Hobby attempted to counter this by promoting a populist message that crossed racial lines that he hoped would become part of mainstream political conversation in North Carolina.
During the Korean War, Blacks were not required to eat at separate tables from whites (President Truman legally desegregated the armed forces in 1948).
Reflecting back on the experience years later, Hobby said, "I was visibly surprised when I didn't feel any physical pain.
[1] Upon his return to Durham, Hobby decided to enroll at Duke University, where he studied political science and labor economics.
Hobby's first union leadership position at the American Tobacco Company's local plant was his stepping stone into politics.
[3] Hobby was frustrated by the obvious racial undertones of the loss and concluded he had to work harder to develop a message that would unite, not split, white labor and Blacks.
Hobby used his position at COPE to fight back against the segregationists, rallying support around candidates including Al Gore Sr. in Tennessee and Claude Pepper in Florida.
He also spearheaded the AFL-CIO's endorsement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the South, a position that initially ran counter to many of the candidates he backed.
[4] Over the course of a quarter century, Hobby developed a number of political allies, and forged relationships with a unique cross-section of the population.
Hobby knew he was an underdog, and hoped to use his candidacy to bring his populist viewpoints into mainstream political conversation.
A champion of the underprivileged, Hobby felt that relative tax rates were unjust and bad for the middle and lower classes.
[4] He believed that enough revenue was collected to create a useful pool of government services, but the wealthy were paying too little and the poor too much for them to have any meaningful impact on people's lives.
He argued that setting the amount of state taxes due as a progressive proportion of the federal income rate owed would rectify the situation.
Hobby also opposed existing sales taxes on food and medicine, which he thought unfairly targeted the least fortunate.
He also wished to help more of North Carolina's students obtain at least some college training by having the state of North Carolina match pre-existing federal funds for community colleges, a plan that was not popular at a time when more than half of the state's high school graduates went on to no further schooling.
His goal was to create a third path for impoverished rural folks that did not involve accepting a substandard status quo or being forced into cities.
[1] Hobby could not overcome his late start, lack of funding, and policy views that were to the left of what was a conservative electorate, even in a Democratic primary.
Even with the small crowd, Hobby gave a blistering speech about the issues plaguing the little guy in North Carolina politics.
Hobby and his business partner, Mort Levi, recognized the need for computers at the union and hoped to cut out the middleman by founding Precision Data together in early 1979.
The board in charge of approving such contracts met the application with skepticism, and instead decided to award it to Precision Graphics, who they felt were better equipped to use the funds.
Hobby was bedridden for about 4 years before his death on May 9, 1992 at the Durham Veterans' Affairs Hospital after a long illness, involving a weak heart and lungs due to his obesity and diabetes.
[9] Though his personal political endeavors were unsuccessful and his career ended ignominiously, Hobby was an important figure in North Carolina's post-World War II era.