Robert Evander McNair

McNair was born in Cades, a town in Williamsburg County, South Carolina. In 1944, he married Josephine Robinson of Allendale, South Carolina. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, having been awarded a Bronze Star. After the war, he completed his bachelor's degree in 1947 at the University of South Carolina, where he was a member of the Euphradian Society.^[1] He received a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the same school in 1948.

While attending USC, McNair served as the first governor of the South Carolina Student Legislature, was initiated into the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

He went on to practice law in Moncks Corner and Allendale, South Carolina. from which he was elected in 1950 to the South Carolina House of Representatives. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1962, then succeeded Donald S. Russell in 1965 when Russell resigned with the understanding that McNair would appoint him to a then-vacant United States Senate seat.^[2]

McNair won the 1966 general election over State Representative Joseph O. Rogers Jr., of Manning, the first Republican gubernatorial nominee in South Carolina in the 20th century.^[3]

Orangeburg Massacre

McNair was governor during the Orangeburg Massacre in 1968, which he blamed on Black Power advocates, and called it a stain on the state's good record in civil rights. In 2006, decades after leaving office, however, McNair admitted responsibility for the deaths of the three Black civil rights activists killed in Orangeburg.^[4]

He said it was "one of the saddest days in the history of South Carolina." Following this, McNair became much more proactive in working to defuse tensions that were present during the integration of the public schools.^{[citation needed]}

National politics

In 1968, McNair was considered as a potential running mate for Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey. At the 1968 Democratic National Convention, McNair served as chair of the Southern Governors Conference.^[5]

After his term as governor, he originated McNair Law Firm, P.A. in Columbia. He was inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame, and awarded an honorary doctorate in 2005 by Francis Marion University, a school which he signed into creation while governor in 1970. On May 21, 2009, McNair was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame.

McNair was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor during a checkup on September 28, 2007,^[6] from which he died in Columbia on November 17.^[7]