Editing Jim Hunt (section)

===Actions and political views===
[[File:Jim Hunt on the campaign trail 1992.jpg|thumbnail|left|Jim Hunt campaigning in 1992]]
[[File:North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt in 1992.jpg|thumb|Hunt speaking at North Carolina State University in 1992]]
In the 1970s Governor Hunt was a supporter of the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] and, with his wife [[Carolyn Hunt|Carolyn]], he urged its approval by the state legislature (which failed to ratify it by two votes) and appointed [[Betty Ray McCain]] as his chief lobbyist for the amendment. Hunt was an early proponent of teaching standards and early childhood education, gaining national recognition for the [[Smart Start (education)|Smart Start]] program for [[pre-kindergarten]]ers. In his book, ''First in America: An Education Governor Challenges North Carolina'', Hunt says that under testing and accountability measures he put into place test scores went up.  He says 56% of students were proficient in 1994 compared with 70% in the year 2000. He says without testing students slip through the cracks and face a "limited future" (p.&nbsp;55). In 2000 he was mentioned as a possible Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/07/13/gore.veep/index.html |title=Gore considering naming VP immediately after GOP convention |date=July 14, 2000 |access-date=June 8, 2008 |work=CNN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081104174658/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/07/13/gore.veep/index.html |archive-date=November 4, 2008 }}</ref> or [[United States Secretary of Education|Education Secretary]] for [[Al Gore]] had Gore been successful in the 2000 presidential race. 2004 [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee Sen. [[John Kerry]] was likewise considering Hunt for Secretary of Education had he won,{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} and he was considered a candidate to be [[Barack Obama]]'s Secretary of Education.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_el_pr/obama_potential_appointees/ |title=Yahoo! |website=news.yahoo.com |access-date=17 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130425032219/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_el_pr/obama_potential_appointees/ |archive-date=25 April 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Hunt served on the Carnegie Task Force, which created the [[National Board for Professional Teaching Standards]] and more recently on the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

As governor, Hunt was involved in a variety of efforts to promote technology and technology-based economic development, including the establishment of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and the [[North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics]]. He was also very successful at recruiting business to his state.

Hunt was key actor in the trial of the [[Wilmington Ten]]. By the late 1970s, their case had gained international attention and was viewed as an embarrassment to the US and North Carolina in particular. [[CBS]] had broadcast a ''60 Minute'' piece about the case that suggested that the evidence against the ten had been fabricated.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-postwar/6006 |title=The Wilmington Ten - North Carolina Digital History |publisher=Learnnc.org |date=1971-02-06 |access-date=2017-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820074303/http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-postwar/6006 |archive-date=August 20, 2017 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In January 1978, following the higher courts' refusal to dismiss these charges, Hunt decided to reduce their sentencing of 20–25 years to 13–17 years rather than pardon and free them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ftpcontent4.worldnow.com/wect/PDFs%20for%20stories/W-10%20TIMELINE.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=March 15, 2017 |archive-date=August 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804144116/http://ftpcontent4.worldnow.com/wect/PDFs%20for%20stories/W-10%20TIMELINE.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Many black North Carolinian politicians at the time disapproved of Hunt's decision but the general mentality at the time was that "right now blacks have nowhere else to turn" so there was no organized opposition movement. [[Howard Nathaniel Lee]], however, refused to resign from his appointed role as cabinet secretary, as a form of protest against Hunt.<ref>Janken, Kenneth Robert. The Wilmington Ten: Violence, Injustice, and the Rise of Black Politics in the 1970s. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina, 2015. 152+. Print.</ref>

Hunt was criticized for allowing [[Darryl Hunt]] (no relation known) to remain in prison for 20 years after the wrongfully convicted Winston-Salem man was exonerated by exculpatory DNA evidence which pointed to another perpetrator. Darryl Hunt was pardoned by the succeeding governor, Mike Easley. During his terms in office Hunt oversaw [[List of people executed in North Carolina|13 executions]] (two during his first period in office, 11 during his second), including the first post-[[Furman v. Georgia|Furman]] execution of a female ([[Velma Barfield]]) and the first post-Furman execution in North Carolina ([[James W. Hutchins]]).

Hunt was a proponent of North Carolina's tobacco industry, even after the negative health effects of tobacco use became clear. When Reagan Administration Surgeon General Dr. [[C. Everett Koop]] accused the tobacco industry of directing advertising at children and threatening human lives, Hunt called for his impeachment.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/us/c-everett-koop-forceful-surgeon-general-dies-at-96.html |title= C. Everett Koop, Forceful U.S. Surgeon General, Dies at 96 |first=Holcomb |last=Noble Mitch |website= [[The New York Times]] |date= February 26, 2013 }}</ref>