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Frey, so he donated his filing fee to the party, that's what it amounts to.

W.D.V.: So you think that it is a pretty good idea?

Thomas: Yeah, I think that it is an excellent idea and I don't think yet

that we are ready to fly without it. And the party, as I'm sure that Bill

Davis told you, we operate on a pretty damn frugal budget. I mean, we don't

throw any money away and we don't have any frills and we don't have an

oversized staff. We certainly don't spend a whole hell of a lot traveling

and entertaining and things like that, we just can't. And of course, I'm

unpaid. In the case of the Democratic chairman, you know, he's paid.

W.D.V.: Oh is he?

Thomas: Yeah. I'm sure that he's not paid enough, but I think that he's

paid $15, 000. But he's a part-time chairman just like I am. I probably

spend as much or more time at it than he does, but he's an attorney and

I can see where I mean, he should be paid, I think. And in all

probability, in the next three or four to six years, our state chairman

should be paid. He should be full time.

W.D.V.: Can you tell us a little bit about your political background.

How did you get involved in all of this?

Thomas: Well, being a Chevrolet dealer in this part of the state, I

don't go around carrying a card, you know, telling them with a sign that

I'm an ex-Yankee, but I grew up in northern New York, up in the part near

Buffalo. And of course, this was before the war and I joined the Marine

Corps in 1942 when I was seventeen and in the small town that I lived in,

everybody was Republican and the only people who were Democrats were the

people who wouldn't work. And this is true. You know, my Daddy thought it

a disgrace to be a Democrat. So, I married a girl from Birmingham while I


From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview /4-6 in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.