WATCH ENTIRE SECOND EPISODE

NIXON AND FORD
In 1968, Richard Nixon won the presidential election. Six years later, he would resign in the wake of the Watergate scandal, placing Gerald Ford at the nation's helm.  In this interview segment, Jim Hunt reflects on these two national leaders.

STATE POLITICS IN THE 1970s
Between 1968 and 1975, Jim Hunt became an active leader of the Democratic Party as president of North Carolina Young Democratic Club (YDC), the state's lieutenant governor and president of the state Senate. A year later, Hunt would acknowledge his intent to run for the state's highest office. The former governor reflects on his place in politics by the mid 1970s.

THE 1976 CAMPAIGN
In 1976, Lieutenant Governor Jim Hunt declared his intent to run for North Carolina's governorship. In this interview segment, Hunt describes his 1976 gubernatorial campaign and what it takes to run for the state's highest office.

ON HOWARD LEE
In January of 1977, Gov. Jim Hunt selected Howard Lee as his secretary of Natural and Economic Resources, making Lee the first African-American to serve in a North Carolina cabinet-level position. Hunt relects on this important milestone.

ON THE DEATH PENALTY
In 1977, the North Carolina General Assembly passed, with Gov. Hunt's support, a death penalty statute reinstating capital punishment. In this interview, Hunt shares his thoughts on the death penalty, during his first gubernatorial term and today.

THE TWO-TERM AMENDMENT
During 1977, North Carolina voters passed a Constitutional amendment that allowed the state's governor to serve two consecutive terms. In this segment, Hunt describes his role in the passage of this amendment.

AFTERMATH OF THE WILMINGTON TEN
On February 6, 1971, 10 people (nine African-American men and one white woman) were arrested, tried, and convicted on charges of arson and conspiracy to fire upon firemen and police officers following a racially-charged protest in Wilmington, North Carolina. The "Wilmington 10 " were sentenced to a combined 282 years in prison. In early 1977, the CBS news program 60 Minutes spotlighted the Wilmington 10, suggesting that evidence against them had been fabricated. After higher courts refused to dismiss the charges, Governor Hunt fell under great pressure to pardon the prisoners. In January 1978, in an address broadcast throughout the state, Hunt refused to release the Wilmington 10, but did reduce their sentences. The case finally came to a close a couple of years later, in 1980, when a federal appeals court overturned the conviction on a technicality, freeing the Wilmington 10. In this interview excerpt, Hunt reflects on the aftermath of the "Wilmington 10."

REELECTION IN 1980
In October of 1979, former Governor Bob Scott announced his candidacy for governor. In this interview segment, Hunt reflects on his old friend and fellow Democrat's announcement to challenge his own gubernatorial reelection.