Looking for Utopia

In this detailed account of the life and legacy of John C. West (1922-2004), biographer Philip G. Grose offers insight into a man whose political career was spent on the threshold of dissent and non-conformity, first as a legislator and governor of South Carolina and later as President Jimmy Carter's ambassador to Saudi Arabia. After representing his native Kershaw County in the SC State Senate from 1955 to 1966, West was elected lieutenant governor and was described by Governor Robert E. McNair as a man who was ""always looking for Utopia."" West's progressive vision carried him to the governorship in 1970, when he won a hotly-contested race over archconservative Republican Albert W. Watson. As governor, he carried forward an ambitious agenda for addressing poverty and hunger in South Carolina and eliminating discrimination from state government. His landmark selection of civil rights activist James E. Clyburn--later U.S. House majority whip--as the first black executive to serve on a South Carolina governor's staff solidified West's place in modern history.