Bradford Johnson Dye Jr. (December 20, 1933 – July 1, 2018) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1980 until 1992. Dye was the only individual in state history to have served as Lieutenant Governor for 12 consecutive years. Early life Bradford Johnson Dye Jr. was born on December 20, 1933 in Charleston, Mississippi to Braford Johnson Dye and Maylise Dorgan Dye. His father was a state legislator. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1957 from the University of Mississippi and a law degree in 1959 from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He married Donna Bess Bailey and had three children with her. Career Dye was a conservative and a member of the Democratic Party. He began his political career in 1950 as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives for Jamie Whitten. He also worked as a driver for James Eastland during one of his U.S. Senate campaigns. He won election to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1959, serving in that capacity from 1960 until 1964. He served in the Mississippi State Senate from 1964 to 1968. From 1961 to 1964 he worked as an attorney for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, resigning to become a commissioner to the Workman's Compensation Commission. He directed the Mississippi Agricultural and Industrial Board from 1968 to 1971. He was a segregationist in the 1960s and in 1967 served as gubernatorial candidate John Bell Williams' campaign manager. Dye served as Mississippi State Treasurer from 1972 to 1976. In 1975 he ran for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi. He entered a runoff in the Democratic primary with Evelyn Gandy and lost. He was president of Jackson Savings and Loan Association from 1976 to 1979. Lieutenant Governor Dye was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1979. By then, he decided to "make his peace with integration, hiring African Americans onto his staff as lieutenant governor." He was sworn-in on January 16, 1980. In office he had the power to appoint members to Senate committees. Unlike his predecessors, he was keen to place senators of certain political persuasions on committees in such a fashion as to advance his own legislative agenda. He also convinced the Senate to let him chair the body's Rules Committee. In December 1982 Governor William F. Winter called the legislature into special session to consider the