Ervin, Sam J., Jr.

Sam J. Ervin Jr. (1896–1985) served twenty years as a Democratic senator from North Carolina. He is best remembered as chair of the Senate Watergate committee, which investigated charges that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. (See Watergate Scandal.) During the committee's televised hearings, Ervin's knowledge of and respect for the Constitution, his courtly manner, and his pithy quotations made him an admired national figure.

Before his Senate service, Ervin practiced law in North Carolina, served in the state legislature, and sat on the bench of the criminal and supreme courts within the state. In 1946 Ervin served one year in the U.S. House of Representatives to finish the term of his brother Joseph, who died while in office.

Ervin was appointed to fill a vacant Senate seat in 1954 and was elected to full terms starting in 1956. As a freshman senator, he was a member of the select committee that recommended Senate censure of Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, a Wisconsin Republican whose investigations of communism had drawn great criticism.

Ervin construed the provisions of the Constitution strictly. On the grounds of protecting states' rights, he rejected civil rights legislation and other Democratic domestic programs, such as health care for the elderly and school busing. But as a member of the Judiciary Committee he worked to strengthen the civil rights of government workers, Native Americans, and mental patients. He often criticized the government practice of gathering information on private citizens. “It is my belief that the Recording Angel drops a tear occasionally to wash out the record of our human iniquities,” he said. “There is no compassion to be found in computers.”

As chair of the Separation of Powers Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, Ervin recommended procedures to be followed in a convention held to consider constitutional amendments; although such a convention had never been held, the prospect troubled many leaders. Ervin's bill passed the Senate in 1971 and 1973, but the House did not vote on the measure.

[Page p144]In 1973 Ervin was chosen to head the Senate Watergate committee, formally called the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. He was chosen because of his knowledge of the Constitution and also because, earlier that year, he had declined to run for reelection in 1974. He was therefore unable to benefit from the publicity generated by the committee's investigations. Quoting the Bible and Shakespeare, Ervin immediately caught the attention of the public. A self-described “old country lawyer,” Ervin seemed the antithesis of the Watergate conspirators. He became a folk hero and retired in 1974 on a wave of public admiration.