Furnifold McLendel Simmons ( January 20 , 1854April 30 , 1940 ) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from March 4 , 1887 to March 4 , 1889 and U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between March 4 , 1901 and March 4 , 1931 . He served as chairman of the powerful Committee on Finance from March 4 , 1913 to March 4 , 1919 . He was an unsuccessful contender for the 1920 Democratic Party nomination for president . Simmons was a staunch segregationist , white supremacist and a leading perpetrator of the 1898 Wilmington insurrection . As a leader of the state Democratic Party , Simmons led the 1898 – 1900 White Supremacy campaigns that effectively disenfranchised black voters for a half-century . From his Senate seat , he then ran a powerful political machine , using A. D. Watts " to keep the machine oiled back home , " in the words of one journalist
1920 Democratic Party nomination
1920 Democratic National Convention
Furnifold McLendel Simmons