Governor's Papers -- Luther Hartwell Hodges (9 March 1898 -- 6 October 1974), SR.367

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Governor's Papers -- Luther Hartwell Hodges (9 March 1898 -- 6 October 1974), SR.367

Descriptive Summary

Title
Governor's Papers -- Luther Hartwell Hodges (9 March 1898 -- 6 October 1974)
Call Number
SR.367
Creator
Office of the Governor
Date
1954-1961
Extent
252.2 cubic feet, 19 reels
Repository
State Archives of North Carolina

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Collection Overview

Luther Hartwell Hodges (9 March 1898-6 October 1974) was born at Cascade, Virginia, the son of a tenant farmer. His parents moved to North Carolina soon after his birth. At age twelve Hodges went to work as an office boy in a textile mill in Spray. He later worked his way through the University of North Carolina, where he was elected president of the student council and of his senior class. Upon graduation in 1919, Hodges accepted a position with Marshall Field and Company mills in the Leaksville-Spray (now Eden) area, and eventually became vice-president of the company. Throughout his business career he was active in civic affairs and politics, although he never held elective office.

In North Carolina during this period Hodges served on the State Board of Education and the State Highway and Public Works Commission. In 1944, while living in New York, he volunteered for service with the federal government and was appointed price administrator of the textile division of the Office of Price Administration. He later served briefly as a consultant to the secretary of agriculture.

After his retirement from Marshall Field in 1950, Hodges became chief of the industry division of the Economic Cooperation Administration in West Germany. In 1951 he was a consultant for the State Department on the International Management Conference, a technical assistance program for European businesses.

Hodges returned to North Carolina in 1952 and won election as lieutenant governor that year. With the death of Governor William B. Umstead in November 1954, Hodges became governor. He ran for the post in 1956 and carried every county, such was the virtually universal esteem in which he was held in the state. The six years of his governorship were marked by his vigorous drive to bring industries to North Carolina, in large part because of the need for the creation of jobs. He led trade missions at home and abroad, created a system of community colleges to provide training and education, and supported the state's first minimum wage law. Perhaps the governor's most enduring legacy and an initiative of major significance to the industrial life of the state was the establishment of the Research Triangle Park, located within the triangle formed by Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Conceived of and brought into being by Hodges and others, it is devoted to the creation and support of major research facilities by corporations and government.

Governor Hodges also created the Department of Administration to coordinate the state's fiscal and planning operations. In the field of education, he supported increased appropriations, undertook a grassroots campaign to gain public support for schools, and sponsored a board of higher education to coordinate the state's college and university system. On the highly inflammatory issue of school desegregation, Hodges provided a moderate leadership that was in marked contrast to many of his fellow southern governors. The respect in which he was held regionally, however, is reflected in his being elected chair of the Southern Governor's Conference and of the Southern Regional Education Board.

At the end of his term Governor Hodges was selected by President Kennedy as his secretary of commerce, a position he ably filled for the next four years. In 1964 he returned to Chapel Hill and took a position with the Research Triangle Foundation at a salary of one dollar a year, paid quarterly. He died in 1974 and was buried in Eden.

REFERENCES:

Powell, William S., ed. DICTIONARY OF NORTH CAROLINA BIOGRAPHY,

Vol. 3. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

Contents of the Collection

1. General Correspondence, 1954-1960

Scope and Content:

Correspondence, reports, memoranda, budget proposals, legislative bills, telegrams, published reports, speeches, statements, press releases, commutations, invitations, newspaper clippings, minutes of meetings, agendas, requests for parole, and signature petitions documenting all facets of the operations of the governor's office, state government, and issues before the governor. Some records from 1954 were generated under the administration of Governor William B. Umstead. Correspondents include the general public, state agency and commission officials, political organizations, and federal agency officials. Generally carbon copies of the governor's or his private secretary's response, along with supporting information, are attached to incoming correspondence. Although the general correspondence series presents the bulk of Governor Hodges's executive papers and contains a variety of formats, other series contain related subjects and the same forms of records. Larger subject files within the general correspondence series include segregation in public schools, the "Kissing Case" in Union County, the wave of sit-in protests throughout North Carolina, recovery efforts from Hurricane Hazel (Civil Defense subject file), the Research Triangle Committee, Inc., the labor strike at Harriet-Henderson Cotton Mills, and state highway programs. Also includes a county file that contains correspondence from the general public regarding a wide variety of issues. Additional information from 1954 on the Revenue Department and the Institute of Government may be found in Box 539.

Arrangement:

Chronological, then alphabetical by subject.

➤ Container Count 434 Boxes

2. Private Secretary's File, 1954-1955

Scope and Content:

Correspondence of the governor's private secretary, E. L. Rankin, Jr., including routine memoranda between the governor and Mr. Rankin. Other correspondents include associates of Mr. Rankin, often requesting attendance by the governor at various functions or wishing to call the governor's attention to various issues.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by correspondent.

➤ Container Count 1 Box

3. Requisitions and Extraditions, 1954-1960

Scope and Content:

Correspondence, legal briefs, extradition forms, court orders, and affidavits regarding extraditions to and from North Carolina. Includes formal requests for extradition from the governors of various states as well as from Governor Hodges.

Arrangement:

Chronological.

➤ Container Count 34 Boxes

4. Commutations, 1957-1960

Scope and Content:

Correspondence, memoranda, and reports concerning requests and recommendations for commutation of prison sentences. Correspondents include the Board of Paroles, private attorneys, inmates, and relatives and friends of inmates. Commutations for 1956 can be found in the General Correspondence Subject File "Paroles and Christmas Commutations" (Box 105--Box 109).

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by name of inmate.

➤ Container Count 3 Boxes

5. Paroles and Pardons, 1960

Scope and Content:

Correspondence, memoranda, and reports regarding requests and recommendations for parole for various prisoners, with one folder concerning requests for pardon. Included are case histories, letters of support from family and friends, Board of Paroles recommendations, and community signature petitions. Parole records from 1954-1959 can be found in Governor Hodges's General Correspondence series under the heading "Paroles" (Boxes 25--26, 105--109, 217--220, 300--302, and 409--411.)

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by name of inmate.

➤ Container Count 4 Boxes

6. Appointments, 1953-1960

Scope and Content:

Correspondence, oaths, press releases, memoranda, and telegrams documenting gubernatorial appointments to various agency or commission positions during the administrations of both William B. Umstead and Luther H. Hodges. Included are letters of recommendation, letters of thanks, letters accepting or declining appointments, reports of Senate confirmations, and lists of terms of appointment for various agencies or commissions.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by name of agency or commission.

➤ Container Count 76 Boxes

7. Invitations and Executive Mansion Functions, 1955-1960

Scope and Content:

Correspondence, invitations, and daily schedules regarding a wide variety of functions and appearances by the governor at local, state, and national levels. Includes invitations received and extended by the governor with carbon copies of his reply. Also includes correspondence, reports, guest lists, memoranda, and the Executive Mansion Guest Register (1955-1960) documenting various functions held at the Executive Mansion. Invitations and Executive Mansion functions also can be found under the "General Correspondence" subject file series (Boxes 84--88, 198--201, 384--389, and 488--491). Invitations extended and declined for the opening of the North Carolina Museum of Art also can be found under the "General Correspondence" subject file series, (Box 66.)

Arrangement:

Chronological, then alphabetical by correspondent.

➤ Container Count 48 Boxes, 1 Item

8. Press Releases and Statements, 1954-1960

Scope and Content:

Press releases, printed statements, short speeches, correspondence, telegrams, and proclamations regarding a wide variety of official programs, initiatives, appearances, and activities of the governor. Also includes background information on various subjects and letters of thanks to the governor. There also is a ring binder of newspaper clippings for 1957 relating to banking, tax revision, minimum wage, teacher pay, employee raises, highway department reorganization, prison separation, and driver training (Box 250A).

Arrangement:

Chronological, then alphabetical by subject.

➤ Container Count 17 Boxes

9. Southern Governors' Conference Annual Meeting, Asheville, 1959

Scope and Content:

Programs, attendance lists, agendas, publications, menus, budget reports, and resolutions concerning the 25th Annual Meeting of the Southern Governors' Conference held 11-14 October 1959, at Asheville with Governor Hodges as host governor. Records document the planning and agenda of the conference. Information concerning other annual meetings in other states can be found in the "General Correspondence" subject file series (Box 14, 132, 189, 278, and 478.)

Arrangement:

Grouped by format or subject.

➤ Container Count 2 Boxes

10. Study Commissions, 1955-1957, 1959

Scope and Content:

Reports (published and unpublished), legislative bills, correspondence, documenting the work of various study commissions including the Pre-Legislative Conference Study Commission, Commission to Study Cause and Control of Cancer in North Carolina, Constitutional Study Commission, Municipal Government Study Commission, Motor Boats on Waters of the State, Commission of the Study of a Uniform Map Law, Nursing and Boarding Homes, Revenue Structure, Selection of University Trustees, and Reorganization of State Government. There is also information on various other commissions in the "General Correspondence" subject files series.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by commission.

➤ Container Count 4 Boxes

11. Special Police Files, 1954-1960

Scope and Content:

Correspondence and executive orders recording personnel actions for special police officers who were appointed by the governor, licensed and bonded by the state, and employed by various private corporations. Includes letters of recommendation and notices of commission.

Arrangement:

Chronological.

➤ Container Count 3 Boxes

12. Justices of the Peace, 1954-1955

Scope and Content:

Correspondence regarding appointments of justices of the peace. Includes letters regarding expiration of terms, letters of recommendation, and letters declining and accepting appointments. Additional justice of the peace records (1957-1960) can be found in the "General Correspondence" subject file series, (Boxes 211, 294, 400, and 505.)

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by appointee.

➤ Container Count 1 Box

13. General Correspondence Card Index, 1953-1960

Scope and Content:

Card index to the general correspondence of Governor Umstead and Governor Hodges's executive papers. Each card gives the name of correspondent, date of the letter, the subject file in which the letter is found, and a brief comment about the content of the letter.

%7ESee Remarks Note.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by correspondent.

➤ Container Count 19 Reels

14. Governor's Committee for Public School Amendment, 1956

Scope and Content:

Records concerning the Governor's Committee for a Public School Amendment. Contains letters received after the Governor's address to the Legislature on July 23, 1956, correspondence concerning the Help for School Program, files pertaining to Ralph Howland, questionaires, speeches, campaign materials, correspondence concerning the Southern Governor's Conference at White Sulphur Springs, September 9-12, 1956, and the Governor's Special Study Account, 1955-1956.

➤ Container Count 3 Boxes

Subject Headings

  • Hodges, Luther Hartwell, 1898-1974
  • Governors