James Baxter Hunt, Jr.

1937 -

James Baxter Hunt, Jr.
North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, 1980. Image Source: James B. Hunt, Jr., Papers (#325), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

James Baxter “Jim” Hunt, Jr., distinguished himself among North Carolina’s governors – as well as those nationwide – by serving four terms, his first two, 1977-1981, 1981-1985, followed by a second pair, 1993-1997, 1997-2001. Earlier, Hunt, a lifelong Democrat, had served as lieutenant governor, 1973-1977, during the administration of James E. Holshouser, Jr., North Carolina’s first Republican governor in the twentieth century. Less well known is Hunt’s longstanding support of ECU, first, as lieutenant governor and governor, during Leo W. Jenkins’ final years as chancellor, advancing the cause of ECU’s emerging medical school and finally seeing it, in 1977, admit its first class of students to a degree-granting, four-year program. When Jenkins retired in 1978, Hunt was among those past governors who paid homage to Jenkins’ legacy for ECU, the region, and the state. Then later, during his second two terms as governor, Hunt worked closely with Chancellor Richard R. Eakin to advance further growth, development, and recognition of ECU, helping to spur its emergence as an exceptional powerhouse in higher education in eastern N. C. and statewide.

Raised in rural Wilson County, Hunt completed his undergraduate degree at N. C. State College (later, N.C. State University), and then a law degree at UNC. However, as lieutenant governor and as governor, rather than show favoritism toward his alma maters, Hunt realized that a strong east, anchored educationally at ECU, was in the best interests of the state as a whole, and so he dedicated a considerable amount of his time, energy, and political attention during his five-terms in office to legislative initiatives empowering ECU as a positive force in educational, medical, and economic uplift for all North Carolinians.

Speaking at the Fifth Annual N.C. Service Award banquet at which Chancellor Jenkins received the N. C. Service Award, Gov. Hunt noted that he had known Dr. Jenkins since 1955 when he, Jenkins, then dean of East Carolina College, delivered the commencement address at Wilson’s Rock Ridge High School where Hunt, a graduating senior, had served as senior class president and valedictorian. The encounter between the young Hunt and Jenkins marked the start of a long partnership in service to the cause of educational leavening at all levels for the people of North Carolina. In 1978, as Jenkins neared retirement, Gov. Hunt noted how the chancellor had “awakened a sleeping giant,” i.e., the eastern part of the state, but in doing so did not simply benefit that region, but for the entire state. Recalling his tireless efforts in support of Jenkins’ own to establish a four-year medical school at ECU, Hunt related, “ … growing up in eastern North Carolina and feeling so deeply about providing full and equal opportunity for all our citizens, I knew that this was a real time when we were going to make history, to take a step that would do perhaps more than any single thing that has been done in the history of our region to move ahead.” Realizing Dr. Jenkins’ profound value to the state, Hunt coaxed the recently retired chancellor back into service as special assistant to the governor for economic development. Jenkins worked closely with Hunt in that capacity from 1978 until 1984, to the benefit of the state as well as, no doubt, the institution that had bound their fates in service to all, ECU.

Hunt’s admiration for Jenkins was matched by Jenkins’ for Hunt. Speaking on behalf of Hunt during his 1984 run for the U.S. Senate against Jesse Helms, Jenkins praised Hunt’s commitment to education which had “gained [for North Carolina] national recognition as a progressive leader.” Jenkins added, in endorsing the former governor’s candidacy, that Hunt had “played a significant part in the establishment of the School of Medicine and has helped ECU maintain its university status … Hunt has helped make ECU what it is today and we should be very proud of this accomplishment.”

Hunt was a regular presence on campus. In 1978, as governor, Hunt attended Jenkins’ last commencement ceremony along with two former governors who had also done much to advance ECU’s fortunes: Terry Sanford and Bob Scott. In 1979, Gov. Hunt presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new Brody Medical Sciences Building, and then in 1982, he presided at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the same building. In 1984, as part of his campaign (unsuccessful) for the U. S. Senate, Hunt campaigned on campus in Hendrix Auditorium, Mendenhall Student Center. In 1996, ECU conferred on Hunt an honorary doctorate of letters degree at its spring commencement. In his remarks on that occasion, Hunt predicted, to the delight of his ECU audience, that the Pirate football team would defeat rival N. C. State in the season ahead. In 1997, Hunt, serving in his third term as N.C. governor, honored one of East Carolina’s most prominent female alums, Janice Faulkner, by proclaiming January 9, 1997 “Janice Hardison Faulkner Appreciation Day.” In 1998, Gov. Hunt made campus history by having his gubernatorial cabinet meet on the ECU campus, in Mendenhall Student Center. In 1999, in the wake of hurricane Floyd’s devastation of much of eastern North Carolina, Hunt recorded a public statement addressed to “the Pirate Nation,” calling for private donations for the relief of those displaced by the hurricane.

In the years that followed Hunt’s last term in office, he has remained an active supporter of ECU, its mission in educational leadership, and its athletic programs as well as its burgeoning programs in education, health sciences, regional development, and medicine, making him by far the most important and academically well-rounded political friend East Carolina has had since its founding.

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Related Materials

Chancellor Thomas Brewer speaking on platform at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Brody Building. Present on the platform are Leo Jenkins, Jim Hunt, and six other men.

Groundbreaking ceremony of the Medical Science Building of the East Carolina University School of Medicine. Left to right: Dr. William Laupus, Governor Jim Hunt, Dr. Leo Jenkins, and Chancellor Thomas Brewer.

NC Governors attend ECU graduation. Image Source: Daily Reflector Negative Collection (#741), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Senator Morgan with President Carter and Governor Hunt at the White House. Image Source: Robert Morgan Papers (#268), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Governor Jim Hunt’s Statement to the Pirate Nation about the Hurricane Floyd Relief Fund, video recording

Citation Information

Title: James B. Hunt, Jr.

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 9/17/2021

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