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Strom Thurmond
I am considering removing this section. The following criterion for inclusion is listed in the lede: For all listed people, the scandal (or scandalous behavior) occurred while they were occupying a federal office, even if coverage was posthumous. The main allegation made, that Thurmond fathered a child, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, out of wedlock with a household employee, dates to the 1920's, even though not acknowledged for nearly eighty years. Thurmond did not enter federal politics until the 1950's.
The second allegation, involving Senator Patty Murray, does date to Thurmond's time in federal office. However it is potentially problematic due to the policy on biographies of living people. The only reference provided appears to date from the time just after Thurmond's death, when his family relationship with Washington-Williams was publicly acknowledged for the first time. It is not clear that this reference addresses the Murray allegation, and given that Murray is a living person, we definitely need such a reference. I cannot find this particular article because it is behind a paywall, but other articles from the same time with the same or a similar name mention only Washington-Williams, not Murray.
For now, I have moved the position of the reference to make it clearer that it may only reference Washington-Williams. I have also noted that we need a reference re Murray. If such a reference is not provided within about a week I may delete the entire Thurmond section. Dash77 (talk) 18:35, 22 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Absent any feedback from others, I have edited the list to make the Murray allegation the main focus. I did find several references to that in the main Thurmond article, so am going with those as references. I have left in the Washington-Williams announcement, as I do think it remains important background given Thurmond's later actions or accused actions. But it should not be the main focus as it occurred outside Thurmond's time in office. Dash77 (talk) 20:34, 31 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]
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