The Community Idea Stations are proud to present the continuing series about modern Virginia governors, No Higher Honor. A production of the Community Idea Stations in collaboration with the University of Virginia Center for Politics, this series represents a unique partnership between higher education and public television to tell the stories of Virginia’s political history and make them available for generations to come.
For a copy of past programs, please call 804.560.8121.
No Higher Honor: Charles S. Robb
Governor of Virginia 1982-1986
A former Marine who served in Vietnam, an attorney who attended the University of Virginia and the son-in-law of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson, Charles S. Robb enjoyed immense popularity in the Commonwealth after making his political debut as Virginia’s lieutenant governor in 1977. In 1981, he was elected Virginia’s 64th governor over Attorney General J. Marshall Coleman. While Robb made support for public education at all levels his highest priority, his term as governor is also remembered for his combination of fiscal conservatism, his efforts to improve minority representation in state government and his emphasis on bringing Virginia more firmly into the 20th century. His term set the stage for conservative Virginia to elect Democrats to its highest office in 1985 and 1989, even while the nation was led by Republican presidents.
No Higher Honor: John N. Dalton
Governor of Virginia 1978-1982
As only the third Republican Governor of the Commonwealth in the twentieth century, Governor John Nichols Dalton helped solidify true two-party politics in Virginia. He was the adopted son of Virginia's original "Mr. Republican," Ted Dalton, and became the standard-bearer for his party as a member of both the House of Delegates and the State Senate, followed by his election as Lieutenant Governor. Dalton's commitment to limiting the growth of state government and promoting Virginia's right-to-work laws anticipated the Ronald Reagan phenomenon that swept the country in the early 1980s.
John N. Dalton is the man who led the Commonwealth through a political era in transition, uniting the Republican Party and setting the stage for a strong two-party system that endures today.
No Higher Honor: Mills E. Godwin
Governor of Virginia 1966-1970 (Democrat), 1974-1978 (Republican)
Throughout more than 30 years of public service, Mills Godwin was never defeated in an election for public office. He was elected governor of the Commonwealth twice, first as a Democrat and later as a Republican. Although he was a leader of the massive resistance movement and opposed school integration in the 1950s, Godwin was later hailed as a progressive. His reforms included the creation of the community college system, the initiation of a state sales tax and the development of a powerful economic development campaign.
No Higher Honor: Linwood Holton
Governor of Virginia 1970-1974
Hailed across the nation for his progressive stands on busing, race relations and integration, Linwood Holton was Virginia’s first Republican governor of the 20th century. His election in 1969 was the culmination of a lifetime struggle to break the Byrd Machine and transform Virginia to a two-party state.
The story of his personal leadership, which brought the Commonwealth into a new era and heralded the beginning of the “New South,” is told in No Higher Honor: Linwood Holton.
No Higher Honor: Gerald L. Baliles
Governor of Virginia 1986-1990
“Baliles. The name rhymes with smiles” Gerald L. Baliles is known as an intellectual giant and the governor who opened Virginia’s doors to the global marketplace. He served the Commonwealth of Virginia as its 65th governor from 1986 until 1990, and led the most diverse ticket Virginia had ever seen.
Through campaign ads, news segments, autobiographical accounts and interviews with members of the Baliles administration, the media and his campaign opponents, the Community Idea Stations explore his climb to the top of Virginia politics in the fifth program of its No Higher Honor series, Gerald L. Baliles.
In Gerald L. Baliles, the governor takes viewers on a journey back in time to his boyhood home in Patrick County, Virginia, and to his grandparents’ farm where he developed his trademark work ethic. The one-hour program also follows Baliles through his academic achievements and athletic accomplishments at Fishburne Military School and his campaigns for public office, with an eye on what molded this University of Virginia law school alumnus into a public servant who never lost an election.
