Many distinguished South Carolinians made their reputations outside the state. Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), the 7th US president, was born in a border settlement probably inside present-day South Carolina, but studied law in North Carolina before establishing a legal practice in Tennessee. Identified more closely with South Carolina is John C. Calhoun (1782–1850), vice president from 1825 to 1832; Calhoun also served as US senator and was a leader of the South before the Civil War.
John Rutledge (1739–1800), the first governor of the state and a leader during the America Revolution, served a term as US chief justice but was never confirmed by the Senate. Another Revolutionary leader, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746–1825), was also a delegate to the US constitutional convention. A strong Unionist, Joel R. Poinsett (1779–1851) served as secretary of war and as the first US ambassador to Mexico; he developed the poinsettia, named after him, from a Mexican plant. Benjamin R. Tillman (1847–1918) was governor, US senator, and leader of the populist movement in South Carolina. Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965), an outstanding financier, statesman, and adviser to presidents, was born in South Carolina. Another presidential adviser, James F. Byrnes (1879–1972), also served as US senator, associate justice of the Supreme Court, and secretary of state. The state's best-known recent political leader is J(ames) Strom Thurmond (1902–2003), who ran for the presidency as a States' Rights Democrat ("Dixiecrat") in 1948, winning 1,169,134 popular votes and 39 electoral votes, and has served in the Senate since 1955.
Famous military leaders native to the state are the Revolutionary War General Francis Marion (1732?–95), known as the Swamp Fox, and James Longstreet (1821–1904), a Confederate lieutenant general during the Civil War, Mark W. Clark (b.New York, 1896–1984), US Army general and former president of the Citadel, lived in South Carolina after 1954. General William C. Westmoreland (b.1914) was commander of US forces in Vietnam.
Notable in the academic world are Francis Lieber (b.Germany, 1800–1872), a political scientist who taught at the University of South Carolina and, later, Columbia University in New York City, and wrote for the US the world's first comprehensive code of military laws and procedures; Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955), founder of Bethune-Cookman College in Florida and of the National Council of Negro Women; John B. Watson (1878–1958), a pioneer in behavioral psychology; and Charles H. Townes (b.1915), awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1964. South Carolinians prominent in business and the professions include architect Robert Mills (1781–1855), who designed the Washington Monument and many other buildings; William Gregg (b.Virginia, 1800–1867), a leader in establishing the textile industry in the South; David R. Coker (1870–1938), who developed many varieties of pedigreed seed; and industrial builder Charles E. Daniel (1895–1964), who helped bring many new industries to the state.
South Carolinians who made significant contributions to literature include William Gilmore Simms (1806–70), author of nearly 100 books; Julia Peterkin (1880–1961), who won the Pulitzer Prize for Scarlet Sister Mary; DuBose Heyward (1885–1940), whose novel Porgy was the basis of the folk opera Porgy and Bess; and James M. Dabbs (1896–1970), a writer who was also a leader in the racial integration movement.
Entertainers born in the state include singer Eartha Kitt(b.1928) and jazz trumpeter John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917–1993). Tennis champion Althea Gibson (b.1927) is another South Carolina native.