Robert Walter "Bob" Scott (June 13, 1929 – January 23, 2009) was an American politician who served as the 67th Governor of North Carolina from 1969 to 1973.

[1] In September 1963, the progressive wing of the North Carolina Democratic Party, led by Governor Terry Sanford and Bert Bennett, decided that they would support L. Richardson Preyer in the next gubernatorial election.

[2] The following month Scott resigned from his position as head of the state Grange and began traveling across North Carolina to investigate his chances of winning a gubernatorial race.

[3] In his announcement he criticized the controversial Speaker Ban Law, a statute passed by the legislature late in the 1963 session that prevented members of the Communist Party and alleged subversives from delivering speeches at state universities.

[5] He and the rest of the candidates maintained neutrality in the Democratic gubernatorial race between liberal L. Richardson Preyer and conservative Dan K. Moore.

As the two competed in the runoff, Scott secured the support of organized labor and criticized private power companies in an attempt to gain the sympathies of members of rural electric cooperatives.

[8] He expressed reservations about President Lyndon B. Johnson's decision to choose Senator Hubert Humphrey as his running mate in the vice-presidential spot on the national Democratic ticket, but in September agreed to chair the Rural Americans for Johnson-Humphrey political action committee.

[9] In this capacity Scott frequently criticized Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's policies in favor of reducing price supports for crops and opposing government spending on rural development, saying that his choices would harm the South's economy.

[10] In the November election Scott defeated the Republican lieutenant gubernatorial candidate, Clifford Bell, earning 61 percent of the votes.

In lieu of his own firm program, Scott generally supported Moore's policies, though the two came from different ideological factions in the Democratic Party and never shared a close personal relationship.

He avoided controversial issues in his orations, and was concerned by the growing white backlash in the South in response to federal support for civil rights.

Taking their advice, Scott traveled to Dunn in November and gave a speech on law and order, strongly criticising civil rights protest violence, anti-Vietnam War demonstrators, and the black power movement.

[19] Constitutionally barred from seeking another term, Scott later served as co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission and as President of the North Carolina Community College System, from 1983 until 1995.