James Eubert Holshouser (8 October 1934-17 June 2013) was the Republican Governor of North Carolina from 5 January 1973 to 8 January 1977, succeeding Robert W. Scott and preceding Jim Hunt.
Biography[]
James Eubert Holshouser was born in Boone, North Carolina in 1934, and he worked as a sports journalist before practicing law and serving in the State House from 1963 to 1967 and from 1969 to 1973 and as Governor from 1973 to 1977. Holshouser was the first Republican governor of North Carolina in 77 years, and he focused on restructuring government and higher education and on drug abuse legislation. He fired many incumbent state employees to replace them with Republicans, and enacted hundreds of cost-cutting measures. He expanded the state's kindergarten program and environmental legislation, and he unsuccessfully pursued the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. He left office in 1977 and practiced law in Southern Pines and served on the UNC Board of Governors until his death in 2013.