Cole L. Blease

Cole L. Blease
Blease c. 1910–17
United States Senator from South Carolina
In office March 4, 1925 – March 3, 1931
Preceded by	Nathaniel B. Dial
Succeeded by	James F. Byrnes
90th Governor of South Carolina
In office January 17, 1911 – January 14, 1915
Lieutenant	Charles Aurelius Smith
Preceded by	Martin Frederick Ansel
Succeeded by	Charles Aurelius Smith
President Pro Tempore of the South Carolina Senate
In office January 8, 1907 – January 12, 1909
Governor	Duncan Clinch Heyward Martin Frederick Ansel
Preceded by	Richard Irvine Manning III
Succeeded by	William Lawrence Mauldin
Member of the South Carolina Senate from Newberry County
In office January 8, 1907 – January 12, 1909
Preceded by	George Sewell Mower
Succeeded by	Alan Johnstone
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Newberry County
In office January 10, 1899 – January 8, 1901
In office November 25, 1890 – November 27, 1894
Personal details
Born	October 8, 1868 Newberry County, South Carolina, US
Died	January 19, 1942 (aged 73) Columbia, South Carolina, US
Resting place	Rosemont Cemetery, Newberry, South Carolina
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Lillie B. Summers Carolina Floyd
Parent(s)	Henry Horatio Blease Mary Ann Livingston Blease
Alma mater	Georgetown University
Occupation	Attorney

Coleman Livingston Blease (October 8, 1868 – January 19, 1942) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 89th governor of South Carolina from 1911 to 1915 and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1925 to 1931. Blease was the political heir of Benjamin Tillman. He led a political revolution in South Carolina by building a political base of white textile mill workers from the state's upcountry region. He was notorious for playing on the prejudices of Poor Whites to gain their votes and was an unrepentant white supremacist.

Blease was notorious for his vituperative demeanor. He did not campaign on political promises but on the prejudices of white citizens. Blease advocated lynching ("Sometimes after a lynching," wrote one biographer, "Blease publicly celebrated the savage murder with a bizarre death dance")^[1] and was against education for black people. As U.S. senator, he advocated penalties for interracial couples attempting to get married, criticized US First Lady Lou Hoover for inviting a black guest to tea at the White House, and was the architect of Section 1325.