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"S" is for Sawyer, Benjamin Mack [1890-1940]

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"S" is for Sawyer, Benjamin Mack [1890-1940]. Public Official. After serving in World War I, Sawyer became the first secretary of the State Budget Commission and, in 1925, the secretary-treasurer of the Highway Commission. The following year he became chief highway commissioner. He lobbied for funding to construct a statewide network of highways, survived the ensuing controversy, resisted the efforts of Governor Olin D. Johnston to deprive him and his commissioners of their offices, and defended the highway department fund from diversion by Governor Burnett Maybank. Despite these challenges, he remained focused on the department and on improving South Carolina roads. During his tenure, the miles of roadways doubled and two out of three were paved.  In his years as chief commissioner, Benjamin Mack Sawyer successfully laid the underpinnings for the modern State Highway Department.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.