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working for the Republican party?

Thomas: Well, I probably spend about half time working at it.

I probably spend thirty hours a week, but because I number one,

because I want to see a strong Republican party, I want to see a strong

conservative party and you know, I want to see a two party system

established, because I know, you know, the benefits of having a two

party system, having lived in a two party state, you know, where you

have the checks and balances that we haven't had here. I mean, you

know, these guys in the cabinet over there, they've been protecting

each other for a hundred years. I mean, shit, they just didn't start

selling bank charters, they've been doing it for a hundred years. This

is nothing new. Well, if you had a strong two party system, you couldn't

do this type of thing.

J.B.: Have you ever run for office?

Thomas: No, except for the state chairman.

J.B.: Do you think that you might after you finish this?

Thomas: No, never. I don't even think like a candidate. This is hard

to believe, but I don't really like politics. I've had some of the

damnedest, knock-down fights that you've ever seen. And I'll tell you

something else, a lot of people don't believe it, but I spend more time

talking people out of running than I do talking people into running.

In '72, I tried to spend every Friday in the office and people called

in and they wanted to run for county commissioner and this and that, and

the first thing that I asked them was "Why?" And I wish that I had had

a tape recorder for some of the answers, because some of them were really

ridiculous. I mean, you know. I had a guy one time tell me that he wanted


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.