The Wilmington morning star., 1946-12-18
Press on Senator Bailey

Carolina editors on Senator Bailey,
whose death shocked the nation, it is in
~teresting to note that all agree he was a
man of outstanding courage and indie
pendence. The Charlotte Observer, for
example, says this:
Zone of the tests of greatness, we
believe, is not so much an inventory of
actual, tangible accomplishments as the
courage to maintain ones convictions
when it is unpopular to do so in the
face of determined opposition.
Senator Bailey met that test, for he
was one of the first to perceive the
dangers of the economic quackery that
swept the country in the 193Os, and,
when it was tantamount almost to po-
litical suicide to oppose the national ad-
ministration, he cried out against those
practices that he knew were leading
toward economic chaos, undermining
states rights, and concentrating too
much power in too few hands that he
foresaw would inevitably result in a
form of tyranny alien to the American
ideal.
For that he was prescribed by the
administration as a reactionary, al
though just ten years before, when he
ran for Governor of North Carolina. he
was defeated because his W party re-
jected him as a radical"
And this from the Asheville Citizen:
I'm many ways, Josiah Bailey typifi-
ed the paradox which is North Carolina.
He was a Democratic party regular
yet 1t was a break from his party's
leadership in this State which elevated
him to the Senate. He was condemned
as a radical in his youth and attacked
a 'reactionary' in his later years.
"A thread of consistency, however.
ran through his career. Josiah Bailey
was first and foremost an in~dividualist
In his estimates of men and events
from time to time he may have been
wrong, but no one ever entertained
vigorous disrespect for his convictions
They were born of courage stubborn
and unsuitable.
senator Bailey was sometimes set
down as anti-administration. Il is +r,er
nat ne was never ANTI anything b,t
only ruggedly independent when it came
to issues" ~,
The Greensboro News comments.
Inc relative few who were privilag-
to know Josiah William Bailey init.
mately, to get close to him in such roles
lenow fishermen, declared that thew
FOUND a warm ~comradeship and persona
glow which the public was not privileged
to know. It was but another facet Of
the man, the citizen and the senator
whose ordnance of intellect, analytical
ability and powers of expression were
recognized, honored and applauded but
whose public life and record were SO
largely made up of enigmatical com.
plexities."
Says the Greensboro Record:
While Senator Bailey supported
Franklin D. Roosevelt for election in
1882, and for reelection in 1886. he
differed with him on a number of is
sues. He came to be regarded as one
OF the leaders of the coalition of con-
sentative Democrats and Republicans
Who bucked many of the New Deal poll
cles and programs. But while differing
with the administration on many do
nestle matters, Senator Bailey support
ed it on most Of it's international views
and, intellectually, on the conduct of
the war;" *
And from the Raleigh News and
Observer we Gull:
Although he had a long career be-
fore his election to the Senate, Senator
Bailey will be best remembered because
OF his service in that body for 16 years.