A Political Maneuver That Backfired

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296401700112
• Published date: 01 March 1964
• Date: 01 March 1964
• Author: Virgil C. Stroud
• Subject Matter: Articles

A POLITICAL MANEUVER THAT BACKFIRED
VIRGIL C. STROUD
Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina
N
THE DECADE 1950--60 the national increase in population averaged 18.5
~ per cent. North Carolina’s population grew, but only to the extent of 494,929
more persons or 12.2 per cent1 -
not enough to maintain its twelve-member
congressional delegation: a one-seat loss resulted.2 As is generally known, when a
state loses a representative in Congress, it may either redistrict itself through the state
legislature to accommodate the loss, or it may choose not to act at all, in which case
members of the House from that state will be elected at large. Once reapportion-
ment is accomplished on the basis of the 1960 census, the average congressional dis-
trict’s population will be 410,350. The previous average was 359,000.3
The 1961 General Assembly of North Carolina was faced with the problem of
redistricting -
a task not so easy as state legislative redistricting. How to attack the
problem was the first consideration. Far ahead of the convening of the General
Assembly the opinion was voiced that the chief aim of congressional redistricting
&dquo;should be fairness ... the state’s population should be divided as equally as possible
there are vast
...
inequalities already.&dquo; 4
Prior to and during the General Assembly session suggestions were made as to
the &dquo;right&dquo; approach. &dquo;One logical approach would eliminate one of the Eastern
districts -
either Bonner’s, David Henderson[’s] or L. H. Fountain[’s]&dquo; was the
opinion of one source.5
5
Stated another way, &dquo;To cause the least disturbance to
burgeoning Republican areas ... Mr. Bonner’s low-ranking bailiwick would be the
No. 1 objective of the carving knives.&dquo; 6 seniority of congressmen was another sug-
gested approach. In this instance, the finger of elimination was pointed at freshman
Representative David Henderson of the Third District. On the other hand, it was
Mr. Henderson’s district which had produced the most spectacular population ex-
plosion of the state.
By May 1961 three bills had been introduced in the legislature on congressional
redistricting, all of which provided for re-drawing the boundary lines. Two of them
would have placed incumbents Harold Cooley and L. H. Fountain in the same dis-
trict.7 The two bills, one sent in by Ed Kemp of Guilford County, chairman of the
House Congressional Districts Committee, and the other by Senator Robert Morgan
of Cleveland County, were similar, differing primarily in the grouping of certain
counties.
The third measure, introduced in the house by Representative Herb Hardy of
Greene County, would have placed Republican incumbent Charles R. Jonas, the
only GOP member of the Tar Heel delegation, against Democrat Basil Whitener in
1

1950 population, 4,061,929; 1960 population, 4,556,155.
2
Congressional Quarterly, June 30, 1961; Greensboro Daily News, November 17, 1960.
3
Greensboro Daily News, op. cit.
4

Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid., February 20, 1961.
7

Greensboro Record, May 2, 1961.
125

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126

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127
a Piedmont district.8 Under the Hardy proposal, Jonas of Lincoln County and
Whitener of Gaston County would have been placed in a nine-county area includ-
ing Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba, Burke, Caldwell, Avery, Watauga and
Ashe.9 In this situation Jonas would have been deprived of populous Mecklenburg
County, his voting stronghold.
Kemp took a dim view of the Hardy bill. Said he, &dquo;We had a proposal drawn
which would have put Whitener against Jonas and the boys in the west didn’t want
it. They were fearful that it would put at least one more district on the verge of
going Republican and would make Jonas a hero.&dquo; ~° Taking note of the geographical
and population inequities in his bill, Mr. Hardy commented that they were &dquo;inescap-
able.&dquo; &dquo;It is hoped,&dquo; he further stated, &dquo;... that with careful consideration and good
judgment on the part of the committees and the two houses, we can accomplish a
redistricting plan that will greatly strengthen the Democratic party ... and the State
of North Carolina.&dquo; ill
In these statements, and in the developing atmosphere, the delicateness of the
situation seemed to be considerably underscored. Further evidence of this lay in the
prevailing belief that lawmakers whose districts would be left alone would not be
inclined to protest the misfortunes of others lest the ax fall in another direction . -2
Then too, the absence of drastic alterations to the sparsely populated First District
was seen as a concession to influential Senator Lindsay Warren of Beaufort County,
the powerful leader of the easterners primarily responsible for squelching any plan
that would pit two eastern congressmen in the same district. 13
Altogether six redistricting bills were presented, the last one pitting Republican
Jonas and Democrat Kitchen in the same district. This bill, purportedly worked out
in conference in Governor Terry Sanford’s office, received the blessing and backing
of the originators and sponsors of previous reapportionment bills. 14 This new district
...