Clyde Roark Hoey | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| United States Senator fromNorth Carolina | |
| In office January 3, 1945 – May 12, 1954 | |
| Preceded by | Robert R. Reynolds |
| Succeeded by | Sam Ervin |
| 59th Governor of North Carolina | |
| In office January 7, 1937 – January 9, 1941 | |
| Lieutenant | Wilkins P. Horton |
| Preceded by | John C.B. Ehringhaus |
| Succeeded by | J. Melville Broughton |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's9th district | |
| In office December 16, 1919 – March 3, 1921 | |
| Preceded by | Edwin Y. Webb |
| Succeeded by | Alfred L. Bulwinkle |
| Member of theNorth Carolina State Senate | |
| In office 1902-1904 | |
| Member of theNorth Carolina House of Representatives | |
| In office 1898-1902 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1877-12-11)December 11, 1877 Shelby, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | May 12, 1954(1954-05-12) (aged 76) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Margaret Gardner Hoey |
Clyde Roark Hoey (December 11, 1877 – May 12, 1954) was an AmericanDemocratic politician fromNorth Carolina. He served in both houses of the state legislature and served briefly in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1919 to 1921. He was North Carolina'sgovernor from 1937 to 1941. He entered the U.S. Senate in 1945 and served there until his death in 1954, only days before theBrown v. Board of Education decision. He was a segregationist.
Hoey (HOO-ee)[1] was born to Captain Samuel Alberta Hoey, aConfederate States Army officer, and Mary Charlotte Roark.[2][3] He attended school until age eleven. He worked on his family's farm and bought a weekly newspaper when he was 16. He was elected to the state legislature when he was twenty. He served as a state representative and then as a state senator.[4] He was elected in a special election to theUnited States House of Representatives to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofEdwin Y. Webb who had accepted a federal judgeship. He defeated a Republican who opposed United States support for theLeague of Nations.[5] He served from 1919 to 1921.[3] He prosecuted the leaders of the 1929Loray Mill strike for the murder of the Gastonia police chief.[6]
He was the59thgovernor of theU.S. state ofNorth Carolina from 1937 to 1941. In his inaugural address as governor, Hoey delivered what one historian described as “an extended ode to the New Deal.”[7] In July 1937, he pardonedLuke Lea, a Tennessee politician and former U.S. senator, who had been paroled a year earlier.[8] His appointment of a black man to the board of trustees of a black college set a precedent.[9] Following the 1938Gaines Supreme Court decision on racial segregation in higher education, he asked the North Carolina legislature to provide for segregated higher education for blacks. Though opposed to integrated education, he said that the people of the state "do believe in equality of opportunity in their respective fields of service" and that "the white race cannot afford to do less than simple justice to the Negro."[10] Nevertheless, during a speech to theUnited Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization that his wife was a member of, he affirmed his support for segregation.
"Niggers are not entitled to civil rights and will never get them. There were no niggers on the Mayflower."[11]
In 1940, Hoey quietly opposed a third term for FDR.[12] When he believed that PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt would not seek a third term, Hoey rejected thefavorite son role for which the state legislature had recommended him and supported the presidential candidacy of Secretary of StateCordell Hull.[13]
Hoey won election to the U.S. Senate in 1944.[14] He served from 1945 until his death in 1954.
Hoey's politics were those of a conservative Democrat. He opposedHarry S. Truman's attempt to make theFair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) permanent. He promised to filibuster the effort as an attack on "the rights of every businessman in America."[15] He supported the President's threats against striking railroad workers in December 1946.[16] In the 1948 election, he supported Truman over the alternative,Strom Thurmond.[17]
He supported President Truman's refusal to allow Congress access to records of government employees' loyalty investigations.[4]
In 1950, Hoey opposed statehood forHawaii because he thought it "inconceivable" to allow a territory with "only a small percentage of white people" to become a state. He advocated independence for Hawaii and cited U.S. treatment of Cuba and the Philippines as precedents.[18]
From 1949 to 1952 he headed the Investigations Subcommittee of theCommittee on Expenditures in Executive Departments. He conducted hearings into the role of "five percenters", government influence peddlers. In 1950 he chaired an investigation that resulted in a report, known as the Hoey Report, released in December of that year that said all of the government's intelligence agencies "are in complete agreement that sex perverts [meaning, primarily, gay men] in Government constitute security risks."[19] Douglas Charles characterizes Hoey's involvement in the committee as reluctant, due to fears that the issue could become hyperbolic, leaving chief counsel Francis Flanagan as the actual driving force behind the Hoey Report.[20] The 1957Crittenden Report, a review by the U.S. Navy, criticized it: "No intelligence agency, as far as can be learned, adduced any factual data before that committee with which to support these opinions."[21]
Hoey marriedBessie Gardner, sister of North Carolina GovernorO. Max Gardner. They had three children. His wife died in 1942.[4] He was a lifelong member of theMethodist Episcopal Church, South and taughtSunday school classes.[22] He was also a member of theFreemasons,Odd Fellows,Woodmen of the World, and theKnights of Pythias.[22]
Hoey died at his desk in his Washington, D.C., office.[4]Sam Ervin was appointed to his seat in June 1954.
In 1974, journalistJonathan Daniels assessed Hoey's politics as "always satisfactory to conservative interests without being abrasive to New Dealers."[23]
Three university buildings in North Carolina were named for Hoey, but have been renamed. The first renaming was in July 2019, when, given Hoey's history of segregationist advocacy and use of racist language in a public address, his name was removed fromNorth Carolina Central University's administration building and replaced with that of the university's African-American founder,James E. Shepard.[24] Hoey Hall, a dormitory atAppalachian State University,[25] and Hoey Auditorium, on the campus ofWestern Carolina University,[26] were renamed in June 2020, as part of thename changes due to the George Floyd protests. According to a unanimous vote of the trustees of Western Carolina, "Hoey's espoused racist views are contrary to this university's core values of diversity and equality."[26]
In popular culture, Hoey is a character in the play CONVENTION written by Danny Rocco and portrayed by Austyn Elliott. Hoey’s animate racist and segregationist views along with others in the south who held the same opinions at the time are shown and examined through the lens of the Democratic convention of 1944.[27]
{{cite web}}:|last= has generic name (help)
Media related toClyde R. Hoey at Wikimedia Commons| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of North Carolina 1936 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromNorth Carolina (Class 3) 1944,1950 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's 9th congressional district 1919–1921 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of North Carolina 1937–1941 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from North Carolina 1945–1954 Served alongside:Josiah W. Bailey,William B. Umstead, Joseph M. Broughton,Frank P. Graham,Willis Smith, Alton Asa Lennon | Succeeded by |
| Class 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
