Sam Ervin
Encyclopedia
Samuel James "Sam" Ervin Jr. (September 27, 1896 April 23, 1985) was a Democratic Senator
from North Carolina
from 1954 until 1974. A native of Morganton
, Burke County, North Carolina
, he liked to call himself a "country lawyer
", and often told humorous stories in his Southern drawl. Between 1954 and 1974, Ervin was a legal defender of the Jim Crow laws
and racial segregation
, as the South's constitutional expert during the congressional debates on civil rights
. Unexpectedly, he became a liberal hero for his support of civil liberties
. He is remembered for his work in the investigation committees that brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy
in 1954 and especially his investigation in 1972 of the Watergate scandal
that led to the resignation in 1974 of President Richard Nixon
.
, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
, the Silver Star
and two Purple Heart
s. He graduated from the University of North Carolina
, where he was a member of The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies
, in 1917 and from Harvard Law School
in 1922. Ervin was fond of joking that he was the only student ever to go through Harvard Law "backwards," because he took the third-year courses first, then the second-year courses, and finally the first-year courses.
Already admitted to the bar in 1919, before completing law school (later calling himself "a simple country lawyer
"), Ervin entered politics straight out of Harvard. Even before he had received his degree, Democrats in Burke County, North Carolina
had nominated him in absentia for the North Carolina House of Representatives
, to which he was elected in 1922, 1924, and 1930. Ervin was also elected and served as a state judge in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
when he was appointed in June 1954 by the governor to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Clyde Hoey, who had died in office. He ran successfully for the seat in November 1954.
Ervin made a deep impact on American history through his work on two separate committees at the beginning and ending of his career that were critical in bringing down two powerful opponents: Senator Joe McCarthy
in 1954 and President Richard M. Nixon
in 1974. In 1954, then-Vice President Richard Nixon
appointed Ervin to a committee formed to investigate whether McCarthy should be censured by the Senate. The Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices
, which investigated Watergate
, was popularly known as the "Ervin Committee".
In 1956, Senator Ervin helped organize resistance to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme Court decision calling for desegregation
of schools by drafting The Southern Manifesto; this influential document encouraged defiance of desegregation and was signed by all but a few of the Southern members of Congress. (In his autobiography, "Preserving the Constitution," Ervin said he later changed his mind on the Brown decision, stating that the decision, to the extent it eliminated mandatory segregation, was correct, but that forced integration, required under later decisions, was improper.)
Defenders of Ervin argue that his opposition to most civil rights
legislation was based on his commitment to the preservation of the Constitution
in its pristine formulation that he repeatedly stated encapsulated civil, human
and equal rights
for all. There is little if any evidence that he engaged in the racial demagoguery of many of his Southern colleagues. Some historians consider Ervin's position to be one of "cognitive dissonance
" because he opposed federal legislation to combat race-based discrimination, but did not do so in harsh, ugly terms. While he once maintained that Americans were entitled to "their prejudices as well as their allergies", he did not seem to be motivated by prejudice himself, but more by his suspicion of federal power. Ervin said he didn't like what the Warren Court
"has done to the Constitution".
Meanwhile, Ervin's strict construction
of the Constitution
also made him a liberal
hero for his support of civil liberties
, his opposition to "no knock
" search laws, and the growing intrusions of data bank
s and lie-detector
tests as invasions of privacy
. In 1966, Senator Ervin played a major role in the defeat of a Constitutional amendment to make prayer in public schools
compulsory. Ervin also favored the exclusionary rule
under the Fourth Amendment
, which made illegally-seized evidence inadmissible in criminal trials.
When the Senate voted on the Equal Rights Amendment
in 1971, Ervin proposed an amendment that would exempt women from the draft
; Ervin's amendment to the ERA overwhelmingly failed. However, he was a staunch opponent of the ERA and after it passed the Senate Ervin used his influence to dissuade the North Carolina General Assembly
from ratifying it, maintaining that it was the "height of folly to command legislative bodies to ignore sex in making laws."
He got his start in investigative matters, even before Watergate, when in January 1970 it was revealed by Christopher Pyle
, an investigator for Ervin's Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, that the U.S. Army
was performing domestic investigations on the civilian population. Ervin's further investigations on the matter over the following years, together with the Church Committee
inquiries, led to passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (after Ervin had left office).
Ervin gained lasting fame through his stewardship of the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices, also known as the Senate Watergate Committee, from the 1972 presidential election
. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield
chose Ervin because it was unlikely Ervin was going to run for re-election in 1974 (and in fact did not), because he had no aspirations beyond his office, because of his knowledge of the law and the Constitution, and because he was an even-keeled, conservative, independent-minded Democrat. President Nixon thought at first that Ervin might potentially be partial to him, but that was not the case.
on the LP record, Senator Sam at Home, which featured tracks of Ervin speaking his mind and telling anecdotes, separated by tracks of him singing popular songs. One of those songs, "Bridge Over Troubled Water
" appeared on the Album Golden Throats
2.
As a lawyer
, he served as a co-counsel with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC on several high-profile cases, including a successful appeal in Joyner v. Duncan. Sam Ervin died in 1985 at a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
from complications of emphysema
. He was 88 years old.
in his hometown of Morganton, North Carolina
.
After Ervin's retirement, no one held his former Senate seat for more than one term until 2010 when Richard Burr
, first elected in 2004, won re-election. Until then, it was said there was a "curse" on the seat.
Sen. Ervin's son, Samuel J. Ervin III
, was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
by President Jimmy Carter
in 1980. His grandson, Sam J. Ervin, IV
, was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals
in 2008.
Another grandson, Robert C. Ervin, was elected as a North Carolina Superior Court
Judge for District 25A in 2002.
character in Matlock
often described himself as a simple lawyer before cleverly solving a case. Saturday Night Live
featured the skit Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
in which a caveman from prehistoric times becomes a lawyer, yet remarked how strange and frightening the modern world made him feel as he convinced a jury to acquit his client.
In the cult classic "Heavy Metal" animated film, Ervin is parodied in the short where aliens have come to Earth, he is seen at the meeting of officials discussing what should be done, he is seen with glasses, bushy eyebrows and a distinct Southern accent.
The play debuted in Morganton in 2001. In 2005, The Blowing Rock Stage Company in Blowing Rock, NC produced a new production starring Gary Lee Smith that later toured several states.
There is also a one-act version for school audiences.
program, Ervin suggested that people in public life need to have more "backbone", and Buckley playfully suggested Gordon Liddy as a model to which Ervin responded, "Well, Gordon Liddy has a little too much backbone. I'll have to admit that I have a sort of sneaking admiration for a fellow like Gordon Liddy that does have an excess of backbone. His backbone exceeds his intelligence, really."
Sam Ervin was as a staunch opponent of the polygraph
calling the tests "20th century witchcraft":
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...
from North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
from 1954 until 1974. A native of Morganton
Morganton, North Carolina
Morganton is a city in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. Reader's Digest included Morganton in its list of top ten places to raise a family. The town was recently profiled in The 50 Best Small Southern Towns. The population was 17,310 at the 2000 census...
, Burke County, North Carolina
Burke County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 89,148 people, 34,528 households, and 24,342 families residing in the county. The population density was 176 people per square mile . There were 37,427 housing units at an average density of 74 per square mile...
, he liked to call himself a "country lawyer
Country Lawyer
In the United States, a country lawyer, or county-seat lawyer, is an attorney who has completed little or no formal legal training and has become a member of a county bar or a state bar after "reading law"; traditionally, these lawyers practiced general law in a rural setting, or on the frontier...
", and often told humorous stories in his Southern drawl. Between 1954 and 1974, Ervin was a legal defender of the Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
and racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
, as the South's constitutional expert during the congressional debates on civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
. Unexpectedly, he became a liberal hero for his support of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
. He is remembered for his work in the investigation committees that brought down Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
in 1954 and especially his investigation in 1972 of the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
that led to the resignation in 1974 of President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
.
Early life
Ervin served in the US Army in combat in France during World War IWorld 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...
, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...
, the Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
and two Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
s. He graduated from the University of North Carolina
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 1917 and from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
in 1922. Ervin was fond of joking that he was the only student ever to go through Harvard Law "backwards," because he took the third-year courses first, then the second-year courses, and finally the first-year courses.
Already admitted to the bar in 1919, before completing law school (later calling himself "a simple country lawyer
Country Lawyer
In the United States, a country lawyer, or county-seat lawyer, is an attorney who has completed little or no formal legal training and has become a member of a county bar or a state bar after "reading law"; traditionally, these lawyers practiced general law in a rural setting, or on the frontier...
"), Ervin entered politics straight out of Harvard. Even before he had received his degree, Democrats in Burke County, North Carolina
Burke County, North Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 89,148 people, 34,528 households, and 24,342 families residing in the county. The population density was 176 people per square mile . There were 37,427 housing units at an average density of 74 per square mile...
had nominated him in absentia for 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....
, to which he was elected in 1922, 1924, and 1930. Ervin was also elected and served as a state judge in the late 1930s and early 1940s.
U.S. Senate career
Ervin was serving as an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme CourtNorth Carolina Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of North Carolina is the state's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists of six associate justices and one chief justice, although the number of justices...
when he was appointed in June 1954 by the governor to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Clyde Hoey, who had died in office. He ran successfully for the seat in November 1954.
Ervin made a deep impact on American history through his work on two separate committees at the beginning and ending of his career that were critical in bringing down two powerful opponents: Senator Joe McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
in 1954 and President Richard M. Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
in 1974. In 1954, then-Vice President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
appointed Ervin to a committee formed to investigate whether McCarthy should be censured by the Senate. The Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices
United States Senate Watergate Committee
The Senate Watergate Committee was a special committee convened by the United States Senate to investigate the Watergate burglaries and the ensuing Watergate scandal after it was learned that the Watergate burglars had been directed to break into and wiretap the headquarters of the Democratic...
, which investigated Watergate
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, was popularly known as the "Ervin Committee".
In 1956, Senator Ervin helped organize resistance to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
Supreme Court decision calling for desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
of schools by drafting The Southern Manifesto; this influential document encouraged defiance of desegregation and was signed by all but a few of the Southern members of Congress. (In his autobiography, "Preserving the Constitution," Ervin said he later changed his mind on the Brown decision, stating that the decision, to the extent it eliminated mandatory segregation, was correct, but that forced integration, required under later decisions, was improper.)
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
legislation was based on his commitment to the preservation of the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
in its pristine formulation that he repeatedly stated encapsulated civil, human
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
and equal rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
for all. There is little if any evidence that he engaged in the racial demagoguery of many of his Southern colleagues. Some historians consider Ervin's position to be one of "cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
" because he opposed federal legislation to combat race-based discrimination, but did not do so in harsh, ugly terms. While he once maintained that Americans were entitled to "their prejudices as well as their allergies", he did not seem to be motivated by prejudice himself, but more by his suspicion of federal power. Ervin said he didn't like what the Warren Court
Warren Court
The Warren Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States between 1953 and 1969, when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren led a liberal majority that used judicial power in dramatic fashion, to the consternation of conservative opponents...
"has done to the Constitution".
Meanwhile, Ervin's strict construction
Strict constructionism
In the United States, Strict constructionism refers to a particular legal philosophy of judicial interpretation that limits or restricts judicial interpretation. The phrase is also commonly used more loosely as a generic term for conservatism among the judiciary.- Strict sense of the term :Strict...
of the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
also made him a liberal
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
hero for his support of civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, his opposition to "no knock
No knock warrant
In the US, a no knock warrant is a warrant issued by a judge that allows law enforcement officers to enter a property without immediate prior notification of the residents, such as by knocking or ringing a doorbell. In most cases, law enforcement will identify themselves just before they forcefully...
" search laws, and the growing intrusions of data bank
Data bank
In telecommunications, a data bank is a repository of information on one or more subjects that is organized in a way that facilitates local or remote information retrieval. A data bank may be either centralized or decentralized...
s and lie-detector
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
tests as invasions of privacy
Invasion of privacy
United States privacy law embodies several different legal concepts. One is the invasion of privacy, a tort based in common law allowing an aggrieved party to bring a lawsuit against an individual who unlawfully intrudes into his or her private affairs, discloses his or her private information,...
. In 1966, Senator Ervin played a major role in the defeat of a Constitutional amendment to make prayer in public schools
School prayer
School prayer in its common usage refers to state-approved prayer by students in state schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, organized prayer may be required, permitted, or prohibited...
compulsory. Ervin also favored the exclusionary rule
Exclusionary rule
The exclusionary rule is a legal principle in the United States, under constitutional law, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law...
under the Fourth Amendment
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
, which made illegally-seized evidence inadmissible in criminal trials.
When the Senate voted on the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
in 1971, Ervin proposed an amendment that would exempt women from the draft
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
; Ervin's amendment to the ERA overwhelmingly failed. However, he was a staunch opponent of the ERA and after it passed the Senate Ervin used his influence to dissuade the North Carolina General Assembly
North Carolina General Assembly
The North Carolina General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The General Assembly drafts and legislates the state laws of North Carolina, also known as the General Statutes...
from ratifying it, maintaining that it was the "height of folly to command legislative bodies to ignore sex in making laws."
He got his start in investigative matters, even before Watergate, when in January 1970 it was revealed by Christopher Pyle
Christopher Pyle
Christopher H. Pyle is a Professor of Politics at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He is the author of several books and Congressional reports, and has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress on issues of deportation and extradition.-Investigations:Christopher H....
, an investigator for Ervin's Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, that the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
was performing domestic investigations on the civilian population. Ervin's further investigations on the matter over the following years, together with the Church Committee
Church Committee
The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975. A precursor to the U.S...
inquiries, led to passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (after Ervin had left office).
Ervin gained lasting fame through his stewardship of the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices, also known as the Senate Watergate Committee, from the 1972 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1972
The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard...
. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield
Mike Mansfield
Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...
chose Ervin because it was unlikely Ervin was going to run for re-election in 1974 (and in fact did not), because he had no aspirations beyond his office, because of his knowledge of the law and the Constitution, and because he was an even-keeled, conservative, independent-minded Democrat. President Nixon thought at first that Ervin might potentially be partial to him, but that was not the case.
Later life
Ervin resigned in December 1974, just before his term ended. After retirement, Ervin practiced law, wrote several books, and appeared in various commercials for products. In 1973, Ervin was recorded on CBS RecordsCBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
on the LP record, Senator Sam at Home, which featured tracks of Ervin speaking his mind and telling anecdotes, separated by tracks of him singing popular songs. One of those songs, "Bridge Over Troubled Water
Bridge over Troubled Water
Bridge Over Troubled Water is the fifth and final studio album by Simon & Garfunkel. Released on January 26, 1970 on both Quadraphonic and Stereo formats, it reached No. 1 on Billboard Music Charts pop albums list...
" appeared on the Album Golden Throats
Golden Throats
Golden Throats is Rhino Records' series of humorous compilations of critically lambasted cover versions of songs, performed mostly either by celebrities known for something other than musical talent or musicians not known for the genre from which the song they are covering comes...
2.
As a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, he served as a co-counsel with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC on several high-profile cases, including a successful appeal in Joyner v. Duncan. Sam Ervin died in 1985 at a hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
from complications of emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
. He was 88 years old.
Legacy
Ervin's office and personal library has been preserved as the "Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr. Library and Museum", which is housed in the Phifer Learning Resource Center at Western Piedmont Community CollegeWestern Piedmont Community College
Western Piedmont Community College is a small community college located in Morganton, North Carolina.- Beginning :* Western Piedmont Community College was chartered on April 2, 1964, as a member of the North Carolina Community College System....
in his hometown of Morganton, North Carolina
Morganton, North Carolina
Morganton is a city in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. Reader's Digest included Morganton in its list of top ten places to raise a family. The town was recently profiled in The 50 Best Small Southern Towns. The population was 17,310 at the 2000 census...
.
After Ervin's retirement, no one held his former Senate seat for more than one term until 2010 when Richard Burr
Richard Burr
Richard Mauze Burr is the senior United States Senator from North Carolina and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Burr represented North Carolina's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives....
, first elected in 2004, won re-election. Until then, it was said there was a "curse" on the seat.
Sen. Ervin's son, Samuel J. Ervin III
Samuel James Ervin III
Samuel James Ervin III was a United States federal judge and the son of U.S. Senator Sam Ervin.Ervin was born in Morganton, North Carolina. He received a B.S. from Davidson College in 1948 and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1951. He served in the United States Army from 1944 to 1946 and from...
, was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:*District of Maryland*Eastern District of North Carolina...
by President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
in 1980. His grandson, Sam J. Ervin, IV
Sam J. Ervin, IV
Samuel James "Jimmy" Ervin IV is a North Carolina lawyer and jurist who sits on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. He served as a state Utilities Commissioner before being elected to the court in 2008. He is the grandson of U.S. Sen...
, was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals
North Carolina Court of Appeals
The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the only intermediate appellate court in the state of North Carolina. It is composed of fifteen members who sit in rotating groups of three...
in 2008.
Another grandson, Robert C. Ervin, was elected as a North Carolina Superior Court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
Judge for District 25A in 2002.
In popular culture
Ervin's description of himself as a "simple country lawyer" has become synonymous with self-deprecation by those who are actually savvy. The Andy GriffithAndy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
character in Matlock
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
often described himself as a simple lawyer before cleverly solving a case. Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
featured the skit Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Keyrock, known as "The Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer," was a recurring character created by Jack Handey and played by Phil Hartman on Saturday Night Live from 1991 through 1996...
in which a caveman from prehistoric times becomes a lawyer, yet remarked how strange and frightening the modern world made him feel as he convinced a jury to acquit his client.
In the cult classic "Heavy Metal" animated film, Ervin is parodied in the short where aliens have come to Earth, he is seen at the meeting of officials discussing what should be done, he is seen with glasses, bushy eyebrows and a distinct Southern accent.
The play
In 2001, Steve Bouser, a North Carolina journalist who interviewed Ervin, wrote a one-man play titled Senator Sam. The play is set on Ervin's porch in Morganton during the evening of Richard Nixon's resignation. Sam recalls his life, both personal and political.The play debuted in Morganton in 2001. In 2005, The Blowing Rock Stage Company in Blowing Rock, NC produced a new production starring Gary Lee Smith that later toured several states.
There is also a one-act version for school audiences.
Quotations
In an interview on William F. Buckley's Firing LineFiring Line
Firing Line was an American public affairs show founded and hosted by conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. Its 1,504 episodes over 33 years made Firing Line the longest-running public affairs show in television history with a single host...
program, Ervin suggested that people in public life need to have more "backbone", and Buckley playfully suggested Gordon Liddy as a model to which Ervin responded, "Well, Gordon Liddy has a little too much backbone. I'll have to admit that I have a sort of sneaking admiration for a fellow like Gordon Liddy that does have an excess of backbone. His backbone exceeds his intelligence, really."
Sam Ervin was as a staunch opponent of the polygraph
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
calling the tests "20th century witchcraft":
Probably no instrument in modern time so lends itself to threats to constitutional guarantees of individual freedom as the polygraph or so-called lie detector. The threat of its use or the intimidation inherent in its use restricts free expression and communication of ideas, intrudes on an individual's subconscious thought, makes him fear to speak his thoughts freely, or compels him to speak against his will. To my mind, the entire purpose of these machines is to invade a man's mind and find what lurks in the innermost part of his mental consciousness for reasons which have nothing to do with his ability to perform a job. If the right of privacy means anything at all. and if it is a right to be cherished in our .society, it means that people should be entitled to have thoughts, hopes, desires, and dreams that are beyond the reach of a bureaucrat, an employer, or an electronic technician. This is something which enthusiasts for these machines do not seem to understand. They do not understand and they do not appreciate how important privacy is to each American, and as long as that lesson is not understood, we all will find our right to privacy constricted if not abrogated entirely. I propose this legislation to ban the use of the polygraph for employment purposes in the hopes that Congress will pause for a moment, step back, and take a long look at the issues involved in the unrestrained use of the polygraph. Legislation is necessary to bring some order and control to the practice...
Further reading
- Campbell, Karl E. "Senator Sam Ervin and School Prayer: Faith, Politics, and the Constitution", Journal of Church and State, Summer 2003, Vol. 45 Issue 3, pp 443–455,
- Campbell, Karl E. "Claghorn's Hammurabi: Senator Sam Ervin and Civil Rights", North Carolina Historical Review, Oct 2001, Vol. 78 Issue 4, p431-56
- Campbell, Karl E. "Preserving the Constitution, Guarding the Status Quo: Senator Sam Ervin and Civil Liberties," North Carolina Historical Review, Oct 2001, Vol. 78 Issue 4, pp 457–82
- Campbell, Karl E. Senator Sam Ervin, Last of the Founding Fathers (U. of North Carolina Press, 2007) ISBN(: 978-0-8078-3156-4
- Clancy, Paul R. (1974). Just a Country Lawyer: A Biography of Senator Sam Ervin (preview at Google Books), Indiana University Press (notice), ISBN 978-0-253-14540-6 — Biography.
- Ervin, Sam J. (1983). Humor of a Country Lawyer, University of North Carolina Press (notice), ISBN 978-0-8078-1566-3 (reprinted 1994, ISBN 978-0-8078-4464-9) — Collection of stories and anecdotes.
External links
- Campbell, Karl E.
- Inventory of the Sam J. Ervin Papers, Subgroup A: Senate Records, 1954-1975, 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... - Inventory of the Sam J. Ervin Papers, Subgroup B: Private Papers, 1898-1990, 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... - Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr. Library and Museum
- Senator Sam One-Man play
- Military Surveillance: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary. United States Senate, 93rd Congress, Second Session, on S. 2318. April 9 & 10, 1974.