Charles L. Sullivan (August 20, 1924 – April 18, 1979) was an American politician, attorney and military pilot. He served the 24th

Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi The lieutenant governor of Mississippi is the second-highest ranking executive officer in Mississippi, below the governor of Mississippi. The office of lieutenant governor was established when Mississippi became a state, abolished for a few decade ...

from 1968 to 1972 under Governor

John Bell Williams John Bell Williams (December 4, 1918 – March 25, 1983) was an American Democratic politician who represented Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1968 and served as Governor of Mississippi from 1968 to 1972. He was f ...

. He was also a general in the United States Air National Guard.

Early life and education

Charles L. Sullivan was born on August 20, 1924, in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

and was raised in

Greene Greene may refer to: Places United States *Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community *Greene, Iowa, a city *Greene, Maine, a town ** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene *Greene (town), New York ** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...

and

Perry Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...

counties of Mississippi. His father was a school superintendent. He attended Hintonville High School, Knox College, and

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

and before earning a law degree from the

University of Mississippi School of Law The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The School of Law offers the only dedicated aerospace law curr ...

in 1950. He married Mary Lester Rayner and had four children with her.

Career

Sullivan was interested in having a political career from a young age. A trial attorney, Sullivan ran for President of the United States in the 1960 presidential election as the candidate of the Constitution Party. He and his running mate,

Merritt Curtis Merritt Barton Curtis, (August 31, 1892 – May 16, 1966) was a United States Marine Corps officer with the rank of brigadier general during World War II. He was also lawyer who in 1960 ran for President of the United States in Washington with B ...

, received 18,162 votes in Texas, the only state where he was on the ballot, or 0.79% of the popular vote. In 1963, Sullivan ran for

Governor of Mississippi A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and lost to eventual winner, Lieutenant Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr. Sullivan was a staunch segregationist and modeled his campaign on defending racial segregation in Mississippi as it came under attack by the federal government and local civil rights activists. Sullivan won statewide political office during a hard-fought campaign during the 1967 elections. As Governor

Paul B. Johnson Jr. Paul Burney Johnson Jr. (January 23, 1916October 14, 1985) was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Mississippi, serving as governor from 1964 until January 1968. He was a son of former Mississippi Governor Paul B. Johnson Sr. ...

, running for his old spot as

, campaigned for law and order, Sullivan and eventual Governor-elect

emphasized their ability to roll back required federal changes to the state's segregation policy as outlined by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Despite thousands of blacks newly registered to vote in Mississippi, the two segregationist candidates for the executive office, Williams and Sullivan, claimed overwhelming victories. Sullivan was sworn-in as Lieutenant Governor on January 15, 1968. In the next four years of Sullivan's term, he and Williams attempted to mollify whites' angst in response to the school desegregation orders (often called "immediate integration") as ordered by the Federal judiciary in ''

Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education ''Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education'', 396 U.S. 19 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ordered immediate desegregation of public schools in the American South. It followed 15 years of delays to integrate ...

''. Both Sullivan and Williams endorsed

white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

from the state's public school system for hastily established private academies that then-U.S. Senator

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

called "segregation academies". He left office on January 17, 1972. Sullivan unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1978 in a race ultimately won by Republican

Thad Cochran William Thad Cochran (; December 7, 1937 – May 30, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States Senator for Mississippi from 1978 until his resignation due to health issues in 2018. A Republican, he previously ...

Death

Traveling home from

Oxford, Mississippi Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...

, Sullivan was killed when his plane crashed in a remote area near Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was 54.

References

Works cited

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Charles L. 1924 births 1979 deaths Accidental deaths in Mississippi People from Clarksdale, Mississippi Mississippi lawyers Mississippi National Guard personnel Candidates in the 1960 United States presidential election Lieutenant Governors of Mississippi Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Constitution Party (United States, 1952) politicians 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians