Rob's answers to reader questions

Rob Christensen recently took Dome reader questions on his new book, "The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics."

Here are his answers to a few of those questions: 

Is the book you wrote the book you set out to write? If different, how so?

This is pretty much the book I set out to write. I wanted to write the book that I wanted to read: a book that connected the dots, that provided some context, and that involved some story-telling.

In reviewing the period covered, did you have any eureka moments? What were they?

A long the way, there were a number of surprises. Who knew that we almost had a governor lynched or that the first woman candidate for governor was a KGB agent, or that a North Carolina senator was a Nazi sympathizer? But what was most interesting to me is how the same issues play out time and time again. As Harry Truman once remarked, the only thing new in the world is the history you don't know.

Who was the most fascinating unheralded political figure you encountered or learned about?

Gov. O. Gardner, who was elected in 1928. He was a textile plant owner and a lawyer who pretty much invented state government as it exists today. After leaving office, he moved to Washington to become one of the first of the super lobbyists. But for 20 years he continued to run the state from his suite in the Mayflower Hotel.

Is there anyone who in your estimate should have but didn't achieve political success warranted by his or her ability? Who was the most memorable overachiever?

The memorable overachiever was two-term Sen. Robert Reynolds (1932-1944) who won election saying that the sitting senator, Cameron Morrison, a Charlotte plutocrat, ate fish eggs and red Russian fish eggs at that, and wasn't it time to elect a senator who didn't mind eating regular old North Carolina hen eggs.

What would be the subject of a book about N.C. politics that you have no intention of writing?

A boring history of the administration of each governor.