Howard Hearnes Carwile (November 14, 1911 – June 6, 1987) was an American lawyer and politician.

Early and family life

Howard Carwile was born in Charlotte County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, to parents Willis Early Carwile (May 6, 1873 – May 10, 1950) and Allie Taylor (July 2, 1887 – November 23, 1968); they were tenant

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

farmers. Howard was one of 13 children. His great-great-grandfather Jacob Carwile, served as a soldier in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. In 1948, he married Violet Virginia Talley (January 28, 1918 – October 21, 1994), daughter of John C. Talley (May 8, 1882 – ?) and Virginia Magnetta Cullingsworth (March 27, 1895 – Feb. 1986), and a divorced beautician. Howard and Violet had one son, Howard H. Carwile, Jr., and one grandchild, Taylor Lane Carwile. Both Howard and Violet died in Richmond, Virginia.

Education

*Graduate of

Alma White College Alma White College was a Bible college in Zarephath, New Jersey from 1921 to 1978. It was an institution of the Pillar of Fire Church. The academic institution is now succeeded by Pillar College. History In June 1917 an elderly German professor ...

Zarephath, New Jersey Zarephath (, ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) and located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, about north of Princeton.Southeastern University Southeastern University is a private Christian university in Lakeland, Florida. It was established in 1935 in New Brockton, Alabama, as Southeastern Bible Institute, relocated to Lakeland in 1946, and became a liberal arts college in 1970. It i ...

Law School,

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Career

Howard Carwile was known as a fiery, passionate trial attorney in Richmond, Virginia. He opposed the Byrd Organization in his early years, a machine of Conservative Democrats led by

Harry Flood Byrd Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization. ...

which dominated Virginia's politics from the 1920s until the mid-1960s. Carwile represented many

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

clients as a trial lawyer in the 1940s through 1960s in Richmond. He was an ever-vigilant watchdog over the Richmond Police Department and champion for reform of Virginia's prisons and a general political gadfly. He was known for his colorful rhetoric in public, such as calling a city-hall boondoggle he disliked a "horrendous heap of hokum" and his campaign style, including an automobile completely covered in Carwile bumper-stickers. Richmonders appreciated his verbal theatrics, and in the 1970s it was not uncommon to hear someone say he or she was "shocked and appalled", a frequent Carwile exclamation. His case against Richmond Newspapers concerning an editorial by the '' Richmond Times-Dispatch'' reached the Virginia Supreme Court in 1954 and was decided in his favor. A collection of his papers is housed in the Special Collections and Archives section of the library of

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

. Richmond voters elected Carwile to the city council in 1966 and re-elected him several times. In 1973, voters in Richmond and Henrico County elected Carwile as their representative (part-time) in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

,Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) p. 767 so he resigned his municipal position, but only served a single term. His successor, fellow Virginia lawyer Gerald L. Baliles would later become Governor of Virginia, a post which decades earlier had eluded Carwile. *Ran as Independent for

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

in 1945 against

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

William M. Tuck and

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

S. Lloyd Landreth. *Ran as Independent for Virginia U.S. Senator in 1948 against Democrat

Absalom Willis Robertson Absalom Willis Robertson (May 27, 1887 – November 1, 1971) was an American politician from Virginia who served over 50 years in public office. A member of the Democratic Party and lukewarm ally of the Byrd Organization led by fellow U.S. Senat ...

Robert H. Woods, Progressive

Virginia Foster Durr Virginia Foster Durr (August 6, 1903 – February 24, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and lobbyist. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1903 to Dr. Sterling Foster, an Alabama Presbyterian minister, and Ann Patterson Foster. At ...

and Socialist Clarke T. Robbe *Ran as Independent for Governor of Virginia in 1953 against Democrat

Thomas Bahnson Stanley Thomas Bahnson Stanley (July 16, 1890 – July 10, 1970) was an American politician, furniture manufacturer and Holstein (cattle), Holstein cattle breeder. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat and member of the Byrd Organization, Stan ...

and Republican

Theodore Roosevelt Dalton Theodore Roosevelt Dalton (July 3, 1901 – October 30, 1989) was a Virginia attorney and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. He was known as Virginia's "Mr. Republican." Ed ...

*Ran as Democrat for Governor of Virginia in 1957 primary against J. Lindsay Almond labeling himself a "

Jacksonian Democrat Jacksonian democracy was a 19th-century political philosophy in the United States that expanded suffrage to most white men over the age of 21, and restructured a number of federal institutions. Originating with the seventh U.S. president, An ...

". He campaigned for "peaceful compliance with the Supreme Court decision on integration", "preservation of Virginia's free public school system" and poll tax removal. *Ran unsuccessfully as Independent for

Virginia's 3rd congressional district Virginia's third congressional district is a United States congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia, serving the independent cities of Norfolk, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, and part of the independent city of Chesapeake. ...

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1980 against Republican Thomas J. Bliley, Jr., Democrat John Aydelotte Mapp (April 20, 1913 – August 17, 2002) and Independent James B. Turney

Government offices held

*Richmond City Councilman – 1966 – resigned 1973 *

– 35th District, Henrico County, Virginia, 1974-5, defeated for re-election by Gerald L. Baliles 1975 Served on Virginia House committees: *Health, Welfare & Institutions *Militia and Police

Memberships

Association of Trial Lawyers of America The American Association for Justice (AAJ), formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) is a nonprofit advocacy and lobbying organization for plaintiff's lawyers in the United States. Focused on opposing tort reform, the organizati ...

*Richmond Trial Lawyers Association *Virginia Trial Lawyers Association *

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

*Richmond Criminal Bar

Published and broadcast works

*Weekly columnist for the ''Richmond Afro-American'' newspaper *Published ''Speaking from Byrdland'', a compilation of his weekly radio programs decrying

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

*Autobiography ''Carwile, His Life and Times'', published June 1988

References

External links

*''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' Magazine
"Bumpy Road in Richmond"
28 February 1972

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carwile, Howard Hearnes 1911 births 1987 deaths Alma White College alumni Members of the Virginia House of Delegates People from Charlotte County, Virginia Southeastern University (Washington, D.C.) alumni Richmond, Virginia City Council members Virginia Democrats Virginia lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians Virginia Independents