Duke Short, chief of staff who safeguarded Strom Thurmond in his final years, dead at 89

Robert J. “Duke” Short, the long time chief of staff to the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, has died at the age of 89.

Beginning his career as an investigator for the U.S. Department of Treasury, Short rose to power and influence as Thurmond’s chief of staff during the senator’s final 15 years in office. An unquestionably loyal and devoted gatekeeper, Short’s influence was such that as Thurmond’s health waned, the former federal agent came to be known as the 101st senator.

“Duke Short made an indelible impression on the lives of leaders and citizens all across his beloved South Carolina and his country. He was a good man. He was one in a million,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A Georgia native, Short served in the U.S. Army following his graduation from North Georgia College in 1956. He served as a second lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division, the same unit his future boss served with during the Normandy landings in World War II.

Over the following decades, Short served as a federal agent in a number of capacities. He was a special agent for the Treasury Department’s organized crime strike force, one of the nation’s first “Sky Marshals,” and in the early 1970s he became chief of investigations for the Federal Protective Service. In 1965, Short received a doctorate of chiropractic from Palmer College in Davenport, Iowa.

In 1974 he began a long career in the U.S. Senate as a senior investigator for its Subcommittee on Internal Security. By the mid-1980s, Short was the chief investigator for the Senate Judiciary Committee, where his responsibilities included security for its then chairman, Strom Thurmond.

But it was in 1988 when Thurmond, more than 80 years old, appointed him chief of staff that Short took on the role that would define his life.

Short’s “commitment, diligence, selfless service, and loyalty to Senator Thurmond and to the entire staff during his tenure was unwavering and renowned,” read a resolution passed this year by the South Carolina General Assembly shortly before Short’s 89th birthday.

But as Thurmond’s health worsened, Short’s power in his office grew. Short and his wife would have Thurmond over for dinner every weekend, according to biographers, and Roll Call, a Washington, DC, outlet that covers Congress, called him one of the 50 most powerful staffers in Congress.

“For Thurmond, he was a faithful guardian and watchdog too — few got in to see Thurmond in his aging years without Duke’s OK,” said John Monk, who covered North and South Carolina for The Charlotte Observer in Washington, DC, from 1990 to 1995.

During these years, Thurmond was chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and served on the Judiciary Committee. He famously supported Clarence Thomas’ nomination for the Supreme Court, despite the senator’s previous segregationist beliefs.

Short “gets him (Thurmond) up in the morning and puts him to bed at night and basically guides him through the day. Everything is sort of in the area of protecting Senator Thurmond,” one unnamed senator who served with Thurmond on the armed services committee was quoted as saying at the time.

It was during these years that Short reportedly became a guardian to Thurmond’s deepest secret: his mixed-race daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams, who was born following a sexual encounter between Thurmond, who would go on to be a prominent segregationist, and Carrie Butler, a 15 or 16-year-old Black teen who was a domestic servant for his family. Thurmond was 22 when the girl was born.

On one occasion in 2000, Short sat with Thurmond in the senator’s Washington office while they met with Wanda Terry, Washington-Williams’ daughter and Thurmond’s granddaughter, according to the book “Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond” by Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson. Thurmond was providing money to Terry for her mother, who was unable to travel after a knee surgery.

After the meeting, Short reportedly pulled her aside and said: “How has she (Washington-Williams) managed to go all these years without saying anything?” Short later denied this conversation, according to Bass and Thompson.

Short’s devotion to his boss remained legendary. “He was a humble servant of our great state & nation and a beloved friend to so many,” wrote U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, a Rock Hill Republican, in a post to X.

Following Thurmond’s death in 2003, Short was one of a select few staffers who received a bequest from the senator’s estate. Writing about the $4,000 gift, reporters Lee Bandy and Monk of The State credited Short with the smooth functioning of Thurmond’s office in his later years.

In 2006, Short published a book, “The Centennial Senator: True Stories of Strom Thurmond from the People Who Knew Him Best,” which compiled stories from Thurmond’s friends, staffers, colleagues, and constituents.

Short was also awarded the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest honor, bestowed by Gov. Jim Hodges, a Democrat.

Short married Denise “Dee” Powers in 1992. The couple celebrated their thirty-first wedding anniversary in May, according to the General Assembly’s resolution.