F.P.G. Student Union

Frank Porter Graham, whose name graces the Student Union, once said UNC stands "under the skies that give their color and their charm to the life of youth gathered here - there is music in the air of the place."

The Fayetteville native spent more than 40 years at UNC. He was a student, a teacher, an administrator and, when he left, a representative of the people of North Carolina and the nation.

After graduating from UNC, Graham earned a degree from Columbia University and started his teaching career.

In 1915, he became a professor at UNC, but in June 1917, Graham enlisted in the United States Marine Corps to fight in World War I. After two years, in which he rose from private to lieutenant, he returned to UNC.

Teaching was Graham's passion.

"He was essentially a teacher," says John Sanders, former director of the Institute of Government. "A very popular, good teacher."

Sanders says Graham made many friends while on the history faculty, and when Harry Chase resigned as University president in 1930, he was encouraged to fill the vacancy. Graham, however, wished to remain in the classroom.

"He did not want to be president - he resisted it," Sanders says. "I think he preferred teaching, but he ultimately accepted it."

Graham served as president from 1930 to 1949, through the Great Depression and World War II. Perhaps his greatest legacy is that he held the University together during the depression years.

At the time, UNC's funding had been cut in half, but Graham still managed to keep the University afloat.

"Keeping students in school, keeping the doors open, and not only surviving but to some extent thriving, in that period was a real achievement," Sanders says.

When N.C. senator J. Melville Broughton died in office in 1949, Graham was appointed to replace him by Gov. W. Kerr Scott. Graham served the remainder of the term and participated in the bitter 1950 campaign against Willis Smith, a Raleigh lawyer.

During the campaign, ads were printed portraying Graham as a Communist and a sympathizer with blacks.

One ad read, "If you fear left-wing socialism, then elect Willis Smith."

Also, photos were doctored to show Graham's wife dancing with a black man and statistics were printed to show the overwhelming support Graham was receiving in black communities.

The campaign, which allegedly involved help from Jesse Helms, was so dirty that Smith threatened to fire his staff members if he could prove they were responsible for some of the actions.

At the time, Graham was considered a progressive leader. He did, in fact, have large support from the black community and, though he did not open UNC's doors to black students, he supported blacks' right to vote and to fair employment.

But Sanders says that by today's standards, "He would not be a liberal at all."

Graham went on to lose the 1950 election.

Later, as a United Nations representative, he mediated the dispute between India and Pakistan about the Kashmir region.

He retired from the UN in 1967 due to health issues and died in 1972. He is buried in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery.

 

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