is-dead-at-81-leading-senate-foe-of-integration.html |access-date=8 March 2019}}</ref> Eastland has been called the "Voice of the White South" and the "Godfather of Mississippi Politics".<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 28, 1957 |title=Senator James Eastland: The Mike Wallace Interview |url=https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/eastland_james_t.html |publisher=[[Harry Ransom Center]], [[The University of Texas at Austin]] |access-date=March 18, 2019 |archive-date=November 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116090012/http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/eastland_james_t.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The son of prominent attorney, politician, and cotton planter Woods Eastland, he attended the local schools of [[Scott County, Mississippi]], and took courses at the [[University of Mississippi]], [[Vanderbilt University]], and the [[University of Alabama]]. He completed his legal education by studying in his father's office, attaining admission to the bar in 1927. Eastland practiced law in [[Sunflower County, Mississippi]], and took over management of his family's cotton plantation. Becoming active in politics as a Democrat, he served in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]] from 1928 to 1932.

When Senator [[Pat Harrison]] died in office in 1941, the governor appointed Eastland to fill the vacancy on the condition that Eastland not run in that year's special election to complete the term. Eastland served from June to September 1941. The special election was won by [[Wall Doxey]]. Eastland went on to defeat Doxey in the 1942 primary for the Democratic nomination for a full term. The Democratic Party was then essentially the only party in Mississippi, assuring Eastland's return to the Senate in January 1943. Eastland was reelected five times, serving until resigning in December 1978, days before the end of his final term. Eastland advanced through seniority to the chairmanship of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], serving over 20 years, and [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate]].

==Early life==
Eastland was born in [[Doddsville, Mississippi|Doddsville]], in the [[Mississippi Delta]] on November 28, 1904, the son of Woods Caperton Eastland, a lawyer and cotton planter, and Alma Teresa (Austin) Eastland.<ref>{{cite book |last=Douth |first=George |title=Leaders in Profile: The United States Senate |year=1972 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5NFLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA218 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Sperr & Douth |page=219 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He was named James after his late uncle, who was allegedly murdered earlier in 1904 by [[Luther Holbert]], who was subsequently lynched.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/g38944694/why-black-history-month-is-in-february/?slide=7|title=Why Black History Month is in February|date=February 2022 |access-date=2022-05-09}}</ref> In 1905 he moved with his parents to [[Forest, Mississippi|Forest]], the county seat of [[Scott County, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite book |author=U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Printing |date=1977 |title=Official Congressional Directory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Urn6kuznj5UC&pg=PA96 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=96 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> His father was active in Mississippi politics and served as a district attorney.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 2, 1944 |title=State Mourns Passing of Woods Eastland With Services Sunday at Doddsville, Forest |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12828501/clarion-ledger/ |work=[[The Clarion-Ledger]] |location=Jackson, MS |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> The son attended the local segregated public schools and graduated from Forest High School in 1922.{{sfn|Asch|page=177}}

Eastland attended the [[University of Mississippi]] (1922-1924), [[Vanderbilt University]] (1925-1926), and the [[University of Alabama]] (1926-1927).<ref name="Mayer">{{cite book |last=Mayer |first=Michael S. |date=2010 |title=Presidential Profiles: The Eisenhower Years |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dIhZxpoZVIQC&pg=PA179 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Facts on File |page=179 |isbn=978-0-8160-5387-2 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He [[Reading law#United States|studied law]] in his father's office, attained [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admission to the bar]] in 1927, and practiced in [[Sunflower County, Mississippi|Sunflower County]].<ref name="Mayer"/> Active in politics, he was elected to one term in the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]], and served from 1928 to 1932.<ref name="Mayer"/>  After completing his House term, Eastland remained active in politics and government.<ref name="Sentinel1935">{{Cite news |date=August 1, 1935 |title=Hon. J. O. Eastland to Speak Saturday for Judge Johnson |page=1 |work=The Sun-Sentinel |location=Charleston, MS |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106769791/eastland/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>  He was a sought-after campaign speaker, including speeches on behalf of the gubernatorial candidacies of [[Paul B. Johnson Sr.]] in 1935 and 1939.<ref name="Sentinel1935"/><ref>{{Cite news |date=August 26, 1939 |title=Dear Mr. Sump: Tuesday is Election Day |page=1 |work=[[The Greenwood Commonwealth]] |location=Greenwood, MS |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106769909/sump/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>  In addition, he was a member of the board of trustees of the state hospital for the insane.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 17, 1933 |title=City News: J. O. Eastland |page=18 |work=[[The Clarion-Ledger]] |location=Jackson, MS |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106769992/eastland/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

In the 1930s, Eastland took over management of his family's Sunflower County plantation; he  eventually expanded it to nearly {{convert|6000|acre|km2}}. Even after entering politics, he considered himself first and foremost a cotton planter. [[Cotton Plantation Record and Account Book|Cotton plantations]] were adopting mechanization but he still had many African-American laborers on the plantation, most of whom worked as [[sharecroppers]].

==Senate career==
Eastland was appointed to the U.S. Senate in June 1941 by [[governor of Mississippi|Governor]] [[Paul B. Johnson Sr.]], following the death of Senator [[Pat Harrison]]. Johnson first offered the appointment to Woods Eastland, whom he had known since childhood; Woods Eastland declined and suggested his son. Johnson appointed James Eastland on the condition that he would not run later that year in the special election to complete the term, ensuring that no candidate would have the advantage of incumbency. Eastland kept his word, and served until November; the election was won by [[Mississippi's 2nd congressional district|2nd District]] Congressman [[Wall Doxey]].

In 1942, Eastland was one of three candidates who challenged Doxey for a full term. Doxey had the support of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and Mississippi's senior U.S. Senator, [[Theodore G. Bilbo]], but Eastland defeated him in the Democratic primary. At the time, Mississippi was effectively a one-party state, dominated by white Democrats since the [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disfranchisement of African Americans]] with the passage of the 1890 state constitution, which allowed [[poll tax (United States)|poll taxes]], [[literacy tests]] and [[white primaries]] to exclude them from the political system. This made winning the Democratic primary [[tantamount to election]], and Eastland returned to the Senate on January 3, 1943. Roosevelt and Eastland developed a working relationship that enabled Eastland to oppose [[New Deal]] programs that were unpopular in Mississippi, while he supported the President's agenda on other issues. Eastland was effective in developing that type of arrangement with presidents of both parties during his long tenure in the Senate. Also effective because of his seniority, he gained major federal investment in the state, such as infrastructure construction including the [[Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway]] and federal relief after disasters such as [[Hurricane Camille]].

Early 1947 saw a renewed effort by the Truman administration to promote civil rights with activities such as President Truman addressing the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP) and delivering an address to Congress entirely dedicated to the subject.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Asch |first=Chris Myers |title=The Senator and the Sharecropper: The Freedom Struggles of James O. Eastland and Fannie Lou Hamer |publisher=New Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1595583321 |page=122 |ref={{sfnRef|Asch}}}}</ref> Eastland, among many other Southerners who saw the civil rights backing of the administration as an attack on their "[[Lifestyle (sociology)|way of life]]", addressed the Senate floor a week after Truman's speech on the matter, saying Southerners were expected to "remain docile" in light of their laws and culture being destroyed "under the false guise of another civil-rights bill."{{sfn|Asch|page=122}} Six weeks before the [[1948 United States presidential election]], Eastland predicted the defeat of the incumbent President [[Harry Truman]], telling an audience in [[Memphis, Tennessee]] that voting for him was a waste.{{sfn|Asch|page=124}} After Truman's surprise victory, Eastland "remained publicly undaunted".{{sfn|Asch|page=124}}

In 1956, Eastland was appointed chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], and he served in this position until his retirement from the Senate. He was re-elected five times. He did not face substantive [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] opposition until 1966, as party politics were realigning after passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. In 1966, freshman Representative [[Prentiss Walker]], the first Republican to represent Mississippi at the federal level since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], ran against Eastland. The Walker campaign was an early Republican effort to attract white conservatives to its ranks, because recently passed civil rights legislation had enabled African Americans in the South to begin participating in the political process, and most of them became active as liberals in the Democratic Party.

Former Republican Party state chairman [[Wirt Yerger]] had considered running against Eastland but bowed out after Walker announced his candidacy. Walker ran well to Eastland's right, accusing him of not having done enough to keep integration-friendly judges from being confirmed by the Senate. As is often the case when a one-term representative runs against a popular incumbent senator or governor, Walker was soundly defeated. Years later, Yerger said that Walker's decision to relinquish his House seat after one term for the vagaries of a Senate race against Eastland was "very devastating" to the growth of the Mississippi Republicans.<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo: Rubel Lex Phillips and the Mississippi Republican Party (1963-1967)", ''The Journal of Mississippi History'', XLVII, No. 4 (November 1985), p. 256</ref>

In February 1960, Senator [[Kenneth B. Keating]] made a motion to report an Eisenhower administration-backed civil rights bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  [[Olin D. Johnston]] objected on the grounds that the committee did not have permission to sit while the full Senate was meeting. Eastland upheld the objection. Keating later stated that Eastland intentionally refused to recognize him earlier, which prevented him from making his motion before the full Senate convened.  Eastland disputed Keating's claim, stated that he had recognized Keating in an appropriate manner, and advised Keating not to repeat his claim to the full Senate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=8_tS2Vw13FcC&dat=19600216&printsec=frontpage&hl=en |website=news.google.com}}</ref> In September 1960, Eastland and [[Thomas J. Dodd|Thomas Dodd]] said officials in the State Department cleared the way for the regime of [[Fidel Castro]] to reign in [[Cuba]] and that lower-ranking officials had misinformed Americans about the political climate of Cuba with assistance from the media. Incumbent Secretary of State [[Christian Herter]] responded to the claims by saying they were incorrect or misleading.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 11, 1960 |title=Demos Charge U.S. Aided Castro Regime |work=Eugene Register-Guard |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=4pF9x-cDGsoC&dat=19600911&printsec=frontpage&hl=en}}</ref>

Eastland announced his support for [[United States Deputy Attorney General]] [[Byron White]] to replace the retiring [[Charles Evans Whittaker]] as Associate Justice on March 30, 1962, Eastland stating that White would be an able justice.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 31, 1962 |title=Eastland Backs Choice; Says White Will Make 'Able Supreme Court Justice' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/03/31/archives/eastland-backs-choice-says-white-will-make-able-supreme-court.html}}</ref> White took office the following month. Eastland introduced an amendment that he stated would nullify the Supreme Court prayer decision on June 29, 1962.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 30, 1962 |title=Eastland Offers Amendment |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/06/30/archives/eastland-offers-amendment.html}}</ref> In September 1963, Eastland, fellow Mississippi Senator [[John C. Stennis|John Stennis]], and Georgia Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.|Richard Russell]] jointly announced their opposition to the ratification of the nuclear test ban treaty.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 7, 1963 |title=3 Senators Join Foes of Test Ban; View Affirmed by Russell, Stennis and Eastland General Objects |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/09/07/archives/3-senators-join-foes-of-test-ban-view-affirmed-by-russell-stennis.html}}</ref> The opposition was viewed as denting hopes of the Kennedy administration to be met with minimal disagreement during the treaty's appearance before the Senate.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 7, 1963 |title=Senates Oppose N-Treaty |work=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=A7-hzOuI2KQC&dat=19630907&printsec=frontpage&hl=en}}</ref>

In 1972, Eastland was reelected with 58 percent of the vote in his closest contest ever. His Republican opponent, [[Gil Carmichael]], an automobile dealer from [[Meridian, Mississippi|Meridian]], was likely aided by President [[Richard Nixon]]'s landslide reelection in 49 states, including taking 78 percent of Mississippi's popular vote. However, Nixon had worked "under the table" to support Eastland, a long-time personal friend. Nixon and other Republicans provided little support for Carmichael to avoid alienating [[Conservative Democrat|conservative]] [[Southern Democrat]]s, who increasingly supported Republican positions on many national issues. The Republicans worked to elect two House candidates, [[Trent Lott]] and [[Thad Cochran]], both of whom later became influential U.S. senators. Recognizing that Nixon would handily carry Mississippi, Eastland did not endorse the Democratic presidential candidate, [[George McGovern]] of [[South Dakota]], who was considered a liberal. Four years later, Eastland supported the candidacy of fellow Southern Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], rather than Nixon's successor, President [[Gerald R. Ford]].  Eastland's former press secretary, [[Larry Speakes]], a Mississippi native, served as a press spokesman for Gerald Ford and Ford's running mate, US Senator [[Robert J. Dole]].

In January 1970, after [[G. Harrold Carswell]] was accused of harboring both sexist and racist beliefs, Eastland told reporters that he believed this was the first instance of a Supreme Court nominee being challenged on his views on the legal rights of women.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 30, 1970 |title=Carswell Called Foe of Women's Rights |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/30/archives/carswell-called-foe-of-womens-rights.html}}</ref> In April, the Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a vote for a plan that if enacted would give each state one electoral vote for each congressional district. During a meeting with reporters, Eastland espoused his view that the Senate would not approve any constitutional amendment reforming the presidential election system that year.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 22, 1970 |title=Eastland Doubts Passage Of a New Electoral Plan |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/22/archives/eastland-doubts-passage-of-a-new-electoral-plan.html}}</ref> In November, along with fellow Southerners [[Strom Thurmond]] and [[Sam J. Ervin Jr.]], Eastland was one of three senators to vote against an occupational safety bill that would establish federal supervision to oversee working conditions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Finney |first=John W. |date=November 18, 1970 |title=Senate Approves Compromise Bill on Safety in Jobs |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/18/archives/senate-approves-compromise-bill-on-safety-in-jobs-823-vote-sends-to.html}}</ref> Later that month, after President Nixon vetoed a curb on spending for political broadcasts, Republican leader [[Hugh Scott]] announced that he would offer comprehensive campaign reforms the following year and called for senators to join him in sustaining the veto. It was agreed by members of both parties that Eastland was one of eight senators who were essential to supporting Democratic opposition to the veto and thereby make the difference in overriding it.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 22, 1970 |title=Scott Seeks Votes To Back Nixon Veto Limiting TV Funds |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/22/archives/scott-seeks-votes-to-back-nixon-veto-limiting-tv-funds.html}}</ref>

In April 1971, Eastland introduced a six‐bill package intended to adjust the [[Internal Security Act of 1950]] in addition to plugging loopholes noted by various decisions made by the Supreme Court, Eastland noting that his proposed version of the Internal Security Act would give the [[Subversive Activities Control Board]] more efficiency.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 6, 1971 |title=Eastland Urges Bolstering Of Internal Security Laws |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/06/archives/eastland-urges-bolstering-of-internal-security-laws.html}}</ref> In October 1971, after President [[Richard Nixon]] nominated [[Lewis F. Powell]] and [[William Rehnquist]] to the Supreme Court,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nixon |first=Richard |date=October 21, 1971 |title=Address to the Nation Announcing Intention To Nominate Lewis F. Powell Jr. and William H. Rehnquist To Be Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3196 |access-date=March 1, 2016 |website=The American Presidency Project. [[University of California, Santa Barbara|UCSB]] |archive-date=March 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310164624/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3196 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Eastland announced his intent to hasten the hearings of Rehnquist and Powell while admitting his doubts that hearings would begin the following week given the Senate being in recess.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 22, 1971 |title=2 Nominees Given Cautious Backing |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/22/archives/2-nominees-given-cautious-backing-eastland-plans-to-expedite.html}}</ref> In October 1974, Eastland was one of five senators to sponsor legislation authored by [[Jesse Helms]] permitting prayer in public schools and taking the issue away from the Supreme Court which had previously ruled in 1963 that school prayer violated the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution]] through the establishment of a religion.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 18, 1974 |title=School Prayers Bill's Objective |publisher=Jewish Post |url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=JPOST19741018-01.1.12&srpos=13&e=------197-en-20--1--txt-txIN-thurmond------}}</ref> In June 1976, Eastland joined a coalition of Democratic politicians who endorsed Georgia Governor [[Jimmy Carter]] for the presidency.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 11, 1976 |title=Democrats Stampede To Rally Behind Carter |work=The Milwaukee Sentinel |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19760611&id=oYtRAAAAIBAJ&pg=6970,1558340 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' assessed Stennis and Eastland as jointly "trying to pull Mississippi out for Mr. Carter" in their first campaign for a national Democrat in decades.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 1, 1976 |title=Presidential Race Called Very Close on Eve of the Vote |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/11/01/archives/presidential-race-called-very-close-on-eve-of-the-vote-50state.html}}</ref>

On May 18, 1977, Eastland made a joint appearance with President [[Jimmy Carter]] in the Rose Garden in support of proposed foreign intelligence surveillance legislation. Eastland said the legislation was "vitally needed in this country" and that he was satisfied with its bipartisan support.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Carter |first=Jimmy |author-link=Jimmy Carter |date=May 18, 1977 |title=Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Remarks of the President, Attorney General Bell, and Several Members of Congress on Proposed Legislation. |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7526 |publisher=American Presidency Project}}</ref> Over the summer of 1977, the Justice Department enlisted the aid of Eastland as part of its effort to thwart "balkanization" of litigation authority, Eastland and Attorney General [[Griffin Bell]] moving to block six measures that if enacted would have permitted the independent agencies to go to court under certain circumstances in the event the Justice Department did not act on a case 45 days after it was referred to the department.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 28, 1977 |title=Agency Control of Lawsuits Urged |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/28/archives/agency-control-of-lawsuits-urged.html}}</ref> By August 1977, the Carter administration reached a compromise plan to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the United States, Eastland, Attorney General Bell, and [[United States Secretary of Labor]] [[F. Ray Marshall]] agreeing to civil penalties up to $1,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=1000|start_year=1977}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) for offending employers.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 5, 1977 |title=The Illegal Alien Tangle |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/05/archives/the-illegal-alien-tangle.html}}</ref> By September 1977, the seventy-three-year-old Eastland was considering retirement, with discussions of [[Ted Kennedy]] assuming his position as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.<ref name="Ties">{{Cite news |date=September 22, 1977 |title=Burger Moves to Aid Court-Congress Ties |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/22/archives/burger-moves-to-aid-courtcongress-ties-judicial-congress-hears.html}}</ref> In October 1977, Eastland was one of several influential senators invited to meet with President Carter as the latter tried gaining support in the Senate for the [[Panama Canal Treaties|Panama Canal treaties]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 12, 1977 |title=Carter in New Bid for Canal Backing |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/12/archives/carter-in-new-bid-for-canal-backing-he-calls-senators-to-white.html}}</ref>

=== Nixon resignation ===
On February 14, 1974, Special Prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice [[Leon Jaworski]] wrote to Eastland complaining that President Nixon had refused to give him material that he needed for his [[Watergate]] investigation including 27 tapes relating to the Watergate cover‐up in addition to political donations of milk producers and the activities of the plumbers unit of the White House. The contents of the letter to Eastland were disclosed to the public by Jaworski the following month.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 22, 1974 |title=A Subpoena Seeks More Nixon Files |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/22/archives/a-subpoena-seeks-more-nixon-files-jaworski-reports-writ-was-served.html}}</ref> In May, the House Judiciary Committee opened impeachment hearings against President Nixon after the release of 1,200 pages of transcripts of White House conversations between him and his aides and the administration. That month, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a resolution supporting Jaworski observing that he was "acting within the scope of the authority conferred upon him". Eastland's support for the resolution was seen by observers as part of a pattern of Nixon backers turning against him in light of the Watergate scandal.<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 22, 1974 |title=Senators Back Jaworski On Interference by Nixon |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/22/archives/senators-back-jaworski-on-interference-by-nixon-senate-panel-backs.html}}</ref> In August, ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine released Eastland's name as one of thirty-six senators who the White House believed would support President Nixon remaining in office in the event of impeachment. The article mentioned the White House believing some of the supporters were shaky and that thirty-four of them would need to remain firm to override a potential conviction.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 5, 1974 |title=36 Senators Seen as Nixon Backers |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/05/archives/36-senators-seen-as-nixon-backers-magazine-says-7-democrats-may.html}}</ref> Within days of the article's release, Nixon resigned the presidency in the face of near-certain impeachment.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Nixon Resigns |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/part3.html |access-date=July 16, 2011 |series=The Watergate Story}}</ref>

===Senate President pro tempore===
During his last Senate term, Eastland was the longest-serving member of the majority party and was elected [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore]]. Eastland is the most recent President pro tempore to have served during a vacancy in the Vice Presidency. He did so twice during the tumultuous 1970s, first from October to December 1973, following [[Spiro Agnew]]'s resignation until the swearing-in of [[Gerald Ford]] as Vice President, and then from August to December 1974, from the time that Ford became President until [[Nelson Rockefeller]] was sworn in as Vice President. Then, Eastland was second in the [[United States presidential line of succession|presidential line of succession]], behind only [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Carl Albert]].

== Political positions ==

===Opposition to civil rights===
Eastland opposed integration and the [[civil rights movement]]. During [[World War II]], Eastland vocally opposed and denigrated the service of African American soldiers in the war. He incited protests and comparisons to [[Nazism|Hitlerism]] following a vitriolic speech on the floor of the Senate in July 1945, in which he complained that the Negro soldier was physically, morally, and mentally incapable of serving in combat.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Young III |first=John H. |date=7 July 1945 |title=Eastland Insults 13,000,000 Citizens |work=[[Pittsburgh Courier]]}} Retrieved 18 March 2019.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Smadbeck |first=Warren |date=14 July 1945 |title=Hitlerism and Eastland |work=[[New York Amsterdam News]]}} Retrieved 18 March 2019.</ref>{{sfn|Asch|pages=116–117}}<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Klinkner |first1=Philip A. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780226443416 |title=The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America |last2=Smith |first2=Rogers M. |date=April 2002 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226443416 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780226443416/page/168 168] |quote=Eastland. |url-access=registration}}</ref> Eastland claimed that the "boys from the South were fighting to maintain [[white supremacy]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Blount |first=George W. |date=1 April 1944 |title=Blount - Speaks Softly |work=[[New Journal and Guide]] |publisher=Norfolk Journal and Guide}} Retrieved 18 March 2019.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Congress |first=United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpkCbSHnMmQC&q=eastland+%22Who+has+won+this+war |title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress |date=1945 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office}}</ref> In 1944 Eastland said:<blockquote>I have no prejudice in my heart, but the white race is the [[superior race]] and the [[Negro]] race an [[inferior race]] and the races must be kept separate by law.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Curt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLlPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22I+have+no+prejudice+in+my+heart,+but+the+white+race+is+the+superior+race+and+the+Negro+race+an+inferior+race+and+the+races+must+be+kept+separate.%22 |title=500 Years of Obscene — and Counting |publisher=December Press |year=1997 |isbn=9780913204344 |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=John Harold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sr4KAAAAIAAJ&q=I+have+no+prejudice+in+my+heart,+but+the+white+race+is+the+superior+race+and+the+Negro+race+an+inferior+race+and+the+races+must+be+kept+separate+by+law |title=Negro Digest |date=1944 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |pages=72}}</ref></blockquote>The same year, he protested against ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'', which banned [[white primaries]]:{{blockquote|This decision reveals an alarming tendency to destroy the sovereignty of the states. Our supreme court is usurping the legislative function, and Congress may yet prove the last citadel of constitutional government.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOAKAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Our+Supreme+Court+is+usurping+the+legislative+function,+and+Congress+may+yet+prove+the+last+citadel+of+constitutional+government.+%22 |title=Race Relations: A Monthly Summary of Events and Trends |date=1943 |publisher=Negro University Press |pages=141}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 4, 1944 |title=Dixie Members Of Congress Bitterly Hit Court Ruling |page=4 |work=The Greenville News |agency=United Press |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12135575/the_greenville_news/ |access-date=June 22, 2019}}</ref>}}As a member of the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]], Eastland would alongside fellow southerners [[Olin D. Johnston]] of [[list of United States senators from South Carolina|South Carolina]] and [[Harley M. Kilgore]] of [[list of United States senators from West Virginia|West Virginia]] be one of three senators to report negatively on [[Earl Warren]] when [[list of federal judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]] nominated him to [[Supreme Court of the United States|the Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Vote Is 12 to 3: Senate Unit Backs Warren Nomination|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|location=[[Washington, D.C.|Washington, District of Columbia]]|date=February 25, 1954|page=1}}</ref> He later was one of eleven senators to vote against [[John Marshall Harlan II]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voteview.com/rollcall/RS0840019|title= NOMINATION OF JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN AS ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT. CONFIRMED|publisher=voteview.com}}</ref> and one of seventeen to vote against [[Potter Stewart]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://voteview.com/rollcall/RS0860058|title= NOMINATION OF POTTER STEWART AS ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF SUPREME COURT.|publisher=voteview.com}}</ref> When the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] issued its decision in the landmark case ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', ruling that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, Eastland, like the majority of Southern Democrats, denounced it. In a speech given in [[Senatobia, Mississippi]] on August 12, 1955, he announced:{{blockquote|On May 17, 1954, the [[United States Constitution|Constitution of the United States]] was destroyed because of the Supreme Court's decision. You are not obliged to obey the decisions of any court which are plainly fraudulent sociological considerations.<ref>''Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954–1965'', by Juan Williams, Viking Penguin, January 1, 1987, {{ISBN|978-0-670-81412-1}}, p. 38.</ref>}}

Eastland would become actively involved with the [[White Citizens' Council]], an organization which boasted 60,000 members across the South and was called "the new Klan that enforces thought control by economic pressures."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Desmond |first=James |date=7 January 1956 |title=New Klan Fosters Anti-Negro Laws! |work=Pittsburgh Courier}} Retrieved 18 March 2019.</ref> Eastland testified to the Senate ten days after the ''Brown'' decision:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simkin |first=John |date=September 1997 |title=James Eastland |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/USAeastland.htm |access-date=18 August 2017 |publisher=[[Spartacus Educational]]}}</ref>{{blockquote|The Southern institution of racial segregation or racial separation was the correct, self-evident truth which arose from the chaos and confusion of the Reconstruction period. Separation promotes racial harmony. It permits each race to follow its own pursuits, and its own civilization. Segregation is not discrimination ... Mr. President, it is the law of nature, it is the law of God, that every race has both the right and the duty to perpetuate itself. All free men have the right to associate exclusively with members of their own race, free from governmental interference, if they so desire.}}

On July 24, 1957, interviewed by [[Mike Wallace]] on the occasion of the passing of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]], Eastland said segregation was wanted by both races:<blockquote>As I said, we have more Nigra professional men, more businessmen, we have substantial Nigra cotton planters. In fact, they have made more progress in the South than in the North. The master-servant relationship today is largely a Northern product.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CONTENTdm |url=https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll90/id/22/rec/61 |access-date=2019-06-22 |website=hrc.contentdm.oclc.org}}</ref></blockquote>In the 1960s, Eastland belonged to the Genetics Committee of the [[Pioneer Fund]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lichtenstein |first=Grace |date=1977-12-11 |title=Fund Backs Controversial Study of 'Racial Betterment' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/11/archives/fund-backs-controversial-study-of-racial-betterment-some-others-who.html |access-date=2019-07-16 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Information on Wycliffe Draper's anti-Negro committees, March 13, 1960 |url=http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b150-i362 |access-date=2019-07-16 |website=credo.library.umass.edu}}</ref> Civil rights workers [[Mickey Schwerner]], [[James Chaney]], and [[Andrew Goodman (activist)|Andrew Goodman]] [[Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner|went missing]] in Mississippi on June 21, 1964, during the [[Freedom Summer]] efforts to register African American voters. Eastland tried to convince President [[Lyndon Johnson]] that the incident was a hoax and there was no [[Ku Klux Klan]] in the state. He suggested that the three had gone to [[Chicago]]:<ref>{{Cite web |title=WhiteHouseTapes.org :: The secret White House tapes and recordings of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/exhibits/miss_burning/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513101119/http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/exhibits/miss_burning/ |archive-date=2009-05-13 |access-date=2007-02-23}}</ref>

{{blockquote|
'''Johnson''': Jim, we've got three kids missing down there. What can I do about it?

'''Eastland''': Well, I don't know. I don't believe there's&nbsp;... I don't believe there's three missing.

'''Johnson''': We've got their parents down here.

'''Eastland''': I believe it's a publicity stunt ...}}

Johnson once said:

{{blockquote|Jim Eastland could be standing right in the middle of the worst Mississippi flood ever known, and he'd say the niggers caused it, helped out by the Communists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schlesinger |first=Arthur M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0xqrU5lnD7AC&q=%22right+in+the+middle+of+the+worst+Mississippi+flood+ever+known%22&pg=PA234 |title=Robert Kennedy and His Times |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books |year=2002 |isbn=0-618-21928-5 |page=234}}</ref>|sign=|source=}}

[[File:LBJ with Eastland.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Senator Eastland with President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in 1968.]]

Eastland, like most of his Southern colleagues, opposed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], which prohibited segregation of public places and facilities. Its passage caused many Mississippi Democrats to support [[Barry Goldwater]]'s presidential bid [[1964 United States presidential election|that year]], but Eastland did not publicly oppose the election of Johnson. Four years earlier he had quietly supported [[John F. Kennedy]]'s presidential campaign, but [[United States presidential election in Mississippi, 1960|Mississippi]] voted that year for unpledged electors. Although Republican Senator Goldwater was strongly defeated by incumbent Johnson, he carried [[United States presidential election in Mississippi, 1964|Mississippi]] with 87.14 percent of the popular vote, which constitutes the best-ever Republican showing in any state since the founding of that party.<ref>Thomas, G. Scott; ''The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History'', p. 403 {{ISBN|0313257957}}</ref> In 1964, almost all blacks in Mississippi remained excluded from voting, thus Goldwater's mammoth win essentially constituted the vote of the white population.

Eastland was often at odds with Johnson's policy on civil rights, but they retained a close friendship based on long years together in the Senate. Johnson often sought Eastland's support and guidance on other issues, such as the nomination of [[Abe Fortas]] in 1968 as [[Chief Justice of the United States]]. The [[Solid South]] opposed him.<ref name="abe fortas">{{Cite book |last=Laura Kalman |url=https://archive.org/details/abefortasbiograp00kalm |title=Abe Fortas |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1990 |isbn=9780300046694 |access-date=2008-10-20 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In the 1950s, Johnson was one of three senators from the South who did not sign the [[Southern Manifesto]] of resistance to ''Brown v. Board of Education'', but Eastland and most [[Southern senators]] did, vowing resistance to school integration.

Eastland lobbied for the appointment of his friend [[William Harold Cox|Harold Cox]] to a federal judgeship, promising John F. Kennedy, who planned to appoint [[Thurgood Marshall]] to the United States Court of Appeals, that he would permit Marshall's confirmation to go forward if Cox was also appointed to the bench.<ref name="Minor2016">{{cite news |last=Minor |first=Bill |date=September 22, 2016 |title=Minor: Eastland held sway over Miss. politics for decades |url=https://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/09/22/minor-eastland-held-sway-over-miss-politics-decades/90843502/ |work=[[The Clarion-Ledger]] |location=Jackson, MS}}</ref> This was in keeping with Kennedy's approach to handling Eastland; not wanting to upset the powerful chairman of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Judiciary Committee]], Kennedy generally acceded to Eastland's requests on judicial appointments in Mississippi, which resulted in white segregationists dominating the state's federal courts.<ref name="Minor2016"/> Though Eastland agreed to allow Marshall's nomination to proceed, he and senators [[Robert Byrd]], [[John Little McClellan|John McClellan]], [[Olin D. Johnston]], [[Sam Ervin]], and [[Strom Thurmond]], made unsuccessful attempts to block Marshall's confirmation to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Sherman |first=Mark |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=March 19, 2022 |title=Thurgood Marshall, 1st Black justice, faced down Senate critics |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2022/03/19/thurgood-marshall-1st-black-justice-faced-down-senate-critics/ |work=[[Portland Press Herald]] |location=Portland, ME}}</ref>

In early 1969, Eastland went to [[Rhodesia]] and came back praising the White minority regime for the "racial harmony" supposedly lacking from America.{{sfn|Asch|pages=265–266}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Borstelmann |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWqjxBEPPlEC&q=eastland+rhodesia&pg=PA198 |title=The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena |date=2009-06-30 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674028548 |pages=198–199}}</ref> According to [[Ken Flower]], head of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Operation, Eastland once complained about the fact a hostel of [[Salisbury (Rhodesia)|Salisbury]] was integrated, stating "You've inserted the thin end of the wedge by allowing stinking niggers into such a fine hotel".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Horne |first=Gerald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyXTDAAAQBAJ&q=%22You've+inserted+the+thin+end+of+the+wedge+by+allowing+stinking+niggers+into+such+a+fine+hotel%22&pg=PT148 |title=From the Barrel of a Gun: The United States and the War against Zimbabwe, 1965-1980 |date=2015-12-01 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=9781469625591}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Michel |first=Eddie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDVlDwAAQBAJ&q=%22You've+inserted+the+thin+end+of+the+wedge+by+allowing+stinking+niggers+into+such+a+fine+hotel%22&pg=PA204 |title=The White House and White Africa: Presidential Policy Toward Rhodesia During the UDI Era, 1965-1979 |date=2018-07-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780429843297 |pages=204}}</ref> When he considered running for reelection in 1978, Eastland sought black support from [[Aaron Henry (politician)|Aaron Henry]], civil rights leader and president of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]]. Henry told Eastland that it would be difficult for him to earn the support of black voters given his "master-servant philosophy with regard to blacks."<ref name="The New York Times" /> Eastland decided not to seek re-election. Partly because of the independent candidacy of [[Charles Evers]] siphoning off votes from the Democratic nominee, [[Maurice Dantin]], Republican [[Mississippi's 4th congressional district|4th District]] Representative [[Thad Cochran]] won the race to succeed Eastland. Eastland resigned the day after [[Christmas]], enabling the governor to appoint Cochran to complete the last few days of Eastland's term, which gave Cochran a seniority advantage over other senators elected in 1978. After his retirement, Eastland remained friends with Aaron Henry and sent contributions to the NAACP,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Joe Atkins |date=6 November 2016 |title=Book review: 'Big Jim Eastland' |work=[[Hattiesburg American]] |url=https://eu.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/life/books/2016/11/06/book-review-big-jim-eastland/93100844/ |access-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190620070108/https://eu.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/life/books/2016/11/06/book-review-big-jim-eastland/93100844/ |archive-date=20 June 2019 |quote=Eastland did soften somewhat in his later years, even becoming friends with civil rights leader Aaron Henry}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ashton Pittman |date=1 May 2019 |title=Joe Biden and the Dixiecrats Who Helped His Career |work=[[Jackson Free Press]] |url=http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/may/01/joe-biden-and-dixiecrats-who-helped-his-career/ |access-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501173045/http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/may/01/joe-biden-and-dixiecrats-who-helped-his-career/ |archive-date=1 May 2019 |quote=Eastland sent a $500 check to the Mississippi NAACP, an organization he had once railed against, and a letter to its chairman, Aaron Henry, with whom he had struck a friendship.}}</ref> but he said that he "didn't regret a thing" in his public career.

=== Antisemitism ===
In 1968, after opposing the nomination of [[Abe Fortas]] to Chief Justice, Eastland, as chair of the Judiciary committee, said "After [Thurgood] Marshall, I could not go back to Mississippi if a Jewish chief justice swore in the next president."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kalman |first1=Laura |title=The Long Reach of the Sixties |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199958221 |pages=145 |edition=1st}}</ref> In 1977, Eastland "sneer(ed) openly at Senator [[Jacob Javits]], saying, 'I don't like you or your kind,' because Javits was Jewish."<ref>Caro, Robert A. ''[[The Years of Lyndon Johnson]]: [[Master of the Senate]].''  (New York: Random House, 2002) p. 103, as cited in Soffer, Jonathan. ''Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City''. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2012). ISBN 978-0-231-15032-3, pp. 81-82.</ref>

===Anticommunism===
Eastland served on a subcommittee in the 1950s investigating the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] in the United States. As chairman of the [[United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security|Internal Security Subcommittee]], he [[subpoena]]ed some employees of ''[[The New York Times]]'' to testify about their activities. The paper was taking a strong position on its editorial page that Mississippi should adhere to the ''Brown'' decision, and claimed that Eastland was persecuting them on that account.  The ''Times'' said in its January 5, 1956 editorial:
{{blockquote|Our faith is strong that long after Senator Eastland and his present subcommittee are gone, long after segregation has lost its final battle in the South, long after all that was known as [[McCarthyism]] is a dim, unwelcome memory, long after the last Congressional committee has learned that it cannot tamper successfully with a free press, The ''New York Times'' will be speaking for the men who make it, and only for the men who make it, and speaking, without fear or favor, the truth as it sees it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Times) |first=News Documents (The New York |title=The Voice of a Free Press |url=https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1391914-the-voice-of-a-free-press.html |access-date=2019-06-22 |website=www.documentcloud.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=2015-01-08 |title=1956 {{!}} 'The Voice of a Free Press' |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2015/01/08/1956-the-voice-of-a-free-press/ |access-date=2019-06-22 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>}}

Eastland subsequently allowed the subcommittee to become dormant as communist fears receded.

===Marijuana===
In 1974, Eastland led congressional subcommittee hearings into [[marijuana]], the report on which concluded:

{{blockquote|... five years of research has provided strong evidence  that, if corroborated, would suggest that marijuana in various forms is far more hazardous than originally suspected.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate |url=https://archive.org/stream/marihuanahashish00unit#page/n11/ |title=Marihuana-Hashish Epidemic and its Impact on United States Security |date=1974 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |page=ix}}</ref>}}

==Relationship with FBI==
[[File:James eastland.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Official U.S. Senate portrait of Eastland]]
Eastland was a staunch supporter of [[FBI]] Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]], and shared intelligence with the FBI, including leaks from the [[United States State Department|State Department]]. An investigation initiated by [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Robert F. Kennedy]] and executed by former FBI agent [[Walter Sheridan]] traced some of the unauthorized disclosures to [[Otto Otepka]] of the State Department Office of Security.<ref name="Weiner, 228">{{Cite book |last=Weiner |first=Tim |title=Enemies |publisher=Random House |year=2013 |isbn=978-0812979237 |pages=228–229}}</ref> Hoover received intelligence that Eastland was among members of Congress who had received money and favors from [[Rafael Trujillo]], dictator of the [[Dominican Republic]]. Eastland had regularly defended him from the Senate floor. Hoover declined to pursue Eastland on corruption charges.<ref name="Weiner, 217">{{Cite book |last=Weiner |first=Tim |title=Enemies |publisher=Random House |year=2013 |isbn=978-0812979237 |pages=217–218}}</ref>

==Later years==
In his last years in the Senate, Eastland was recognized by most senators as one who knew how to wield the legislative powers he had accumulated. Many senators, including [[modern liberalism in the United States|liberals]] who opposed many of his positions, acknowledged the fairness with which he chaired the Judiciary Committee, sharing staff and authority that chairmen of other committees jealously held for themselves.<ref name="Lateer">{{Cite book |last=Lateer |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsRADwAAQBAJ&pg=PT391 |title=Three Barons: The Organizational Chart of the JFK assassination |date=2017 |publisher=Trine Day LLC |isbn=9781634241434 |location=Walterville, OR |page=391}}</ref> He maintained friendly personal ties with liberal Democrats such as [[Ted Kennedy]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zwiers |first=Maarten |title=Great Compromisers: Edward Kennedy and James Eastland in the U.S. Senate |url=http://www.netherlands-america.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/nasa-najaar%202009.pdf |journal=NASA-Nieuwsbrief |location=Middelburg, Netherlands |publisher=Netherlands American Studies Association (NASA) |volume=XIX |issue=Fall 2009 |page=11 |access-date=20 June 2019 |quote=Senator Eastland publicly came out for his friendship with the youngest of the Kennedy brothers. In the spring of 1978, when Eastland had already announced his retirement, he invited Ted Kennedy as the commencement speaker at the University of Mississippi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Joe Atkins |date=6 November 2016 |title=Book review: 'Big Jim Eastland' |work=[[Hattiesburg American]] |url=https://eu.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/life/books/2016/11/06/book-review-big-jim-eastland/93100844/ |access-date=20 June 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190620070108/https://eu.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/life/books/2016/11/06/book-review-big-jim-eastland/93100844/ |archive-date=20 June 2019 |quote=Eastland and Kennedy became friends}}</ref> [[Walter Mondale]], [[Joe Biden]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tapper |first=Jake |title=Biden his time |work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |url=https://www.salon.com/2001/06/29/biden_19/ |url-status=live |access-date=12 April 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190412180539/https://www.salon.com/2001/06/29/biden_19/ |archive-date=12 April 2019 |quote=Jim Eastland of Mississippi, a fellow Democrat who offered to help Biden in a tough 1978 reelection contest. "What can Jim Eastland do for you?" the senator asked. Biden was at the time worried about the issue of school busing, in which he had sided with the civil rights community, and was concerned with how a boost from a Dixiecrat would play in the housing projects of Wilmington. "Mr. Chairman," Biden said, "quite honestly, some places you can help me, but a lot of places you could hurt me." "I'll just come to Del'ware and campaign for you or agin' you, whichever helps you the most," Eastland drawled.}}</ref> and [[Philip Hart]], even though they disagreed on many issues.<ref name="Lateer" /> Following Johnson's retirement from the White House, Eastland frequently visited Johnson at his Texas ranch.<ref name="Lateer" />

In an event recounted by [[Patrick Leahy]] in his 2022 memoir, [[Ted Kennedy]] once sought to advance in the Judiciary Committee a bill that Eastland opposed.<ref name="Leahy">{{cite book |last=Leahy |first=Patrick |date=2022 |title=The Road Taken |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AiHREAAAQBAJ |location=New York, NY |publisher=Simon & Schuster |pages=76–77 |isbn=978-1-9821-5736-4 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Eastland promised Kennedy that if Kennedy secured enough votes for the measure to pass, Eastland would place it on the committee agenda, though Eastland would vote against it.<ref name="Leahy"/> Kennedy believed he had secured the votes, and true to his word, Eastland included it on the committee agenda.<ref name="Leahy"/> When the question was called, it failed by one vote.<ref name="Leahy"/> According to Leahy, Eastland questioned one senator who had cast a no vote as to whether he had given Kennedy his word to vote in favor.<ref name="Leahy"/> The senator indicated that he had, but that he had then changed his mind.<ref name="Leahy"/> Eastland told the lawmaker in question that when one senator gave his word to another, he was honor-bound to keep it.<ref name="Leahy"/> Eastland then changed his own vote to yes, allowing Kennedy's bill to pass.<ref name="Leahy"/> Afterward, the senator Eastland questioned never had one of his bills included on the committee agenda.<ref name="Leahy"/> Eastland's closest friend and confidant was [[Leander Perez]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bill Minor |date=18 February 2016 |title=Minor: Netherlands scholar pens James Eastland bio |work=[[The Clarion-Ledger]] |url=https://eu.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/02/18/minor-netherlands-scholar-pens-james-eastland-bio/80519304/ |access-date=20 June 2019 |quote=Leander Perez, who became Eastland's closest friend and confidant.}}</ref>

Eastland died at a hospital in [[Greenwood, Mississippi]], on February 19, 1986, from pneumonia as a complication of other health issues; he was 81.<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/20/obituaries/james-o-eastland-is-dead-at-81-leading-senate-foe-of-integration.html|title = James O. Eastland Is Dead at 81; Leading Senate Foe of Integration|last = Hunteer|first = Marjorie|date = February 20, 1986|accessdate = November 19, 2024|newspaper = [[The New York Times]]|url-access = limited|page = D24}}</ref>

While at a fundraiser on June 18, 2019, presidential candidate Biden said that one of his greatest strengths was "bringing people together" and pointed to his relationships with Eastland and fellow segregationist senator [[Herman Talmadge]] as examples. While imitating a [[Southern drawl]], Biden remarked, "I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me 'boy,' he always called me 'son.'”<ref name="segregation1">{{Cite news |last=Detrow |first=Scott |date=19 June 2019 |title=Democrats Blast Biden For Recalling 'Civil' Relationship With Segregationists |publisher=National Public Radio |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/734103488/democrats-blast-biden-for-recalling-civil-relationship-with-segregationists |access-date=19 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="segregation2">{{Cite news |last=Cammarata |first=Sarah |date=19 June 2019 |title=Biden faces backlash for citing his work with two segregationists as a sign of 'civility' |publisher=Politico |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/19/joe-biden-segregationist-senators-1370223 |access-date=19 June 2019}}</ref> New Jersey Senator [[Cory Booker]] was one of many Democrats to criticize Biden for the remarks, issuing a statement that said, "You don't joke about calling black men 'boys.' Men like James O. Eastland used words like that, and the racist policies that accompanied them, to perpetuate white supremacy and strip black Americans of our very humanity".<ref name="segregation2" />

==Portrayal in popular culture==

Eastland was portrayed by actor [[Jeff Doucette]] in the 2016 [[HBO]] film ''[[All the Way (2016 film)|All the Way]]'' and by [[Nicholas Bell]] in the 2022 film ''[[Elvis (2022 film)|Elvis]]''.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q21527454|title=All the Way (2016)}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
* Annis, Jr. J. Lee.  ''Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi'' (University Press of Mississippi, 2016)
* Asch, Chris Myers.  "Reconstruction Revisited: James O. Eastland, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and the Reconstruction of Germany, 1945–1946", ''Journal of Mississippi History'' (Spring 2005)
* Finley, Keith M. ''Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965'' (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2008).
* Robinson, Patricia Webb.  ''A Rhetorical Analysis of Senator James O. Eastland's Speeches, 1954–1959'' .
* ''Menace of Subversive Activity'' by James Oliver Eastland. Publisher: Congressional Record (1966).
{{CongBio|E000018}}
* "[https://web.archive.org/web/20081214103529/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,824107,00.html The South: The Authentic Voice]", [[Time (magazine)|''Time'' magazine]], March 26, 1956; article about James Eastland
* Zwiers, Maarten. '' Senator James Eastland: Mississippi's Jim Crow Democrat'' (Louisiana State University Press, 2015)

==External links==
* [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011116132645/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/eastland/eastland.asp Transcript, James O. Eastland Oral History Interview I], February 19, 1971, by [[Joe Bertram Frantz|Joe B. Frantz]], Internet Copy, LBJ Library. Accessed April 3, 2005.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060831022339/http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/files/archives/collections/guides/latesthtml/MUM00117.html Finding-Aid for the James O. Eastland Collection (MUM00117)] from the University of Mississippi Library. Accessed August 17, 2006.

{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00117/ The James Oliver Eastland Collection] owned by the University of Mississippi
* [http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/eastland_james.html James Eastland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413162125/http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/video/2008/wallace/eastland_james.html |date=April 13, 2010 }} interviewed by [[Mike Wallace]] on ''The Mike Wallace Interview''
* [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011116132645/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/eastland/eastland.asp Oral History Interview with James Eastland, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library]

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{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Mississippi]]<br>([[Classes of United States senators|Class 2]])|years=[[1942 United States Senate election in Mississippi|1942]], [[1948 United States Senate election in Mississippi|1948]], [[1954 United States Senate election in Mississippi|1954]], [[1960 United States Senate election in Mississippi|1960]], [[1966 United States Senate election in Mississippi|1966]], [[1972 United States Senate election in Mississippi|1972]]}}
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{{U.S. Senator box
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