Oral history interview with Margaret Carter, October 25, 1975
Subtitle: interview A-0309-1, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Davidson, Chandler, 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: 2008
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Women politicians; Politics and government; Liberals; Women; Political activity; Democratic Party (Tex.)
Other titles: Interview A-0309-1, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Margaret Carter, October 25, 1975; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Margaret Carter, the "grand dame of liberal Texas politics," reflects on how she and her husband became interested in politics, what she learned through her political experiences, the ways the state's political structure changed from the New Deal era through the late 1950s, and the character of various state politicians. Both became involved in state politics just in time for the 1940 Texas Democratic Party's convention, and she remarks on the lack of organization during that convention. However, by 1944, notes Carter, the liberals were better organized and were better able to promote their views. Nonetheless, Carter laments the gradual decline of the liberal labor leadership that had once been influential in Texas. In addition to her own trials and tribulations in liberal Texas politics, she also discusses important state-level politicos, including Raymond Buck, John Connally, John Hammond, Hunter McClean, Sam Rayburn, and Ralph Yarborough.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Dec. 2, 2008).

Interview participants: Margaret Carter, interviewee; Chandler Davidson, interviewer.

Duration: 02:07:52.

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

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 224 kilobytes, 234 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series A. Southern politics, interview A-0309-1, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Joe Jaros. Original transcript: 61 p.

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

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.