Governor Martin begins episode three of Biographical Conversations with James G. Martin by discussing his second term as Governor of North Carolina. Intent on improving relations with the Democratic-controlled legislature, Martin stressed goals to unify the state government, His second inaugural address spoke of plans to improve education by bolstering the community college system and other institutes of higher learning.

Martin also announced plans to raise teacher pay--another goal everyone agreed upon. However, Martin’s strategy to achieve this--through a program called the career ladder plan, which awarded teachers according to merit--polarized the legislature. The North Carolina Association of Educators disapproved of any strategy that changed their rules and regulations, and democrats in the state government did not want to risk alienating the NCAE by agreeing with the governor.

But while the career ladder plan did not pass the legislature, other measures Governor Martin proposed, such as expanding the state prison system, lifting statewide high school achievement scores, and completing I-40 in the eastern part of the state, did succeed. Martin also strived to reach a compromise involving safe strategies to store nuclear waste in North Carolina, but faced opposition from environmental activists as well as other political figures.

In 1990, rumors surfaced that Martin might be interested in vying for incumbent Terry Sanford’s seat in 1992; that same year, state attorney general Lacy Thornburg announced that his office would launch an investigation into the Martin administration's behavior during the 1988 election. Appalled by the news, Martin called a news conference not only to deny allegations and denounce the investigation, but also to announce that he would not be seeking further political office, either in North Carolina or on the national scene.

Martin finished his second term by coping admirably with a statewide recession, and left the governor's mansion to his successor--Jim Hunt, beginning what would be the third of his unprecedented four gubernatorial terms--and returned to Davidson. He turned his entrepreneurial talent and spirit to his new job as head of the research program at Charlotte's Carolinas Medical Center.

This new position would become much more personal for Martin in 1994, when his brother, Joe Martin, was diagnosed with ALS. Joe Martin faced this disease with a determination not only to die with dignity, but to live life to its fullest. "He didn't want it to be presented as a fatal diagnosis," Martin said of his brother's attitude, "but as something you could continue to live with and to be a part of the family."

Inspired by his brother, who died in 2006, Martin raised money to start the Joe Martin ALS Foundation. He also was instrumental in opening the Carolina ALS Center at the Carolinas Medical Center.