Full Text of the Excerpt

WILLIAM LINK:

I was going to ask you about the black institutions and their role in all of this. Politically they have a role to play, in the fight. They are also presumably went through a period in which their upgrading their facilities, becoming generally better educational. They are becoming more prominent in the political scene, more concerned, the whole question of racial relations, of course.

BOB SCOTT:

You have got to remember that at that period of timeߞthat was a very tense time, in terms of racial relations. As Governor I had to send the National Guard into A&T, and, of course, the students barricaded the building at Chapel Hill. We didn't sent the Guard in, we sent the Highway Patrol. But, the Vietnam War, the Youth Revolution, as it were, the whole civil rights issue, a lot of demonstrations, there was confrontation. So, the black institutions were very sensitive to what was happening around the state at that time.

WILLIAM LINK:

When the Warren Commission, or the Warren Committee, deliberates, black institutions seemed to play a pivotal role in swinging behind, in the end, a fairly strong restructuring proposal.

BOB SCOTT:

They did, and in fact again, I doubt it would have happened without their support. You know, I use the political model in explaining this. I say," Well, you know a particular group, such as the blacks or the white regional institutions say, 'If it hadn't been for us it would not have happened.' That is true, but if it hadn't been for the others, it would not have happened either. You have got a pie out here and to get the whole pie, you have to have all of the pieces, and if any one of them had of pulled out their support, you wouldn't have had the whole thing." So, yes, they did play a political role, but so did a lot of others. You see what I'm getting at? All of the pieces have to be together.

WILLIAM LINK:

This is part of a larger puzzle.

BOB SCOTT:

That's right.