Oral history interview with Nancy Palm, December 16, 1974
Subtitle: interview A-0194, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: De Vries, Walter, interviewer; Bass, Jack, interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2006
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Women political activists; Politics and government; Political parties; Women; Political activity; Republican Party (Tex.)
Other titles: Interview A-0194, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Nancy Palm, December 16, 1974; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Nancy Palm describes her role as the chair of the Republican Party in Harris County, Texas, from the early 1950s through the mid-1970s. Educated at Vanderbilt, Palm held liberal political views earlier on in life and her first vote was cast for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. However, by the 1950s, her growing belief in the importance of "individual initiative" had shifted her political views towards the right. In 1951, Palm moved with her husband from Tennessee to Houston, where she became involved in organizing school board elections. Shortly thereafter, Palm became a precinct organizer in Harris County, Texas. She explains that until 1964, she worked for both Republican and Democratic candidates. By 1964, however, she had established herself solidly in the Republican camp. In this interview, Palm emphasizes the importance of organization to the development of a strong Republican party in Texas. In addition, she explains her perception of Texas Republicanism as it evolved from roughly 1950 to 1974. In so doing, she emphasizes the role of such politicians as Texas Senator John G. Tower, Texas Governor John Connally, George Bush, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Finally, Palm discusses her perception of women's rights and women's liberation. Although not a proponent of the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Palm asserts her belief that women should have strong roles in politics and that she lamented the fact that she had never sought public office. Overall, Palm's comments here reflect the character of the Republican Party in the South as it had developed by the mid-1970s.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on November 6, 2007).

Interview participants: Nancy Palm, interviewee; Jack Bass, interviewer; Walter DeVries, interviewer.

Duration: 00:58:08.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 65.2 kilobytes, 106 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series A, Southern politics, interview A-0194, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Linda Killen. Original transcript: 29 p.

Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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