Here is a look at the life of Trent Lott, former Republican senator from Mississippi.
Personal:
Birth date: October 9, 1941
Birth place: Grenada, Mississippi
Birth name: Chester Trent Lott
Father: Chester Paul Lott, shipyard worker
Mother: Iona (Watson) Lott, school teacher
Marriage: Patricia (Thompson) Lott (1964-present)
Children: Chester and Tyler
Education: University of Mississippi, B.S., 1963; University of Mississippi (Oxford), J.D., 1967
Religion: Baptist
Other Facts:
The Lott family home in Pascagoula, Mississippi was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Lott was originally a member of the Democrat Party but switched on the eve of his first campaign in 1972.
Timeline:
1967 – Passes the Mississippi Bar and joins the law firm Bryan & Gordon as an associate.
1968-1972 – Moves to Washington to become an aide to Congressman William M. Colmer, representing Mississippi’s Fifth District.
1972 – Lott is elected to Colmer’s seat after he decides not to run for re-election.
May 1974 – Is the youngest member of the House Judiciary Committee that held hearings to decide whether there was enough evidence against President Richard Nixon to call for his impeachment. Votes against Nixon’s impeachment.
1981-1989 – Is elected as the House minority whip.
1988 – Is elected to the US Senate.
1989-2007 – Is Mississippi’s four-term Republican senator.
1994 – Is elected Senate majority whip, the first person to be elected to the position of whip in both the House and Senate.
1995-1996 – Is elected Republican party whip.
1996-2001; 2002 – Is elected Senate Majority Leader.
December 5, 2002 – At a function honoring outgoing Senator Strom Thurmond, says in regards to his state of Mississippi voting for Thurmond in the 1948 presidential election – “We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either.”
December 10, 2002 – Lott appears on Black Entertainment Television and apologizes for the remark.
December 12, 2002 – President George W. Bush rebukes Lott for the comments, saying any suggestion that segregation was acceptable is “offensive and it is wrong.” The Congressional Black Caucus releases a statement, calling for a “formal censure of Sen. Lott’s racist remarks.”
December 20, 2002 – Lott steps down as incoming Senate Majority Leader due to outrage over his remarks Thurmond, saying “In the interest of pursuing the best possible agenda for the future of our country, I will not seek to remain as majority leader of the United States Senate for the 108th Congress, effective January 6, 2003. To all those who offered me their friendship, support and prayers, I will be eternally grateful. I will continue to serve the people of Mississippi in the United States Senate.”
August 2005 – Lott’s memoir “Herding Cats: A Life in Politics” is released.
November 7, 2006 – Is elected to a six-year term.
November 15, 2006 – Is elected Senate Minority Whip.
November 26, 2007 – Announces he will resign his Senate seat by the end of the year. Officially resigns on December 18.
January 5, 2008 – Announces he will open up a lobbying firm with former Senator John Breaux and both of their sons.
July 2010 – The Breaux-Lott Leadership Group is purchased by lobbying firm Patton Boggs. Patton Boggs is later renamed Squire Patton Boggs.
October 1, 2011 – Lott becomes an independent director of Camgian Microsystems Corporation.
April 20, 2012 – Lobbying documents indicate that Breaux-Lott Leadership Group is being paid to lobby in support of the ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, also known as the Law of the Sea Treaty. As a senator, Lott opposed it, saying, it would create a “UN on steroids.”
August 8, 2013 – Is hospitalized for a ruptured appendix.
