Looking for Utopia
The Life and Times of John C. West
Philip G. Grose
In this detailed account of the life and legacy of John C. West (1922–2001), 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.
After leaving office, West reentered the private practice of law, but only briefly. The
election of his long-time friend and fellow governor Jimmy Carter as president brought
West back into public service. During a critical period in the Middle East from 1977 to
1981, West served as U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a position that
was regarded by the Carter administration as among the highest diplomatic priorities
in the world. West won the confidence of Saudi leaders and was able to serve as a direct conduit to President Carter during those difficult years. His against-the-grain boldness and personal diplomacy served U.S. interests particularly well during the political
crises surrounding the Iranian hostage seizure, the takeover of the Grand Mosque in
Mecca, and the Arab world’s reaction to the Camp David Accords.
Drawing on West’s personal journals and autobiographical sketches, as well as oral
histories and his own relationship with West as a staffer and close friend, Grose has
created a richly nuanced portrait of a statesman who stepped out of Depression-era
South Carolina to champion causes of the underdog and underprivileged as governor
and to represent often-unpopular diplomatic stances in the feverish politics of the
Middle East as ambassador.
Philip G. Grose served on the gubernatorial staffs of Robert E. McNair and
John C. West and is author of South
Carolina at the Brink: Robert McNair
and the Politics of Civil Rights. A veteran
journalist and former director of the
South Carolina Executive Institute,
Grose is a research associate at the
Institute for Southern Studies at the
University of South Carolina.
May 2011, 360 pages, 30 illus.
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