SC Governors – Richard Wilson Riley, 1979-1987

Biographical Overview

• Born: January 22, 1933 in Greenville County, SC
  
• Died:
• Buried:
• Religion:
• Political Party: Democrat
  

Education

• Furman University - cum laude, 1954
  
• University of South Carolina - law degree, 1959
  

Occupations

• US Navy - served on a minesweeper
• Lawyer

Major Events and Accomplishments, 1st Term, 1979–1983

• 1979 – South Carolina's Nuclear Advisory Council was created to control the shipment of nuclear waste into the state following the nuclear reactor accident at Three Mile Island, PA
  
• November 19, 1979 – Camden native Lane Kirkland was elected second president of the AFL-CIO
  
• October 28, 1980 – The Catawba Indians filed a suit claiming title to 140,000 acres in York and Lancaster counties
  
• November 4, 1980 – Voters approved an amendment to the state constitution allowing governors to serve two consecutive terms
  
• December 1, 1980 – University of South Carolina running back George Rogers won the Heisman trophy
  
• 1981 – Governor Riley received the Special Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation
  

Major Events and Accomplishments, 2nd Term, 1983–1987

• October 25, 1983 – The Reverend I. DeQuincy Newman became the first black South Carolina state senator to be elected in the 20th century
  
• 1984 – Governor Riley signed the Education Improvement Act, increasing the state sales tax by 1% in order to raise $250 million to fund public school reform
  
• July 12, 1985 – Ernest A. Finney, Jr. became the first black South Carolina Supreme Court justice to be elected since Reconstruction
  
• January 28, 1986 – Lake City native Ronald E. McNair was one of the astronauts killed in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger
  
• October 1986 – After ninety-five years of local ownership by the Hampton family, The State announced its sale to giant newspaper chain Knight-Ridder
  
• 1979-1987 – By the end of Governor Riley's second term, he had visited each of the state's ninety-one school districts
• 1979-1987 – Over the course of Governor Riley's years in office, South Carolina's per student spending on education rose from 49th in the nation to 41st
  

Other Government Positions

• SC House of Representatives, 1963-1966
  
• SC Senate, 1967-1976
  
• US Secretary of Education, 1993-2000
  

Other Accomplishments, Honors, Distinctions

• 1998 – Received Indiana University's first Urban University Medal
  

Web Resources

• Biographical sketch - US Department of Education
  
• Biographical sketch - National Partnership for Reinventing Government
  
• Speech on essential role of technology in education - audio - 21 minutes
  
• Listing of records available at SC Archives and History Center
  

Election Results