Butler Derrick

{{Short description|American politician (1936–2014)}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Butler Derrick |image = Congressman Butler Derrick.jpg |state = South Carolina |district = {{ushr|SC|3|3rd}} |term_start = January 3, 1975 |term_end = January 3, 1995 |predecessor = William Jennings Bryan Dorn |successor = Lindsey Graham |state_house1 = South Carolina |district1 = Edgefield County |term_start1 = January 14, 1969 |term_end1 = January 3, 1975 |predecessor1 = Walter Clark |successor1 = Constituency abolished |birth_name = Butler Carson Derrick Jr. |birth_date = {{birth date|1936|9|30}} |birth_place = Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |death_date = {{death date and age|2014|5|5|1936|9|30}} |death_place = Easley, South Carolina, U.S. | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Suzanne Mims|end=divorced}} * Beverly Grantham }} | children = 4 | relatives = {{ubl|Rita Derrick Hayes (sister)|}} |party = Democratic |education = University of South Carolina (BA)<br>University of Georgia (LLB) | signature = Butler Derrick signature.png }} '''Butler Carson Derrick Jr. ''' (September 30, 1936 – May 5, 2014) was an American politician and a U.S. representative from South Carolina.

==Early life==

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, he moved to his parents' home state of South Carolina in his youth and attended the public schools in Mayesville and Florence. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1958 and earned an LL.B. from the University of Georgia Law School in 1965. He was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1965 and commenced practice in Edgefield. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1969 to 1974, representing Edgefield County, and was a delegate to the South Carolina State Democratic conventions in 1972 and 1974.

==Political career==

Derrick was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1974. That same year, he was elected to the House from {{ushr|South Carolina|3}}, succeeding longtime congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn. He was reelected nine times. Although he represented a district that had become increasingly friendly to Republicans at the national level, he himself only faced serious opposition in 1988. Derrick served on the House Rules and Budget Committees during his tenure, and spent his final term as a Chief Deputy Whip.

Derrick did not run for reelection in 1994. As a measure of how Republican this district had become, one-term Republican state representative Lindsey Graham won the seat in a rout, taking 60 percent of the vote. By comparison, Derrick had won what would be his last election in 1992 with 61 percent of the vote. No Democrat has cleared the 40 percent barrier in the district since Derrick left office. This included 1996, when Graham defeated Debbie Dorn, William Jennings Bryan Dorn's daughter, with 60 percent of the vote to Dorn's 39 percent.

After retirement from Congress, he was a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Washington, DC. He was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board in 2009. After Congress, Derrick resided with his family in Charleston until a few years before his death, when he moved to Easley.

Derrick died of cancer at his home in Easley on May 5, 2014.<ref>[http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/05/former-congressman-butler-derrick-dies/8731643/ Former Congressman Butler Derrick dies]</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Adam |date=May 6, 2014 |title=Butler Derrick dies at 77; former South Carolina congressman |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/butler-derrick-dies-at-77-former-south-carolina-congressman/2014/05/06/3a3e603c-d544-11e3-8a78-8fe50322a72c_story.html |access-date=October 31, 2023}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{CongLinks|congbio=D000267}} *{{C-SPAN}} * [https://archives.library.sc.edu/repositories/6/resources/196 Butler Derrick Papers] at the University of South Carolina's South Carolina Political Collections

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{s-bef|before=William Jennings Bryan Dorn}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the U.S. House of Representatives<br>from South Carolina's 3rd congressional district|years=1975–1995}} {{s-aft|after=Lindsey Graham}} {{s-end}}

{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 94th–103rd United States Congresses |state=South Carolina}} {{USCongRep/SC/94}} {{USCongRep/SC/95}} {{USCongRep/SC/96}} {{USCongRep/SC/97}} {{USCongRep/SC/98}} {{USCongRep/SC/99}} {{USCongRep/SC/100}} {{USCongRep/SC/101}} {{USCongRep/SC/102}} {{USCongRep/SC/103}} {{USCongRep-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derrick, Butler}} Category:1936 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives Category:University of Georgia School of Law alumni Category:Politicians from Springfield, Massachusetts Category:People from Easley, South Carolina Category:University of South Carolina alumni Category:South Carolina lawyers Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Category:Deaths from cancer in South Carolina Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from South Carolina Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century United States representatives Category:20th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly Category:People associated with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough