I could use your help identifying the notable North Carolinian in this photo. The man at left looks awfully familiar — I’m pretty certain it’s a governor from the early to mid 20th century. Before I start to dig around on my own, I thought I’d turn to the collective wisdom of the North Carolina Miscellany readers. Any ideas?
The man on the left in this photo looks a lot like North Carolina Gov. Clyde R. Hoey. He was Governor from 1937-1941.
Check the photo in this link:
http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/182/entry
Is that Harry S. Truman behind him (glasses and hat), or just a look-a-like?
Perhaps this was in conjunction with Truman’s visit to NC, an event also attended by Hoey
(see this photo in the Morton Collection:
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/morton_highlights&CISOPTR=1635&CISOBOX=1&REC=3)
Looks to me like summer hats in Photo A but winter coats in Photo B.
David: The man in the background does look remarkably similar to truman. Those two photos of the governor don’t look all that similar though…
I don’t know about Truman, but I completely agree that your mystery man in the initial photo is Hoey.
Nice work! I knew he looked familiar. There are already a couple of pictures of Hoey on DigitalNC, from the Davie County Public Library: http://xrl.us/binpkm.
The photo shown here is from the Ashe County Public Library. It was in an envelope with others taken at what looks like the dedication of the Alleghany Bridge, over the New River.
I’m not sure about Truman. Did he ever visit Ashe County? There were no other images of him in the photos that we digitized. If he was there, would he really just be standing back in the crowd like that?
Nick, I think your last question is the decider…. Of course, it’s possible the guy on the right (cool belt!) had just said, “Would you step to the back, Mr. President? I don’t want to miss this chance to have my picture taken with Sen. Hoey.”
Or maybe “Gov. Hoey,” depending on the date of the bridge dedication.