R. Gregg Cherry

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Robert Gregg Cherry (October 17, 1891Template:Spaced ndashJune 25, 1957) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 61st governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1945 to 1949.

Early life and family

Childhood, education, and military service

Born in York County, South Carolina near Rock Hill, Cherry grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina with relatives after the death of his parents. He earned bachelor's and law degrees at Trinity College (now Duke University).[1] He organized and led a volunteer artillery company during World War I.

Marriage

In 1921, he married Lula Mildred Stafford, the daughter of the Mayor of Greensboro Emory Junius Stafford.[2]

Career

Cherry served as mayor of Gastonia from 1919 to 1923,[3] as a member and speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, as chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party (1937–1940), and as a member of the North Carolina Senate. In Gastonia, it was joked that he was the best lawyer in town when sober, and the second-best lawyer in town when drunk.[4]

In 1944, Cherry was elected governor as the last in a series of governors affiliated with the political machine of former governor O. Max Gardner.[5] He was sworn in on January 4, 1945.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". While campaigning for governor, Cherry went, according to one observer,

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up and down the state preaching health and hard work, better educational facilities and sound financing, improved opportunities for the state employees, veterans, and teachers, better roads, rural telephone service and electricity for everyone, fair treatment of labor, improved agriculture, conservation and development of the state's resources, tax reduction where possible, and plans for a post-war construction program.[6]

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Cherry inherited an economy facing material and labor shortages as a result of the ongoing Second World War. One of his primary focuses during his term was the improvement of mental health care at state-run facilities. Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, North Carolina, is named for him.

On May 3, 1947, Cherry commuted the death sentences of four men convicted of gang raping a woman. Calvin Covington, Granger Thompson, Stacy Powell, and Cliff Inman had been convicted of raping Dorothy Frye in Lumberton in March 1946. Despite the racial dynamics (all four rapists were black and Frye was white), the crime had drawn less outcry since Frye had entered Lumberton's black section to buy liquor her husband was a union organizer. She was gang raped after her husband left her waiting in the car. In commuting the sentences of the four convicted rapists to life imprisonment, Cherry blamed the victim.

"After careful consideration, I am convinced that the death penalty is too severe in this case. I believe that the prosecutrix by her own misconduct and failure to observe a sense of propriety placed herself in such a situation as to create a temptation for the defendants to mistreat her and to make her an easy victim of their beastly lusts."[7]

Unlike other Southern Democrats, Cherry, despite his segregationist views, supported Harry S. Truman for re-election in 1948 and did not join the Dixiecrats.[8] He was succeeded by W. Kerr Scott on January 6, 1949.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". He retired from politics and returned to the practice of law. Cherry has a plaque dedicated to him in downtown Gastonia, NC.

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Tar Heel Laughter By Richard Walser
  5. ↑ Christensen, Rob. The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics. 2008. UNC Press.
  6. ↑ PUBLIC ADDRESSES AND PAPERS of ROBERT GREGG CHERRY GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA 1945-1949 Edited by David Leroy Corbitt, Head, Division of Publications State Department of Archives and History Raleigh Council of State State of North Carolina 1951, p.xiii
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Works cited

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External links

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Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from Gaston County
1930–1940
Served alongside: John Froneberger Puett, Pinckney Carroll Froneberger, Noah Benjamin Kendrick, David P. Dellinger, Carl Augustus RudisillTemplate:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives
1936–1939 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Template:Error
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Member of the North Carolina Senate from the 26th district
1940–1944 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Chair of the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Democratic Party
1937–1940 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Democratic nominee for Governor of North Carolina
1944 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/checkTemplate:Succession box/check Governor of North Carolina
1945–1949 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

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