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Ernst foreign policy

Ernst speaking to Navy Vice Admiral Michael M. Gilday during an Armed Services Committee hearing in 2019

Afghanistan

In October 2015, Ernst said that Obama lacked "a clear coherent strategy in Afghanistan" amid the rise of Taliban forces and ISIS. In August 2021, she called the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan "rapid and haphazard" and "shameful", chiding the Biden administration for removing troops before guaranteeing the safety of the U.S. embassy.

Iran

Ernst opposed the Iran deal negotiated by the Obama administration. In January 2020, she expressed support for the US military's assassination of Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani by drone strike at Baghdad International Airport.

Iraq

Of the Iraq War and weapons of mass destruction, she said, "We don't know that there were weapons on the ground when we went in. However, I do have reason to believe there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. That was the intelligence that was operated on. I have reason to believe there was weapons of mass destruction. My husband served in Saudi Arabia as an Army Central Command sergeant major for a year and that's a hot-button topic in that area." After criticism from Iowa Democrats and some commentators, Ernst then issued a statement that she had not meant to suggest that Iraq had WMD at the time of invasion, but rather that Iraq had used WMDs in the past, and that her point was that "we don't know exactly what happened to those weapons."

When asked whether she supports the limited airstrikes conducted in Iraq in August 2014, Ernst said, "What I can say is what I would have supported is leaving additional troops in Iraq longer and perhaps we wouldn't have this situation today."

Israel

In October 2023, days after the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, Ernst led a congressional delegation to meetings with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, other Israeli leaders, and American civilians in Israel. She said the meetings were meant to "reassure the leadership in Israel as well as a number of American families that were there that we stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel".

In July 2024, before Netanyahu gave a speech to Congress, Ernst led a Republican press conference "demanding action from this waffling White House" and called for U.S. sanctions and weapons to help Israel defeat Hamas. She also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for not attending the speech, calling her absence "a disgrace" and asking what duties Harris would neglect if elected president.

Korean conflict

In June 2018, Ernst questioned Trump's decision to suspend joint military exercises with South Korea. In July, she advocated that the United States continue the exercises in case talks between the US and North Korea did not continue.

Ernst with Republican Senators and Defense Secretary Ash Carter at the 2016 International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia Security Summit in Singapore

Russia

In 2017, Ernst called Russia's behavior, including its annexation of Crimea and interference in U.S. elections, "totally unacceptable" and said Trump should "show strength against Vladimir Putin". The next year, she urged caution if the U.S. worked with Russia to "put a lid on Iran", saying that Russia would never be "a true friend or ally" to the U.S. She cited North Korea as another case where caution should be maintained when cooperating to make the world "a safer place". After the 2018 Russia-United States summit later that month, Ernst expressed hope that Trump had "delivered a strong message" that Russia would be punished for its annexation of Ukraine, support of Bashar al-Assad, and "aggressive actions in U.S. domestic policy", and that Trump had discussed Russia's actions in the Balkans.

In February 2024, Ernst and Grassley broke with most Senate Republicans to vote for a $95 billion foreign aid bill that included $60 billion to support Ukraine. Ernst said that Congress was "equipping America to push back against our adversaries' aggression" and that the bill was "critical to reversing President Biden's weakness on the world stage that has abandoned our partners, emboldened authoritarians, and put American lives at risk."

Syrian civil war

In 2015, Ernst said the U.S. should halt the admission of Syrian refugees, saying the United States needs a "thorough vetting process".

In 2018, after missile strikes against Syria, Ernst said that she would be "uncomfortable" if Trump wanted to commit more American troops there, saying it was secondary to fighting ISIS. After Trump announced the withdrawal of troops from Syria, Ernst was one of six senators to sign a letter expressing concern, calling the move a "premature and costly mistake" that would "embolden ISIS, Bashar al Assad, Iran, and Russia."

In 2019, Ernst was one of six senators to sign a bipartisan letter to Trump calling on him to "urge Turkey to end their offensive and find a way to a peaceful resolution while supporting our Kurdish partners to ensure regional stability" and arguing that leaving Syria without installing protections for American allies endangered both them and the US.

Yemen

In March 2018, Ernst voted to table a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda. In November 2018, following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Ernst said that Saudi Arabia was a "great strategic partner" but that Congress should consider a legislative response due to the commitment of the United States to human rights and the rule of law. She added that Trump should become involved "if there are indicators coming from those intelligence agencies". In December, Ernst warned that a resolution withdrawing American support for the Saudi Arabia-led intervention in Yemen could complicate peace talks in Yemen and that, although Saudi Arabia should be punished for Khashoggi's death, "those consequences are I see as right now are separate from the discussion of the Saudis and their actions in Yemen engaging the Houthis."

Blackburn foreign policy

China

Blackburn meeting with President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, August 2022

In December 2020, Blackburn posted, "China has a 5,000-year history of cheating and stealing. Some things will never change..." on her Twitter account. The European Union bureau chief for China's state-owned China Daily, Chen Weihua, responded by tweeting, "This is the most racist and ignorant US Senator I have seen. A lifetime bitch". In what appeared to be a thinly veiled reference to Chen, Blackburn asserted in response that the U.S. would "not bow down to sexist communist thugs". One of Chen's tweets was, with an apparently sarcastic comment, retweeted by Republican Senator Marco Rubio. The Chinese American rights group Tennessee Chinese American Alliance protested Blackburn's comments as insulting to the Chinese community.

In August 2022, Blackburn led a congressional delegation to Taiwan, where she met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. Her delegation was the third such delegation to visit Taiwan following Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit early that month. During her visit, Blackburn voiced support for Taiwan, calling it an "independent nation" and a "country", and also supported further U.S.-Taiwan relations and combating the "New Axis of Evil", which she defines as Iran, Russia, and North Korea, led by China. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and condemns most visits by U.S. lawmakers.

In July 2023, Blackburn criticized the movie Barbie for "bending to Beijing to make a quick buck" after it was alleged the film contained a map of the world displaying the nine-dash line, a territorial claim by China to the South China Sea that the international community rejects. In a statement addressing like criticisms, Warner Bros., Barbie's production company, said the map was a "child-like crayon drawing . . . not intended to make any type of statement".

Israel

In October 2023, Blackburn voiced support for Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, saying, "The United States has a moral obligation to defend Israel, and as Israel is surrounded by hostile actors funded by Iran who seek the destruction of the Jewish state and deny its right to exist, that's a solemn responsibility."

Early career (1933–1947)

South Carolina Senate (1933–1938)

In 1930, Thurmond was admitted to the South Carolina bar. He was appointed as the Edgefield Town and County attorney, serving from 1930 to 1938. Thurmond supported Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. Thurmond favored Roosevelt's argument that the federal government could be used to assist citizens in the daily plights brought on by the Great Depression. Thurmond raised money for Roosevelt and following his victory, traveled to Washington to attend Roosevelt's inauguration. In 1933, Thurmond was elected to the South Carolina Senate, serving there until 1938, when he was elected to be a state circuit judge.

On August 10, 1937, Thurmond announced his campaign for a state judgeship, surprising his fellow legislators who thought he would instead run for Governor. The judgeship was left vacant by incumbent C. J. Ramage's death. Thurmond had hoped to gain the support of Solomon Blatt Sr. and Edgar Allan Brown, two of the state's legislative powerhouses, over his opponent George Bell Timmerman Sr. before "events proved that they were both Timmerman men". Thurmond secured entreaties from Blatt and Brown that they would abstain from campaigning against him. The Timmerman forces argued that Thurmond was too young for the judgeship; Thurmond responded that his varied experiences had given him the experiences of "the average lawyer 55 or 60 years old" and that his willful reduction in pay made him viable. On January 13, 1938, as the state legislature gathered in Columbia, South Carolina, Brown motioned to elect Thurmond by acclamation. Thurmond began his judicial duties a month later in Laurens and he disposed of twenty-nine cases in his first week. His official remarks, given while addressing grand juries, allowed him to state his positions on issues and delivered speeches for civic and church groups.

In November 1941, officers arrived at the Logue family home to arrest Sue Logue and her brother-in-law for their hiring of the hit man who murdered Davis Timmerman, and fatally wounded George Logue and Fred Dorn after the duo ambushed them. Thurmond, concerned of further violence, drove to the home and confronted Sue Logue as she aimed a shotgun at him. Thurmond convinced Logue to surrender with a promise that he would personally see her safely past the angry mob that had assembled outside. Cohodas wrote that the incident increased public perception of Thurmond as a determined and gritty individual and contributed to his becoming a political celebrity within the state.

World War II

In 1942, at 39, after the U.S. formally entered World War II, Judge Thurmond resigned from the bench to serve in the U.S. Army, rising to lieutenant colonel. In the Battle of Normandy (June 6 – August 25, 1944), he landed in a glider attached to the 82nd Airborne Division. For his military service, Thurmond received 18 decorations, medals and awards, including the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star with Valor device, Purple Heart, World War II Victory Medal, European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Belgium's Order of the Crown and France's Croix de Guerre.

During 1954–55, Thurmond was president of the Reserve Officers Association. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve with the rank of major general.

Governor of South Carolina (1947–1951)

Strom Thurmond as Governor

On May 15, 1946, Thurmond resigned his seat on the bench and announced his candidacy for governor in the 1946 election. Thurmond pledged to be "an activist chief executive" who would prevent others from usurping or controlling the functions of the governorship. Thurmond faced an unusually large field of ten opponents that included incumbent governor Ransome Judson Williams. Tradionally, candidates for statewide office in South Carolina traveled from country to county, but the large field "made the county-by-country trek a political marathon." Thurmond, creating "a conspiracy theory of the status quo", would claim that the group of legislators led by Blatt and Brown were running the state for their own means instead of for the benefit of the people. He termed them the "Barnwell Ring". In the August 12 primary, Thurmond and James C. McLeod came in first and second place, and Thurmond won the September 3 vote against McLeod with more than 35,000 votes. Thurmond's criticisms of the Barnwell Gang were seen as important to his victory.

Many voters considered Thurmond a progressive for much of his term, in large part due to his influence in gaining the arrest of the perpetrators of the lynching of Willie Earle. Though none of the men were found guilty by an all-white jury in a case where the defense called no witnesses, Thurmond was congratulated by the NAACP and the ACLU for his efforts to bring the murderers to justice.

In, 1949, Thurmond oversaw the opening of Camp Croft State Park, and in November he was unanimously elected Chairman of the Southern Governors Conference.

1948 presidential campaign

Main articles: United States presidential election, 1948 and States' Rights Democratic Party

Statue of Thurmond outside the South Carolina State Capitol

President Truman, worried of a primary challenge from former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, sought a strategy to keep liberals and conservatives from defecting. More concerned toward appeasing the civil rights proponents of the left, Truman delivered a civil rights speech to a joint session of Congress in February that proposed a federal antilynching law and measures banning discrimination. The remarks drew "swift and virulent" responses from the South, with southern governors meeting shortly thereafter to consider ways to oppose Truman's agenda. Governor of Mississippi Fielding L. Wright proposed for the "true Democrats" to meet on March 1 to discuss forming a new party. At the meeting, Thurmond successfully proposed a "cooling-off" period for the committee of governors to assess how the South would be impacted by the civil rights proposals.

President Truman was not included on the presidential ballot in Alabama because that state's Supreme Court ruled void any requirement for party electors to vote for the national nominee. Thurmond stated that Truman, Thomas Dewey and Henry A. Wallace would lead the U.S. to totalitarianism. Thurmond called civil rights initiatives dangerous to the American constitution and making the country susceptible to communism in the event of their enactment, challenging Truman to a debate on the issue.

During the campaign, Thurmond said the following in a speech met with loud cheers by his assembled supporters:

I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.

Thurmond carried four states and received 39 electoral votes, but was unable to stop Truman's re-election.

Thurmond quietly distanced himself from the States' Rights Party in the aftermath of the 1948 campaign, despite saying shortly before its conclusion that the party would continue as opposition to the national Democratic Party. Biographer Joseph Crespino observed that Thurmond was aware that he could neither completely abandon the Democratic Party nor let go of his supporters within the States' Rights Party, whom he courted in his 1950 campaign for the Senate. Concurrently with Thurmond's discontent, former senator and Secretary of State James F. Byrnes began speaking out against the Truman administration's domestic policies. Byrnes indirectly criticized Thurmond when asked by a reporter in 1950 about his governing if elected South Carolina Governor, saying he would not waste time "appointing colonels and crowning queens"; the remark geared toward the image of Thurmond as not serious and conniving. Thurmond and his wife are described as looking "like they had been shot" when reading the Byrnes quotation in the newspaper.

1950 U.S. Senate campaign in South Carolina

According to the state constitution, Thurmond was barred from seeking a second consecutive term as governor in 1950, so he mounted a Democratic primary challenge against first-term U.S. senator Olin Johnston. On May 1, Thurmond's Senate campaign headquarters opened in Columbia, South Carolina with Ernest Craig serving as campaign leader and George McNabb in charge of public relations, both were on leave from their state positions in the governor's office. In the one-party state of the time, the Democratic primary was the only competitive contest. Both candidates denounced President Truman during the campaign. Johnston defeated Thurmond 186,180 votes to 158,904 votes (54% to 46%) in what would be Thurmond's first and only state electoral defeat.

In 1952, Thurmond endorsed Republican Dwight Eisenhower for the presidency, rather than the Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson, but Stevenson still narrowly carried South Carolina in the general election.