O. Max Gardner
Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
O. Max Gardner 1882 1947. Governor, 1929-33; Under Secretary of U.S. Treasury; appointed Ambassador to Great Britain, 1946. Birthplace stands here, grave 300 yds. N.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Born at Shelby in 1882, O. Max Gardner served as governor of North Carolina from 1929 to 1933, steering the state through the depths of the Great Depression, and later became Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury and, in 1946, ambassador-designate to Great Britain. He was a central figure in the "Shelby Dynasty" that dominated state politics and its textile economy; his birthplace stands here and his grave lies 300 yards north.
Why it matters
Gardner's rise from a Piedmont mill town to national and international office marks the modern South's growing weight in twentieth-century American public life.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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