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Former S.C. Gov. John C. West, 81, Dies
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| Contributor | User 13 |
| Last Edited | User 13 Mar 22, 2004 10:50am |
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| Category | Obituary |
| News Date | Monday, March 22, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Former Democratic Gov. John C. West, who helped smooth racial tensions in South Carolina in the years after highway patrolmen shot and killed three black student protesters, died Sunday. He was 81.
West, who served as governor from 1971 to 1975, died at his home in Hilton Head after a lengthy battle with cancer, said former state Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian.
``I've lost my close friend and South Carolina has lost its leader for racial harmony,'' said U.S. Sen. Ernest ``Fritz'' Hollings, D-S.C., who attended The Citadel with West.
West hired James Clyburn as a senior aide, becoming one of the first governors to hire a black man to such a position. He later tapped Clyburn to run the new State Human Affairs Commission that he set up in 1972. Clyburn went on to become the state's first black U.S. representative since Reconstruction.
The commission was set up four years after the Orangeburg Massacre, in which highway patrolmen opened fire on a civil rights protest at the historically black South Carolina State University. Three students were killed and 27 were wounded.
In 1997, the commission celebrated its 25th anniversary, and West said it sent a message ``that we had put aside racial divisions. ... I'd like to think this was a major turning point in race relations, because it set up communications where (problems) could be addressed before it reached a crisis point.''
West also pushed plans through the Legislature to create the state's second medical school at the University of South Carolina.
``He was a governor who embraced the change that occurred in South Carolina and challenged South Carolina to do better,'' said former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges.
When West's term ended as governor, he went on to set up law practices in Camden and Hilton Head. In 1977, President Carter appointed him as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. |
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