Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Terry Sanford/archive1

Comments from Kavyansh

I agree with buidhe's concerns about the length, but I'm not going to oppose. Still strongly suggesting to to create an article on Governorship of Terry Sanford. I probably will also look for places which can be summarized in the article:

• "Sanford was the 65th Governor of North Carolina" — My reading to MOS:JOBTITLE says that 'Governor' should not be capitalized.
  • Revised so this should not longer be an issue
• "and a U.S. senator from" — do we need to repeat 'U.S.'? Same with "ran for a U.S. Senate seat"
  • Considering that he was also a North Carolina Senator, the distinction is necessary to avoid confusion.
• "Sanford was President of" — Optional: "Sanford served as the president of"
  • Done.
• "became an FBI" — From MOS:1STOCC, "When an abbreviation will be used in an article, first introduce it using the full expression". I think this is not a common abbreviation for Non-Americans. Still, I have no strong feelings either side.
  • I did it for concision, but now fully lengthened out.
• "Following his return to civilian life after the war," — How is it different from "Following the war,"?
  • Fixed.
• "and managed W. Kerr Scott U.S. Senate campaign in 1954" — It normally would be said something like: "and managed the 1954 senate campaign of W. Kerr Scott". We shouldn't be repeating 'U.S.' many times.
  • See above on Senate.
• "he defeated segregationist I. Beverly Lake, Sr. in the Democratic primary and was elected governor." — No issues grammatically, but it would be a bit misleading to those not familiar with American politics. The current phrasing conveys that he became governor defeating I. Beverly Lake, Sr in the Democratic primary, but a person doesn't become governor just winning a primary contest. Suggesting: "he defeated segregationist I. Beverly Lake, Sr. in the Democratic primary and [later won the general election / was later elected governor]."
  • Revised.
• "remained active in Democratic politics" — suggesting "remained active in Democratic Party politics"
  • Done.
• Lead is already of appropriate length, but it has nothing from the "Legacy" section.
  • Added some info.
• "of Elizabeth Terry (Martin)" — suggesting "of Elizabeth Terry ({{nee|Martin}})"
  • Done.
• "In the fall of 1934 Sanford enrolled at Presbyterian Junior College" — MOS:SEASON discourages the use of seasons to refer to a particular time period
  • That's true, but the source is not more specific than that. "Fall" and "spring" semesters are also common concepts in American education and in other places as well.
    • Then it works! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 11:05, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
• "in Columbus, Ohio" — missing MOS:GEOCOMMA
  • Added.
• Do we need to specify that he became "bored with his work"
  • Well, it explains why he wanted to do something else.
    • Is it important for the reader to know that? – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 11:05, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
      • Removed.
• "in the United States Army" — just the 'Army' would work; no need to repeat US, I think.
  • Done.
• "However, Japan surrendered" — Is the however necessary? If so, why not "Japan, however, surrendered"
  • Removed.
• "In the first 1948 gubernatorial primary" — what is "first" here? Was it the first time a gubernatorial primary was held in NC?
  • Specified as "Democratic". There was often two Democratic primaries in the South for major offices; the first one and the runoff. The Republicans didn't have primaries in NC until the mid-1960s.
    • Would "the first round" be better then? – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 11:05, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
      • I removed the stuff about the first primary as extraneous, see my response to Hog Farm on the main FAC page.
• "During this time he kept a notebook where he jotted down lessons he was learning from campaigning." — Extensive detail, I think.
  • Christensen (p. 107), Drescher (p. 5), and Covington & Ellis (p. 108) would beg to differ. They all view this as a significant moment of learning for Sanford and critical for him to successfully deflect questions on race during his own campaign for governor.
• I feel that "Young Democratic Clubs and Graham campaign" subsection focuses more on Graham's campaign than Sanford's role
  • I'm not sure I get your meaning here, are you suggesting I change the heading?
    • My concern is that do we need to focus that much on Graham's campaign, when the article is already long. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 11:05, 26 May 2022 (UTC)
      • Same with the notebook above, Sanford's biographers consider the Graham campaign a formative moment for him as his political baptism of sorts. I think we'd be missing something if we cut it.
• "and purchased his first house that summer" — MOS:SEASON
  • I've removed the whole sentence.
• "with 75%" — Non-scientific/technical article, so should be using "percent", per WP:%
  • Fixed.
• "on January 7, 1953 and" — Missing MOS:DATECOMMA
  • Done.
• "Sanford shared a room with another legislator at the Sir Walter Hotel in Raleigh while the North Carolina General Assembly was in session and worked at his law firm in Fayetteville in the evenings and on weekends." — why is this important to mention?
  • It's a basic explanation of his work life at the time. The Sir Walter famously hosted most legislators for a few decades. Some lawyer-legislators don't actively practice law while they're in session; Sanford didn't have the money to do that.
• We have multiple instances of "U.S. Senate", which should just be "senate"
  • Same as above.
• "though Scott reportedly tore many of these up before attending campaign events" — why?
  • The source doesn't give an exact reason, but Kerr Scott was at heart a rural populist with a colorful wit, I doubt he much appreciated having a polished image crafted for him.
• "He wrote a polite speech" — 'polite' according to? Do we need to emphasize that, when the latter part of the sentence itself justifies that.
  • Removed "polite".

More to come from the "Gubernatorial career" section. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 06:44, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Most of the above appear to have been resolved. Continuing. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 11:05, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

• In the beginning of the "1960 campaign and election" section, we have three sentences starting as "Sanford ... ". Try to avoid that repetition of name.
  • Revised.
• "Voter turnout in the May primary broke all previous records for turnout in state primary elections" — What percentage turnout?
  • Drescher doesn't give an exact number, just 16 percent greater than in the previous record, which I've now added.
• "Sanford placed first with 269,563 votes" — can you please cross-check the value? According to Guide to U.S. Elections (2010), p. 1707., it should be 269,463
  • Corrected.
• ""Let's get this straight right now on the race issue...I have been and will ..." — A non-breaking space {{Nbsp}} before the ellipsis, and a normal space after the ellipsis.
  • Done.
• "Sanford considered backing Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the favorite to win the nomination. At the convention he endorsed Kennedy" — this all could just be "Sanford instead endorsed Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts"
  • Revised.
• "Kennedy ultimately secured the nomination and welcomed Johnson into his campaign as the vice presidential nominee" — Ah, well, 'welcomed Johnson into his campaign' should be 'selected Johnson'
  • Done.
• "Sanford faced a strong opponent for the governor's race in Robert L. Gavin" — 'in'?
  • Grammatically correct I think, but yes not necessary in retrospect. Removed.
• "Kennedy won the popular vote in North Carolina by a small but solid margin" — Why should we be specifying Kennedy's margin in Sanford's article. And how 'small but solid'?
  • Trimmed.
• "Sanford won with 54.3 percent of the vote, 131,000 votes over Gavin" — Exactly 131,000 votes, or approximate?
  • Technically Eamon doesn't say "approximate", but that is almost certainly what he means, so added. Doublechecked with Drescher and it's the same. Covington & Ellis simply say "over 120,000".
• "but his performance was lackluster for a Democrat" — 'lackluster' according to?
  • This is actually an empirically objective measure: Democrats tended to win by larger margins in North Carolina state general elections than Sanford did in 1960. "Lackluster" might not be the best word, but what it communicates is a rather undisputable fact.
• "sworn in as Governor" — Optional: "sworn in as the governor"
• ""There is a new day in North Carolina!...Gone" — nbsp and space
  • Done.
• " and a 100 percent increase in school library money" — Optional: "and doubling the school library money"
  • I'd rather stay with the percent theme in that sentence. Talk of "doubling" with regards to education expenditures is used at the end of the section.
• "Thus, at the end of" — Suggesting to remove 'Thus'
  • Removed.
• "The referendum defeat demoralized greatly Sanford's staff" — do we need to use 'great', if so, it should probably be 'greatly demoralized'.
  • Oops, removed.
• "In 1961 Sanford also appointed a" — suggesting to remove 'also', especially as the starting of a new para
  • Done.
• "In the summer of 1962 he met John Ehle" — MOS:SEASON
  • Revised.

Would continue from 'a novelist and professor whom he quickly took on as an adviser'. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 15:23, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

• "for Ford Foundation leaders" — missing definite article
  • This sentence reads to me as grammatically correct?
• "In July 1963 the Ford Foundation committed $7 million to" — suggesting to use {{Inflation}}
  • Used before this moment for 1963 school expenditures.
• "by President Johnson's administration" — 'Johnson's administration' can be linked to Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
  • Done.
• "it developed its "War on Poverty" programs" — our article on War on poverty doesn't capitalized 'p'. Same in the next sentence.
  • Fixed.
• "At the time Sanford entered gubernatorial office" — odd wording; how about: "When Sanford assumed the governorship"
  • Done.
• "Sanford visited both white and black schools and, while touring them, encouraged the students to pursue their own education as" — Striked a few things. See if it reads better.
  • Done.
• " that were a mockery...I was" — nbsp and space
  • Done.
• Overall, the "Race relations and civil rights" is well written and interesting!
• "who succeeded Kennedy as President of the United States and" — "as the president" would suffice. Same with "Johnson was running for election as President of the United States"
  • Done.
• "to present Jackie Kennedy" — I has a smile reading this! It normally would work, but on Wikipedia, it should be Jacqueline Kennedy.
  • Done.
• "Sanford enjoyed his time as governor" — Is it important to mention?
  • Not especially, so removed. It mostly was there to show contrast to his feelings on the US Senate.

To continue from "President of Duke University". – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 11:54, 29 May 2022 (UTC)

Till Ian gets to this nom, I 'll continue, sorry for the delay. In any case, I hope that the comments would improve the article.

• "In 1969, the private Duke University in Durham, North Carolina was" — missing MOS:GEOCOMMA
• "He declared his opposition to the Vietnam War to assuage" — Vietnam War should be linked before in the "Selection" section.
  • It's linked at the end of the previous section.
• Th op-ed quote looks fine.
• "The "radical" students on campus were surprised by his accommodating style." — The prose should specify where this quote comes from.
• "Upon being invested as president of Duke, Sanford told a New York Times" — The New York Times
• "On the night before the election" — which election/primary/caucus?
• "408,000 votes. Sanford received 304,000, while Chisholm got 61,000" — all those are approximate values, aren't they?
• "President Jimmy Carter's " — He has been mentioned before, just 'Carter' would work.
• "reported to his office by 8:00 AM" — lowercase
• "97 votes to one" — an exception to MOS:SPELL09, this should be either 97 to 1, or ninety-seven to one.
• ""Its usefulness, its contribution to the nation and the state...was marginal." — ellipsis
• Check for duplicate links, like Clinton and Muskie
• Check legacy section quote for nbsp and ellipsis
• "Sanford was one of the key figures of the New South, a historical era of social modernization in the region." — 6 citations?
• "while George Wallace" — He has been mentioned before, just 'Wallace' would work.
• Suggesting to hyphenate ISBNs, using this tool

@Indy beetle: That is it; great work! – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 18:26, 9 June 2022 (UTC)