Relying on a political ally to cultivate a political network
Scott describes himself as something of a political outsider: he was a farmer, not a businessman, and a graduate of North Carolina State University, not a school that won him political connections. Therefore, when he was facing a second primary for the governorship, he had to rely on outgoing governor Dan K. Moore to create a network where none existed.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Robert W. (Bob) Scott, February 4, 1998. Interview C-0336-1. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- JACK FLEER:
-
Were there any groups or people or interests in the state that you felt
you had to consult with or know the opinions of,
in the process of your deciding to run for governor, that became
important bases for you to touch, so to speak, to find out whether this
was even a possibility?
- ROBERT W. (BOB) SCOTT:
-
Not consciously. Of course, as lieutenant governor, I was in contact with
practically all the organizations and associations and groups. You know,
I'd spoken before the teacher organizations—there
was scarcely an organization I hadn't had some contact with.
But it was more by the fact that I was lieutenant governor, I think,
than anything else. I was never considered to be a part of the business
community. I was an agrarian, a farmer if you will, a graduate of NC
State, I was not going to move among the power brokers or the captains
of industry—I just didn't move in those circles. I
didn't belong to a country club or anything of that sort.
- JACK FLEER:
-
And you didn't feel a need to get in touch with those
people?
- ROBERT W. (BOB) SCOTT:
-
Didn't really know how, in a sense, because I really
wasn't comfortable in that circle. I recall so well that
after I'd run for governor and won the nomination, in the
spring, Governor Moore—who had remained neutral in that,
although most of his supporters and friends supported my opponent, he
very, very carefully remained neutral—and he did invite me to
his office one day after that, after the campaign, and said, "I
want to do what I can to help you win the election in the
fall."
- JACK FLEER:
-
This was after the second primary.
- ROBERT W. (BOB) SCOTT:
-
After the second primary. And he put on a couple of fundraisers. Back
then—I'm amused at what's happening in
Washington. He had them in the mansion, and he
had the connections, having been an official with,
ah…Champion—
- JACK FLEER:
-
Champion Paper Company—
- ROBERT W. (BOB) SCOTT:
-
—Paper Company. And he had connections with big business. And
he had some of those people in the mansion on a couple of occasions for
fundraisers, which I attended, of course. So he knew that was probably
where I was—the business community, perhaps because of my
father, didn't trust me all that much. I wasn't
one of them, and I didn't have a record of being
pro-business. Not necessarily anti-business, but just not pro-business.
And the company I kept, perhaps, politically, was a little suspect. Now,
keep in mind, at this period of time, there was a great deal of civil
unrest and tension and so on, and a lot of our thoughts were on those
kinds of things.