Concurrently with Thurmond's discontent, former Senator and Secretary of State James F. Byrnes began speaking out against the Truman administration's domestic policies. Walter Brown sought to link the 1950 gubernatorial campaign of Byrnes with the Thurmond Senate campaign as part of a collective effort against President Truman, this effort appeared to have been a success. Byrnes indirectly criticized Thurmond when asked by a reporter in 1950 about his governing if elected South Carolina Governor, saying he would not waste time "appointing colonels and crowning queens"; the remark geared toward the image of Thurmond as not serious and conniving. Brown wrote to Thurmond that the comment was a death to any potential alliance between the two politicians. Thurmond and his wife are described as looking "like they had been shot" when reading the Byrnes quotation in the newspaper.