Oral history with Mrs. Betty W. Carter, publisher, The Delta Democrat Times

              Oral history with Mrs. Betty W. Carter, publisher, The Delta Democrat Times
This oral history is provided through a cooperative project of University of Southern Mississippi Libraries and USM's Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage.
Funding provided by a National Leadership Grant for Libraries from the Institute for Museum and Library Services
The transcript is presented here for reference purposes only. Interviews in this collection are protected by copyright. PERMISSION TO PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Mrs. Betty Werlein Carter was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the eldest of four children of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Werlein. Reared in New Orleans, she attended Miss McGeehee's school which " is a very small WASP school." She recalls that " I didn't realize what a sheltered life I was leading. I got an extremely good education." From Miss McGeehee's she went on to Newcomb College for her higher education. And of her arrival there recalls that " I was determined to be a friendly person."
While a student at Newcomb, Betty Werlein met Mr. Hodding Carter, Junior, then of Hammond, Louisiana, whom she married. Mr. Carter was an author and a journalist, and Betty became his wife, partner and a researcher for much of his literary work. They became the parents of three sons, and eventually established two newspapers and purchased the third. The first established was the Courier, in Hammond, Louisiana, which became an instrument of opposing the Huey Long regime because " During Long.' s lifetime there was a whole series of special sessions of the legislature and during that period, the legislature of Louisiana voted away all [ freedoms]."
Opposing the Long regime was well- nigh fatal in those days. In fact, it was fatal economically for the Carters. Mrs. Carter recalls that while " Hodding said that he was not run out of the state," she notes that " they did move us [ out]. Hodding would never admit it." Eventually they were forced to sell because the Long regime effectively could stifle any press opposition by controlling their access to public advertising - the only source of cash in those Depression days for newspapers.
After four years of building the Courier and fighting the Long regime, the Carters sold out and moved to Greenville, Mississippi, to establish the Delta Star, a new newspaper in opposition to an old established paper, the Democrat Times. A group of businessmen had urged them to come because of their dissatisfaction with the established paper. Betty Carter served as the first advertising manager of the Star.
Eventually, because " One of us had to go" the Carters were able to purchase the Democrat Times, merged the two papers, naming the survivor the Delta Democrat Times.
When Mr. Carter was called into the federal military service with his National Guard unit, and subsequently was posted to Washington, D. C., Betty Carter joined him there, and contributed to their
mus- coh. carterb. doc Page 1 of 37