The Political Career of W. Kerr Scott: The Squire From Haw River by Julian Pleasants

Author:Julian Pleasants [Pleasants, Julian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, United States, Biography & Autobiography, 20th Century, State & Local, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV), History, Political
ISBN: 9780813146782
Google: Z-jiBAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 21922431
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2014-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

1952—The Final Year

Except for the 1952 gubernatorial and presidential races and some very controversial firings, Scott’s last year in office was somewhat anticlimactic after the turmoil of the three previous years.80 In February the governor announced that tax receipts had increased and that the state had a budget surplus of $17 million, primarily attributable to increased tax revenues in a growing economy and economy measures. That amount would be sufficient to take care of all the items in the budget. Scott would not have to call a special session of the legislature to deal with any financial shortfall.81

Although pleased that the state could boast of a sound financial situation, Scott remained displeased with what he viewed as slow progress by the power companies in expanding their output. He had never wavered in his demand for increased electric power and insisted that the state was still short of what was needed. The Duke Power Company bolstered Scott’s case in its annual report. When asking for a rate increase, it had to admit that it needed 10–15 percent more power than its current peak output in order to bring its reserve up to accepted engineering standards. Scott, now vindicated, reminded his critics that they had accused him of talking through his hat when he had reached similar conclusions. He admitted that everyone, including governors, “needs a little kick occasionally to keep us up to snuff,” and he confessed that he was “just naturally” the kind of man who planted an occasional kick.82

As Scott neared the end of his term, the last thing he wanted was to turn state government back to the conservatives and the remnants of the Shelby machine. He had been fighting the conservative bloc for over three years and had no intention of letting it dismantle his hard-won Go Forward program. He began planning for a worthy successor as early as March 1951, fourteen months before the 1952 Democratic gubernatorial primary. He knew he would need a formidable candidate as there were clear indications that the conservatives would back William B. Umstead, a former congressman and US senator and a machine favorite. Moderate possibilities included Judge Hubert Olive, Dr. Henry Jordan, and Capus Waynick. Early on Scott professed his preference for Waynick.83 Surely he felt some guilt for not having chosen Waynick for the US Senate seat in 1949, and he certainly owed him a great debt for his work in the 1948 campaign, but mainly he believed that he would be a successful candidate. On May 2, Scott publicly indicated that, if Waynick ran, he would have his support, although he did “not want to take too much part”84 in the 1952 race.

One could never imagine Scott staying out of the 1952 campaign for long. Sure enough, before anyone could stop him, he fetched up in Cartagena, Colombia, where Waynick served as the US ambassador. As told by Waynick, the governor spent most of one day trying to persuade him to return to North Carolina and run for governor.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.