John West, 81; governor led S.C. through racial unrest

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Former Democratic Governor John C. West, who helped smooth racial tensions in South Carolina in the years after highway patrolmen shot and killed three black student protesters, died yesterday of cancer at his home in Hilton Head. He was 81.

"I've lost my close friend and South Carolina has lost its leader for racial harmony," said US Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, a fellow Democrat who attended The Citadel with Mr. West. Mr. West became governor in 1971 amid racial tensions. Three years earlier, highway patrolmen had opened fire on a civil rights protest at the historically black South Carolina State University. In addition to the three dead students, 27 others were wounded.

To address the underlying causes of unrest, Mr. West set up the State Human Affairs Commission, a groundbreaking agency led by James Clyburn. A year earlier, the governor had made Clyburn one of the first black men to serve as a senior aide. Clyburn later became the state's first black US representative since Reconstruction.

In 1997, the commission celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Mr. West said it sent a message "that we had put aside racial divisions. . . . I'd like to think this was a major turning point in race relations, because it set up communications where [a problem] could be addressed before it reached a crisis point."

Mr. West also pushed plans through the Legislature to create a medical school at the University of South Carolina.

Mr. West's term ended as governor in 1975. Two years later, President Carter appointed him ambassador to Saudi Arabia.