Everything about Terry Sanford totally explained
James Terry Sanford (
August 20 1917 –
April 18 1998) was a
Democratic politician and educator from
North Carolina, where he served as a
state senator from
1953 to
1961,
governor from
1961 to
1965, and
United States Senator from
1986 to
1993. Sanford was noted for his progressive leadership in the fields of
civil rights and education, and served as President of
Duke University from 1969 to 1985.
Youth
He was born in
Laurinburg, North Carolina, to Cecil and Elizabeth Sanford. Sanford became an
Eagle Scout in Laurinburg's Troop 20 of the
Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The BSA recognized him with their
Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as an adult.
A graduate of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and its law school, Sanford served as a
special agent in the
FBI for two years. During
World War II he enlisted as a private in the
US Army as a
paratrooper, parachuted into France in combat with the
517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was awarded the
Bronze Star, attained the rank of first lieutenant, and was discharged in
1946. Sanford also served in the
North Carolina Army National Guard (
1948-
1960). He married Margaret Rose Knight on
4 July 1942, and had two children with her, a son, Terry Jr., and a daughter, Elizabeth.
He was an assistant director of the Institute of Government of the University of North Carolina from 1946 to 1948, then began the private practice of law in Fayetteville, N.C. He served one term as a state senator (1953-55), before running for governor in 1960.
Gubernatorial career
Sanford was elected to the governorship of North Carolina in
1960 and served through January
1965. Driven by his belief that a person could accomplish anything with a good education, Sanford nearly doubled North Carolina's expenditures on public schools during his term. He began the consolidation of the
University of North Carolina system to ensure its solvency and strength and oversaw the creation of the
North Carolina Community College System. He conceived the idea for the state's Governor's Schools for talented children. He established the
North Carolina School of the Arts to keep creative children in their home state. And he fought for
racial desegregation — even sending his son to a desegregated
public school at a time when such a position was politically unpopular and possibly dangerous. He also established the
North Carolina Fund under the leadership of
George Esser; it was meant to fight
poverty and promote racial equality across the state.
Tax increases to finance these educational programs were controversial. Sanford introduced a tax on food in those tax increases, which many nicknamed "Terry's Tax". That tax in particular roused much opposition and was decried as regressive by many including some who normally supported the governor. These taxes and the food tax in particular diminished Sanford's popularity and were energetically exploited by his political opponents.
Governor Sanford was a close political ally of President
John F. Kennedy, a fact that disturbed some North Carolina Democrats who were unhappy with
U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's efforts to push for civil rights. In a phone conversation with Sanford, RFK suggested that for the Governor's own political wellbeing, perhaps he should publicly distance himself from the Attorney General. Kennedy then joked, "Maybe you should just deny that you've ever met me." Nevertheless, Sanford remained a staunch supporter of the Kennedy Administration.
According to
President John F. Kennedy's personal secretary
Evelyn Lincoln, Sanford was Kennedy's choice for vice president on the
1964 Democratic ticket, had Kennedy lived. In 1968 she wrote a book titled
Kennedy and Johnson in which she reported that President Kennedy told her that
Lyndon B. Johnson would be replaced as Vice President. Lincoln wrote of that
November 19,
1963 conversation, just before Kennedy was
assassinated:
Additionally, Sanford used his leverage with the White House to blaze the trail for
Research Triangle Park (RTP), which sparked an economic surge in the state, eventually luring IBM to the Triangle area.
After his term ended, Sanford opened a law firm. He had agreed to serve as Lyndon Johnson's campaign manager in 1968 just prior to Johnson's withdrawal on March 31, and in September he took over as the campaign manager for Democrat
Hubert Humphrey in his race against Republican
Richard Nixon for the presidency. President Johnson wanted Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic presidential nominee, to pick Sanford as his running mate. However, Humphrey ultimately picked Edmund Muskie of Maine. Though Sanford received a number of offers from the private sector during this period, he was interested in a position that would allow him to keep his political prospects open.
President of Duke University
In 1969, Sanford accepted the presidency of
Duke University, a position he held for the next sixteen years. While involved in nearly every aspect of the university, Sanford primarily focused on fund-raising, athletics, and relations with the Duke trustees, and he maintained a policy of accessibility to the students. This approach helped him defuse the initial crisis of his tenure, student unrest over the
Vietnam War. Addressing the protests with a mixture of tolerance and determination to maintain control of the campus, he met with students and successfully avoided the campus shutdowns that plagued other campuses at the time.
Perhaps the greatest controversy of Sanford's presidency was his effort to bring Richard Nixon's
presidential library to Duke. Sanford raised the subject with Nixon during a visit with the former president at his New York City office on July 28, 1981, and continued to court him in the months that followed. The proposal became public in mid-August, creating considerable controversy among the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the university. Though Sanford enjoyed some support for his effort, most of the faculty were against the propoal, with the largest concern being that the facility would be a monument to glorify Nixon rather than a center of scholarly study. Sanford tried to engineer a compromise, but the proposal by the Duke Academic Council of a library only a third the size that Nixon wanted and their rejection of a Nixon museum to accompany the site ultimately led Nixon to decline Sanford's offer and site his library elsewhere.
Campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination
Though Sanford enjoyed his time as Duke's president, he still harbored political ambitions. But as the 1972 presidential primary season began, Sanford was approached by several people who felt that the field of Democratic candidates was weak. Sanford was particularly motivated by a desire to challenge Alabama governor
George Wallace in an effort to show that Wallace didn't represent Southern opinion. Announcing his candidacy on March 8, he faced long odds in a crowded field, he realized that he couldn't win a majority of delegates in the primary, but he hoped to win enough to emerge as a compromise candidate in a deadlocked convention. Yet in the North Carolina primary, Sanford received 100,000 fewer votes than Wallace, and at the
1972 Democratic National Convention he received only 77½ votes, finishing fourth behind
George McGovern (1,864.95), George Wallace (381.7), and
Shirley Chisholm (151.95).
Undeterred, Sanford began preparations two years later for a run for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. Announcing his candidacy on June 1, 1975. he juggled campaign appearances with his obligations as president of Duke. While he developed a following among educators, he hadn't hit upon a satisfactory campaign theme by the new year. Then, while campaigning in Massachusetts in January, he suffered sharp pains and was disgnosed with a heart murmur. On January 25, Sanford withdrew from the primaries, the first Democratic candidate to drop out from the race.
Senate career
After retiring as president of Duke University in 1985, Sanford remained active in Democratic state politics. After failing to find a willing candidate for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican
John P. East, Sanford announced his own candidacy for the nomination. His opponent was
Congressman Jim Broyhill, who was appointed to the seat on July 3 following East's suicide on June 29. Despite being attacked as a liberal, Sanford defeated Broyhill by three percentage points in the November election. He took office a day later, as a special election to serve the last two months of East's term had taken place the same day.
Sanford found his years in the Senate frustrating ones. He was concerned about the runaway deficit spending of the era, and he pursued Central American economic development issues as an alternative to the Republican-driven military policies for the region (during his time in the Senate, he was also involved with the
International Commission for Central American Recovery and Development, based at Duke). His voting record was liberal when compared to his Democratic colleagues from the South, and he campaigned successfully against passage of a constitutional amendment prohibiting
flag-burning with a counter-campaign promoting the Bill of Rights. Yet Sanford felt that his record of accomplishment in the Senate paled before that of his time as governor, and he seriously contemplated retiring and pursuing other projects before agreeing to run for reelection.
Sanford's opponent in the 1992 election was
Lauch Faircloth, a former Democrat turned Republican who had served as a highway commissioner in Sanford's administration. Enjoying substantial backing from the political organization of Sanford's Senate colleague,
Jesse Helms, Faircloth accused Sanford of being a tax-and-spend liberal beholden to special interests. While initial polls showed Sanford enjoying a comfortable lead, an operation for an infected heart valve kept him from campaigning for much of October and raised doubts as to whether Sanford was capable of serving another term. On November 3, 1993, Faircloth won the election by a 100,000-vote margin.
Later life
Sanford spent the twilight of his life as vital as the young. He wrote books, taught and campaigned for the construction of a major performing arts center in the
Research Triangle area that would provide a permanent home for the
American Dance Festival, the
North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Ballet.
Sanford announced in late December 1997, that he'd been diagnosed with inoperable
esophageal cancer, and that his doctors had told him he'd just a few months remaining. After his release from the hospital, Sanford's condition slowly deteriorated.
Sanford died peacefully in his sleep while surrounded by his family at his Durham home. He was 80 years old. Sanford is entombed in Duke University's Chapel.
Legacy
Sanford's long and productive life touched countless Americans, and word of his passing was countered with words of praise from those who respected him.
"His work and his influence literally changed the face and future of the South, making him one of the most influential Americans of the last 50 years,"
President Bill Clinton said in a statement issued from the
Summit of the Americas in
Santiago, Chile. "Most important, he was a wonderful man who fought for the right things in the right way. I was lucky to count him as my friend."
In recognition of Sanford's efforts in education and in countless other areas, a 1981
Harvard University survey named him one of the 10 best governors of the 20th century.
Duke University has since established an undergraduate and graduate institute in public policy called the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy.
Fayetteville High School, in Fayetteville, NC, was renamed "
Terry Sanford High School" in his honor in 1968.
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