James Eastland, former Senator for Mississippi

Eastland was a senator from Mississippi and was a Democrat. He served from 1943 to 1978.

He was previously a senator from Mississippi as a Democrat from 1941 to 1941.

Photo of Sen. James Eastland [D-MS, 1943-1978]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Eastland is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 1978 positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Eastland sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1973 to Oct 15, 1978. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Eastland was the primary sponsor of 16 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 16 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Eastland sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Private Legislation (41%) Law (14%) Government Operations and Politics (12%) Agriculture and Food (12%) Transportation and Public Works (6%) Crime and Law Enforcement (6%) Immigration (5%)

Recent Bills

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

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jun 1941 to Oct 1978, Eastland missed 2,088 of 10,002 roll call votes, which is 20.9%. This is much worse than the median of 12.1% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Oct 1978. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	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	10	50.0%	67^th
1943 Apr-Jun	52	4	7.7%	0^th
1943 Jul-Sep	20	14	70.0%	67^th
1943 Oct-Dec	30	1	3.3%	33^rd
1944 Jan-Mar	51	2	3.9%	0^th
1944 Apr-Jun	23	1	4.3%	33^rd
1944 Aug-Sep	7	1	14.3%	33^rd
1944 Nov-Dec	17	13	76.5%	75^th
1945 Jan-Mar	17	1	5.9%	17^th
1945 Apr-Jun	40	5	12.5%	33^rd
1945 Jul-Sep	27	4	14.8%	50^th
1945 Oct-Dec	24	1	4.2%	0^th
1946 Jan-Mar	13	2	15.4%	50^th
1946 Apr-Jun	75	2	2.7%	17^th
1946 Jul-Aug	48	1	2.1%	50^th
1947 Jan-Mar	34	0	0.0%	0^th
1947 Apr-Jun	57	7	12.3%	67^th
1947 Jul-Jul	39	8	20.5%	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%	14^th
1948 Aug-Aug	8	1	12.5%	86^th
1949 Jan-Mar	38	5	13.2%	78^th
1949 Apr-Jun	86	10	11.6%	67^th
1949 Jul-Sep	82	13	15.9%	89^th
1949 Oct-Oct	20	4	20.0%	56^th
1950 Jan-Mar	55	5	9.1%	22^nd
1950 Apr-Jun	85	21	24.7%	67^th
1950 Jul-Sep	78	20	25.6%	89^th
1950 Dec-Dec	10	6	60.0%	78^th
1951 Jan-Jan	1	0	0.0%	0^th
1951 Jan-Mar	20	4	20.0%	75^th
1951 Apr-Jun	70	6	8.6%	62^nd
1951 Jul-Sep	94	3	3.2%	12^th
1951 Oct-Oct	16	3	18.8%	75^th
1952 Jan-Mar	12	1	8.3%	75^th
1952 Apr-Jun	95	2	2.1%	0^th
1952 Jul-Jul	6	0	0.0%	0^th
1953 Jan-Mar	9	1	11.1%	20^th
1953 Apr-Jun	43	5	11.6%	50^th
1953 Jul-Jul	38	2	5.3%	90^th
1954 Jan-Mar	32	1	3.1%	60^th
1954 Apr-Jun	50	6	12.0%	60^th
1954 Jul-Sep	91	21	23.1%	80^th
1954 Dec-Dec	8	0	0.0%	0^th
1955 Jan-Mar	26	3	11.5%	69^th
1955 Apr-Jun	38	6	15.8%	92^nd
1955 Jul-Aug	23	2	8.7%	69^th
1956 Jan-Mar	47	0	0.0%	0^th
1956 Apr-Jun	50	11	22.0%	92^nd
1956 Jul-Jul	33	3	9.1%	67^th
1957 Jan-Mar	16	1	6.2%	62^nd
1957 Apr-Jun	45	5	11.1%	62^nd
1957 Jul-Aug	46	2	4.3%	65^th
1958 Feb-Mar	38	1	2.6%	24^th
1958 Apr-Jun	86	7	8.1%	53^rd
1958 Jul-Aug	76	5	6.6%	59^th
1959 Jan-Apr	57	6	10.5%	86^th
1959 May-Aug	128	19	14.8%	86^th
1959 Sep-Sep	30	0	0.0%	0^th
1960 Jan-Apr	79	18	22.8%	91^st
1960 May-Aug	123	14	11.4%	70^th
1960 Sep-Sep	5	5	100.0%	87^th
1961 Jan-Apr	31	2	6.5%	64^th
1961 May-Aug	137	20	14.6%	88^th
1961 Sep-Sep	36	10	27.8%	88^th
1962 Jan-Mar	22	2	9.1%	67^th
1962 Apr-Jun	62	10	16.1%	74^th
1962 Jul-Sep	122	37	30.3%	96^th
1962 Oct-Oct	18	2	11.1%	70^th
1963 Jan-Mar	8	0	0.0%	0^th
1963 Apr-Jun	73	12	16.4%	85^th
1963 Jul-Sep	61	19	31.1%	91^st
1963 Oct-Dec	87	33	37.9%	91^st
1964 Jan-Mar	60	5	8.3%	56^th
1964 Apr-Jun	138	8	5.8%	82^nd
1964 Jul-Sep	106	7	6.6%	38^th
1964 Oct-Oct	1	0	0.0%	0^th
1965 Jan-Mar	32	6	18.8%	56^th
1965 Apr-Jun	106	15	14.2%	47^th
1965 Jul-Sep	106	10	9.4%	59^th
1965 Oct-Oct	15	2	13.3%	31^st
1966 Jan-Mar	28	5	17.9%	52^nd
1966 Apr-Jun	56	11	19.6%	53^rd
1966 Jul-Sep	119	20	16.8%	65^th
1966 Oct-Oct	35	35	100.0%	91^st
1967 Jan-Mar	53	18	34.0%	80^th
1967 Apr-Jun	70	11	15.7%	65^th
1967 Jul-Sep	81	16	19.8%	72^nd
1967 Oct-Dec	111	37	33.3%	88^th
1968 Jan-Mar	69	12	17.4%	62^nd
1968 Apr-Jun	96	27	28.1%	72^nd
1968 Jul-Sep	89	17	19.1%	60^th
1968 Oct-Oct	27	12	44.4%	68^th
1969 Jan-Mar	17	3	17.6%	78^th
1969 Apr-Jun	26	2	7.7%	37^th
1969 Jul-Sep	44	11	25.0%	92^nd
1969 Oct-Dec	158	48	30.4%	92^nd
1970 Jan-Mar	100	5	5.0%	25^th
1970 Apr-Jun	92	24	26.1%	86^th
1970 Jul-Sep	123	47	38.2%	84^th
1970 Oct-Dec	106	54	50.9%	92^nd
1971 Feb-Mar	25	10	40.0%	84^th
1971 Apr-Jun	89	10	11.2%	24^th
1971 Jul-Sep	109	31	28.4%	88^th
1971 Oct-Dec	202	19	9.4%	34^th
1972 Jan-Mar	119	15	12.6%	47^th
1972 Apr-Jun	130	36	27.7%	74^th
1972 Jul-Sep	206	32	15.5%	62^nd
1972 Oct-Oct	75	50	66.7%	86^th
1973 Jan-Mar	67	13	19.4%	70^th
1973 Apr-Jun	192	39	20.3%	87^th
1973 Jul-Sep	167	29	17.4%	85^th
1973 Oct-Dec	168	40	23.8%	82^nd
1974 Jan-Mar	94	23	24.5%	89^th
1974 Apr-Jun	179	23	12.8%	70^th
1974 Jul-Sep	138	23	16.7%	78^th
1974 Oct-Dec	133	37	27.8%	82^nd
1975 Jan-Mar	118	24	20.3%	89^th
1975 Apr-Jun	141	35	24.8%	86^th
1975 Jul-Sep	170	131	77.1%	99^th
1975 Oct-Dec	182	19	10.4%	56^th
1976 Jan-Mar	109	32	29.4%	88^th
1976 Apr-Jun	263	84	31.9%	91^st
1976 Jul-Sep	315	74	23.5%	85^th
1976 Oct-Oct	13	13	100.0%	84^th
1977 Jan-Mar	92	13	14.1%	70^th
1977 Apr-Jun	178	14	7.9%	40^th
1977 Jul-Sep	233	65	27.9%	94^th
1977 Oct-Dec	133	15	11.3%	56^th
1978 Jan-Mar	78	6	7.7%	38^th
1978 Apr-Jun	119	34	28.6%	93^rd
1978 Jul-Sep	237	116	48.9%	96^th
1978 Oct-Oct	86	40	46.5%	91^st

Primary Sources

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

unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
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
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Sen. James Eastland

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