The death of Strom Thurmond brought to mind an op-ed Walter Russell Mead wrote for the Wall Street Journal a couple of years ago, on the occasion of Jesse Helms announcing that he wouldn’t seek re-election. Actually it was the New York Times’ headline calling Thurmond a “foe of integration” that made me remember. Here’s what Mead wrote: “For all his staunch conservatism and angry rhetoric, Mr. Helms is one of a handful of Southern statesmen who ensured the triumph of the civil-rights revolution.” Mead continued: “Once the civil-rights legislation of the 1960s was enacted, Mr. Helms–along with some of his erstwhile segregationist colleagues like South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond–did something very revolutionary for Southern white populists. He accepted the laws and obeyed them.” Helms and Thurmond “shunned violence,” “hired African-American staffers and gave African-Americans the same level of constituency service they gave whites,” and based their opposition to racial preferences on principle rather than racism. I’m not going to wax nostalgic about Thurmond, because I was never that big a fan of him as a politician (yet I was–and remain–an admirer of Helms, especially for his contributions to foreign policy). Still, it would be nice–and accurate–if he were remembered for something in addition to creating the conditions for Trent Lott’s downfall a few months ago. Yes, he was a “foe of integration”–but he also became a friend of it. The fact that he changed his mind is more important than his onetime resistance.