Isaac “Ike” Hawley O’Hanlon

Image Source: News and Observer, June 2, 1967. P. 10.

Isaac “Ike” O’Hanlon served on the board from 1953 to 1959, having been appointed by Gov. William B. Umstead (1895–1954), to replace John P. Stedman (1894–1973) of Lumberton. As a trustee, O’Hanlon served on various committees related to buildings and business, campus names, and salaries and raises. During his tenure, the board addressed challenges to the school’s segregated status quo, and then following the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring segregation unconstitutional, efforts to comply with that decision. Board minutes do not relate that O’Hanlon, who consistently attended board meetings, was a vocal or leading force as a trustee on this issue or others. His relatively low-key demeanor on the board contrasted markedly with his prominent, often outspoken service in the state legislature.

A native of Fayetteville, O’Hanlon graduated from Fayetteville High School before completing his undergraduate degree at Wake Forest College (then located north of Raleigh, now Wake Forest University). O’Hanlon studied law at Wake Forest but before finishing his degree, secured, in 1935, a position with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in Washington, D. C., a federal agency established to stimulate state economies during the Great Depression.

After returning to Fayetteville, O’Hanlon took a position with Orkin Exterminating Company from 1945–1955. He was elected to the state legislature in 1953, the same year he was appointed a trustee at East Carolina. Two years later, he co-founded an extermination business, Antex Exterminating Company, Inc., in Fayetteville and soon emerged as a state leader in that area. He also helped establish, through his position as a state legislator, the North Carolina Structural Pest Control Commission meant to develop minimum standards for the emerging pest control industry in North Carolina, ensuring that businesses were licensed and maintained reasonable standards of service. O’Hanlon’s company, Antex, was, incidentally, the first pest control business licensed in the state.

In 1956, after serving two sessions in the state legislature, O’Hanlon was appointed to the N. C. Structural Pests Control Commission. Because this position precluded his continued service as a state legislator, O’Hanlon resigned his seat. In 1960, he ran for reelection to the state house but was defeated. In 1962, he ran again, this time successfully, and continued to serve in the state legislature through 1968 when, for personal and business reasons, he declined to seek reelection.

During the early 1960s, O’Hanlon emerged as an outspoken supporter of the speaker ban law prohibiting Communist speakers from appearing on state-supported campuses in North Carolina. The controversial law, eventually repealed, was championed by conservatives throughout the state and much opposed by UNC Chancellor William B. Aycock (1915–2015) and a number of academic leaders in Chapel Hill. O’Hanlon also stood in prominent, outspoken opposition to legislative efforts in the mid-1960s to abolish the death penalty.

On the far right of the political spectrum, O’Hanlon declared, during a Confederate Memorial Day address in Fayetteville, that he was a “dyed-in-the-wool conservative and that’s the greatest compliment in the world to me.” On another occasion, when asked about Gov. Dan K. Moore’s request for laws against cross burnings, O’Hanlon responded, “Personally, I’d like to see us all live together without strife but it is hard to pass laws aimed directly at the Ku Klux Klan for example and still condone civil disobedience.”

Despite his political prominence in the 1960s, O’Hanlon, while a supporter, did not play a prominent role in East Carolina’s drive for university status. During the most crucial year of that drive, 1967, O’Hanlon was making political headlines supporting legislation allowing twin-trailer tractor trailers on highways. O’Hanlon also supported legislation for highway beautification and strict vehicle inspection laws. And he supported private instruction for driver education, noting that many who needed driver’s licenses could not take public high school courses in driver’s education.

When asked about his views on East Carolina’s bid for university status, O’Hanlon stated, “I am all for separate and independent university status for East Carolina College and consider it the savior of the eastern section of the state.” He added “I believe the present Consolidated University system is large enough with its four schools and feel competition will be healthy for our system of higher education.” Though clearly a backer of East Carolina’s rise to university status, O’Hanlon was not as outspoken on that issue as he was on a host of others.

Sources

• “About Antex Exterminating of Greater Fayetteville.” https://www.pestcontrolnorthcarolina.com/about-us.html
• “Aycock Answers Gag-Law Query.” Daily Tar Heel. January 7, 1964. P. 2.
• “Ban Vote Seen as Possible.” News and Observer. November 12, 1965. P. 1.
• “Bill to Allow Highway Patrol Use of Planes Approved by Committee.” Danville Register. April 28, 1967. P. 3.
• Blue, Cliff. “Tar Heel People & Issues.” The News of Orange County. May 16, 1968. Sect. II, p. 8.
• “Bows Out.” News and Observer. July 10, 1965. P. 5.
• Brown, Dick. “Know Your Legislator: O’Hanlon Has Little Enthusiasm for Tax Cut; Supports ECC Bid.” News and Observer. January 28, 1967. P. 5.
• Clay, Russell. “Death Penalty Foes Defeated.” News and Observer. April 21, 1967. P. 8.
• “Cumberland Cites O’Hanlon Successor.” Durham Morning Herald. July 14, 1956. P. 3.
• “East Carolina’s Board of Trustees.” East Carolinian. April 26, 1956. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38399
• “ECC Trustees Meet at College Friday.” News and Observer. August 19, 1953. P. 3.
• “Graham and Exterminators Debate Pest Bill.” News and Observer. June 2, 1967. P. 10.
• “Hall of Fame: Ike O’Hanlon.” North Carolina Pest Management Association. https://www.ncpestmanagement.org/about-ncpma/hall-fame
• Nichol, Gene R. “Bill Aycock and the North Carolina Speaker Ban Law.” North Carolina Law Review. Vol. 79 (2001). Pp. 1725-1742. http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol79/iss6/7
• “O’Hanlon Enters Race for House.” Durham Herald-Sun. February 14, 1962. P. 8B.
• “O’Hanlon Urges ‘Yes Vote’ for Road Bonds at Three County Meet.” Cherokee Scout and Clay County Progress. October 21, 1965. P. 1. https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn95072291/1965-10-21/ed-1/seq-1/
• “O’Hanlon Won’t Run.” Durham Sun. March 23, 1968. P. 6.
• Records of the Chancellor: Records of John Decatur Messick, 1947-1959. University Archives # UA02-05. Box 6: O'Hanlon, I.H., Member of the Board of Trustees, 1953-1959. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N. C.
• “Road ‘Beauty’ Bill Clears N. C. House.” Danville Register. June 22, 1967. P. 9A.

Related Materials

Image Source: Buccaneer, 1958, p. 47. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15309

Image Source: Buccaneer, 1957, p. 20. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15308

Image Source: Buccaneer, 1956, p. 121. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15307

Image Source: Howler, 1933, I. H. O'Hanlon, First Year Law School, Wake Forest College, 1933, p. 159. https://lib.digitalnc.org/record/28547?ln=en#?xywh=-1164%2C0%2C6707%2C2847&cv=162

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