Political Career
In 1892, he ran unsuccessfully for the North Carolina Senate but was later elected for six terms in the United States House of Representatives, from 1897 to 1909. With other members of his family, he was an active participant in leading to the approval of a state constitutional amendment in 1900 placing numerous disabilities on the right of black Tar Heels to vote. Limited to one term as governor by the state constitution of the time, Kitchin ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1912. His tenure as governor was highly productive: he increased expenditures for public education and public health services, oversaw expansion of railroads and increased stability of the state's banks.
After completing his term, Governor Kitchin practiced law in Raleigh, NC until 1919, when his declining health led him to retire to his home in Scotland Neck, NC. He died in 1924 and is buried in the Scotland Neck Baptist Cemetery.
Read more about this topic: William Walton Kitchin
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or career:
“What drivel it all is!... A string of words called religion. Another string of words called philosophy. Half a dozen other strings called political ideals. And all the words either ambiguous or meaningless. And people getting so excited about them they’ll murder their neighbours for using a word they don’t happen to like. A word that probably doesn’t mean as much as a good belch. Just a noise without even the excuse of gas on the stomach.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)