Skipper Bowles

Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles Jr. (November 16, 1919 – September 7, 1986) was an American Democratic politician and businessman, based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Hargrove Bowles Jr. was born on November 16, 1919, in Monroe, North Carolina.

His father was a banker.

When the bank he managed closed during the Great Depression, the Bowles family moved to Greensboro.

Hargrove completed high school in Monroe, earning the nickname "Skipper" while he managed the school's football team.

While in Monroe he befriended future politician Jesse Helms.

Bowles enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1937 fall semester and briefly lived as a roommate of Terry Sanford.

While a student he worked in a dining hall before becoming a manager of a clothing store in downtown Chapel Hill.

Bowles also led a dance band in which he played the trumpet, served on the university's honor council, and was a staff member of the student humor magazine, The Buccaneer.

Involved in student politics, he served as class president during his sophomore year.

He left the university one semester before getting a degree to attend a school on insurance run by the Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company in Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1941 he returned to Greensboro and married Jessamine Boyce.

He had four children with her.

He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945, being discharged at the rank of corporal.

Following his marriage, Bowles joined the management staff of wholesale grocer Thomas & Howard, where his father-in-law served as president.

Working his way up through the company, he served as its vice president from 1948 to 1952 before being elevated to the presidency upon his father-in-law's death.

In 1956 Bowles started the Bowles Realty and Insurance Company.

He sold his interest in the company in 1958.

Bowles served as finance director for Terry Sanford's gubernatorial campaign in 1960.

In January 1961, Sanford, who had been elected governor of North Carolina, appointed Bowles director of the Department of Conservation and Development.

He was sworn in on January 9.

In that capacity he actively worked to recruit new industries and brought corporate executives on tours in North Carolina to convince them to invest in the state.

In the summer of 1961, Sanford and Bowles jointly decided to racially integrate North Carolina's state parks.

In 1962, Bowles promulgated an official policy desegregating park facilities.

That summer Bowles resigned from the directorate of the Department of Conservation and Development to free up more of his time to devote to his businesses.

Sanford in turn designated him as chairman of the department's policy-making board of directors; Bowles switched jobs on August 2.

Sanford later placed him on the board of directors of the North Carolina Fund.

Though Sanford finished his term with a high rate of unpopularity, Bowles remained a staunch ally and defender of his administration.

In 1965 he became chairman of an investment bank.

Bowles left the department chairmanship on June 30, 1965.

In November 1966 Bowles ran for as one of seven candidates for six seats in the North Carolina House of Representatives for Guilford County.

He placed fourth with 22,670 votes and secured one of the seats.

Bowles was later elected to two terms in the North Carolina Senate.

He was sworn-in to the body on January 15, 1969.

Bowles long aspired to be elected governor of North Carolina.

In 1972, he declared himself a candidate in the Democratic primary for the gubernatorial race.

Fashioning himself as a progressive centrist, he emphasized his support for expanding the state's community college system and technical education opportunities to strengthen the economy while opposing tax increases.

He was opposed in his bid by Lieutenant Governor Hoyt Patrick Taylor Jr.—the early favorite of Democratic leaders, black dentist Reginald Hawkins, and labor unionist Wilbur Hobby.

Bowles inherited much of Sanford's old coalition and anticipated receiving strong backing from residents of Guilford County.

Wealthy and an active alumnus of UNC, he had personal financial resources he could devote to his campaign and was familiar with many state business leaders.