By Chad Bray
South Carolina Bureau
Web-posted June 21, 1996 at 4 p.m.

AIKEN - The late James F. ``Jimmy'' Byrnes of Aiken began his public career as a court stenographer. Before it ended, he served as a congressman, senator, presidential adviser, secretary of state, Supreme Court justice, South Carolina governor and alm ost U.S. president.

``I think the most notable thing about Jimmy Byrnes is the eclectic nature of his experiences - in terms of his involvement with shaping foreign policy, in terms of his involvement with (President Franklin) Roosevelt, in terms of his time on the Suprem e Court and in terms of his time as governor of the state of S.C.,'' said Bill Moore, dean of political science at the College of Charleston.

``His versatility was his ability to provide leadership in a variety of positions. He may very well have been president if he had not been Southern and a segregationist,'' he said.

Born in Charleston in 1879, Byrnes had a strong connection to Aiken. He began a distinguished law career as the court stenographer for the 2nd Judicial Circuit in Aiken, while studying law at night in the office of attorney James Aldrich.

In 1903, he passed the bar exam and began practicing law in Aiken.

In 1908, he served as the 2nd Circuit solicitor, until he ran for Congress in 1910.

While in both houses of Congress, Byrnes has been credited with helping establish the first national highway system - U.S. Highway 1, which runs through Aiken - and acting as the chief ``legislative ball carrier'' for President Roosevelt's New Deal pro grams.

Byrnes, a longtime friend of Roosevelt, advised FDR both to run for governor of New York in 1924 and the presidency in 1932.

After a brief stint on the Supreme Court, Byrnes directed the United States' World War II mobilization effort. He was chief adviser to Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference between the ``Big Three'' Allies - the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Br itain.

In 1944, Byrnes was the chief contender to be Roosevelt's running mate. But his segregationist stances and Southern heritage led the president to choose Harry Truman.

``Being a Southerner at a time when the dynamics of race relations were changing precluded him from being a national political leader,'' Dr. Moore said.

After resigning from the war mobilization effort in 1945, Byrnes continued to serve as Truman's personal representative to the top-secret committee that directed the construction and use of the United States' first atomic bomb.

Later that year, Truman named Byrnes as secretary of state and took him to the Potsdam Conference.

Byrnes spent the next two years drafting the U.S. Cold War policy and laying the groundwork for its involvement in the United Nations. After a very public rift with Truman, he resigned from office and returned to South Carolina.

In 1950, he was elected governor and is most remembered for his vehement opposition to integration.

At the same time he was fighting integration, however, Byrnes was laying the groundwork to prepare the Palmetto State for an integrated, industrial future, said Blease Graham, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina.

``Even though he tried to implement separate but equal, he created the physical infrastructure for successful integration down road,'' Mr. Graham said. ``He was also the first economic development governor. He laid the groundwork to go from an agricult ural-based economy to a manufacturing/service economy.''