Frank Porter Graham and the 1950 Senate Race in North Carolina

Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies

by Julian M. Pleasants

The tumultuous North Carolina Senate primaries of 1950 are still viewed as the most bitter chapter in the state's modern political history. The central figure in that frenzied race was the appointed incumbent, Frank Porter Graham, former president of the University of North Carolina (1931-49) and liberal activist of national stature.

As a Senate candidate, Graham was unrelentingly attacked for both his social activism and his racial views, and the vicious tactics used against him shocked his supporters and alarmed national observers. Peeling away the myths that have accumulated over the years, the authors present the first thoroughly researched account of Graham's eventual defeat by Raleigh attorney Willis Smith. The result, a balanced study of North Carolina politics at mid-century, is a convincing explanation of the 1950 election.

Using the campaign as a prism, the authors assess the factional struggles within the state, showing that Graham was defeated by a massive loss of support among white voters in eastern North Carolina. The principal force behind this switch was the fear promulgated by the Smith campaign that a vote for Graham was a vote to end statutory segregation in North Carolina. The authors also offer the fullest portrait to date of Frank Porter Graham as political candidate and social reformer. They examine his career as an educator and public activist, the steps that led to his unorthodox appointment, and his strengths and weaknesses as a political candidate.

Frank Porter Graham and the 1950 Senate Race in North Carolina is based on manuscript materials never before examined, on interviews with more than 50 campaign participants and associates of both Graham and Smith, and on a thorough analysis of newspaper coverage and campaign literature.

Originally published in 1990.

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Genres: Politics

376 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1990

Reviews

[Julian Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1950, appointed North Carolina senator Frank Porter Graham ran for a full term in the US Senate. A humanitarian and idealist who had served a distinguished tenure as president of UNC, Graham was a relative liberal on labor and civil rights and soon faced a barnburner campaign against conservative attorney Willis Smith. This book chronicles the twists and turns of that campaign, focusing on the central actors. Familiarity is assumed with both the issues of the day (McCarthy, the Fair Deal, the Dixiecrats of 1948) and with North Carolina politics and geography; I would have greatly appreciated a discussion of even fundamental concepts such as North Carolina's runoff law, the state's political geography, and the political machine mentioned in the book. The story is compelling and written with more literary flair than the typical history book, while the plentiful photographs and campaign flyers reproduced in the text add great visual interest. I just wish I could've used it to familiarize myself with mid-20th century NC politics more broadly, instead of just this individual Senate race.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong North Carolinian, UNC graduate, historian and raised in a devoutly Democratic home, the 1950 Senate race looms large especially in the view of Nixon's Southern Strategy and the current political undertones of recent elections. The book does a good job of following the successful rise of the Branch Head boys under Governor Kerr Scott and the demise of the Shelby dynasty to the backlash by the more conservative elements to the Fair Deal of the Truman and the changing view of the "separate but equal" doctrine in the Supreme Court. These were all played out in 1950 special Senate election of Dr. Frank Graham, who spent his life in academia and social causes and Willis Smith, a former NC Speaker of the House and corporate lawyer. I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in North Carolina politics or the post WWII era in thr South. I regret that the authors were not able to see Senator Smith's personal papers but hopefully that will changed and a revised addition will be published l.