Sanford's successors prove disappointing allies of the North Carolina Fund
Politics came into play in the selection of Terry Sanford's successor as chairman of the board of the North Carolina Fund, Esser remembers. The choice was J. C. Brown, who Fund members hoped would use his influence with Governor Robert W. (Bob) Scott. Scott did not prove an imaginative governor, Esser believes, at least in part because he installed his campaign staff in government positions. Both Scott and his successor, Dan K. Moore, proved disappointing allies of the Fund.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with George Esser, June-August 1990. Interview L-0035. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- FRANCES WEAVER:
-
How about J.C. Brown?
- GEORGE ESSER:
-
When we got to the point where Terry was going to retire as chairman, the
question is who would succeed Terry as chairman. And I remember the
meeting where we discussed [unclear] at
the Grove Park Inn. And Ierry suggested J.C. J.C. was then executive of
the Iarheel Elective Membership Corporation; the Coops, which were then
much more liberal force in this state because of J.C. I would add. They
were perceived as a more liberal board, and actually, they provided the
first dollars that Bob Scott had to run for governor. And I guess that
Ierry proposed J.C. because it would ensure that we would have support
from Bob Scott. And that was true. I mean, now, by the time Scott was
elected, we were through. But some things that we regarded as important
were still on the…. J.C. and I became very good friends and I
used to see…. J.C. then moved to washington and for a while
his office was close to mine and we used to meet at a little bar for
lunch. Sometimes, accidentally. But we have seen J.C. several times
since we've been back. But he was greatly disappointed by Bob
Scott as governor. And he was also disappointed that the elective coops
were going much more conservative than he, which is why he left and went
to washington. I think that now the Bergman administration in washington
of the coops is much more to his liking. But…
- FRANCES WEAVER:
-
What do you suppose he expected from Bob Scott that Bob didn't
do?
- GEORGE ESSER:
-
Well, you see, I'll tell you another story. J.C. called me in
the fall of 1968. It was after the election; after Nixon won and Scott
had won. And he said, "George, would you go with me to see Bob
Scott?" He said, "Ben Rooney and all of those people
are fine, but Bob needs the equivalent of a Tom Lambeth and a Joel
Fleishman and a John Healy in the office if he's going to be
a great governor." So we went over and Bob had been given a
little office in what was then the new Department of Administration
building. And we sat down and spent an hour and a half, I guess and Bob
was very…. And J.C. said, "You're going
to be a great governor, but you're going to have to first
find employment for your election staff that permits you then to step
out and find the smartest young people that you can to run your
office." And Bob said, "I think you're
absolutely right." And then turned right around and maybe with
one exception, put the election staff right in the office. And while
there were some things that Bob did like the University and
reorganization of state government generally, he didn't have
the imaginative new ideas that the Sanford administration had. And J.C.
was very, very disappointed. very, very disappointed.
- FRANCES WEAVER:
-
That's interesting. George, we talked about Paul Novasocker
the other day.
- GEORGE ESSER:
-
Oh, one other…. I left one other member out. When Dan Moore
was elected, it was a great shock, you know, to Rich and to Terry to
lose, but when Dan was elected Terry went to Dan and said, "Now
look, we've got the North Carolina here. It's
reaching out to the problems of poor North Carolinians, black and white,
and if you don't want to be on the board, how about
let's making a spot for Mrs. Moore. And Dan agreed. So
Janelle came on the board. And there was one member of the board who
knew wheeler very well. Gerald Cowan who is a retired banker from
Asheville; a very nice guy. Not a strong man, but very nice. So she came
on the board and she came to the meeting in the spring and then for a
variety of reasons, we didn't have any meetings until the
fall. And that fall, you know, really began with both state and national
activism efforts and she resigned in…. I forget; November or
December. And so I called Gerald and Gerald called Janelle and so
finally, she wrote me a letter and said that it was not because of the
program or anything. She just felt that there were other things that
demanded her time. But that she thought we were doing a good job and so
forth. And then, dipping down briefly to Dan; Dan was never very
supportive of the Fund—and he was certainly a
traditionalist—but he was very
conscious of the fact that we were a non-profit corporation. And people
would call him and say, "You've got to do something
about the North Carolina Fund." And he would say,
"You've got to go see the board of the North
Carolina Fund." He said, "There's nothing I
can do."
- FRANCES WEAVER:
-
It's not part of state government.
- GEORGE ESSER:
-
It's not part of state government. So I respected that and I
had a chance to tell that to Dan before he died. He and Janelle were
at…. Soon after we came back, the North Caroliniana Society
gave a dinner and honored John [unclear]
And Dan and Janelle were there and I told Dan that I very much
remembered affectionately, his not trying to bring a heavy hand to state
government. But you know, he was not the worst governor we've
ever had.