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North Carolina's Governors
Scott, elected state agriculture commissioner in 1936, was a leading proponent of rural electrification and an advocate for farm interests. He met State Treasurer Charles Johnson, who had the backing of O. Max Gardner's political machine, and liberal Raleigh attorney Mayne Albright in the 1948 Democratic gubernatorial primary. In the runoff Scott defeated Johnson, ending almost fifty years of Democratic politics dominated first by the organization of Senator Furnifold Simmons and then by that of Gardner. In the fall Scott easily defeated Republican George Pritchard. In his inaugural address Kerr Scott, who had charged that over $100 million in surplus funds was "lying idle," proposed investment of those monies and massive spending programs. His "Go Forward" program met resistance in the legislature but Scott took his case to the people by radio. In June 1949 voters approved referenda to issue $200 million in road bonds and $50 million in school bonds. Over four years the state paved more roads than had been paved up to 1949. Scott appointed University of North Carolina President Frank Porter Graham to the U.S. Senate in 1949. In 1953 Scott, known for his bushy eyebrows, cigar, and red rose, left Raleigh to return Haw River. The following year he was elected to the U.S. Senate where he served on the Agriculture Committee. His death in April 1958 left North Carolina, for the first time in history, with no living ex-governors.
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Champion of rural North Carolinians or, as his supporters were known, the "Branchhead Boys," W. Kerr Scott (1896-1958) inaugurated progressive reforms, chief among them hard-surfacing of farm-to-market roads. "The Squire of Haw River" was born in Alamance County and educated at North Carolina State College. He remained a farmer and dairyman with close ties to his home and church, Hawfields Presbyterian. Among his three children was Robert Walter Scott, governor of North Carolina from 1969 to 1973.
