The Institute of Government was providing the staff support for that
commission. As a matter of fact, some significant and far reaching
recommendations came out of that particular commission there during that
period and were presented to the 1955 session of the General Assembly.
That's where I first became acquainted with Mr. Rodman. I
remember on one occasion that we had, we needed to brief the chairman on
some extensive studies that the Institute staff had done. This was
sometime in 1954 before he was named attorney general. I recall that
Professor Coates, director of the Institute, decided that he was just
going to call up the then Representative Rodman, who was in the House,
and invite himself and three or four members of his staff to travel down
to Little Washington and go over these matters. It was a good move. It
was a smart move on Mr. Coates part because we were covering the sort of
things that the chairman needed to be brought up to date on and informed
about. He was hard put not to engage in that if all these people were
offering to drive down to be with him rather than to ask that he come up
to chapel Hill. Well, I remember that visit, and how we
Page 23 went to his law office, which was on the second floor of
this rather old building there in Little Washington. He had a fairly
large, spacious office with old furniture in it. It wasn't
anything swank at all. But we ranged around, and I think there were
about three or four of us who had some presentations to make. He sat at
his desk, he was a very good listener, and then he had a good many
questions, very genial and friendly. It was very evident to me that this
was a person who knew what was going on and wasn't anybody
going to put very much over on him. He asked very penetrating questions,
and I'm sure that before we left, he understood what we were
talking about, and he had his own views about those subjects and so on.
It was a very enjoyable kind of visit. I think we all left with this
feeling. Of course, we had a variety of people at the Institute, very
capable, intellectually minded people, all of us, fairly young. Of
course, Mr. Coates, he had enough idealism for a half a dozen
twenty-year olds. But I remember driving back in the car after that
meeting and thinking, you know, "Boy, aren't we
really fortunate in this state to have a person like that as chairman of
this commission. We're working on some things that are pretty
important and far reaching, and I fell like they could really be of
help. We've really got a very solid, extremely able, and
respected person. Boy, isn't that really fortunate."
I recall that being expressed driving back from Little Washington to
Chapel Hill. It was a nice visit. Well, William Rodman was named by
Governor Hodges as attorney general after Mr. McMillan died in 1955.
Soon thereafter there was a vacancy on the staff,
Page 24
one of the assistant attorney generals was appointed to the Utilities
Commission. Ralph Moody was his name. I was very much interested in that
sort of position. To me it was an extremely great chance to really get
into some good, challenging legal work. I made known to Mr. Rodman that
I would very much appreciate being considered for that position.
Fortunately, he finally let me know that he wanted to have me join his
staff. So I did. I believe that was in August, 1955. During the time
that I was on the attorney general's staff, I would have to
say, looking back, I believe that was as enjoyable or more enjoyable
than most any other work experience that I've ever had. I had
the opportunity to serve with two very fine men as attorney general. In
1956, I believe it was in the fall, a vacancy occurred on the North
Carolina Supreme Court, and Governor Hodges appointed Mr. Rodman as
justice. Then he named Superior Court Judge, George Patton, from up in
Macon County as attorney general. Well, there again I feel, looking back
over the years, I was just extremely fortunate to have the opportunity
to work for a very fine person.