Junior Johnson decides to leave the troubling moonshine business for a promising career in racecar driving. Junior's early racing success led to winning the 1960 Daytona 500. His Daytona win help propel him to the front of an elite team of early NASCAR legends.

Serving the State

Part three of Biographical Conversations with Howard N. Lee explores the pioneers' political career; his three terms as mayor Chapel Hill, which culminated in the public bus system he brought to the city in 1973; his ground-breaking selection as secretary of the Department of Natural and Economic Resources in Governor Hunt's state cabinet in 1977; his terms as state senator; and his ensuing entry into the North Carolina educational leadership.

From Korea to Chapel Hill

Episode 2 of Biographical Conversations with Howard N. Lee traces the future educational director from his army days to his successful and barrier-breaking mayoral candidacy. In 1959, freshly armed with a college degree, Private Howard N. Lee traveled from basic training in Fort Bening, GA, to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for six weeks of medical training. So highly successful at Fort Sam Houston that he was invited to apply to officer candidacy school (an offer he declined), Private Lee fully expected to be reassigned to the same base. Instead, his orders placed him at Fort Hood, where he would no longer be training as a medical corpsman, but instead, working in the motor pool.

Child In Georgia

In Biographical Conversations with Howard N. Lee, we explore the many contributions of this legendary North Carolina politician. This original series takes a penetrating look at the life and times of the renowned North Carolina statesman, from his election as mayor Chapel Hill in 1969 - making him the first African American mayor of a predominantly white southern city - to his service in the state legislature to being the first African American to serve in the state cabinet. Howard Lee helped shepherd North Carolina through its transition to a dynamic, modern, and multi-cultural leader in the New South.

Secretary of Cultural Resources

In part three of Biographical Conversations with Betty Ray McCain, McCain describes the U.S. Senatorial campaign of 1984--a race between Governor Jim Hunt and Senator Jesse Helms. Although Hunt launched the campaign with a double-digit lead over the Republican incumbent, his advantage eroded. By the beginning of November, polls showed Senator Helms leading Governor Hunt by three points. On Election Day, despite what McCain calls, "a superhuman effort by everybody that worked in every precinct, in every county, in every congressional district and throughout the state," Helms prevailed.

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.

Fireball from Faison

In episode one of Biographical Conversations with Betty Ray McCain, McCain shares stories and memories of her colorful childhood in Faison, North Carolina. She calls her father, Horace Ray, and her mother, Mary Perret Ray, “the dearest, sweetest people.”

To The Mansion

Episode four of Biographical Conversations with James B. Hunt, Jr. focuses on Hunt’s final two terms as governor of North Carolina. Hunt begins by noting how he had changed in the eight years since he left office. He ran unsuccessfully for Jesse Helms’ U.S. Senate seat in 1984; returned to practicing law in 1985; and became a grandfather.

Running for the Senate

Biographical Conversations with James B. Hunt, Jr. begins with Hunt's recollections of President Ronald Reagan, elected to the country's highest office in 1980. Though critical of some of Reagan’s policies—such as the president's tax cuts—Governor Hunt respected the charismatic leader’s positive attitude. "For him it was always morning in America," Hunt says of the 40th president. Reagan’s optimism made him the overwhelming favorite to win reelection in 1984. Throughout his presidency, Reagan remained enormously popular among North Carolina Republicans and Independents, as well as some Tar Heel Democrats.

Jim Hunt remained immensely popular in his home state as well, and in the early months of 1984, the governor held a small lead in his senatorial race against Republican incumbent Jesse Helms. But this was to be a brutal campaign, filled with personal attacks on Hunt’s character. "Oh, it was ugly," Gov. Hunt recalls. “The ads that Senator Helms’ team ran were almost all negative ads against me.”

The First Two Terms

In part two of Biographical Conversations with James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor Hunt discusses his four-year term as lieutenant governor, as well as his first two terms as governor. He begins with recollections of Bob Scott, who served as governor from 1968 to 1972, and then describes his own first campaign for statewide office, announcing his candidacy for lieutenant governor in 1971.

During his first campaign, Hunt focused on education. “I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Terry Sanford and change the schools, not a little but a whole lot.” In addition, he campaigned on issues such as crime and the environment, as well as economic development. Hunt’s efforts proved successful; he was elected lieutenant governor in November 1972. On the national front, the 1972 elections brought two prominent Republicans into power. Richard Nixon won the presidency—in the process becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to win the North Carolina electorate—and Jesse Helms won his first election to the U.S. Senate.

The new lieutenant governor was able to forge a successful relationship with Republican Governor James Holshouser, and the two men worked together to bring new policies to North Carolina such as a statewide public kindergarten program. Within his role as lieutenant governor, Hunt was the president of the North Carolina Senate and was not initially a favorite among the senior members of the state Senate. “[They] didn’t really appreciate that this young whippersnapper had won the lieutenant governorship,” Hunt recalls. During his four-year tenure, Hunt sharpened the political skills he would use later on. “I worked hard, I fought hard, I made friends, and we won those battles. I kept those tools of leadership, and they served very well, as I presided over the Senate and helped shape what came out of the legislature.”

In April 1976, Hunt declared his intention to run for governor. As he had in the lieutenant governor’s race, Hunt campaigned on a platform that stressed crime prevention, economic development, and education. Election night 1976, proved to be a triumphant one for Southern Democrats; not only did Hunt sail to victory—beating Republican candidate David Flaherty—but Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, defeated Republican incumbent Gerald Ford to become president of the United States.

Early in the tenure of Hunt’s first gubernatorial term, he introduced a double-pronged strategy designed to encourage long-term economic growth in the state, first by improving education, and second, by recruiting more industries with high-paying jobs. While successfully passing measures to achieve these goals, he also coped with several state issues that caught national interest. The first of these was Joseph Califano's campaign to outlaw cigarette smoking. This controversial campaign from the Carter Administration's Heath, Education, and Welfare (HEW) secretary would have the effect of dramatically lessening the profitability of tobacco, North Carolina's major cash crop. The second major state issue of national interest occurred when Califano struck again, this time announcing that the University of North Carolina system had failed to adequately desegregate.

During Hunt’s first four-years the state legislature passed a measure allowing the Governor to serve two terms. Hunt took advantage of the new law and successfully ran for reelection in 1980. Shortly after Hunt’s second inauguration the university desegregation issue was quietly resolved under the new Ronald Reagan administration, leaving the governor able to concentrate on his education and economic strategies. By 1982, Hunt’s popularity and effectiveness as governor had made him the Democrats’ top choice to face Jesse Helms in the 1984 Senate election. Hunt announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate race in February 1984.