The Chapel Hill weekly., 1963-05-26

two-party system and pick the
best candidate rather than hav-
ing the individual candidate rum
ming on his own. | would GER
tainly hope before too long some
candidate could appear on the
political scene who could accom-
plish unity and present pro-
gram of progress to meet the
needs of the State on every hand,
Right now there seems to be an
uncertainty on the part of the
people as to the type of man we
ought to offer. There has been
no general jelling of opinion about
who it is or who it should be-"
Coming from man who has
worked with and known intimate
ly every Tar Heel Governor since
O. Max Gardner 1929 33),
such words carry the ring of
authority. 1t is still in the bal
ance as to whether those who
heed them will draft Mr.. Pear
sail. He has given so little per-
sonal consideration to the matter
as not to have reached the point
of saying a draft will be neces-
sary.
That is the consequence of a
sharp distinction Tom Pearsall
makes between personal concern
with the public domain and per-
sonal ambition Whether or not
he becomes our next Governor
there is reason to believe on the
basis of the past, that the next
Governor will employ his SER
vices. His record in State af-
fairs stretches we'll back beyond
194l, when he was first elected
to the State House of Representa-
tiveS. Although the legislative
career eliminated (and terminal
ed) with his term as Speaker of
the House in 1947, his participa-
ton in other areas had scarcely
begun.
Lately his chief concern has
been with higher education in the
State, as a member of the Uni
verSity Board of Trustees Exc
cutive Committee and Of the Gov
ernOr's Commission on Education
Beyond the High School. His
role in building the Consolidated
University into the "capStone of
higher education" and the adop-
tion of the Community College
concept was crucial and decisive.
He is possibly the most influen-
tlal layman in higher education
in North Carolina since William
Richardson Davie. At any rate
there are officials in the ConsoH-
dated University who would ar
que passionately on his behalf
to that effect.
He has been at one time or
another chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee. a
member of the committee which
established the State Good Health
Program under Gov. R. Gregg
Cherry, a member of the Milk
Commission under Gov. William
B. Umstead; and a member of a
special commission on education
which dealt with school integra-
tion under the Hodges=UmStead
regime. North Cardinals pupil
assignment law bears his name.
Today many of his current Ia
borS have come to an end, usual
ly in full flower, and he spends
a good deal of time in his Rocky
Mount headquarters, operating an
agricultural mercantile domain
that verges on being a microcosm
of North Carolina.
He is an energetic man. as his
enterprises, public and private.
attest. Possibly he would be rest
less had he not harnessed that
energy in many traces. The sur
plus has flowed selflesSly to the
public interest.
Tom Pearsall has managed to
integrate his world into remark
able whole, in which each COM
ponent grows organically from
another.
Il have deliberately made an
effort to keep my hands on pub
lie affairs he said, land | have
tried to make my business serve
to teach me lessons about what
we need"
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