Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Thomas J. White Papers #4231, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Thomas J. White, Jr., of Kinston, North Carolina, in May 1980.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: John Beam, September 1986

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Since additional material is expected, this collection has not yet been fully described or re-foldered. Additional processing is pending.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Daniels, Jonathan, 1902-1981.
• Finance, Public--North Carolina.
• Friday, William C. (William Clyde)
• Green, Paul, 1894-1981.
• Helms, Jesse.
• Hodges, Luther Hartwell, 1898-1974.
• Lawyers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Legislators--North Carolina--Correspondence.
• Lobbyists--North Carolina.
• Moore, Daniel Killian, 1906-1986.
• North Carolina--Appropriations and expenditures.
• North Carolina--Officials and employees--History.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1951-
• North Carolina. Advisory Budget Commission.
• North Carolina. General Assembly. House of Representatives--History.
• North Carolina. General Assembly. Senate--History.
• North Carolina. State Legislative Building Governing Commission.
• Public buildings--North Carolina.
• Scott, Robert Walter, 1929-
• Tobacco Tax Council.
• Tobacco--Taxation--North Carolina.
• White, Thomas J., 1903-1991.

• Jonathan Daniels Papers (#3466)
• Paul Green Papers (#3993)
• Luther H. Hodges Papers (#3698)
• Terry Sanford Papers (#3531)

Thomas Jackson White, Jr., was born in Concord, North Carolina, 6 March 1903. Upon graduation from Concord High School in 1920, White attended North Carolina State College for two years, but left and entered the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1924. Earning his degree in 1927, White subsequently practiced law in Durham before opening a practice in Kinston, North Carolina, in 1938. He served as Lenoir County Attorney from 1938 to 1964.

After an unsuccessful campaign for a General Assembly seat in 1944, White served as a member of the Wildlife Resources Commission from 1947 to 1949. In 1953, White made a successful bid for the General Assembly, and served as representative from Lenoir County in the 1953, 1955, and 1957 regular sessions and the extra session of 1956. He later ran for the State Senate, and served in the 1961, 1963, 1965, and 1967 regular sessions and the extra sessions of 1963, 1965, and 1966. White was a powerful figure in state government, serving in 1961 as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and, in 1963, 1965, and 1967, as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He also served on the Advisory Budget Commission from 1961 to 1973 (ten of those years as chairman), and headed the legislative building and art museum building commissions.

White's tenure in the State Legislature was often stormy. During the 1956 extra session, he advocated interposition as the best method of meeting the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision, rather than the "Pearsall Plan" (tuition grants to parents who chose not to send their children to integrated schools), which was backed by Governor Luther Hodges and a majority of the State Legislature. White also opposed the use of radar ("whammies") to catch speeding motorists, but was a proponent of drivers' education legislation. The senator also had an often fiery relationship with the press, resulting in prolific editorial coverage of White's activities. White retired from the State Senate in 1968.

During the 1969 regular session, White served as legislative counsel to Governor Robert Scott. Later, he served as a lobbyist for the Richmond-based Tobacco Tax Council, which fought against the taxation of tobacco products.

The bulk of this collection relates to White's legislative career as a member of the State House of Representatives and the State Senate, as Legislative Counsel to Governor Robert W. Scott, as a member of the State Advisory Budget Commission and the State Legislative Building Commission, and as a lobbyist for the Tobacco Tax Council. The remainder of the material consists of personal correspondence; papers dealing with White's legal career, civic organizations to which he belonged, and North Carolina state politics; and photographs and recordings. Notable correspondents are Jesse Helms, then executive vice-president of WRAL-TV in Raleigh (particularly folders 117, 142, 414); playwright Paul Green (folder 129); journalist Jonathan Daniels (folder 141); UNC President William Friday (particularly folder 141); and North Carolina Governors Luther H. Hodges (particularly folder 68), Dan K. Moore (particularly folders 129, 142), and Robert Scott (particularly folders 140, 195).

• Subseries 9.1. Pictures (P-4231/1-107, XO-PF-4231/1)
• Subseries 9.2. Audiodiscs (D-4231/1-3)
• Subseries 9.2. Audiocassettes (C-4231/1-2)
• Series 10. Volumes (Vols. S-1 and S-2)