Sen. James Eastland

Former Senator from Mississippi

Democrat

Elected Positions

Dates	Title	State / District
1961-1978	Senator	Mississippi
1943-1960	Senator	Mississippi
1941-1941	Senator	Mississippi

Sponsorship Analysis

Our unique analysis of the bills Eastland sponsored and cosponsored provides insight into his position in the Senate.

Each dot in the chart below is a member of the Senate. The dots are positioned horizontally according to our progressive—conservative ideology score and vertically according to our leadership score (leaders toward the top). Eastland is shown as a purple triangle. (analysis methodology)

Bills Sponsored

Some of Eastland’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » (including bills from previous years)

Voting Record

From Jun 1941 to Oct 1978, Eastland missed 1,709 of 9,982 roll call votes, which is 17.1%. This is worse than the median of 10.6% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Oct 1978. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Elligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1941 Apr-Jun	1	0	0.0%	0^th
1941 Jul-Sep	23	0	0.0%	0^th
1943 Jan-Mar	20	9	45.0%	67^th
1943 Apr-Jun	51	4	7.8%	33^rd
1943 Jul-Sep	20	14	70.0%	67^th
1943 Oct-Dec	30	0	0.0%	0^th
1944 Jan-Mar	51	1	2.0%	0^th
1944 Apr-Jun	23	1	4.3%	33^rd
1944 Aug-Sep	7	1	14.3%	33^rd
1944 Nov-Dec	17	10	58.8%	75^th
1945 Jan-Mar	17	1	5.9%	17^th
1945 Apr-Jun	40	4	10.0%	33^rd
1945 Jul-Sep	27	4	14.8%	50^th
1945 Oct-Dec	23	1	4.3%	0^th
1946 Jan-Mar	13	2	15.4%	67^th
1946 Apr-Jun	75	1	1.3%	17^th
1946 Jul-Aug	48	0	0.0%	0^th
1947 Jan-Mar	34	0	0.0%	0^th
1947 Apr-Jun	57	6	10.5%	67^th
1947 Jul-Jul	39	3	7.7%	83^rd
1947 Nov-Dec	8	2	25.0%	57^th
1948 Feb-Mar	28	0	0.0%	0^th
1948 Apr-Jun	74	1	1.4%	57^th
1948 Aug-Aug	8	1	12.5%	86^th
1949 Jan-Mar	38	0	0.0%	0^th
1949 Apr-Jun	86	0	0.0%	0^th
1949 Jul-Sep	82	0	0.0%	0^th
1949 Oct-Oct	20	0	0.0%	0^th
1950 Jan-Mar	55	0	0.0%	0^th
1950 Apr-Jun	85	0	0.0%	0^th
1950 Jul-Sep	78	0	0.0%	0^th
1950 Dec-Dec	10	0	0.0%	0^th
1951 Jan-Jan	1	0	0.0%	0^th
1951 Jan-Mar	20	4	20.0%	88^th
1951 Apr-Jun	70	2	2.9%	63^rd
1951 Jul-Sep	94	0	0.0%	0^th
1951 Oct-Oct	16	3	18.8%	75^th
1952 Jan-Mar	12	0	0.0%	0^th
1952 Apr-Jun	95	0	0.0%	0^th
1952 Jul-Jul	6	0	0.0%	0^th
1953 Jan-Mar	9	0	0.0%	0^th
1953 Apr-Jun	43	0	0.0%	0^th
1953 Jul-Jul	37	0	0.0%	0^th
1954 Jan-Mar	32	0	0.0%	0^th
1954 Apr-Jun	50	0	0.0%	0^th
1954 Jul-Sep	91	0	0.0%	0^th
1954 Dec-Dec	8	0	0.0%	0^th
1955 Jan-Mar	26	3	11.5%	69^th
1955 Apr-Jun	38	5	13.2%	85^th
1955 Jul-Aug	23	1	4.3%	38^th
1956 Jan-Mar	47	0	0.0%	0^th
1956 Apr-Jun	50	6	12.0%	92^nd
1956 Jul-Jul	33	3	9.1%	83^rd
1957 Jan-Mar	16	1	6.3%	63^rd
1957 Apr-Jun	45	3	6.7%	50^th
1957 Jul-Aug	46	2	4.3%	71^st
1958 Feb-Mar	38	0	0.0%	0^th
1958 Apr-Jun	85	4	4.7%	65^th
1958 Jul-Aug	76	1	1.3%	41^st
1959 Jan-Apr	57	3	5.3%	77^th
1959 May-Aug	128	13	10.2%	68^th
1959 Sep-Sep	30	0	0.0%	0^th
1960 Jan-Apr	79	7	8.9%	41^st
1960 May-Aug	123	10	8.1%	74^th
1960 Sep-Sep	5	4	80.0%	87^th
1961 Jan-Apr	31	0	0.0%	0^th
1961 May-Aug	137	14	10.2%	92^nd
1961 Sep-Sep	36	4	11.1%	73^rd
1962 Jan-Mar	22	0	0.0%	0^th
1962 Apr-Jun	62	10	16.1%	85^th
1962 Jul-Sep	122	25	20.5%	96^th
1962 Oct-Oct	18	0	0.0%	0^th
1963 Jan-Mar	8	0	0.0%	0^th
1963 Apr-Jun	73	9	12.3%	85^th
1963 Jul-Sep	61	10	16.4%	79^th
1963 Oct-Dec	87	17	19.5%	88^th
1964 Jan-Mar	60	2	3.3%	56^th
1964 Apr-Jun	138	1	0.7%	29^th
1964 Jul-Sep	106	5	4.7%	38^th
1964 Oct-Oct	1	0	0.0%	0^th
1965 Jan-Mar	32	6	18.8%	59^th
1965 Apr-Jun	106	14	13.2%	69^th
1965 Jul-Sep	106	7	6.6%	59^th
1965 Oct-Oct	15	2	13.3%	41^st
1966 Jan-Mar	28	5	17.9%	61^st
1966 Apr-Jun	56	7	12.5%	32^nd
1966 Jul-Sep	119	12	10.1%	59^th
1966 Oct-Oct	35	22	62.9%	88^th
1967 Jan-Mar	53	17	32.1%	85^th
1967 Apr-Jun	70	7	10.0%	50^th
1967 Jul-Sep	81	16	19.8%	85^th
1967 Oct-Dec	111	31	27.9%	90^th
1968 Jan-Mar	69	11	15.9%	73^rd
1968 Apr-Jun	96	18	18.8%	70^th
1968 Jul-Sep	89	16	18.0%	60^th
1968 Oct-Oct	27	12	44.4%	70^th
1969 Jan-Mar	17	1	5.9%	55^th
1969 Apr-Jun	22	1	4.5%	22^nd
1969 Jul-Sep	44	10	22.7%	92^nd
1969 Oct-Dec	156	45	28.8%	96^th
1970 Jan-Mar	100	4	4.0%	24^th
1970 Apr-Jun	91	22	24.2%	90^th
1970 Jul-Sep	122	45	36.9%	84^th
1970 Oct-Dec	106	53	50.0%	96^th
1971 Feb-Mar	25	9	36.0%	86^th
1971 Apr-Jun	89	7	7.9%	21^st
1971 Jul-Sep	109	26	23.9%	81^st
1971 Oct-Dec	202	17	8.4%	34^th
1972 Jan-Mar	119	9	7.6%	31^st
1972 Apr-Jun	130	29	22.3%	66^th
1972 Jul-Sep	206	30	14.6%	66^th
1972 Oct-Oct	75	44	58.7%	88^th
1973 Jan-Mar	67	13	19.4%	73^rd
1973 Apr-Jun	192	37	19.3%	87^th
1973 Jul-Sep	167	28	16.8%	87^th
1973 Oct-Dec	168	39	23.2%	83^rd
1974 Jan-Mar	94	19	20.2%	82^nd
1974 Apr-Jun	179	22	12.3%	70^th
1974 Jul-Sep	138	23	16.7%	78^th
1974 Oct-Dec	133	35	26.3%	81^st
1975 Jan-Mar	117	22	18.8%	91^st
1975 Apr-Jun	141	35	24.8%	88^th
1975 Jul-Sep	168	127	75.6%	99^th
1975 Oct-Dec	180	18	10.0%	56^th
1976 Jan-Mar	109	32	29.4%	89^th
1976 Apr-Jun	263	84	31.9%	91^st
1976 Jul-Sep	314	73	23.2%	85^th
1976 Oct-Oct	13	13	100.0%	84^th
1977 Jan-Mar	92	12	13.0%	68^th
1977 Apr-Jun	178	13	7.3%	41^st
1977 Jul-Sep	233	65	27.9%	94^th
1977 Oct-Dec	132	15	11.4%	58^th
1978 Jan-Mar	78	6	7.7%	42^nd
1978 Apr-Jun	119	33	27.7%	92^nd
1978 Jul-Sep	236	115	48.7%	96^th
1978 Oct-Oct	86	37	43.0%	91^st

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

Congressional Biographical Directory for elected positions
United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
THOMAS, for sponsored bills

Recent Legislative Activity

Elections and Offices

Sen. James Eastland [D-MS, 1961-1978] leaves office as Senator from Mississippi

Oct 15, 1978

Elections and Offices

Sen. James Eastland [D-MS, 1961-1978] takes office as Senator from Mississippi

Jan 3, 1961

Elections and Offices

Sen. James Eastland [D-MS, 1961-1978] leaves office as Senator from Mississippi

Sep 1, 1960

Elections and Offices

Sen. James Eastland [D-MS, 1961-1978] takes office as Senator from Mississippi

Jan 6, 1943

Elections and Offices

Sen. James Eastland [D-MS, 1961-1978] leaves office as Senator from Mississippi

Dec 31, 1941