Professional and Political Career
After graduate school, Peterson was recruited by the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company to work as a research chemist at its Experimental Station in Wilmington. For over 26 years he held prominent jobs in research, manufacturing and sales, and finally in corporate management, becoming director of research and development in 1963.
All the while, Peterson had become a well known civic activist from suburban New Castle County. He had been involved in the “New Day for Delaware” attempt at governmental reform in the Boggs administration, and had organized an effort at prison reform known as the “Three-S Citizen’s Campaign,” salvage people, save dollars, and shrink the crime rate. His leadership skills inspired Henry B. du Pont to appoint him to the executive committee of the Greater Wilmington Development Council. He was put in charge of the Neighborhood Improvement Program, tasked with solving poverty in the black community. By 1968 Delaware had experienced rioting following the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., and National Guard troops were still on the streets of Wilmington on the orders of the conservative Democratic Governor, Charles L. Terry, Jr.. Peterson seemed to have a fresh, progressive approach for addressing these and other issues and was drafted by Republican state leaders to run for Governor.
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