Frank Porter Graham and the 1950 Senate Race in North Carolina

The tumultuous North Carolina Senate primaries of 1950 are still viewed as the most bitter chapter in the state’s modern political history. The central figure in that frenzied race was the appointed incumbent, Frank Porter Graham, former president of the University of North Carolina (1931–49) and liberal activist of national stature. As a Senate candidate, Graham was unrelentingly attacked for both his social activism and his racial views, and the vicious tactics used against him shocked his sup