Lindsey Graham’s path took him from a childhood around a small-town pool hall to the upper ranks of the US Senate, where he became a leading voice for American influence abroad.
Graham, 71, died Saturday night. Preliminary findings from the Washington DC medical examiner’s office listed the cause as an aortic dissection linked to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
His office announced early Sunday that Graham, who was first elected to represent South Carolina in the Senate in 2002, had “passed away from a brief and sudden illness.”
Long before he became a major force in Republican politics, Graham grew up in humble surroundings in Central, South Carolina.
His parents, Millie and Florence James Graham, ran the Sanitary Cafe, a modest restaurant, bar and pool hall where Graham later joked he had first “learned diplomacy.”
“It was a good life,” Graham told the Post and Courier in 2015. “I could go grab a Coke any time I wanted to. In my world, I was as rich as I could be.”
Graham entered elected office with a South Carolina statehouse victory in 1992, won a US House seat two years later, and then moved to the Senate in 2002, building a reputation as one of Washington’s most prominent foreign policy hawks.
A close ally of President Trump, Graham had recently returned to Washington from Ukraine, where he had announced an agreement on a new sanctions package targeting Russia before his death.
Lindsey Graham, 71, died Saturday night. He rose from working in his parents’ pool hall to becoming one of the most influential American lawmakers on the international stage
Preliminary findings from the Washington DC medical examiner’s office said Graham’s cause of death was aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease
As a child, Graham and his younger sister Darline lived with their parents, mother Millie and father Florence James Graham, in a single room behind the family’s hole-in-the-wall pool hall
Graham said that he lived a ‘good life’ growing up in Central, South Carolina, cracking that ‘I could go grab a Coke any time I wanted to’ growing up
His parents owned a restaurant, bar and pool hall, called the Sanitary Cafe, where the GOP lawmaker joked he had ‘learned diplomacy’
Growing up in Central, Graham lived with his parents and younger sister, Darline Graham Nordone, in a single room behind his family’s pool hall, Politico reported.
He would occasionally have a drink of customers’ beers or a smoke, as patrons nicknamed him ‘Stinkball.’
Graham, who was only a C student in high school, became the first member of his family to attend college when he enrolled at the University of South Carolina.
But while in school, his mom died of Hodgkin lymphoma. Within a 15 month period, his dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died of a heart attack.
Graham said he went from the ‘best of times to completely absolutely devastated in about 18 months,’ recalling a trip he took with his family in 1975.
‘We went on a vacation to Disney World, which was just like going to the moon for us: a plane ride, going to Disney World,’ Graham told CNN in 2015. ‘And a few months after that, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease, and she passed by June.’
He added: ‘If it wasn’t for my family, friends … and faith, I would not be sitting here today.’
After that, Graham was instrumental in raising his sister, 13 at the time. He later became her legal guardian.
‘He’s kind of like a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one,’ Nordone told The New York Times in 2015. ‘I’ve always looked up to Lindsey.’
Darline Graham Nordone, Graham’s younger sister, said he was ‘kind of like a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one’
Graham became his sister’s legal guardian after their parents’ death, as they died within 15-month time span
A photo of the interior of the Sanitary Cafe, owned by Graham’s parents
Graham was originally a staunch opponent of President Trump before becoming one of his greatest allies
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After earning his law degree from the University of South Carolina’s School of Law in 1981, Graham served as a judge advocate general in the Air Force.
He started as a defense attorney for accused troops and later rose to the Air Force’s chief prosecutor in Europe, based in Germany.
He returned to South Carolina in 1989 but was a reserve or National Guard member for decades afterwards.
It was upon coming back home that Graham entered politics, challenging Democratic incumbent Lowell W. Ross for South Carolina’s House District 2 in 1992.
Graham won with 6,389 votes to Ross’ 4,177 votes, per South Carolina Election Commission records. This began the GOP lawmaker’s remarkably fast ascent.
Two years later, Graham ran for South Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District after the incumbent Democrat, Butler Derrick, decided to retire, and won.
The seat had been occupied by a Democrat since 1877, according to The New York Times.
Graham became known for being one of a group of young Republicans who pushed to oust then–House Speaker Newt Gingrich for cutting too many deals with then–president, Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
The rising Republican star also became known for his role in Clinton’s impeachment proceedings for his sex scandal with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
‘Is this Watergate or Peyton Place?’ Graham memorably asked at one impeachment hearing in 1998, referring to the 60s soap opera.
Graham, pictured in December 1998, was one of the most prominent figures in Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings for his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky
The Republican lawmaker is pictured here in his office of the US Capitol building on the second-to-last day of Clinton’s impeachment trial
Graham, pictured in January 1999, won reelection to the House three times and seved for four terms
The South Carolina lawmaker announced a presidential run for 2016. He is pictured here in Central, South Carolina, revealing his bid
Graham would win reelection to the House three times, serving for a total of four terms from January 1995 to January 2003.
But when South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond retired in 2003, Graham turned his attention to the Senate and ran to succeed the GOP stalwart.
He disposed of Democratic candidate Alex Sanders and won the race with 54.4 percent of the vote.
Graham quickly emerged as one of the Senate’s biggest hawks and became known for his friendship with senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who later became an Independent.
The group of lawmakers was known as the Three Amigos, as they traveled the globe and pushed for US intervention, notably in the Middle East.
While in Senate, Graham briefly switched back to active status to help advise the Air Force during the Iraq War.
He was awarded the Bronze Star medal for service in 2014 before formally retiring as a colonel in 2015.
When McCain died from glioblastoma in 2018, an emotional Graham broke down in tears on the Senate floor.
‘He failed a lot, but he never quit,’ Graham said. ‘The reason we’re talking about him today and the reason I’m crying is because he was successful in spite of his failures.’
McCain’s daughter, Meghan, paid tribute to Graham as ‘always the person you hoped you sat next to at a dinner party’ Sunday on X.
‘Lindsey brought humor and loyalty to my Dad’s political defeats and was a constant source of support for my mother after my Dad’s passing,’ she wrote. ‘As a politician his skills were unmatched which is why he won so many elections and was well on his way to winning another.’
After the Republican lawmaker’s death, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Graham ‘understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable’
Graham, pictured on July 10, had returned to Washington DC from a trip to Ukraine before his death was announced in the early hours of Sunday
Graham, who served as a judge advocate general in the Air Force after he graduated from the University of South Carolina’s law school, retired as a colonel in 2015
In his later years, Graham was initially a firm opponent of President Trump, even running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
But Graham later became one of Trump’s closest allies, frequently golfing with him and endorsing his MAGA policies.
On Monday, Graham had called Trump ‘the GOAT of Presidents’ on his X account.
After Graham’s death, Trump remembered him as ‘one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.’
‘He was always working, and was a true American Patriot,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!’
Graham was also known for his support of Ukraine and Israel, being one of the leading voices in the US’ support of both countries amid separate ongoing wars.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the world figures who remembered Graham after his death.
‘Lindsey understood that the security of Israel and America are inseparable. He devoted his life to defending America, strengthening our alliance and standing up for the free world,’ Netanyahu wrote on X.
He added: ‘Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend.’
