It's hard to imagine how a man so cleverly forward-looking in business could be so backwards in his social views. He urged a local college on whose board he sat to integrate, but put his money behind Strom Thurmond at the federal level. He was probably the last of the great patroons of the textile industry, preaching for free markets while seeking continued government protectionism; professing his fondness for his little worker bees but closing plants when they voted to unionize.
A graduate of Yale on French history, he made his career in a state- and backing a party- where being unlettered- even anti-education- is an electoral recommendation.
But he planted a lot of trees in and around Spartanburg. Condolences to his family.
No comments:
Post a Comment