For My Fellow North Carolinians: Remembering the late Sam J. Ervin Jr., U.S. Senator (1896-1985), as yesterday (September 27) was his birth date. Erwin, who hailed from Morganton, N.C. (Burke County) served in WWI and was highly decorated for his wartime service (Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and two Purple Hearts). He was graduated from UNC and also received a law degree from Harvard. Ervin, a Democrat, served several terms in the N.C. Legislature (House) prior to WWII and also served as a N.C. state judge in the late 1930’s and early 40’s. In 1954 Ervin was serving as an Associate Justice of the N.C. Supreme Court when he was appointed by then N.C. Governor William B. Umstead to serve out the term of U.S. Senator Clyde Hoey who had died in office. Subsequently, Ervin ran for the U.S. Senate and was elected to that body when the balance of Hoey’s term expired. Ervin served in the Senate for twenty years. He chose not to run for reelection when his last term expired in 1974. During his career Ervin developed a reputation for being something of an expert on constitutional law and he was widely regarded as such by his colleagues in the Senate. When it came to constitutional law Ervin was known as a strict “constructionist”—and his constructionist views were clearly reflected in his opposition to the integration of public schools that ultimately resulted from the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Reflecting the tenor (and error) of his times, Ervin played leading role in resisting integration and other civil rights measures, as did most elected officials in the South during the 1950’s and early 60’s – but his opposition was typically not demagogic in tone, as was often the case with other southern politicians who held office during the civil rights era. In short, it might be said that his views were “complicated.” Much later in life, he changed his position on the correctness of the Brown decision. Nevertheless, Ervin’s civil rights record would be criticized by most individuals viewing the civil rights struggle through the lens of our contemporary times. Ervin’s personal demeanor was that of a jowly “simple country lawyer” with a disarmingly folksy manner, who often chose to illustrate his points via the telling of colorful and entertaining stories. During his time in the Senate Ervin remained popular in N.C. and, like many of N.C. Democrats of his era he tended to be more conservative than liberal. In some respects, however, simple labels like “conservative” and “liberal” do not quite fit Ervin – as his strict constructionist views produced (for some) some surprising positions when it came to the preservation of individual rights. Ervin opposed the admissibility of illegally obtained evidence in criminal trials; opposed “no knock” search and seizure and the use of lie detector tests. He fought against government and private industry “invasions of privacy” in general and also helped defeat a constitutional amendment that sought to make prayer in schools compulsory. Ervin, who was considered to be a man of high integrity, became a national figure in when he was appointed to head the “Watergate Committee” that investigated the infamous Nixon campaign burglary and related cover-up. The Watergate Committee’s investigations, of course, ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon. Ervin, who lived for about a decade after he left the Senate, was succeeded in office by fellow Democrat Robert Morgan who had, among other things, served as N.C. Attorney General. Morgan in turn was defeated in 1980 after only one term in office by the late John P. East, a Republican college professor from East Carolina University.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 19:51:42 +0000
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