John C. West

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John Carl West (August 27, 1922–March 21, 2004) was a U.S. Democratic Party politician who served as Governor of South Carolina from 1971 to 1975.

[edit] Early life

He was born in Camden, South Carolina and grew up in the Kershaw County, South Carolina farming community of Charlotte Thompson. The following May, his father was killed along with 76 other people in a fire at the Cleveland, South Carolina schoolhouse. His mother and maternal grandmother escaped from the fire unharmed. In 1942, he married his childhood sweetheart, Lois Rhame. The couple had three children, a daughter and two sons, Shelton, Douglas, and John, Jr. That same year, he graduated from The Citadel, and was enlisted in the United States Army as an intelligence officer during World War II.

[edit] Political career

Following the war, he earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1946. From 1948 to 1952, he served on the state Highway Commission. In 1954, he coordinated the unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidacy of Edgar A. Brown. He served in the state senate from 1954 to 1966. During his tenure in the state senate, he served on several committees which studied public school curriculum, investigated Communist party activities, studied the state Development Board, studied state support for the nursing profession, studied state support for junior colleges, and recommended revision to the state constitution.

He served as Lieutenant Governor from 1966 to 1970. In the 1970 gubernatorial election, West defeated U.S. Congressman Albert Watson, a former Democrat, carrying 53.2% of the vote. Following his tenure as Governor, he returned to private law practice and served as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1977 to 1981. After returning to the United States, he became a Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of South Carolina. From 1993 until his death from cancer, he was a Partner in the Hilton Head, South Carolina law office of Bethea, Jordan, and Griffin.