F. M. Simmons

F. M. Simmons
F. M. Simmons
United States Senator; from North Carolina
	In office; March 4, 1901 – March 4, 1931
Preceded by	Marion Butler
Succeeded by	Josiah Bailey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives; from North Carolina's 2nd district
	In office; March 4, 1887 – March 3, 1889
Preceded by	James E. O'Hara
Succeeded by	Henry P. Cheatham
Personal details
Born	January 20, 1854; Pollocksville, North Carolina
Died	April 30, 1940 (aged 86); New Bern, North Carolina
Political party	Democratic

Furnifold McLendel Simmons (January 20, 1854 – April 30, 1940) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1887, to March 4, 1889, and U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between March 4, 1901, and March 4, 1931. He served as chairman of the powerful Committee on Finance from March 4, 1913, to March 4, 1919. He was an unsuccessful contender for the 1920 Democratic Party nomination for president. Simmons was a staunch segregationist and white supremacist, and a leading perpetrator of the Wilmington insurrection of 1898.

Life and career

Simmons was born in Pollocksville, North Carolina, the son of Mary McLendel (Jerman) and Furnifold Greene Simmons.^[1]^[2] After Republicans won control of the North Carolina legislature in 1894, Simmons led efforts to disenfranchise black voters and return Democrats to power across the state. He allied with white supremacist newspapers to stoke fears of black men as predators of white women and too incompetent to be trusted as office holders or voters. Simmons also set up hundreds of "White Government Unions," which aimed to "announce on all occasions that they would succeed if they had to shoot every negro in the city."^[3] As a result, Democrats swept the 1898 election, and the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 broke out the following day.

In 1901 Simmons won the Democratic nomination for the US Senate. From his Senate seat, he then ran a powerful political machine, using A. D. Watts "to keep the machine oiled back home," in the words of one journalist.^[4] Simmons remained in office for the next thirty years.

Senator Simmons refused to endorse Al Smith, the Democratic nominee for president in 1928 and the first Catholic nominated by a major party, winning him praise from members of the Ku Klux Klan.^[5] Still, rejecting the Democratic nominee in 1928, together with the Great Depression, led to Simmons being defeated in the 1930 Democratic primary by Josiah W. Bailey, who was backed by Governor O. Max Gardner.

References

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

^ Leonard, John William (1907). "Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries".
^ "Simmons, Furnifold McLendel | NCpedia".
^ Zucchino, David (2020). Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 65–69, 75, 96. ISBN 978-0-8021-2838-6.
^ News & Observer: "What the obituary didn't say" by Rob Christensen Archived July 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
^ Chiles, Robert (2018). The Revolution of '28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal. Cornell University Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-5017-0550-2.

External links

United States Congress. "F. M. Simmons (id: S000415)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
North Carolina History Project
North Carolina Election of 1898
Furnifold McLendel Simmons entry at The Political Graveyard
F. M. Simmons at Find a Grave

Party political offices
First	Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from North Carolina (Class 2) 1918, 1924	Succeeded by Josiah Bailey
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by James E. O'Hara	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 2nd congressional district March 4, 1887 – March 4, 1889	Succeeded by Henry P. Cheatham
U.S. Senate
Preceded by Marion Butler	U.S. senator (Class 2) from North Carolina March 4, 1901 – March 4, 1931 Served alongside: Jeter Connelly Pritchard, Lee Slater Overman, Cameron A. Morrison	Succeeded by Josiah William Bailey
Political offices
Preceded by Boies Penrose Pennsylvania	Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1919	Succeeded by Boies Penrose Pennsylvania
Honorary titles
Preceded by Francis E. Warren	Dean of the United States Senate November 24, 1929 – March 4, 1931	Succeeded by Reed Smoot
Preceded by Obadiah Gardner	Oldest living U.S. senator July 24, 1938 – April 30, 1940	Succeeded by Fountain L. Thompson
Preceded by Henry Heitfeld	Most senior living U.S. senator (Sitting or former) October 21, 1938 – April 30, 1940	Succeeded by Reed Smoot

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[1] Leonard, John William (1907). "Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries".

[2] "Simmons, Furnifold McLendel | NCpedia".

[3] Zucchino, David (2020). Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 65–69, 75, 96. ISBN 978-0-8021-2838-6.

[4] News & Observer: "What the obituary didn't say" by Rob Christensen Archived July 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

[5] Chiles, Robert (2018). The Revolution of '28: Al Smith, American Progressivism, and the Coming of the New Deal. Cornell University Press. p. 115. ISBN 978-1-5017-0550-2.

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v t e United States senators from North Carolina
Class 2	Johnston Martin Franklin Turner Stokes Branch Brown Mangum Reid Bragg Abbott Ransom Butler Simmons Bailey Umstead Broughton F. P. Graham Smith Lennon Scott Jordan Helms Dole Hagan Tillis
Class 3	Hawkins Bloodworth Stone Franklin Stone Locke Macon Iredell Mangum Strange W. A. Graham Haywood Badger Biggs Clingman Pool Merrimon Vance Jarvis Pritchard Overman Morrison Reynolds Hoey Ervin Morgan East Broyhill Sanford Faircloth Edwards Burr Budd

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