Head of the Party

Episode Two of Biographical Conversations with Betty Ray McCain takes us to Wilson, North Carolina, where the McCains moved in 1956. Dr. McCain took a position at Wilson Memorial Hospital, eventually serving as chief of staff. The couple moved into their Wilson home just in time to welcome their first child, Paul Pressly McCain. Two years later, the family expanded again with the birth of Paul’s sister, Mary Eloise McCain. Despite diapers and bottles, McCain found the time to roll up her sleeves and work for the Democratic Party. She volunteered for the 1960 Terry Sanford gubernatorial campaign and, four years later, worked for Richardson Preyer in the Democratic primary. Preyer’s loss to eventual governor Dan Moore broke her heart, yet she still canvassed for Moore because, she offers, “as Jim Hunt and Terry Sanford teach you, you’ve got to come back together.