11 Dec. 1877–12 May 1954
See also: Clyde Roark Hoey, Research Branch, NC Office of Archives and History, Margaret Hoey
When he was only twenty, the Democrats of his native Cleveland County nominated Hoey for the General Assembly. He was elected after a hotly contested campaign and served in 1899; two years later he was reelected. In 1903 he was a state senator from the Thirty-third District, and from 1903 to 1909 he served as chairman of the Cleveland County Democratic Executive Committee.
Meanwhile, Hoey read law in Shelby, then continued his legal studies at The University of North Carolina from June to September 1899. The same year he was admitted to the state bar. A growing law practice forced him to give up his work at the Star, though he retained ownership of the paper until 1908.
In 1913 Hoey was appointed assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District and served until 1919, when Congressman Edwin Yates Webb, also of Shelby, resigned to accept appointment as a federal judge. Hoey won the nomination for his seat in a special primary on 24 November, defeating Republican John Motley Morehead; he served in Congress from 16 Dec. 1919 to 3 Mar. 1921. Declining to seek reelection, he returned to Shelby and resumed the practice of law. Although identified with his brother-in-law, Governor O. Max Gardner, as a part of the Democratic party leadership centered in Shelby, Hoey did not assume a major role in the primary campaigns of the time, but took to the stump for the party ticket as a "silver-tongued" orator.
On 15 May 1935, as the state was emerging from the depths of the depression, Hoey—as expected—announced for governor. Raised in the primary campaign was the sales tax imposed by the General Assembly of 1933 which angered the people and caused turmoil within the Democratic party. Dr. Ralph W. McDonald, a young Salem College professor and legislator from Forsyth County, entered the race and made the sales tax a major issue in the contest with Hoey and former speaker A. H. Graham of Orange County, the leading Democratic candidates. In the first primary, Hoey led McDonald by 4,468 votes; in the second primary, many of the Graham voters switched to Hoey, who was nominated by a margin of nearly 52,000 votes. After an easy victory in the fall, Hoey was inaugurated governor on 7 Jan. 1937 for a four-year term that ended on 9 Jan. 1941.
A popular governor, Hoey made a total of 976 speeches, visited all parts of the state, and twice daily walked down Raleigh's Fayetteville Street for a Coca Cola break at a drugstore. He did not seek to build a political machine and refused to become involved in the selection of his successor. When his gubernatorial term ended he continued to serve his party as Democratic national committeeman from 1941 to 1944.
Entering the race for the U.S. Senate in 1944, Hoey defeated former governor and former senator Cameron Morrison in the primary and easily won in the general election. He took his seat in the Senate on 3 Jan. 1945. His long white hair, frock coat, striped pants, wing collar, floral tie with a diamond stickpin, high-top shoes, and cordial and courtly manner soon set him apart as a senator who possessed the essence of that office. Some of his colleagues called him "The Duke." He was unopposed in the 1950 primary and was overwhelmingly reelected in the general election.
Senator Hoey was an effective member of the Finance and Agriculture committees. He received acclaim for his work as chairman of the Permanent Investigating Subcommittee, leading the investigations of the "five percenter" scandals with a calm hand and refusing to succumb to the appeal of publicity. His unshakable poise, rapierlike wit, repartee with a subtle sting, and polished diplomacy became Hoey hallmarks in Congress.
Hoey married Bessie Gardner of Shelby on 22 Mar. 1900; she died on 13 Feb. 1942. They had three children: Clyde R., Jr., Charles A., and Isabel Y. (m. Dan M. Paul). On 12 May 1954, Hoey went to his office and did a radio broadcast tape recording but he appeared to be tired and weak. Afterwards he attended a Senate Finance Committee meeting, had lunch, and returned to his office for his usual brief rest. His administrative assistant, Jack Spain, became concerned when he did not resume his normal schedule. Investigating, he found Hoey slumped in a chair at his desk, dead from a stroke at age seventy-six. Many of his colleagues and other prominent governmental officials attended the funeral in Shelby. He was buried in the town's Sunset Cemetery.
Senator Hoey, the last of the "Shelby Dynasty," was proud of his record of political leadership that spanned most of his life.