DAVID T. FLAHERTY. SR. Interviewee

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SOHP Series: The North Carolina Republican Party

TAPE LOG - DAVID T. FLAHERTY. SR.

Interviewee: DAVID T. FLAHERTY, SR.

Interviewer: Joseph Mosnier

Interview Date: Sept. 27, 1996

Location: Flaherty's home, Apex, NC

Tape No. 9.27.96-DF (cassette 1 of 1) (approximate total length 85 minutes)

**NB: This is the first of two sessions; see also the second session of Oct. 4,1996. This first session includes discussion of matters through ca. 1976.

Topic: Flaherty has been a notable figure in NC Republican Party politics since the late 1960s. He was born Dec. 9,1928, in Boston, MA; graduated from high school in 1946 and then took an assembly job in a camera factory; served in the Army 1949-52; attended Boston University 1952-55, graduating in two and one-half years with a degree in business administration; joined Broyhill Industries (furniture company) in 1955, relocated to Lenoir, North Carolina later that year; was an active community volunteer; began his involvement in local Republican Party politics; served two terms in the NC Senate 1969-70 and 1971-72; was Secretary of the NC Dept. of Human Resources under Gov. Jim Holshouser 1973-77; ran unsuccessfully as the GOP nominee for governor in 1976; served as NC GOP party chair 1981-85; was Secretary of the state Employment Security Commission 1985-87 and of the Dept of Human Resources 1987-92 under Gov. Jim Martin. Substantively, the interview was organized around several major themes: Flaherty's personal biographical history; his earliest political involvements at the local level in Caldwell County, NC; his early involvements with the NC Republican Party; service in the NC Senate 1969-70 and 1971-72; service as Secretary of Human Resources in the Jim Holshouser administration; and gubernatorial candidacy in 1976. The interview proceeds through these matters in roughly chronological fashion, with a focus on Flaherty's political involvements.

Subject Headings: North Carolina Republican Party; North Carolina Politics & Government; North Carolina Democratic Party; James T. Broyhill; Jesse Helms; James Hunt; James Gardner; James Holshouser; Coy Privette.

Comments: Only text in quotation marks is verbatim; all other text is paraphrased, including the interviewer's questions.

Interview number A-0418 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill. Restriction: Permission of interviewee required to read, listen to, or quote from interview. "N.C. Republican Party" ~ Tape Index, David T. Flaherty Sr. Interview, Sept. 27,1996 2

TAPE INDEX

Counter Index Topic

[Cassette 1 of 1, Side A - Tape No. 9.27.96-DF]

001 [Opening announcement]

005 Biographical sketch; family, life during Depression in Dorchester, MA; father's labor union activity; thoughts that he might want to be a priest; education; job after high school, and tensions with union because he worked at a very rapid "piece rate"; military service; college at Boston University, marriage, job during college, and activities during college.

070 How and why he joined NC's Broyhill Industries at $55 per week as a salesman in western MA, and then moved six months later to Lenoir, NC, to join BroyhiU's executive training program. The company's ethic of community service, including encouraging employees to seek political office.

096 Further reflections on personal history: difficult relationship with his father may have encouraged him to move away from this dad's support for unions and the Democratic Party.

113 Early political activities and views; "I have rich Democratic heritage" which he abandoned, just as he left the Catholic church for the Lutheran church.

132 In 1960, his dislike for John Kennedy led him to become involved in Republican Party politics.

169 Broyhill Industries made it very clear that success in the company depended on community service.

175 Impressions of the Republican Party in NC in the late 1950s; it was mostly a place for "patronage," and "paper party."

196 He enjoyed the challenge - "that's just my nature" - of building the Republican Party. The common view that a Republican Party was not needed, because the Democratic Party was home to both conservative and more liberal wings.

210 His involvement in the Young Republicans (YR) ca. 1964, including nearly winning the top spot in the national YR organization; his support for Goldwater, whom he admired greatly.

242 Traveling the state to build YR chapters in NC. "That's my strength: building organization." Recruiting new YR members.

Interview number A-0418 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill. Restriction: Permission of interviewee required to read, listen to, or quote from interview. "N.C. Republican Party" - Tape Index, David T. Flaherty Sr. Interview, Sept. 27, 1996 3

260 The meeting where a group of persons convinced Jim Broyhill - "just a super guy, a very caring guy" - to run for Congress as a Republican; building the GOP by running good candidates whenever possible.

316 He enjoyed Broyhill Industries - never thought of going to Washington to join the Broyhill congressional staff - where he was "family" and appreciated the atmosphere and relationship he enjoyed with the company officers.

337 Why Barry Goldwater "was my hero" in 1964.

353 How the black vote (ten percent of the county) in Caldwell County was bought by both parties, Democrat and Republican; specific details about how this was accomplished, and how the GOP developed techniques to ensure that its effort to buy the black vote actually succeeded in the face of similar Democratic efforts. In those days, "vote buying was going on everywhere" and was "hardly a secret."

445 His race for the local city school board in 1965; though he lost by a very few votes, he brought vigorous campaigning to school board races for the first time and resulted in greatly increased turnout.

483 His impressions of the unfolding issue of race across the 1960s; "I never was prejudiced, coming from Boston"; his good relationships with blacks.

511 Using race as an issue during the Helms-Hunt Senate race in 1984, when he was state GOP chair: "Now, we used race when I became chairman, because we knew we couldn't beat Jim Hunt on issues. Jim Hunt was a very popular person...and we knew the only way we knew we could win against Jim Hunt was to turn it into a race against blacks and gays, and we purposely did things" to exploit these issues. "My role was to throw bombs" to provoke reactions from black and gay organizations, which drove up GOP poll numbers. "We did a lot... I was the guy who had to throw the grenades. But it was not with any commitment on my part" to anti-black or anti-gay sentiments, which he did not himself hold (earlier, he has said "I couldn't care less if someone is black or is gay" and has noted that, "In fact, my son's gay.") "But we knew we had to make it a black-gay race. And, boy, the more it got that way, the worse Jim Hunt's negatives went up...." How blacks in Caldwell County strongly supported him and his son (now the county district attorney) in their races, because they knew that neither Flaherty subscribed to such views personally.

553 For a long while, he did not see the power of the race issue to break the Democratic Party; in fact, he labored to win the black vote for Republicans well through the 1960s, though with little success.

585 Why he ran for the state senate in 1968: Paul Broyhill signed him up to run. How he organized and executed his campaign, and defeated his opponent in part on account of his tireless campaigning ("I had a goal of shaking 500 hands a day").

636 [End of Side A.]

Interview number A-0418 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill. Restriction: Permission of interviewee required to read, listen to, or quote from interview. "N.C. Republican Party" - Tape Index, David T. Flaherty Sr. Interview, Sept. 27,1996 4

[Cassette 1 of 1, Side B - Tape No. 9.27.96-DF]

001 [Opening announcement]

005 Further discussion of his 1968 state senate campaign; his Democratic opponent's confidence; running such a campaign at that time took little money and a lot of effort; there was no coordination at the time to the state GOP. "It was just your own race," period.

032 "Very frankly, I have never enjoyed anything more than serving in the legislature in North Carolina," in substantial part because back then there was a prevailing atmosphere of collegiality and "your word was your bond."

054 Impressions of Jim Holshouser in the late 1960s; while he greatly admires Holshouser, he disliked his top aid, Gene Anderson, whom he judged unscrupulous. "Gene Anderson was a very devious person," who did Holshouser's dirty work but also, in Flaherty's view, provided Holshouser with some bad advice.

080 How surprised he was that Jim Gardner emerged as the bright star of the NC GOP in the late 1960s; he judged Gardner as politically opportunistic and self- serving; why Gardner was "absolutely the worst chairman" the NC GOP ever had.

101 Impressions of Bob Scott, and with Skipper Bowles, with whom he had a very good relationship.

113 Recollections of the 1972 Holshouser gubernatorial victory, which no one but Holshouser himself ("he mortgaged his house") expected him to win.

160 How Frank Rouse broke a promise to Flaherty that he would not support Jim Gardner during his tenure if chosen state party chair in 1971. "I'm not a Frank Rouse fan."

170 Why Holshouser won the 1972 gubernatorial election.

190 Holshouser's vibrant, active administration and legislative program; when Holshouser became influenced by Gene Anderson's view that Holshouser might well be chosen as Ford's running mate in 1976, Holshouser lost his focus on the state, and the GOP suffered a severe set-back. "It's a tragedy" because Holshouser had such a fine record of legislative effort and implementation of useful programs as governor. Holshouser was a fiscal conservative, but still a strong believer in certain forms of positive government, much like Flaherty.

248 His tenure as Secty. of Human Resources in the Holshouser administration. "I think we did a pretty damn good job" when he reorganized the department and set it on a course that would prevail for many years. His efforts to reform the state's

Interview number A-0418 in the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill. Restriction: Permission of interviewee required to read, listen to, or quote from interview. "N.C. Republican Party" - Tape Index, David T. Flaherty Sr. Interview, Sept. 27, 1996 5

mental health system. How his efforts to reform drug purchasing to save money led to charges of a sweetheart deal, when in fact the company with the contract was squeezed so hard that it went bankrupt. His support for the idea of buying every minor a health policy in place of Medicaid.

334 How Watergate "killed us (the GOP)" and ruined his chances in the 1976 gubernatorial race against Jim Hunt. How his effort to make efficient use of a large state health facility led Hunt to charge in the 1976 race that Flaherty had set up a favorable deal for political friends. How, in fact, his service for Holshouser cost Flaherty one million dollars in stock options at Broyhill Industries.

433 Discussion of his 1976 race for governor. He first thought that he might run for governor in 1976 when he joined the Holshouser administration as Secty. of Human Resources; organizing the campaign and raising money; Hunt was able to raise tremendous amount of money; his first priority was to reduce the average class size in public schools, and he also supported the Equal Rights Amendment; primary and run-off opposition from Coy Privette of the Christian Action League, and how Privette's claim in the primary that Flaherty was a big spender as Secty. of Human Resources was used by Hunt in the general election; how Flaherty out- debated Hunt, and Hunt thereafter would never again debate Flaherty or appear on the same podium with him; he did little polling, but what polling he did showed clearly that he would lose to Hunt, so he did chose not to ruin himself financially by spending lots of his own money.

579 His one battle with Holshouser was over the governor's decision, in light of the oil embargo of 1973, to support dimming Christmas lights to save energy; also, how he campaign against the utility companies in the gubernatorial race.

609 [End of Side B. End of interview.]

**NB: This is the first of two sessions; see also the second session of Oct. 4,1996. This first session includes discussion of matters through ca. 1976.