Strom Thurmond coined the term "Barnwell Ring" during his bid for governor in 1946.
He campaigned on a progressive platform, which put him squarely at odds with the conservative legislators of the Barnwell Ring.
They threw their support to James C. McLeod of Florence and they used every device at their disposal to prevent a victory by Thurmond in the Democratic primary election.
For instance, when the gubernatorial candidates stumped at Barnwell, Winchester Smith paid candidate Roger Scott $50 to raise Cain about the "Barnwell Ring" in order to lessen the impact of Thurmond's speech against the ring.
Brown and state Representative Solomon Blatt were the chief principals of the ring.