Rivers family papers

L. Mendel Rivers (1905-1970) served as a member of Congress from the first district of South Carolina from 1941 to 1970 and was the House Committee on Armed Services chairman from 1965 to 1970. Rivers was instrumental in several aspects of the administrative policy of the Vietnam War. He helped define the terms of the draft, and he aided in securing funding for military activities. He is generally credited with helping to build the "nuclear navy" and with supporting the development of the "C5-A" aircraft. Rivers acquired a reputation as a defender of the military and as a "war hawk." He prided himself on his reputation as a champion of the ordinary service man.

Rivers was also active in the fight to save segregation. He was a strident defender of the racial status quo. In 1948, he was the first South Carolina Congressman to declare himself a "Dixiecrat" and openly support J. Strom Thurmond's candidacy for the presidency. He bolted the Democratic Party again in 1952 when he supported Dwight D. Eisenhower in the presidential election. Rivers felt that the Democratic Party had adopted a "liberal" civil rights platform in the contest. Although he publicly supported the Democratic Party for the remainder of his career, numerous sources charged that he had secretly aided George Wallace's "independent" campaign for president in 1968. Also, in a 1956 questionnaire, Rivers was the only South Carolina congressman to declare himself a member of the White Citizens' Council.

Throughout his nearly three decades in Congress, Rivers was never seriously challenged in either the Democratic Primary or the general election. He was instrumental in the development of numerous defense industries in his district, especially the tremendous growth of the Charleston Naval Base. Rivers also fought to make the College of Charleston a state institution in the late 1960s.

Margaret Middleton Rivers, also known as "Marwee," married L. Mendel Rivers on September 1, 1938, and together they had three children. She was an active writer of poetry, family history, and the memoirs Mendel and Mendel and Me, about her husband L. Mendel Rivers. She later remarried to Alvin H. Hughey in 1980.

Their eldest daughter, Margaret Middleton Rivers Eastmen, also known as "Peg" or "Peggy," was born in 1939. She has written several books about Charleston's local history as well as contributioning to the memoirs Mendel and Mendel and Me. Peg married Robert Eastman in 1962.

Their second child, Marion Rivers Ravenel Cato, was born in 1943. She also wrote a memoir about her father entitled Rivers Delivers. She married Rene Ravenel in 1975 and was later remarried to Wayland H. Cato, Jr. in 1998.

Their youngest child, L. Mendel Rivers, Jr., was born in 1947, and served as a Democrat in the South Carolina House of Representatives representing Charleston from 1972 to 1974. He also served as a family court judge, lawyer, and columnist for The News and Courier. Mendel Jr. also contributed to the writings about his father in the books Mendel and Mendel and Me.