Gordon Gray assumed the presidency after Graham left for Washington. Friday admired Gray as much as he had admired Graham, but he stated that the two presidents had very different styles. Gray created a position of secretary to the president and appointed Friday to it, so he would be named the acting president when Gray left. During Gray's tenure, he advocated for three major pieces of North Carolina's history: public television, Research Triangle Park, and the Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC). Gray stayed in the presidency for a relatively short time, only 10 years, after which Friday became the acting president.

The selection committee for the UNC presidency eventually offered Friday the position, but at a price: he had to accept an assistant that they would choose. He declined the offer, but they offered him the position again without that stipulation, and he accepted. So at 36 years old, William Friday became the president of UNC in 1956. He had also begun a family, so the position was a great challenge to him.

Friday's presidency indeed had some significant challenges. One of his first major issues as president was the point shaving scandal at UNC before the Dixie Classic. Friday made a decision about the Dixie Classic that won him stark criticism. Then in the early 1960s, Friday campaigned against the Speaker Ban Law and finally had to initiate a lawsuit to get the ban repealed. In 1968, the Black Student Movement presented a list of demands. Governor Bob Scott offered to send troops to the campus if the situation turned into rioting, but Friday rejected his offer.

Friday also talks about his impressions of and his experience with President Lyndon Johnson. He also recalls his efforts with John Gardner in establishing the White House Fellows program, a program which allowed college students to work in assistantship positions with the President of the United States. Soon after that Gardner offered Friday a position as assistant secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare that Friday refused, but Friday regretted his decision later.

Friday's involvement in the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Higher Education led to two other major achievements in North Carolina's educational history: gaining more federal funding for student aid in Pell Grants and establishing the Area Health Education Centers. In addition, he managed to influence the National Humanities Center's decision to locate their offices in Research Triangle Park.

Friday closes by discussing his efforts to desegregate the universities but to maintain the traditionally black colleges. While Friday's opinions were not popular and also sparked much criticism, he maintains that the balance in education helped the white schools but helped the black colleges keep their sense of culture.

Issues:

One of Friday's first battles as the new president of UNC was over canceling the Dixie Classic tournament, a basketball tournament that equaled the ACC tournament today. Because a few of the players received threats from gamblers who wanted their money back from a point shaving deal they had made with them, Friday was concerned about the safety of the students and the reputation of the university. He had witnessed a similar situation at Madison Square Garden and did not want UNC to suffer the same fate as the institutions had at that time. Hear his story about this.

In December 1968 the newly formed Black Student Movement presented a list of demands to the UNC administration. Ultimately the students staged a sit-in at Lenoir Hall, and Governor Bob Scott offered to intervene, a proposal which Friday rejected. However, the next day, Friday came to campus to find state troopers on campus anyway. Friday describes his reaction to their presence and the ultimate resolution of the protest.