Author: pat Stith

Republicans Need Not Apply

Thad Eure, North Carolina’s Secretary of State for more than 50 years [1936-1989], was the self-proclaimed “oldest rat in the Democratic barn.”

That Eure
That Eure

I liked him, mainly for two reasons:  His office was squared away and his door was always open.  Toward the end of his career, when some state officials worked in what amounted to locked bunkers –they still do– Mr. Eure’s door was always open.

One fine day  I heard  something about Mr. Eure –I always called him Mister– that was sort of hard to believe:  He did not hire any Republicans to work in the Secretary of State’s Office.  That’s not good.  That office didn’t belong to Mr. Eure.  That office, all state offices, belong to the people of North Carolina.

So I went to see him about that, wondering how he would handle my questions.   When I asked him if was true that he didn’t hired Republicans Mr. Eure told me this story.

He said a “fine looking young man” applied for an opening and he said he wanted to hire him. The applicant had a good education, and was qualified in every request. 

Mr. Eure said he told him, “Bring me a letter from the chairman of the Democratic Party in your county, recommending you, and the job is yours.”

“But Mr. Eure,” the job candidate told him, “I’m a Republican.”

Mr. Eure said he replied, “Son, you’ve been wasting my time. And yours too.”

Coming Monday: The Drug Dog Smelled Something

The Secret

Not long after my ship, USS Los Angeles, arrived in the Western Pacific and we began pulling liberty in Japan a shipmate told me that the lieutenant I worked for had snuck a 20-millimeter anti-tank rifle aboard the L.A.

USS Los Angeles (CA-135)
USS Los Angeles (CA-135)

In those days, 1961, there was a strong U.S. military presence in and around some  Japanese ports and I was told that there were warehouses where surplus World War II equipment was stored. I guess that’s where he got it.

It would not be easy to hide a 20-millimeter rifle, or tote one around, so I have no idea how he could have brought it aboard ship without being discovered.  But I didn’t put it past him. The lieutenant was, how shall I say, different.  Peculiar.

He believed the world as we knew would end in his lifetime, that almost everyone would die, at least, that’s what he told me. He said there would be two groups of survivors — masters and slaves. He intended to be a master. Toward that end he was building a bunker on the California side of Lake Tahoe, where he said his parents owned land.

A few days after I was told about the 20-millimeter rifle the lieutenant and I got to talking and he asked me what I knew about shotguns. I asked him why he was interested, did he want a shotgun for his bunker?  He said he did.

That’s when I asked him about that 20-millimeter rifle. Was that also for his bunker?

Oh, no, no.  Where had I heard such a thing? He tried to laugh off my inquiry, and we began talking about something else.

But when he got to leave the lieutenant leaned toward me and said, “Don’t say anything about that 20-millimeter.”

Coming Friday: Republicans Need Not Apply