Synopses & Reviews
Many Americans remember Senator Sam Ervin (1896-1985) as the affable, Bible-quoting, old country lawyer who chaired the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973. Yet for most of his 20 years in the Senate, Ervin was Jim Crow's most talented legal defender as the South's constitutional expert during the congressional debates on civil rights. The paradox of the senator's opposition to civil rights and defense of civil liberties lies at the heart of this biography of Sam Ervin. Karl Campbell illuminates the character of the man and the historical forces that shaped him. The senator's distrust of centralized power, Campbell argues, helps explain his ironic reputation as a foe of civil rights and a champion of civil liberties.
Review
"A welcome addition to the understanding of Ervin's southern mind. . . . Highly recommended."
-- Choice
Review
Campbell has so skillfully shown the culture of Ervin's lifetime and how it shaped him and his generation.
-Dan T. Carter, author of The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics
Review
"A persuasive and fresh perspective on southern and North Carolina politics. . . . Well organized and crisply written. . . . The most important book on Sam Ervin."
— North Carolina Historical Review
Review
"An excellent biography that captures much of the essence of one of the prominent mid-20th-century senators. . . . A welcome addition to the understanding of Ervin's southern mind as it sought to cope with changing conditions in region and the nation caused by changing dynamics in US society. Highly recommended."
-- CHOICE
Review
"Excellent. . . . Highly recommend[ed]. . . . Extensively researched and documented, gracefully written, and includes a variety of photographs and illustrations."
-- Winston-Salem Journal
Review
"Striking detail. . . . A vivid and telling narrative. . . . We should be thankful that Campbell has forcefully introduced a long-neglected figure into the historiography of regional and national politics."
-Journal of Southern History "A persuasive and fresh perspective on southern and North Carolina politics. . . . Well organized and crisply written. . . . The most important book on Sam Ervin."
-North Carolina Historical Review "Contributes to the growing scholarship on the southern white response to the civil rights era. . . . [An] excellent study."
-Journal of American History "Campbell succeeds splendidly in threading the historical needle. . . . A sophisticated, clear-eyed and evenhanded biography . . . that is likely to stand the test of time as the best work on one of North Carolina's most famous sons. . . . Adds immeasurably to our understanding of the state and its politics."
-The News and Observer "Excellent. . . . Highly recommend[ed]. . . . Extensively researched and documented, gracefully written, and includes a variety of photographs and illustrations."
-Winston-Salem Journal "An excellent biography that captures much of the essence of one of the prominent mid-20th-century senators. . . . A welcome addition to the understanding of Ervin's southern mind as it sought to cope with changing conditions in region and the nation caused by changing dynamics in US society. Highly recommended."
-CHOICE Campbell has so skillfully shown the culture of Ervin's lifetime and how it shaped him and his generation.
-Dan T. Carter, author of The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics
Synopsis
Many Americans remember Senator Sam Ervin (1896-1985) as the affable, Bible-quoting, old country lawyer who chaired the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973. Ervin's stories from down home in North Carolina, his reciting literary passages ranging from Shakespeare to Aesop's fables, and his earnest lectures in defense of civil liberties and constitutional government contributed to the downfall of President Nixon and earned Senator Ervin a reputation as the last of the founding fathers.
Yet for most of his twenty years in the Senate, Ervin applied these same rhetorical devices to a very different purpose. Between 1954 and 1974, he was Jim Crow's most talented legal defender as the South's constitutional expert during the congressional debates on civil rights. The paradox of the senator's opposition to civil rights and defense of civil liberties lies at the heart of this biography of Sam Ervin.
Drawing on newly opened archival material, Karl Campbell illuminates the character of the man and the historical forces that shaped him. The senator's distrust of centralized power, Campbell argues, helps explain his ironic reputation as a foe of civil rights and a champion of civil liberties. Campbell demonstrates that the Watergate scandal represented the culmination of an escalating series of clashes between the imperial presidency of Richard Nixon and a congressional counterattack led by Senator Ervin. The issue central to that struggle, as well as to many of the other crusades in Ervin's life, remains a key question of the American experience today--how to exercise legitimate government power while protecting essential individual freedoms.
About the Author
Karl E. Campbell is associate professor of history at Appalachian State University.