List of University of South Carolina people
Alumni -- Government , law , and politics
Table:
Name

Class

Notes

Reference

Weston Adams

1960

U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malawi; member of the South Carolina House of Representatives

[133]

Lee Atwater

1977

political consultant/strategist

[citation needed]

André Bauer

Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina

[citation needed]

Stephen K. Benjamin

Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina

[134]

John E. Courson

Republican member, South Carolina Senate

[135]

Allison Dahle

Democratic member, North Carolina House of Representatives

[136]

Julie Emerson

Republican member, Louisiana House of Representatives, beginning 2016

[137]

Tom Ervin

1977

Republican member, South Carolina House of Representatives

[138]

Alvin Greene

Democratic nominee, United States Senate, 2010

[139]

Solomon Blatt, Sr.

1917

former longtime Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives

[140]

Solomon Blatt, Jr.

1941

former District Court judge

[141]

Andrew Card

1971

former White House chief of staff for President George W. Bush

[142]

Wilbur Cave

former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives

[143]

Katon Dawson

1979

South Carolina Republican Party chairman

[144]

Terry Haskins

1981 Law

member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1986 until his death in 2000

[145]

Glenn F. McConnell

1972

South Carolina Senate president pro tempore

[146]

Edgar L. McGowan

1961

Commissioner of Labor of South Carolina

[147]

Melvin Purvis

1925

FBI agent who helped capture 1930s gangsters John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson

[148]

Joseph O. Rogers, Jr.

1950 Law

member of the South Carolina House of Representatives 1955–1966; Republican gubernatorial nominee 1966; U.S. attorney 1969–1970

[149]

Harry A. Slattery

1944

Undersecretary of the United States Department of the Interior, 1938–39, the so-called Slattery Report

[citation needed]

Consulting the tabular data plus the passages provided.

Answer the following question: The notable person from the class of 1925 claimed he killed what bank robber ? Respond with the correct answer (omit explanations) in JSON format as {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Use only the information given.

Weston Adams II born September 16 , 1938 is an American diplomat , politician , and lawyer in Columbia , South Carolina .
Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated as ambassadors by the President to serve as United States diplomats to individual nations of the world , to international organizations , and as ambassadors-at-large . Their appointment needs to be confirmed by the United States Senate . An ambassador can be appointed during a recess , but he or she can only serve as ambassador until the end of the next session of Congress unless subsequently confirmed . Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the President , meaning they can be dismissed at any time . Appointments change regularly for various reasons , such as reassignment or retirement . An ambassador may be a career Foreign Service Officer ( career diplomat - CD ) or a political appointee ( PA ) . In most cases , career foreign service officers serve a tour of approximately three years per ambassadorship whereas political appointees customarily tender their resignations upon the inauguration of a new president . As embassies fall under the State Department 's jurisdiction , ambassadors answer directly to the Secretary of State . The United States Department of State provides lists of ambassadors which are updated periodically . ( A recent list was issued on December 4 , 2018 . A further 24 nominees were confirmed on January 2 , 2019 , and a number of ambassadorships remain vacant . ) A listing by country of past chiefs of mission is maintained by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State .
Malawi ( /məˈlɔːwi/ , /məˈlɑːwi/ or /ˈmæləwi/ ; Chichewa : [ maláβi ] or [ maláwi ] ) , officially the Republic of Malawi , is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland . It is bordered by Zambia to the west , Tanzania to the north and northeast , and Mozambique surrounding on the east , south and southwest . Malawi spans over 118,484 km2 ( 45,747 sq mi ) and has an estimated population of 18,143,217 ( as of July 2018 ) . Lake Malawi takes up about a third of Malawi 's area . Its capital is Lilongwe , which is also Malawi 's largest city ; the second largest is Blantyre , the third largest is Mzuzu and the fourth largest is its old capital Zomba . The name Malawi comes from the Maravi , an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area . The country is nicknamed The Warm Heart of Africa because of the friendliness of the people . The part of Africa now known as Malawi was settled by migrating Bantu groups around the 10th century . Centuries later in 1891 the area was colonised by the British . In 1953 Malawi , then known as Nyasaland , a protectorate of the United Kingdom , became a protectorate within the semi-independent Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland . The Federation was dissolved in 1963 . In 1964 the protectorate over Nyasaland was ended and Nyasaland became an independent country under Queen Elizabeth II with the new name Malawi .
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly . It consists of 124 Representatives elected to two year terms at the same time as US Congressional elections . Unlike many legislatures , seating on the floor is not divided by party , but is arranged by county delegation . This is a legacy of the original apportionment of the chamber . Until 1964 , each county was a legislative district , with the number of representatives determined by the county 's population .
Harvey LeRoy Lee Atwater ( February 27 , 1951 - March 29 , 1991 ) was an American political consultant and strategist for the Republican Party . He was an adviser to US presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Republican National Committee . Atwater aroused controversy through his aggressive campaign tactics .
Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns . Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media ( largely television and direct mail ) , consultants advise campaigns on many other activities , ranging from opposition research and voter polling , to field strategy and get out the vote efforts .
Rudolph Andreas André Bauer ( born March 20 , 1969 ) was the 87th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011 . He is a member of the Republican Party . Bauer was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives ( 1996-1999 ) and a member of the South Carolina State Senate ( 1999-2003 ) . In 2016 , he became a CNN political analyst , supporting the presidential campaign of Donald Trump . CNN dismissed Bauer in February 2019 .
The Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina is the second-in-command to the Governor of South Carolina . Other than the responsibility to act or serve as governor in the event of the office 's vacancy , the duties of the lieutenant governor are chiefly ceremonial . The current lieutenant governor is Pamela Evette , who took office on January 9 , 2019 .
Stephen Keith Benjamin ( born December 1 , 1969 ) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 36th mayor of Columbia , South Carolina since July 2010 . He is the first African American mayor in the city 's history . Before serving as mayor , he worked in the Columbia metropolitan area as an attorney and served on various charitable organizations . On November 8 , 2017 , Benjamin won re-election for a third term as mayor with no votes because no other candidate filed . Benjamin was declared re-elected . Mayor Benjamin previously served as the 76th President of the United States Conference of Mayors .
In many countries , a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town . Worldwide , there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as the means by which a mayor is elected or otherwise mandated . Depending on the system chosen , a mayor may be the chief executive officer of the municipal government , may simply chair a multi-member governing body with little or no independent power , or may play a solely ceremonial role . Options for selection of a mayor include direct election by the public , or selection by an elected governing council or board .
Columbia is the capital and second largest city of the U.S. state of South Carolina , with a population estimate of 133,451 as of 2018 . The city serves as the county seat of Richland County , and a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County . It is the center of the Columbia metropolitan statistical area , which had a population of 767,598 as of the 2010 United States Census , growing to 832,666 by July 1 , 2018 , according to 2018 U.S. Census estimates . This makes it the 70th largest metropolitan statistical area in the nation , as estimated by the United States Census Bureau as of July 1 , 2018 . The name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States , originating from the name of Christopher Columbus . The city is located approximately 13 miles ( 21 km ) northwest of the geographic center of South Carolina , and is the primary city of the Midlands region of the state . It lies at the confluence of the Saluda River and the Broad River , which merge at Columbia to form the Congaree River . Columbia is home to the University of South Carolina , the state 's flagship university and the largest in the state , and is also the site of Fort Jackson , the largest United States Army installation for Basic Combat Training . Columbia is also located 20 miles west of the site of McEntire Joint National Guard Base , which is operated by the U.S. Air Force and is used as a training base for the 169th Fighter Wing of The South Carolina Air National Guard . Columbia is also the location of the South Carolina State House , which is the center of government for the state . In 1860 , the city was the location of the South Carolina Secession Convention , which marked the departure of the first state from the Union in the events leading up to the Civil War .
John E. Courson is a former American politician . He served as a Republican member of the South Carolina Senate , representing the 20th District from 1985 to 2018 . He resigned after pleading guilty to a common law misconduct charge in office .
The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly , the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives . It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the same time as United States Presidential elections . The South Carolina Constitution of 1895 provided for each county to elect one senator for a four-year term . The election of senators was staggered so that half of the state Senate was elected every two years . After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1964 for the case Reynolds v. Sims , the state Senate was reapportioned in 1966 as a temporary measure into 27 districts with 50 members for two-year terms . In 1967 , the state Senate was again reapportioned , this time into 20 districts with 46 members for four-year terms . The number of districts was reduced to 16 in 1972 and in 1984 , they were eliminated with the creation of single member districts . The annual session of the General Assembly convenes at the State Capitol Building in Columbia on the second Tuesday of January of each year . However , after convening , either the House or the Senate may call for itself a 30-day recess by a majority vote , or a longer recess by a two-thirds vote .
Allison Anne Dahle ( born March 25 , 1964 ) is a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the State 's 11th House district .
The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly . The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House , who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Carolina Senate . In the 2019-2020 session , the Republican Party holds a 65-55 majority over the Democratic Party , compared to a 75-45 Republican majority in the 2017-2018 session . The qualifications to be a member of the House are found in the state Constitution : Each Representative , at the time of his election , shall be a qualified voter of the State , and shall have resided in the district for which he is chosen for one year immediately preceding his election . Elsewhere , the constitution specifies that qualified voters that are 21 are eligible for candidacy except if otherwise disqualified by the constitution , and that no elected officials may deny the existence of God , although the latter provision is no longer enforced . Prior to the Constitution of 1868 , the lower house of the North Carolina Legislature was known as the North Carolina House of Commons .
Julie Cathryn Emerson ( born 1988 ) is an American small business owner and politician . She is from Carencro , Louisiana . She is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 39 in Lafayette and St. Landry parishes in South Louisiana .
The Louisiana House of Representatives ( French : Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature , the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana . The House is composed of 105 representatives , each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people ( 2000 figures ) . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of three terms ( twelve years ) . The House is one of the five state legislative lower houses that has a four-year term , as opposed to the near-universal two-year term . The House convenes at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge .
Thomas Jonathan Ervin ( born May 14 , 1952 ) is an American attorney , former judge , one-time politician and former radio station owner . A past member of the Republican Party , he served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1979 through 1983 . He had been running for Governor of South Carolina in the 2014 gubernatorial election as an Independent , but in late October he dropped out and endorsed Democratic nominee Vincent Sheheen .
Alvin Michael Greene ( born August 30 , 1977 ) is an American political candidate from the state of South Carolina . He was the Democratic Party 's nominee in the 2010 United States Senate election in South Carolina . He was defeated by incumbent Republican Sen. Jim DeMint by a margin of 61.46% to 27.65% . He is the first African-American to be nominated for U.S. Senate by a major party in South Carolina . Greene is notable for the suspicions among members of his own party regarding the legitimacy of his 2010 primary victory , for his strange , well-documented behavior on the campaign trail , for the intense media attention he received , and for pursuing his 2010 Senate bid despite having been indicted . He also ran for Congress in a February 2011 special election , receiving 37 votes .
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress , which , along with the United States House of Representatives - the lower chamber - constitutes the legislature of the United States . The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol Building , in Washington , D.C . The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution . The Senate is composed of senators , each of whom represents a single state in its entirety . Each state , regardless of its population size , is equally represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years . There being at present 50 states in the Union , there are currently 100 senators . From 1789 to 1913 , senators were appointed by legislatures of the states they represented ; they are now elected by popular vote , following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 . As the upper chamber of Congress , the Senate has several powers of advice and consent which are unique to it . These include the approval of treaties , and the confirmation of Cabinet secretaries , Supreme Court justices , federal judges , flag officers , regulatory officials , ambassadors , other federal executive officials and other federal uniformed officers . In addition to these , in cases wherein no candidate receives a majority of electors for vice president , the duty falls to the Senate to elect one of the top two recipients of electors for that office . Furthermore , the Senate has the responsibility of conducting the trials of those impeached by the House . The Senate is widely considered both a more deliberative and more prestigious body than the House of Representatives due to its longer terms , smaller size , and statewide constituencies , which historically led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere .
Solomon Blatt ( February 27 , 1895 - May 14 , 1986 ) was a long time Democratic legislator of South Carolina from Barnwell County during the middle of the 20th century . He was a principal member of the so-called Barnwell Ring .
The speaker of a deliberative assembly , especially a legislative body , is its presiding officer , or the chair . The title was first used in 1377 in England .
Solomon Sol Blatt Jr. ( /blɒt/ ; August 20 , 1921 - April 20 , 2016 ) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and trustee of the University of South Carolina .
The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina ( in case citations , D.S.C . ) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of South Carolina . Court is held in the cities of Aiken , Anderson , Beaufort , Charleston , Columbia , Florence , Greenville , and Spartanburg . Appeals from the District of South Carolina are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ( except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act , which are appealed to the Federal Circuit ) .
Andrew Hill Card Jr. ( born May 10 , 1947 ) is an American politician who was White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006 , as well as head of Bush 's White House Iraq Group . Card served as United States Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush from 1992 to 1993 . Card announced his resignation as Chief of Staff on March 28 , 2006 , effective April 14 , 2006 . Card was the Acting Dean of The Bush School of Government and Public Service , at Texas A & M University while Ryan Crocker fulfilled his U.S . Ambassador to Afghanistan responsibilities before stepping down in July 2013 . In 2014 , he became the president of Franklin Pierce University in Rindge , New Hampshire , serving until he retired from that post in the summer of 2016 .
The White House Chief of Staff position is the successor to the earlier role of the President 's private secretary . The role was formalized as the assistant to the president in 1946 and acquired its current title in 1961 . The current official title is Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff . The chief of staff is a political appointee of the president who does not require Senate confirmation , and who serves at the pleasure of the president . While not a legally required role , all presidents since Harry Truman have appointed chiefs of staff . In the administration of Donald Trump , the current acting chief of staff is Mick Mulvaney , who succeeded John Kelly on January 2 , 2019 , who himself had replaced Reince Priebus as chief of staff on July 31 , 2017 . On December 8 , 2018 , President Trump announced that Kelly would be stepping down from his post by the end of the year . On December 14 , Trump announced on Twitter that Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney would become the new acting chief of staff .
George Walker Bush ( born July 6 , 1946 ) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 . A member of the Republican Party , he had previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 . Bush is frequently referred to as George W. Bush , Bush Junior , or Bush 43 to distinguish him from his father , George H. W. Bush , who served as the 41st president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 . Bush is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush , and the second son to become the American president after his father , the first being John Quincy Adams . After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975 , he worked in the oil industry . Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives shortly thereafter . He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election . Bush was elected president of the United States in 2000 when he defeated Democratic incumbent Vice President Al Gore after a narrow and contested win that involved a Supreme Court decision to stop a recount in Florida . He became the fourth person to be elected president while receiving fewer popular votes than his opponent . In response to the September 11 terrorist attacks , Bush launched a War on Terror that began with the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and later expanded to the Iraq War in 2003 . Signature legislation passed during his presidency included broad tax cuts , the Patriot Act , the No Child Left Behind Act , the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act , the Medicare Modernization Act , and funding for the AIDS relief program known as PEPFAR . In the 2004 presidential race , Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in a close election .
Wilbur Cave is an American politician , former sheriff and philanthropist from South Carolina , USA .
Katon Edwards Dawson ( born February 29 , 1956 ) is an American politician from the state of South Carolina , former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party and was a 2009 candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee .
The South Carolina Republican Party and the South Carolina Democratic Party are the two major political parties within the U.S. state of South Carolina . The South Carolina Republican Party is an affiliate of the national Republican Party and has been the most influential political party within South Carolina since the late 1900s .
Terry Edward Haskins ( January 31 , 1955 - October 24 , 2000 ) was a South Carolina Republican politician who served as the Speaker pro-tempore of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1995 until his death five years later .
Glenn Fant McConnell ( born December 11 , 1947 ) served as the president of the College of Charleston from 2014 to 2018 . He was the 89th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from March 13 , 2012 to June 18 , 2014 . He also had been a member of the South Carolina Senate , representing the 41st District from 1981 to March 13 , 2012 , when he ascended to the office of lieutenant governor , as he was the incumbent Senate President Pro Tempore . The office of lieutenant governor had become vacant because of the resignation of Ken Ard on March 9 , 2012 due to his indictment by a state Grand Jury for ethics violations . On March 22 , 2014 , he was chosen as the 22nd president of the College of Charleston , a selection which was criticized by some of the students , faculty , and community due to his support for the Confederate flag and a widely circulated photo of him dressed as a Confederate general .
Edgar L. Ed McGowan ( June 1 , 1920 - February 20 , 2004 ) was the first and longest serving Commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Labor . He served as Commissioner of Labor from February 7 , 1971 , to June 30 , 1989 .
Melvin Horace Purvis II ( October 24 , 1903 - February 29 , 1960 ) was an American law enforcement official and Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) agent . Given the nickname Little Mel because of his short , 5 ft 4 in ( 163 cm ) frame , Purvis became noted for leading the manhunts that captured bank robbers such as Baby Face Nelson , John Dillinger , and Pretty Boy Floyd , but his high public profile was resented by local law enforcement . Purvis asserted he had killed Floyd single-handed , others variously claimed that Floyd had been already wounded , or even that Purvis had ordered Floyd summarily shot dead for refusing to provide information . Purvis had the reputation of using very tough methods against recalcitrant interviewees . Roger Touhy , a minor-league gangster who was arrested as Purvis fought the huge Capone organisation during Prohibition , alleged he suffered the loss of 25 lbs of body weight and several teeth plus broken vertebrae due to being beaten every time he fell asleep during weeks of questioning by Purvis 's men . Purvis became the FBI 's golden boy , having captured more of designated public enemies than any other agent , but found himself sidelined after he began to enjoy better press than J. Edgar Hoover .
The Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency . Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice , the FBI is also a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence . A leading U.S. counter-terrorism , counterintelligence , and criminal investigative organization , the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes . Although many of the FBI 's functions are unique , its activities in support of national security are comparable to those of the British MI5 and the Russian FSB . Unlike the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) , which has no law enforcement authority and is focused on intelligence collection abroad , the FBI is primarily a domestic agency , maintaining 56 field offices in major cities throughout the United States , and more than 400 resident agencies in smaller cities and areas across the nation . At an FBI field office , a senior-level FBI officer concurrently serves as the representative of the Director of National Intelligence . Despite its domestic focus , the FBI also maintains a significant international footprint , operating 60 Legal Attache ( LEGAT ) offices and 15 sub-offices in U.S. embassies and consulates across the globe . These foreign offices exist primarily for the purpose of coordination with foreign security services and do not usually conduct unilateral operations in the host countries . The FBI can and does at times carry out secret activities overseas , just as the CIA has a limited domestic function ; these activities generally require coordination across government agencies . The FBI was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation , the BOI or BI for short . Its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) in 1935 . The FBI headquarters is the J. Edgar Hoover Building , located in Washington , D.C .
Joseph Oscar Joe Rogers Jr. ( October 8 , 1921 - April 6 , 1999 ) , was an American lawyer from Manning , South Carolina , who served as a Democrat in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1955 to 1966 , when he switched allegiance to the Republican Party . Rogers was the first serious Republican gubernatorial nominee in South Carolina in ninety years , but he was handily defeated in the 1966 general election by the incumbent Democrat Robert E. McNair .
Harry A. Slattery ( June 13 , 1887 - September 1 , 1949 ) , was an American lawyer and statesman . He was United States Under Secretary of the Interior from 1938-39 and gave his name to the Slattery Report , which proposed to develop Alaska through immigration . The proposal , which included the settlement of Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria , largely in response to Nazi antisemitism , was never implemented .
The Slattery Report , officially titled The Problem of Alaskan Development , was produced by the United States Department of the Interior under President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's secretary Harold L. Ickes in 1939-40 . It was named after Undersecretary of the Interior Harry A. Slattery . The report , which dealt with Alaskan development through immigration , included a proposal to move European refugees , especially Jews from Nazi Germany and Austria , to four locations in Alaska , including Baranof Island and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley . Skagway , Petersburg and Seward were the only towns to endorse the proposal .