Background
Thomas Bickett was born on February 28, 1869, in Monroe, North Carolina, United States, the son of Thomas Winchester and Mary (Covington) Bickett.
(Excerpt from Public Letters and Papers of Thomas Walter B...)
Excerpt from Public Letters and Papers of Thomas Walter Bickett, Governor of North Carolina, 1917-1921 Thomas Walter Bickett, War Governor of North Carolina, was born in Monroe, N. C., February 28, 1869, the' son of Thomas Winchester and Mary Covington Bickett from whom he inherited the wit and sentiment of the Irish and the sturdy stability of the English. He spent four years at Wake Forest, receiving the ab. Degree in 1890. After two years of teaching in Winston - Salem, he entered the law school of the University of North Carolina and in February, 1893, received his license to practice law. Two years later, he settled in Louisburg and in 1898 married Miss Fannie Yar borough, daughter of Col. William H. Yarborough. Three children were born to them and of these one, William Yarborough Bickett, survives. Serving his first public office as a representative from Franklin County in the General Assembly of 1907, he introduced and piloted to passage a bill appropriating a half million dollars for the care of the insane. It was the largest appropriation made by North Carolina for such a cause up to that time and was the beginning of an increasing interest on the part of the State in behalf of its defectives. The Democratic State Convention, meeting in Charlotte, nominated him for Attorney General in 1907 after his brilliant speech Offering Col. Ashley Home, of Clayton, for the gubernatorial nomination. During his eight years in this office, he won all the five cases for the State in the United States Supreme Court and made sure his elevation to the Governorship. He was nominated for Governor in the first Statewide Primary in 1916 and in 1917 was inaugurated. The World War, though it shattered many of his plans for domestic reform, gave Opportunity for new tasks Of leadership which brought to him and the State unqualified commendation and praise. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Thomas Bickett was born on February 28, 1869, in Monroe, North Carolina, United States, the son of Thomas Winchester and Mary (Covington) Bickett.
Receiving his preparatory education in the public schools, Thomas entered Wake Forest College in 1886 and received the bachelor's degree in 1890. In 1892 he entered the law school of the University of North Carolina.
Bickett taught for two years, first at Marion and then at Winston-Salem. He was admitted to the bar in February 1893 and practised for a time in Monroe and later in Danbury, but in 1895 moved to Louisburg. At the bar Bickett was quickly successful and won a great though local reputation, not only for professional ability, but for the satisfying human qualities which distinguished him through life.
He took no active part in politics until 1906 when he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, serving one term and taking a rather prominent part, for a new member, in the advocacy of legal reforms, an enlarged educational program, and more adequate care of the unfortunate. The next year he so distinguished himself in the Democratic state convention by a speech nominating an unsuccessful candidate for governor that he was nominated for attorney-general, a position which he filled for eight years. During this time he represented the state in five cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, the most notable being the Tennessee boundary dispute, and won all of them. In great demand always as a speaker he became widely known during these eight years and in 1916 he was nominated for governor in the first statewide primary and was elected by a large majority over Frank A. Linney, the Republican candidate.
Bickett proved himself, in spite of small executive powers, capable of vigorous and highly successful executive leadership. During his four-year term he recommended to the legislature forty-eight measures, forty of which were enacted into law. Among these were statutes providing for a six-month school term with increased salaries for teachers, for broader agricultural education, for more liberal support of the state's institutions, both educational and charitable, for an improved system of state highways, for more humane prison administration, and for tax reform. He believed that it was the major function of government to improve the economic and social condition of the mass of the people, and throughout his term he sought to improve the lot of the tenant-farmer class, to encourage home ownership, to elevate the negro, and to better the relations of capital and labor.
During the war Bickett threw himself passionately into the task of leading the state to the exertion of its utmost power. Every agency of the state was brought into action and by proclamations and public addresses, in which were combined wit, sentiment, idealism, and deep conviction, he interpreted the struggle as he conceived it in terms that all could understand. He died suddenly of apoplexy less than a year after his retirement from office.
(Excerpt from Public Letters and Papers of Thomas Walter B...)
Inheriting a full share of Irish wit, Bickett was a gifted teller of anecdotes which were racy of the soil and full of good humor which made him widely popular. But he had at the same time convictions which were passionately held and sternly followed. In his sympathy for the unfortunate and the oppressed was to be found the keynote of his real nature. Bickett was short of stature and of thick-set frame. His ruddy face was frequently lighted by a smile of compelling charm and his blue eyes furnished a clear index to his quick turns of feeling.
On November 29, 1898, Bickett married Fannie N. Yarborough.