Luther Hartwell Hodges General Correspondence, 1957, MARS ID 367.1.B

[Identification of item], Luther Hartwell Hodges General Correspondence, 1954-1960 (MARS 367.1), North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC, USA.

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, 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.

Luther H. Hodges was born in Cascade, Virginia on March 9, 1898. His family moved to what would become Eden, North Carolina a few years later. Hodges completed his college education at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, then went to work at the Carolina Cotton and Woolen Mills in Leaksville. He left the company to enter politics, serving on both the State Board of Education and the Highway and Public Works Commission. Hodges was elected lieutenant governor of North Carolina in 1952, and succeeded Governor Umstead upon his death in 1954. He was then elected governor of North Carolina in 1956, and continued to serve in politics after his term until his death in 1974.

Collection Contents

Civil defense--United States--North Carolina

Civil rights movements

Education

Hurricanes--Atlantic Coast (U.S.)

Public schools

Segregation

Textile factories--North Carolina

Research Triangle Park (N.C.)