Charles L. Sullivan

Who was Charles L. Sullivan?

Charles L. Sullivan was an American politician, attorney and military pilot. He was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1968 to 1972 and a General in the United States Air National Guard. An Air National Guard facility in Jackson, Mississippi is named after him.

An attorney from Clarksdale, Mississippi, Sullivan ran in Texas for President of the United States in the 1960 presidential election as the candidate of the Constitution Party. He and Merritt Curtis received 18,162 votes in Texas, the only state where he was on the ballot, or 0.79% of the Texas popular vote. In 1963, Sullivan ran for Governor of Mississippi and lost to eventual winner, Lt. Gov. Paul B. Johnson, Jr. Like all Mississippi political candidates of the era, Sullivan was a staunch segregationist and modeled his campaign on defending apartheid in Mississippi as it came under attack by the Federal government and by mostly local activists involved with the black freedom struggle.

Sullivan finally won statewide political office during a fierce campaign during the 1968 elections. As Gov. Paul B. Johnson, Jr., running for his old spot as Lt.