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R. Gregg Cherry

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R. Gregg Cherry
A black and white photograph of a white man in a suit
R. Gregg Cherry, 1945
61st Governor of North Carolina
In office
January 4, 1945 – January 6, 1949
LieutenantLynton Y. Ballentine
Preceded byJ. Melville Broughton
Succeeded byW. Kerr Scott
Member of the North Carolina Senate
from the 26th district
In office
November 5, 1940 – November 7, 1944
Preceded byJ. H. Separk
Succeeded byStephen B. Dolley
Chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party
In office
July 30, 1937 – August 14, 1940
Preceded byJ. Wallace Winborne
Succeeded byEmery B. Denny
Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives
In office
December 10, 1936 – January 4, 1939
Preceded byR. Grady Johnson
Succeeded byD. L. Ward
Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from Gaston County
In office
November 4, 1930 – November 5, 1940
Succeeded byBasil Whitener
25th Mayor of Gastonia
In office
1919–1923
Preceded byArthur M. Dixon
Succeeded byB. H. Parker
Personal details
BornRobert Gregg Cherry
(1891-10-17)October 17, 1891
York County, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedJune 25, 1957(1957-06-25) (aged 65)
Gastonia, North Carolina, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1921)​
EducationDuke University
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Battles/wars

Robert Gregg Cherry (October 17, 1891 – June 25, 1957) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 61st governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1945 to 1949.

Early life and family

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Childhood, education, and military service

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Born in York County, South Carolina near Rock Hill, Cherry grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina with relatives after the death of his parents. He earned bachelor's and law degrees at Trinity College (now Duke University).[1] He organized and led a volunteer artillery company during World War I.

Marriage

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In 1921, he married Lula Mildred Stafford, the daughter of the Mayor of Greensboro Emory Junius Stafford.[2]

Career

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Cherry served as mayor of Gastonia from 1919 to 1923,[3] as a member and speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, as chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party (1937–1940), and as a member of the North Carolina Senate. In Gastonia, it was joked that he was the best lawyer in town when sober, and the second-best lawyer in town when drunk.[4]

In 1944, Cherry was elected governor as the last in a series of governors affiliated with the political machine of former governor O. Max Gardner.[5] He was sworn in on January 4, 1945.[6] While campaigning for governor, Cherry went, according to one observer,

up and down the state preaching health and hard work, better educational facilities and sound financing, improved opportunities for the state employees, veterans, and teachers, better roads, rural telephone service and electricity for everyone, fair treatment of labor, improved agriculture, conservation and development of the state's resources, tax reduction where possible, and plans for a post-war construction program.[7]

Cherry inherited an economy facing material and labor shortages as a result of the ongoing Second World War. One of his primary focuses during his term was the improvement of mental health care at state-run facilities. Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, North Carolina, is named for him.

On May 3, 1947, Cherry commuted the death sentences of four men convicted of gang raping a woman. Calvin Covington, Granger Thompson, Stacy Powell, and Cliff Inman had been convicted of raping Dorothy Frye in Lumberton in March 1946. Despite the racial dynamics (all four rapists were black and Frye was white), the crime had drawn less outcry since Frye had entered Lumberton's black section to buy liquor her husband was a union organizer. She was gang raped after her husband left her waiting in the car. In commuting the sentences of the four convicted rapists to life imprisonment, Cherry blamed the victim.

"After careful consideration, I am convinced that the death penalty is too severe in this case. I believe that the prosecutrix by her own misconduct and failure to observe a sense of propriety placed herself in such a situation as to create a temptation for the defendants to mistreat her and to make her an easy victim of their beastly lusts."[8]

Earlier that year, Cherry had commuted the death sentence of Thomas Lewis, another black man convicted of raping a white woman. The decision came in response to a judge petitioning for clemency, saying that Lewis's accuser, Willie Mae Johnson, was a prostitute with a long criminal record.[8] Other clemency decisions by Cherry, however, had a factual basis. In 1945, he commuted the death sentences of Marvin Matheson, a 15-year-old boy who was convicted of the murder of Chief of Police Dexter A. Millsaps, and Ernest Brooks, a 14-year-old black who was convicted of raping a pregnant white woman in front of her 7-year-old daughter during a burglary. Cherry cited the ages of the two as the reason for his decision.[8][9]

Unlike other Southern Democrats, Cherry, despite his segregationist views, supported Harry S. Truman for re-election in 1948 and did not join the Dixiecrats.[10] He was succeeded by W. Kerr Scott on January 6, 1949.[6] He retired from politics and returned to the practice of law. Cherry has a plaque dedicated to him in downtown Gastonia, NC.

References

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  1. ^ "North Carolina manual [serial]". 1916.
  2. ^ Ham, Marie Sharpe; Blake, Debra A.; Morris, C. Edwards (2000). North Carolina's First Ladies 1891-2001, Who Have Resided in the Executive Mansion At 200 North Blount Street. Raleigh, North Carolina: The North Carolina Executive Mansion Fine Arts Committee and the North Carolina Executive Mansion Fund, Inc. pp. 51–52. ISBN 0-86526-294-2.
  3. ^ "Robert Gregg Cherry". January 5, 2013.
  4. ^ Tar Heel Laughter By Richard Walser
  5. ^ Christensen, Rob. The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics. 2008. UNC Press.
  6. ^ a b Cheney 1981, p. 423.
  7. ^ PUBLIC ADDRESSES AND PAPERS of ROBERT GREGG CHERRY GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA 1945-1949 Edited by David Leroy Corbitt, Head, Division of Publications State Department of Archives and History Raleigh Council of State State of North Carolina 1951, p.xiii
  8. ^ a b c Seth, Kotch (May 2009). "Unduly harsh and unworkably rigid: the death penalty in North Carolina, 1910-1961". Carolina Digital Repository. Archived from the original on April 26, 2025.
  9. ^ "THE SOUTH: Two Governors". TIME. January 7, 1946.
  10. ^ "R. Gregg Cherry (O-56) | NC DNCR". www.dncr.nc.gov. January 19, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2025.

Works cited

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  • Cheney, John L. Jr., ed. (1981). North Carolina Government, 1585-1979 : A Narrative and Statistical History (revised ed.). Raleigh: North Carolina Secretary of State. OCLC 1290270510.
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