Ernest Frederick Hollings was born in Charleston, South Carolina on January 1, 1922. He graduated from The Citadel in 1942. During World War II, he was an Army artillery combat officer in North Africa, France, and Germany and was discharged a captain in 1945. He graduated from the University of South Carolina Law School in 1947, but only practiced law for a year before beginning a political career. He served three terms in the state House of Representatives from 1949 to 1954. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1954 and governor in 1958.
After unsuccessfully running for the United States Senate in 1962, he won a special election in 1966 to finish out the term of a deceased senator. He served 38 years in the United States Senate before retiring in 2005. Though initially opposed to civil rights and welfare legislation, he established a long record of support for civil rights.
In retirement, he wrote columns for South Carolina newspapers and HuffPost and taught at the Charleston School of Law. He wrote several books including The Case Against Hunger: A Demand for a National Policy and Making Government Work written with Kirk Victor. He died on April 6, 2019 at the age of 97.
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