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Great Carolina Orators
For two
1н111<1г€ч1
years or more. North Car¬
olina lias had many outstanding orators.
Mr. Lawrence tells you about some off them
who lived in his day and time.
OUR Slate has been famous
for its debaters and orators
from the davs of Willie
Jones and Governor Samuel John¬
ston down to the present era of
Governor Clyde R. Hoey, Senator
Cameron Morrison, and Governor
Blucher Ehringhaus, but the pur¬
view of this article only permits
me to refer briefly to only a few
of the great orators it has been my
high privilege to hear in person.
What was the greatest speech
ever delivered by a Carolinian in
the Senate of the United States?
Was it the nationally famous ora¬
tion of Senator Vance on the “Scat¬
tered Nation"; or the eulogies of
Senator Ransom on the prowess of
the Confederate soldier: or the
fierce invectives of Senator Merri-
mon delivered against the wreck¬
ers of the Reconstruction period?
No. it was an oration delivered by
Carolina’s native son. Edwin A.
Alderman, at that time president
of the University of Virginia, who
had never been a member of the
Senate. Since the first adoption of
the Federal Constitution, it had
been the unbroken custom for eu¬
logies in honor of recently deceased
Presidents to be delivered by some
member of the Congress, but when
Woodrow Wilson died, the unprece¬
dented honor was paid the peerless
orator Edwin A. Alderman when
he was invited to deliver the eulogy
on the dead leader of the First
World War. The orator had a great
subject on which to speak; and
right regally did he perform the
task which had devolved upon
him.
The Great Aycock
My memory takes me back to the
dawn of the present century.
It is January. 1901. and the
scene is Raleigh. The riot of Russel-
ism has been ended, and the match¬
less Aycock is to be inaugurated
as Governor, and is to bring a new
birth of freedom to his native State.
He is to take the Negro out of poli¬
tics: and put the children of both
races into the public schools — “A
school for every child, and every
child in a school." His great in¬
augural was to be delivered from
By R. C. LAWRENCE
the cast portico of the capitol, un¬
der the very shadow of the monu¬
ment erected by the State in honor
of the immortal Vance. A vast audi¬
ence has assembled to hear the
princely Aycock. and when he rises
to speak he is greeted by a perfect
storm of cheers. From the begin¬
ning even unto the end of his great
oration, he sweeps his audience
before him. and plays upon their
hearts and emotions even as a vio¬
linist does upon the strings of his
instrument. I wonder if Aycock
then had any premonition that be¬
fore many years should pass away,
he would join Vance in the Panthe¬
on of the immortals as the repre¬
sentative of our State in the Na¬
tional Hall of Fame at Washing¬
ton? Who knows?
Aycock was an absolute master
over men. I recall that when the
Democratic State Convention at
Greensboro got entirely out of the
control of its chairman, and after
leader after leader had appealed in
vain for some semblance of order
that the business before the con¬
vention might proceed, the chair¬
man, as a last resort, sent for Ay¬
cock. Aycock strode upon the plat¬
form and simply held up his hands.
Instantly the pandemonium ceased
and a great hush descended upon
the great auditorium. Then came
his words, sharp and clear, which
lashed his hearers as with a whip
of scorpions: "The gentleman who
has been trying to address you is
a Democrat. Democrats will accord
to him a respectful hearing."
Thereafter the convention sat in
absolute silence, like chastened
children. Aycock was, par excel¬
lence, the greatest orator I ever
heard.
Claude Kitchin
Claude Kitchin was an orator by-
training and by inheritance, for
his father, Captain William H.
Kitchin, was a platform speaker
of tremendous power, and his
brother. Governor William Walton
Kitchin. was one of the most fin¬
ished orators our State has pro¬
duced. Claude Kitchin was one of
the handsomest men ever in pub¬
lic life, and added an attractive
personality to a compelling voice.
He was long chairman of the Ways
and Means Committee at Wash¬
ington, and majority leader of the
House at the outbreak of the First
World War. I think the highest
tribute that could be paid to any
orator came to him from Speaker
Joseph G. Cannon — himself a Caro¬
lina-born Republican. When a Re¬
publican Representative sought to
enter the oratorical lists in opposi¬
tion to Kitchin. Speaker Cannon
sent him this note: "You damned
fool, leave Kitchin alone. He’ll eat
you up!”
It was not my privilege to hear
the peerless orator while he was in
Congress, but I heard him more
than once during the campaign in
which his brother, Governor Kitch¬
in, sought the Democratic nomina¬
tion for the United States Senate.
I was a Simmons supporter, but
the great orator so played upon
my heart and mind that I left wish¬
ing that I could vote for his brother,
and so moved was I that a few
days later I left my office and went
fifty miles for the privilege of hear¬
ing him speak again.
Thomas Dixon was an author of
national reputation, and a pulpiteer
of tremendous power. He also
came from a family of orators, his
brother. Dr. Clarence Dixon, being
the George W. Truett of his day,
filling metropolitan pulpits, includ¬
ing Spurgeon’s great Tabernacle in
London, while another brother,
Frank, was one of the best known
lecturers upon the national Cha-
tauqua circuit. I first saw Thomas
Dixon when he was in the House
of Representatives from Cleveland
County when just twenty-one years
old. Although I was but eight years
old at the time, his speech made
such an impression upon me that
I can to this day point out the very
desk that he occupied.
Soon thereafter he became pas¬
tor of the Marble Collegiate
Church in New York City; and
also a lecturer with a national au-
