Steve Patterson: Mississippi’s Forgotten Statesman

 

 

Anybody that is stupid enough to want to be remembered deserves to be forgotten right now.
–Gore Vidal

My ole friend and former Lt. Governor, the late Brad Dye, loved to tell a story about one of Sen. James O Eastland’s late afternoon drinking sessions in the Senator’s Washington, DC office.

On this occasion, several folks were gathered in the Senator’s office enjoying a little Scotch whiskey and Christian fellowship,when the Senator’s longtime friend Chief of Staff Courtney Pace came to the door and casually announced, “Jim, Edgar is on line two for you.” As Brad relayed the story. “I never saw the Senator move across the room so quickly.”

Of course, only the Senator’s part in the conversation could be heard by the assembled group. All they heard was something like the following:

“Mighty fine, how you?”
“Well, we can’t have that.”
“Why, of course not, it’s a damned shame.”
“I told the Governor what we needed, but you know he doesn’t always listen too good. I’ll call him again and make damn sure he understands.”
“Mighty fine.”
“Well, you have him come to the house in Doddsville, Saturday. I’ll be home and I’ll take care of it.”
“I’ll be looking for him around noon.”
“You come too if you can.”
“Mighty fine.”
“Bye.”

Then the Senator slammed the phone down and shouted, “Hell, Courtney, that was Edgar Stephens from New Albany!”
It was obvious the Senator and all those present thought the call was from J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director with whom the Senator had a special bond.

Edgar Stephens from New Albany was the longtime chair of the Mississippi House of Representatives Appropriations Committee and certainly one of the most respected members of the Legislature. Conventional wisdom was that Edgar Stephens could have been elected Speaker of the House had he ever sought the office. He was also the nephew of the obscure and almost forgotten United States Senator Hubert D. Stephens.

Now Hubert Durrett Stephens had a long and distinguished career as a public servant. During his 28-year public career in Mississippi politics, he served as a district attorney, a U.S. Congressman, a U.S. Senator, and a member of the board of directors of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a government agency that provided capital to banks, railroads and agricultural and manufacturing businesses during and after the Great Depression. Yet only a select few historians of the era know about Senator Stephens. I have always found it fascinating that so little is known about Senator Stephens’ service to the state.

My fascination with his obscurity is multiplied by the fact that his political fortunes were sandwiched between two of the most reprehensible racist demagogues ever to walk this earth: James K. Vardaman (“the white chief”) and Theodore G. Bilbo. Hubert Stephens defeated Vardaman and was later defeated by Bilbo.

 

 

Therein may lie the reason for Senator Stephens’ obscurity. It is my belief that Senator Stephens understood history would likely remember him only in light of these two despicable characters, and he wanted no part in it. I have had conservations about this with several members of the Senator’s family, and they agree with my thesis, in addition to the fact that the senator was a private man by nature, and had always been unwilling to match his political adversaries’ bombastic appeals for attention. In fact, upon his retirement he directed family members to burn all his public papers. The family, of course, complied, and thus no records exist by which this public official’s influence can be evaluated. In fact, the Senator reportedly told his son shortly before his death that he knew, ”Bilbo and Vardaman would be in the history books and, if they were, I would just as soon be left out. ”For the most part, the Senator undeservedly got his wish. Historians have generally relegated his service to footnotes of history.

One of those footnotes adds another layer of mystery to the Saga of Senator Hubert D. Stephens.

Senator Stephens was correct to assume that history would long remember both Vardaman and Bilbo, but who at that time could have imagined that a supposedly life-size, bronze statue of Theodore G. Bilbo would actually be placed in the rotunda of the State Capitol in 1954. The statue remained there until 1982, when Governor William Winter had it removed from its place of prominence and relocated to Room 113, a House meeting room.

Now, here is where the story gets more intriguing: when the Bilbo statue was moved to Room 113, guess what other leader had a place of prominence in that room? That’s right — a small bust of Senator Hubert D. Stephen sat placidly on a window sill. No one seemed to notice the irony of having Bilbo in the same room as Stephens. Being from New Albany myself, and sharing a distant ancestor with Senator Stephens, I noticed it right away and said something to Governor Winter about it. The Governor had no idea that Stephens’ bust was in that room, although he quickly understood the irony. We both made a determination to let a sleeping dog lie and not say any more about it. Anything related to the Bilbo statue was, of course, highly controversial, as was the man himself.

Fast forward to 2022 when the Bilbo statue came up missing. It was soon discovered that it had been hidden in a closet by House of Representatives Clerk Andrew Ketchings, and was ultimately removed from the Capitol altogether.

On many occasions, I had used Room 113 in my capacity as State Auditor. Each time, I reflected on the happenstance of having Bilbo and Stephens in the same room. When Bilbo came up missing in 2022, I decided to let a quality journalist friend of mine, Bobby Harrison, in on the irony of having the two bronzes facing off in the same room. He did some digging and found the small bronze of Senator Stephens was missing as well, and no records of it were located in the State Archives. I know it was there, and have had others confirm my recollection. But somehow it has vanished!

Not to go to the “twilight zone”or anything paranormal, but something strange had happened.

In 1934 when Bilbo defeated Senator Stephens to earn the Senate seat, Stephens simply said, “I have never appealed to the passions and prejudices of the people. There are somethings which a gentleman cannot do or say.”

Perhaps even in the afterlife, a gentleman like Hubert D. Stephens could not countenance being in the same room as that man Bilbo. It is a mystery that will likely never be resolved.

By Steve Patterson

More about Senator Hubert D. Stephens of New Albany MS

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