Editing Fritz Hollings (section)

===Governor of South Carolina===
[[File:Fritz Hollings (SC).png|140px|thumb|left|Hollings as governor.]]
As governor of South Carolina from January 20, 1959, to January 15, 1963, Hollings worked to improve the state's educational system, helping to bring more industry and employment opportunities to the state. His term in office saw the establishment of the state's technical education system and its educational television network. He also called for and achieved significant increases in teachers' salaries, bringing them closer to the regional average. At the 1961 Governor's Conference on Business, Industry, Education and Agriculture in [[Columbia, South Carolina]], he declared, "Today, in our complex society, education is the cornerstone upon which economic development must be built{{snd}}and prosperity assured."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sc.edu/library/scpc/Gubernatorial.pdf |title=Finding Aid for the Gubernatorial Papers of the Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings Collection |publisher=South Carolina Political Collections of the University of South Carolina. Retrieved September 14, 2009 |access-date=September 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530222425/http://www.sc.edu/library/scpc/Gubernatorial.pdf |archive-date=May 30, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

During Hollings's term as governor, the [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Confederate battle flag]] was flown above the [[South Carolina State House]] underneath the [[Flag of the United States|U.S.]] and [[Flag of South Carolina|state flags]]. The battle flag was placed over the dome in 1962 by a concurrent resolution of the state legislature during the commemoration of the Civil War centennial.<ref>"Journal of the House of Representatives of the Second Session of the 94th General Assembly of the State of South Carolina". Confederate Flag Vertical File, South Carolina Political Collections, University of South Carolina.</ref> The resolution failed to designate a time for its removal. In 2000 the state legislature voted to move the flag from above the state house to a Confederate soldiers' monument in front of the building,<ref>{{cite web|last=Brunner|first=Borgna|title=Confederate Flag Comes Down in South Carolina|url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/confederate4.html|work=Infoplease|publisher=Pearson Education, Inc|access-date=May 7, 2013|date=June 30, 2000}}</ref> where it remained until 2015, when [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] governor [[Nikki Haley]] ordered it removed following [[Charleston church shooting]] by a [[Neo-Confederates|Neo-Confederate]] in the state earlier that year.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?327026-1/south-carolina-confederate-flag-removal-bill-signing-ceremony | title=South Carolina Confederate Battle Flag Removal Bill Signing Ceremony | publisher=[[C-SPAN]] | date=July 9, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/09/421531368/south-carolina-gov-nikki-haley-to-sign-confederate-flag-bill-into-law | title=South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Signs Confederate Flag Bill Into Law | publisher=[[NPR]] |date=July 9, 2015}}</ref>

Hollings did little to either support or oppose the civil rights movement as governor, and instead took pride in the lack of civil rights violence that occurred in the state. In his last address to the General Assembly on January 9, 1963, ahead of the peaceful admission to [[Clemson University]] of its first [[African Americans|African American]] student, [[Harvey Gantt]], Hollings declared: "As we meet, South Carolina is running out of courts{{spaces}}... this General Assembly must make clear South Carolina's choice, a government of laws rather than a government of men{{spaces}}... This should be done with dignity. It should be done with law and order."<ref>Address by Governor Ernest F. Hollings to the General Assembly of South Carolina, January 9, 1963, p. 8-9, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090913081058/http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Fhow&CISOPTR=291&REC=2], part of the University of South Carolina's Digital Collection, "Fritz Hollings: In His Own Words".</ref>

Hollings oversaw the last executions in South Carolina before ''[[Furman v. Georgia]]'', a decision by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]], which temporarily banned capital punishment. During his term, eight inmates were put to death by [[electric chair]]. The last was [[Rape|rapist]] Douglas Thorne, on April 20, 1962.<ref>[http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/SO%20CAROLINA.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016085103/http://users.bestweb.net/~rg/execution/SO%20CAROLINA.htm|date=October 16, 2009}}</ref>

He sought the Democratic nomination for a seat in the [[United States Senate]] in 1962 but lost to incumbent [[Olin D. Johnston]].<ref name="Guardian News & Media Limited"/>