Frank Porter Graham
Encyclopedia
Frank Porter Graham was a president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and, for a brief period, United States Senator
.
in 1886, one of nine children born to Alexander (September 12, 1844 – November 2, 1934) and Katherine B. Sloan (March 8, 1855 – January 1, 1939). His brother, Moonlight Graham
, was a baseball player and inspiration for the film Field of Dreams
. Graham graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, where he was a member of The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies
, in 1909. He thereafter studied law and received his license in 1913. He received a graduate degree in 1916 from Columbia University
. While he was studying law, Graham was a high school
teacher
in Raleigh, North Carolina
. He later embarked on a career as a history
professor
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1915 until 1930. He interrupted his teaching profession to enlist in 1917 in the United States Marine Corps
for service in World War I
. He was discharged as a first lieutenant in 1919.
.
Graham was mentioned in hearings held by the House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities for his involvement as honorary president of a group alleged to be a Communist front organization. In events that made national news, Graham was labeled a Communist himself, but refused to renounce his association with that particular group or any other group.
era of politics. Former state agriculture commissioner W. Kerr Scott
extinguished the control of a group including former Governor
O. Max Gardner, all of whom hailed from the small city of Shelby
. Scott, a pro-Harry Truman Democrat who had supported the New Deal
, defeated that group's candidate for governor, the state treasurer Charles M. Johnson, in the party primary.
On taking office in January 1949, Scott brought in his own perceived liberal reformers. Two months after Scott's inauguration, incumbent Junior United States Senator J. Melville Broughton
, a former state governor, died in office. Broughton's death provided Scott with a prime opportunity to make a mark in Washington, D.C.
After three weeks of intense speculation throughout March 1949 as to whom the governor might choose for the Senate, attention focused on individuals ranging from the senator's widow, who expressed no interest; Scott's former campaign manager, Capus Miller Waynick; another Scott supporter, Major Lennox Polk McLendon, a lawyer from Greensboro, North Carolina
; former Senator Umstead; and the governor himself. Scott appointed Graham, which shocked many in the state.
At the time of his appointment, Graham had never sought nor served in any political office, an unusual phenomenon at the time for North Carolina senators. Also atypical was that the particular Senate seat Graham occupied was in a period of considerable turnover. Beginning with the death of Senator Josiah W. Bailey in 1946, and concluding with the election of B. Everett Jordan
in 1958, no fewer than eight men served in the seat in a dozen years.
Graham faced two opponents in the 1950 Democratic primary, including former Senator Robert R. Reynolds and former Speaker
of the North Carolina House of Representatives
Willis Smith
. Reynolds received only 10% of the vote, but Smith garnered 41%. Graham polled 49%, one percentage point below the threshold of receiving the nomination outright. Smith could therefore decide if he wanted to engage Graham in a runoff, which Smith initially declined; when Smith's supporters rallied outside his house in a show of support for him, Smith decided to participate in the runoff. Years later, North Carolina abolished runoff primaries if the leading candidate had at least 40% of the vote. Had that procedure been in effect in 1950, Graham would have become the Democratic senatorial nominee in the first primary.
In the runoff, Smith ran as an anti-Truman Democrat. According to his staffers, Smith never said anything outright racist, but some of his supporters released unofficial pamphlets stirring up fears of an integrated society. The campaign was considered the most racist for a senate race in North Carolina since the beginning of popular vote for senators. At the time of the election, few African-Americans were voting in North Carolina because of Jim Crow laws designed to disenfranchise them. Those blacks who were registered usually were Republicans
who cast ballots only in routine general election
s. Graham was hence unable to appeal to many black voters, and he did not call for immediate integration, either. Graham was not a natural campaigner and hesitated to even ask voters for their vote. His political views were different than most North Carolinians'. In the virtually all-white Democratic primaries, the tactics of Smith's campaign supporters (among whom was future Republican Senator Jesse Helms
) worked along with these other factors, and Smith prevailed by a narrow 52-48%. Graham's supporters mounted a write-in candidacy for the November general election, but he received only one-half of one percent, and Smith won in a landslide against a desultory GOP
opponent.
. He served as a mediator
at the United Nations
as a representative to India
and Pakistan
in the Kashmir
dispute, serving in this capacity from 1951 through 1967. He retired from U.N. service in 1967 at the age of 81 and returned to Chapel Hill, after his wife died.
Graham died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
aged 85. He is interred at the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery
. Some nine months after Graham's death, his former Senate seat went to a former aide to the late Willis Smith, Jesse Helms
, who also became the first popularly elected Republican U.S. senator from North Carolina.
The student union
building at UNC-Chapel Hill is named in Graham's honor, as is the Frank Porter Graham Elementary School in Chapel Hill, and the Frank Porter Graham Building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
. Graham, along with Eleanor Roosevelt
and Hubert Humphrey
and other anticommunist liberals of the era, was affiliated with the liberal advocacy group
, the Americans for Democratic Action
.
The North Carolina chapter of the ACLU acknowledges people who work towards the promotion of civil liberties in the state with the Frank Porter Graham Award.
The baseball career of Graham's brother, Archibald Wright "Moonlight" Graham
, was popularized in the W. P. Kinsella
novel Shoeless Joe and the 1989 film it inspired, Field of Dreams
.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
and, for a brief period, United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
Early life
Born in Fayetteville, North CarolinaFayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
in 1886, one of nine children born to Alexander (September 12, 1844 – November 2, 1934) and Katherine B. Sloan (March 8, 1855 – January 1, 1939). His brother, Moonlight Graham
Moonlight Graham
Archibald Wright "Moonlight" Graham was an American professional baseball player who appeared as a right fielder in a single major league game for the New York Giants on June 29, 1905. His story was popularized by Shoeless Joe, a novel by W. P...
, was a baseball player and inspiration for the film Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...
. Graham graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, where he was a member of The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies
The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies
The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, commonly known as Di-Phi, are the debate and literary societies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.- History :...
, in 1909. He thereafter studied law and received his license in 1913. He received a graduate degree in 1916 from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. While he was studying law, Graham was a high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
. He later embarked on a career as a history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1915 until 1930. He interrupted his teaching profession to enlist in 1917 in the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
for service in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He was discharged as a first lieutenant in 1919.
President of the University of North Carolina
In 1930, Graham was named president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He served until 1949 (when he was appointed as Senator) and was the first president of the Consolidated University of North CarolinaUniversity of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
.
Graham was mentioned in hearings held by the House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities for his involvement as honorary president of a group alleged to be a Communist front organization. In events that made national news, Graham was labeled a Communist himself, but refused to renounce his association with that particular group or any other group.
United States Senator
In 1948, North Carolina entered a more progressiveProgressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
era of politics. Former state agriculture commissioner W. Kerr Scott
W. Kerr Scott
William Kerr Scott was a Democratic Party politician from North Carolina. He was the 62nd Governor of North Carolina from 1949 until 1953 and a United States Senator from 1954 until 1958.-Biography:...
extinguished the control of a group including former Governor
Governor of North Carolina
The Governor of North Carolina is the chief executive of the State of North Carolina, one of the U.S. states. The current governor is Bev Perdue, North Carolina's first female governor.-Powers:...
O. Max Gardner, all of whom hailed from the small city of Shelby
Shelby, North Carolina
Shelby is a city in Cleveland County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 19,477 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Cleveland County.-Geography:Shelby is located at ....
. Scott, a pro-Harry Truman Democrat who had supported the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
, defeated that group's candidate for governor, the state treasurer Charles M. Johnson, in the party primary.
On taking office in January 1949, Scott brought in his own perceived liberal reformers. Two months after Scott's inauguration, incumbent Junior United States Senator J. Melville Broughton
J. Melville Broughton
Joseph Melville Broughton was the 60th Governor of North Carolina from 1941 to 1945.-Biography:He was born on November 17, 1888 in Raleigh, North Carolina. He attended Harvard Law School then worked as a school principal and journalist before actively entering the legal profession...
, a former state governor, died in office. Broughton's death provided Scott with a prime opportunity to make a mark in Washington, D.C.
After three weeks of intense speculation throughout March 1949 as to whom the governor might choose for the Senate, attention focused on individuals ranging from the senator's widow, who expressed no interest; Scott's former campaign manager, Capus Miller Waynick; another Scott supporter, Major Lennox Polk McLendon, a lawyer from Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
; former Senator Umstead; and the governor himself. Scott appointed Graham, which shocked many in the state.
At the time of his appointment, Graham had never sought nor served in any political office, an unusual phenomenon at the time for North Carolina senators. Also atypical was that the particular Senate seat Graham occupied was in a period of considerable turnover. Beginning with the death of Senator Josiah W. Bailey in 1946, and concluding with the election of B. Everett Jordan
B. Everett Jordan
Benjamin Everett Jordan was a Democratic U.S. Senator from the state of North Carolina from 1958 until 1973. He lived most of his life in Alamance County, North Carolina....
in 1958, no fewer than eight men served in the seat in a dozen years.
Graham faced two opponents in the 1950 Democratic primary, including former Senator Robert R. Reynolds and former Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the North Carolina House of Representatives
North Carolina House of Representatives
The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the state senate....
Willis Smith
Willis Smith
Willis Smith was a Democratic U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1950 and 1953.-Early life and education:Born in Virginia, he moved to North Carolina before age 2...
. Reynolds received only 10% of the vote, but Smith garnered 41%. Graham polled 49%, one percentage point below the threshold of receiving the nomination outright. Smith could therefore decide if he wanted to engage Graham in a runoff, which Smith initially declined; when Smith's supporters rallied outside his house in a show of support for him, Smith decided to participate in the runoff. Years later, North Carolina abolished runoff primaries if the leading candidate had at least 40% of the vote. Had that procedure been in effect in 1950, Graham would have become the Democratic senatorial nominee in the first primary.
In the runoff, Smith ran as an anti-Truman Democrat. According to his staffers, Smith never said anything outright racist, but some of his supporters released unofficial pamphlets stirring up fears of an integrated society. The campaign was considered the most racist for a senate race in North Carolina since the beginning of popular vote for senators. At the time of the election, few African-Americans were voting in North Carolina because of Jim Crow laws designed to disenfranchise them. Those blacks who were registered usually were Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
who cast ballots only in routine general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
s. Graham was hence unable to appeal to many black voters, and he did not call for immediate integration, either. Graham was not a natural campaigner and hesitated to even ask voters for their vote. His political views were different than most North Carolinians'. In the virtually all-white Democratic primaries, the tactics of Smith's campaign supporters (among whom was future Republican Senator Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
) worked along with these other factors, and Smith prevailed by a narrow 52-48%. Graham's supporters mounted a write-in candidacy for the November general election, but he received only one-half of one percent, and Smith won in a landslide against a desultory GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
opponent.
Post-Senate
After his short Senate stint, Graham entered the field of world politics and diplomacyDiplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
. He served as a mediator
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
as a representative to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
in the Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
dispute, serving in this capacity from 1951 through 1967. He retired from U.N. service in 1967 at the age of 81 and returned to Chapel Hill, after his wife died.
Graham died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
aged 85. He is interred at the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery
Old Chapel Hill Cemetery
Old Chapel Hill Cemetery is a graveyard located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.-History:...
. Some nine months after Graham's death, his former Senate seat went to a former aide to the late Willis Smith, Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
, who also became the first popularly elected Republican U.S. senator from North Carolina.
The student union
Student activity center
A student activity center is a type of building found on university campuses. In the United States, such a building is more often called a student union, student commons, or student center...
building at UNC-Chapel Hill is named in Graham's honor, as is the Frank Porter Graham Elementary School in Chapel Hill, and the Frank Porter Graham Building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro , also known as UNC Greensboro, is a public university in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 61 master's and 26...
. Graham, along with Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
and Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
and other anticommunist liberals of the era, was affiliated with the liberal advocacy group
Advocacy group
Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems...
, the Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action is an American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA works for social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research and supporting progressive candidates.-History:...
.
The North Carolina chapter of the ACLU acknowledges people who work towards the promotion of civil liberties in the state with the Frank Porter Graham Award.
The baseball career of Graham's brother, Archibald Wright "Moonlight" Graham
Moonlight Graham
Archibald Wright "Moonlight" Graham was an American professional baseball player who appeared as a right fielder in a single major league game for the New York Giants on June 29, 1905. His story was popularized by Shoeless Joe, a novel by W. P...
, was popularized in the W. P. Kinsella
W. P. Kinsella
William Patrick Kinsella, OC, OBC is a Canadian novelist and short story writer who is well-known for his novel Shoeless Joe , which was adapted into the movie Field of Dreams in 1989...
novel Shoeless Joe and the 1989 film it inspired, Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...
.
External links
- Inventory of the Office of President of the University of North Carolina (System): Frank Porter Graham Records, 1932-1949, in the University Archives, UNC-Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. - Inventory of the Frank Porter Graham Papers, 1908-1972, in the Southern Historical CollectionSouthern Historical CollectionThe Southern Historical Collection is a repository of distinct archival collections at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which document the culture and history of the American South...
, UNC-Chapel HillUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States... - Dr. Frank: The Life and Times of Frank Porter Graham, Emmy Award-winning UNC-TV documentary produced by John Wilson and Martin Clark, narrated by Charles Kuralt