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“H” is for Hodges, James Hovis (b. 1956)

“H” is for Hodges, James Hovis (b. 1956). Governor. A native of Lancaster, Hodges received his law degree from the USC School of Law. He was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives in 1986. In 1998 he challenged the incumbent Republican governor. Hodges supported a state lottery and successfully turned the issue into an education measure—appealing to strong public support for improving the state’s low ranking on national test scores. He soundly defeated the incumbent, winning thirty-five of the state’s forty-six counties. Education was the centerpiece of Hodges’s term as governor. He oversaw the implementation of the education lottery and created a preschool initiative, First Steps, designed to prepare children for first grade. After being defeated for reelection, James Hovis Hodges eschewed politics and later became president and chief executive officer of McGuire Woods Consulting.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.