Samuel James Ervin, Jr. (1896-1985) was a white attorney, legislator, judge, congressman, and US senator. Born in Morganton, NC, Ervin was the son of Laura Theresa (Powe) and Samuel James Ervin. Ervin’s father was one of the most prominent lawyers of his time in Western North Carolina—practicing in Burke County as well as the neighboring counties of Avery, Caldwell, Catawba, McDowell, Mitchell, and Watauga. Ervin graduated from high school in 1913 and enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill. He attended college there between 1913 and 1917 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1917. Ervin served for the US Army in WWI with the First Division at Cantigny and Soissons; he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts. In April 1919, Ervin returned to the US. He was admitted to the North Carolina bar in August and enrolled at Harvard Law School; he graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Law degree in 1922.
Ervin was elected for the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1922, 1924, and 1930. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he served as a state judge. He was a US Senator from 1954 to 1974 and served on the Judiciary Committee for most of his Senate career. Two of his more well-known committee assignments were on the Select Committee to Study Censure Charges against Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, known popularly as the Senate Watergate Committee. From 1973 to 1974, Ervin chaired the Senate Watergate Committee because he was a senator without presidential aspirations who was respected by both his Democratic and Republican colleagues.
Ervin was a big proponent of civil liberties, which is not to be confused with civil rights. Civil liberties are liberties that protect people from the government as listed in the Bill of Rights. Civil rights, on the other hand, refer to legal provisions to protect individuals from discrimination. During his senate tenure, Ervin opposed civil rights legislation for Black Americans, as he disagreed with the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and fought against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, and the Equal Rights Amendment in 1971. Generally speaking, Ervin supported civil liberties with few exceptions. Examples include opposing prayer in public schools, exposing the military’s practice of surveillance of civilians considered dangerous by the government, and defending the press’s freedom to conceal its sources.
Ervin chose not to run for reelection and left the Senate in 1974. He retired to Morganton, NC, and continued to practice law, write, research, and give lectures. Ervin passed away on April 23, 1985.
Due to Ervin’s role as a prominent figure in North Carolina politics and a UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus, Wilson Library received the collection in September 1994. Items of particular note for this digital exhibit are the letters from Nixon declining to produce tapes and other personal papers to the Senate Select Committee.
References:
Ducey, M. F. (2023, July). Ervin, Samuel James, Jr. NCpedia. Retrieved July 17, 2023, from https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/ervin-samuel-james-jr
Medlin, E. (2020). Interpreting historical figures: Senator Sam Ervin. ANCHOR: A North Carolina History Online Resource. Retrieved February 29, 2024, from https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/senator-sam-ervin-interpreting-historical-figures
Misiroglu, G. (2018). Differences Between Civil Liberties and Civil Rights. In The Handy American Government Answer Book: How Washington, Politics, and Elections Work. Visible Ink Press. Retrieved July 31, 2023, from Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/vipgab/differences_between_civil_liberties_and_civil_rights/0
Southern Historical Collection. (n.d.). Sam J. Ervin Papers, Subgroup A: Senate Records, 1954-1975 [finding aid]. Sam J. Ervin Papers (03847A), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC. Retrieved July 17, 2023, from https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/03847A/