Fielding L. Wright

Fielding L. Wright
49th and 50th Governor of Mississippi
In office November 2, 1946 – January 22, 1952
Lieutenant	Sam Lumpkin
Preceded by	Thomas L. Bailey
Succeeded by	Hugh L. White
19th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
In office January 17, 1944 – November 2, 1946
Governor	Dennis Murphree Thomas L. Bailey
Preceded by	Dennis Murphree
Succeeded by	Sam Lumpkin
54th Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office September 14, 1936 – January 2, 1940
Preceded by	Horace Stansel
Succeeded by	Sam Lumpkin
Acting Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office February 1936 – September 14, 1936
Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
In office January 5, 1932 – January 2, 1940
Member of the Mississippi State Senate from the 20th District
In office 1928 – January 5, 1932
Personal details
Born	Fielding Lewis Wright (1895-05-16)May 16, 1895 Rolling Fork, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	May 4, 1956(1956-05-04) (aged 60) Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Other political affiliations	Dixiecrat (1948)
Spouse	Nan Kelly
Education	Gardner–Webb University University of Alabama (LLB)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1918–1919
Rank	Private
Unit	38th Infantry Division 105th Engineer Combat Battalion[1] Mississippi National Guard
Battles/wars	World War I

Fielding Lewis Wright (May 16, 1895 – May 4, 1956) was an American politician who served as the 19th lieutenant governor and 49th and 50th governor of Mississippi. During the 1948 presidential election he served as the vice presidential nominee of the States' Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats) alongside presidential nominee Strom Thurmond. During his political career he fought to maintain racial segregation, fighting with President Harry S. Truman over civil rights legislation, and holding other racist views.

Wright grew up in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where he was educated and later attended Gardner–Webb University and the University of Alabama. During World War I he was sent to France as a captain. Wright served in the 149th Machine Gun Battalion and the 105th Engineer Combat Battalion before being honorably discharged in 1919. Following his service in the United States Army, he joined the Mississippi National Guard.

After entering politics in the 1920s, Wright was elected to the state legislature, where he served in the late 1920s and through the 1930s. Following the death of Speaker Horace Stansel, he rose to the speakership of the state House of Representatives. After a brief absence from politics, Wright was elected as Mississippi's lieutenant governor and served until he ascended to the governorship following the death of Thomas L. Bailey on November 2, 1946. During his gubernatorial tenure he made efforts to maintain racial segregation and supported Senator Theodore G. Bilbo, a member of the Ku Klux Klan and segregationist, in his attempt to maintain his seat in the United States Senate.^[2][3]

Wright was elected to a term in his own right in the 1947 election. In his inaugural address, he voiced opposition to Truman's support of civil rights and called for Southern Democrats to leave the Democratic Party. He served as a leader of the States' Rights Democratic Party, declining offers to run for the presidential nomination, although he later accepted the vice-presidential nomination. In the presidential election, Thurmond and Wright won multiple Southern states, but failed to prevent Truman from winning the presidential election. Wright completed his gubernatorial term on January 22, 1952, and retired from public service. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in the 1955 Mississippi gubernatorial election, and died on May 4, 1956.