James Oliver Eastland

Eastland, James Oliver (1904–86), Democratic U.S. senator who served from 1943 to 1979. Eastland served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1928 to 1932. As chairman of the Senate's powerful Judiciary Committee from 1956 to 1979, Eastland supported internal security measures and opposed civil rights bills. Against his opposition, Congress passed a series of civil rights bills promoting racial integration in the 1960s.