# L. Richardson Preyer

Lunsford Richardson Preyer (January 11, 1919 – April 3, 2001) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and later a United States representative from North Carolina.

## Education and Career

Born in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina, Preyer graduated from Woodberry Forest School in Woodberry Forest, Virginia. He received an A.B. in English from Princeton University in 1941 after completing a senior thesis titled "The Contrasting Values of Dickens and Daudet." At Princeton he was on the 150 lb. football team and the golf team and was vice-president of Princeton Tower Club. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1949. He was in the United States Navy from 1941 to 1946, serving as gunnery officer and executive officer on destroyers in both the Atlantic and Pacific. He received a Bronze Star for action at Okinawa. He was in private practice of law in New York City, New York from 1949 to 1950. He worked for Vick Chemical Company in 1950 (founded by his grandfather and namesake Lunsford Richardson). He was in private practice of law in Greensboro from 1951 to 1956. He was a City Judge from 1953 to 1954. He was a Judge of the North Carolina Superior Court from 1956 to 1961.

## Judicial service

As a State judge in 1957, Rich Preyer upheld a ruling that enabled five black children to attend the previously all-white Gillespie Park School in Greensboro. This was the first integrated school in the City of Greensboro. It was 3 years before the historic Greensboro sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counters that we have heard so much about and read so much about in our history. Rich Preyer was ahead of his time.
In 1961, Rich Preyer received a lifetime appointment to the Federal bench from his Harvard Law School classmate, a man of privilege again. His classmate happened to be President John F. Kennedy. He could have had a lifetime appointment on the Federal bench. But 2 years later, he gave up that position to run for governor of North Carolina. He hoped that he would follow in the footsteps of the term-limited governor Terry Sanford, who was known as the most progressive governor in the South.
Preyer received a recess appointment from President John F. Kennedy on October 7, 1961, to the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, to a new seat created by 75 Stat. 80. He was nominated to the same seat by President Kennedy on January 15, 1962. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 7, 1962, and received his commission on February 17, 1962. His service was terminated on October 9, 1963, due to his resignation.

## Run for Governor

For those Members who hear about North Carolina and wonder why it has this kind of progressive image that is more progressive than some of our other southern States, Governor Terry Sanford and people like Rich Preyer were building that image. Even though this was almost 10 years after Brown v. Board of Education, the State of North Carolina, like all other southern States, was still basically segregated. Although Governor Sanford had started steps toward integration efforts, according to Preyer's former press aide, the Ku Klux Klan burned 50 crosses across North Carolina in protest of Rich Preyer's candidacy for governor of the State of North Carolina.
He led the Democratic primary in the Governor's race, but he did not get 50 percent of the vote and the law required at that time in North Carolina that you have 50 percent plus 1 to avoid a runoff election. He ended up in a runoff with a more conservative opponent, and the conservative opponent won the election. A lot of people say that he won the election because Rich Preyer refused to distance himself from the principles that he thought were important. They called him an integrationist and a lover of black people. Rich's response was, "I love all people. That is what I have been taught as part of my religious beliefs." And he never made any overtures toward the segregationists who were supporting the candidacy of his opponent. Rich Preyer was ahead of his time.
Preyer was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 1964. He was Senior Vice President and Trust Officer of North Carolina National Bank (now Bank of America) from 1965 to 1968.

## Congressional service

Rich lost that governor's race and then ran for Congress in 1968, and he was elected to Congress. Many considered him too liberal and out of step with his district. He opposed the Vietnam War and was one of only two Members of Congress from North Carolina to vote for legislation to end the war. Rich's voting record finally caught up with him again, because he was not going to compromise his principles. It caught up with him in 1980, when he lost in the Reagan landslide by about 3,500 votes. He saw the election results are coming in, he could have picked up the phone, called his adversary, his opponent and said, "I concede defeat." Rich Preyer said, "No, I'm going over and I'm going to shake this man's hand." He went all the way across town, into his opponent's headquarters, got heckled by his opponent's supporters, and insisted on shaking his opponent's hand to congratulate him.
In 1980, after he had lost that race, former Congressman Steve Neal said of Rich Preyer, "There is not a man or woman among us who commands greater respect for intelligence, honesty, integrity and courage of conviction."
Preyer was elected as a Democratic United States Representative from North Carolina to the 91st United States Congress and to the five succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1969, to January 3, 1981. He was Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, as well as the House Select Committee on Assassinations's, JFK Subcommittee during the 95th Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the 97th Congress in 1980.

## Post congressional service and death

In 1988, Preyer was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board. Preyer resided in Greensboro until his death of cancer on April 3, 2001, in that city. He is interred in Green Hill Cemetery in Greensboro.

## Honors

The L. Richardson Preyer Federal Building in Greensboro is named in Preyer's honor. Preyer and his wife, Emily, both received the North Carolina Award for Public Service.