Reform, Controversy, and Backlash

Scott oversaw the reorganization of the state’s university system, changing it from a diverse political free-for-all into a coordinated system. Scott had to overcome serious opposition from many University of North Carolina supporters, who were afraid that UNC’s reputation would be harmed by the changes. In its final years, the Scott administration was plagued by cronyism and controversy.

Busing

Although the U.S. Supreme Court had outlawed school segregation in 1954, it was not until 1969-70 that full school integration occurred in North Carolina. Scott presided over a troubled period marked by violence, distrust, and a strong parent backlash. Charlotte v. Mecklenburg also became the landmark school busing case.

Dr. Frank and Aftermath

Kerr Scott shocked the political world by appointing Frank Porter Graham, the president of the University of North Carolina and the South’s leading liberal to a U.S. Senate vacancy. But Graham was unable to hold the seat, defeated in a red-baiting and race baiting campaign. The 1950 Senate campaign unsettled Scott, which caused him to retreat on the race issue and damaged him politically.

Mud Tax

With his mandate, Kerr Scott started one of the nation’s largest road building programs, designed to pave the thousands of dirt roads that most country people used. Scott used all his political skills to overcome a hostile legislature, oil companies, and the cities who didn’t want all the road money spent in the rural areas.

1948

Kerr Scott won one of the biggest upsets in North Carolina history when he was elected governor, defeating a well-entrenched political machine that had controlled state politics for decades. Scott assembled a political coalition that included farmers, textile workers, organized labor, and African-Americans.

End of an Era

Returning to the farm, Bob Scott was unsure about what to do. His attempted comeback in 1980 resulted in a humiliation. But he served as president of the state community college system. His daughter, Meg Scott Phipps, was elected agriculture commissioner in 2000, but her career crashed and burned when she was convicted and went to jail for taking illegal campaign contributions. It did not help the Scott name that her father, Bob Scott, was one of her chief advisors.

Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of North Carolina’s leading political family, the Scotts. It examines the rural progressivism that was a powerful influence in mid-20th century North Carolina, and how that progressivism declined with racial integration, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and other high-profile social issues

Conclusion

The Scott’s rural progressivism helped set North Carolina on a more moderate course than most of the South. But the sixties and seventies blunted that progressivism. The reasons included a white backlash to school integration, social unrest, the rise of the middle class, the decline of farming, and the difficulty in holding together black/white coalitions.

Fire in the Streets

Bob Scott was governor during one of the most difficult periods in the 20th century. His term coincided with black student activism, anti-Vietnam War protests, and school integration. North Carolina was the scene of building takeovers, marches, fire bombings, and riots. Scott responded by taking a tough law-and-order stance that offended many African-Americans and white liberals, but was popular among many white conservatives and moderates.

King Tobacco and the Farm Boy

Gov. Bob Scott was elected as a moderate and he had a less ambitious agenda than his father. His toughest legislative fight was pushing through the state’s first cigarette tax to finance a kindergarten system. This was a difficult in a state where “King Tobacco” was critical to the state’s economy.