Great Depression (1930-1938)

"Believe it or not, the Ripleys—Clements and Katharine—are Charleston’s most prolific and best known national authors,” asserted the Charleston Evening Post on September 5, 1949. Between 1923 and 1953 the couple published ten books—including novels and memoirs—and dozens of short stories and nonfiction pieces.

In 1948 Rivers began operation of an FM radio station. In June 1953 he put WCSC-TV, South Carolina’s first VHF television station, on the air. He served as president and manager of the AM/FM radio stations and the TV property. Rivers’s company, WCSC, Inc., eventually became involved in background music, long distance and cellular telephones, security systems, and other enterprises.

Rivers was a conservative Democrat who was often at odds with his party. He frequently criticized American foreign policy, foreign aid, and the United Nations. He was a strong supporter of increased military spending and the establishment of a nuclear navy.

Robertson was a respected and well-traveled journalist and war correspondent and the author of three books, including a memoir of his youth in the South Carolina upcountry.

Rogers publicized his success in area newspapers and encouraged others to plant tobacco. He recruited young men from the North Carolina–Virginia tobacco belt to advise and instruct novice growers in cultivating and curing the new crop.

Rogers was a distinguished teacher and administrator. He was chair of the USC history department from 1983 to 1986 and served on the boards of the South Carolina Tricentennial Commission, the South Carolina Archives and History Commission, and the South Carolina Historical Society.

Rubin’s distinguished career as teacher, scholar, editor, and novelist has brought him numerous awards and honors, including honorary degrees from the University of Richmond, the College of Charleston, and Clemson University. He has been named to the South Carolina Academy of Authors and has received the North Carolina Award for Literature and the R. Hunt Parker Memorial Award for his lifetime contributions to the literary heritage of North Carolina.

There was often disagreement in a county about whether to set up or keep rural police. From its start in the 1900s, nearly to Home Rule in the early 1970s, rural police remained part of the law for select counties.

He also entered several commercial ventures in the Carolinas, principally the short-term, high-interest-loan business, which soon made him a millionaire. Following Byrnes’s election as governor in 1950, Russell was named president of the University of South Carolina (USC) in late 1951.

As the title of his 1918 memoir suggests, Rutledge took life at Hampton as his literary subject, but to his national audience he spoke as the ambassador for an increasingly anachronistic Deep South.

On October 1, 1899, Salley assumed the position of secretary, treasurer, and librarian at the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston, a private organization concerned with the preservation of the state’s past. Simultaneously, the discovery in the State House of Revolutionary War records previously believed to be lost spurred Salley to advocate their preservation.

Salley soon immersed herself in the woman suffrage movement. Claiming that it was “the best dollar I ever spent,” she responded to a newspaper advertisement to join the South Carolina Equal Suffrage League (SCESL).

After years of farming, Sanders tried writing, but her first literary effort (a Gothic romance about sharecroppers) was considered too melodramatic by Louis D. Rubin, Jr., her later publisher, and was not accepted for publication.

As South Carolina’s first assistant attorney general, Sapp developed a reputation for writing legal opinions with clarity, force, and thoroughness.

Shy, redheaded, tall, lean, and gracious, Sass was nicknamed “Hobo” for his wandering ways in the lowcountry and his hobbling together of income to support his wife, Marion Hutson, and three children.

During his remarkable tenure in office, Sawyer survived many political controversies while superintending the steady growth of the Highway Department.

Christopher G. Sayre made a career out of designing public buildings throughout the Carolinas during the first three decades of the twentieth century.

In a few months Seigler had created the Aiken County Girls’ Tomato Club, the first such group in the nation, and was attracting favorable attention from government and philanthropic groups.

After winning awards for providing special textiles for the armed forces during World War II, Self established Greenwood Mills Inc., with offices in New York City, as his own selling house in 1946.

From 1951 to 1954 he played basketball at Furman University and is best known for his high-scoring performances that made national headlines, including 100 points in a 149–95 victory over Newberry College.