John C. B. Ehringhaus
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John Christoph Blucher Ehringhaus (February 5, 1882Template:Spaced ndashJuly 31, 1949) was an American politician who served as the 58th governor of North Carolina, serving from 1933 to 1937.
Biography
He was born on February 5, 1882, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was a descendent of German immigrant Johann Christoph Ehringhaus, who arrived in North Carolina in the early nineteenth-century and opened a bank in Elizabeth City.<ref name= usg>Template:Cite web</ref> The Ehringhaus family remained involved in banking and law in Elizabeth City for generations.<ref name= usg/>
Ehringhaus attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was a member of the Philanthropic society of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies from 1898 to 1902.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ehringhaus was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE), Elizabeth City Lodge #856. He served as District Deputy Grand Exalted Ruler for the North Carolina East District of the BPOE, 1909-1910.
Governor O. Max Gardner coaxed Ehringhaus, a former state legislator and attorney, out of political retirement as his hand-picked successor. He narrowly defeated Lieutenant Governor Richard T. Fountain in a Democratic primary runoff. Fountain claimed Ehringhaus was the tool of business interests.<ref>Christensen, Rob. The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics. 2008: UNC Press. p. 77.</ref>
Serving the state during the Great Depression, Ehringhaus encouraged the North Carolina General Assembly to create a state agency that would help rural areas of the state receive electricity services in order to revive the lagging economy.<ref>North Carolina Historic Sites Template:Webarchive</ref> He also cut state spending, successfully pushed for a three-cent sales tax, extended the school year and kept the schools open and solvent.<ref>Christensen. p. 89.</ref> A New Deal<ref>Addresses, letters, and papers of John Christoph Blucher Ehringhaus: Governor of North Carolina, 1933-1937, Edited by David Leroy Corbitt, 1950, Raleigh, Council of State, State of North Carolina, 1950, P.201, 227</ref> Democrat who supported progressive labor legislation, Ehringhaus also presided over a boiler inspection act during his time as governor.<ref>P.43 Résumé of the Proceedings of the ... National Conference on Labor Legislation 1934-1951, Volumes 1-18, P.43 </ref>
He appointed former North Carolinian first lady Cora Lily Woodard Aycock as the President of the North Carolina Railroad.<ref name= ncpedia>Template:Cite web</ref>
He died on July 31, 1949.
Legacy
Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest "My name is pronounced as if spelled ear'en-house."<ref>Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.</ref>
A dormitory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ehringhaus' alma mater (class of 1902) is named in his honor,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, of which Ehringhaus was a member, maintains a portrait in his honor.
The second longest bridge in the state of North Carolina, a 3.5-mile stretch over the Albemarle Sound, is named in honor of this former governor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ehringhaus' grave is located in the historic Episcopal Cemetery in his hometown of Elizabeth City in Northeastern North Carolina, and the city's main thoroughfare, Ehringhaus Street, is named in his honor.
References
External links
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- 1882 births
- 1949 deaths
- American people of German descent
- Democratic Party governors of North Carolina
- Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives
- North Carolina lawyers
- People from Elizabeth City, North Carolina
- 20th-century American lawyers
- 20th-century American Episcopalians
- 20th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly