Furnifold McLendel Simmons

Furnifold McLendel Simmons (20 January 1854 - 30 April 1940) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1887 to 1889 and U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1901 and 1931. He served as chairman of the powerful Committee on Finance from 1913 - 1919. In 1920 he was an unsuccessful contender for the Democratic Party nomination for president.

As a leader of the state Democratic Party, Simmons led the 1898-1900 White Supremacy campaigns that effectively disfranchised black voters for a half-century. From his Senate seat, he then ran a powerful, conservative political machine, using A. D. Watts "to keep the machine oiled back home," in the words of one journalist. [ [http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1139946.html News & Observer: "What the obituary didn't say" by Rob Christensen] ]

Senator Simmons refused to endorse Al Smith, the Democratic nominee for president in 1928. This, 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

* [http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/90/entry North Carolina History Project]
* [http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/bios/simmons.html North Carolina Election of 1898]

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state=North Carolina
district=2
before=James E. O'Hara
after=Henry P. Cheatham
years=1887-1889U.S. Senator box
state=North Carolina
class=1
before=Marion Butler
after=Josiah William Bailey
alongside= Jeter Connelly Pritchard, Lee Slater Overman, Cameron A. Morrison
years=March 4, 1901–March 3, 1931succession box
title=Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance
before=Boies Penrose
Pennsylvania

years=1913-1919
after=Boies Penrose
Pennsylvania
Succession box
title=Dean of the United States Senate
before=Francis E. Warren
after=Reed Smoot
years=November 24, 1929–March 3, 1931succession box
title=Oldest living U.S. Senator
before=Obadiah Gardner
after=Fountain Thompson
years= July 24, 1938-April 30, 1940Succession box
title=Most Senior Living U.S. Senator
(Sitting or Former)
before= Henry Heitfeld
after=Reed Smoot
years= October 21, 1938 - April 30, 1940