Interview with Lester Maddox June 16, 1976

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Interview with Lester Maddox June 16, 1976 Georgia Government Documentation Project Series F: Marvin Griffin Interview with Lester Maddox June 16, 1976 Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Gerogia State University Library DISCLAIMER: Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well- informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. RIGHTS: Unless otherwise noted, all property and copyrights, including the right to publish or quote, are held by Georgia State University (a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia). This transcript is being provided solely for the purpose of teaching or research. Any other use--including commercial reuse, mounting on other systems, or other forms of redistribution--requires permission of the appropriate office at Georgia State University. In addition, no part of the transcript may be quoted for publication without written permission. To quote in print, or otherwise reproduce in whole or in part in any publication, including on the Worldwide Web, any material from this collection, the researcher must obtain permission from (1) the owner of the physical property and (2) the holder of the copyright. Persons wishing to quote from this collection should consult the reference archivist to determine copyright holders for information in this collection. Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original. CITATION: Maddox, Lester, Interviewed by Robert Dubay, 16 June 1976, P1976-05, Series F. Marvin Griffin, Georgia Government Documentation Project, Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library, Atlanta. Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Gerogia State University Library GGDP, Lester Maddox, Date: 6/16/1976 GEORGIA GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTATION PROJECT GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY SERIES F: Marvin Griffin NARRATOR: FORMER GOVERNOR LESTER MADDOX INTERVIEWER: Robert DuBay INTERVIEW DATES: June 16, 1976 Q: -- if not, you refer to Marvin very often. And I know it was your book and about your life and career, but why was that not so? A: Well, you looked over it, you’ll see a lot of people not referred to in the book. It was generally in reference to people that I was engaged in in the campaigns or in government. And to a pretty regular emphatic extent, strong extent. And I wasn’t involved. That way we’ll former governor Marvin Griffin, just like I wasn’t with a lot of other people, and their names were not included in there. CopyrightQ: What Special about Collections -- and Archives, Gerogia State University Library A: I don’t believe Talmadge was in there. Q: Right. 1 GGDP, Lester Maddox, Date: 6/16/1976 A: And I don’t believe Walter George was in there. So. (laughs) Q: Well, how would you describe your relationship and your acquaintances with Marvin? And I know he has supported you in certain elections and so forth. A: I think they’re excellent, and I believe they’ve always been. I believe they’re good. I think Marvin Griffin is one of the most sprung-tight individuals that we’ve had on the Georgia scene maybe in the history of the state. He was willing to say what he thought he ought to say and do what he thought he ought to do, and I think serving as governor and before and after, proven to be one of the most colorful people, figures we’ve ever known in our state. And everybody knew of Marvin Griffin. The people who support him and the people who did not support him, they all knew of Marvin Griffin, and they all, I believe, formed some kind of opinions on Marvin Griffin. And I’m glad that Marvin Griffin got to be governor of our state, glad that I got to meet and know him. Q: You mentioned in your book -- A: I supported him in both of his campaigns, the one when he won, and the one when he lost. Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Gerogia State University Library 2 GGDP, Lester Maddox, Date: 6/16/1976 Q: You mentioned in your book you used to cater sometimes to the governor’s mansion. What was that like? How does one feel when they catered? (inaudible) beds or something? A: Only time I ever catered in the governor’s mansion was when Marvin Griffin was governor. And I had calls from the mansion, and I talked with Mrs. Griffin in reference to the catering, and even met with her once or twice at the mansion, in reference to the catering, he put on a big function for his World War II military buddies, and they had quite a thing going there. Q: I think you said you -- A: They would ask me for a price, and I would give them a price, and they’d give me the orders. And of course I always had reasonable prices just like I do today. And I thought it was great that little old Lester Maddox, running a small restaurant out on Hemphill Avenue at the time, would get an opportunity to go to the governor’s mansion, and especially to serve the governor and his family and friends. You know? Q: What did you serve? A: Fried chicken. Q: Anything else? Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Gerogia State University Library A: Bread, potatoes, and the coleslaw. Ice Tea. 3 GGDP, Lester Maddox, Date: 6/16/1976 Q: You said they gave you a $50 tip once, or something, and it was the only profit you made. (laughs) Is that right? A: Yes, sir. I suppose maybe I gave them as good a price as I could and still maybe not lose on it in order to try to get the business and get to say I had served the governor or had served at the governor’s mansion. And it happened that I did not make anything on the service. And when I got a $50 tip from the governor himself, well, that was the profit, and it was so important to me that I didn’t forget it, and I never will, that I got $50 from the governor of Georgia. Q: Did he support you during any of your efforts to -- when you ran for mayor of Atlanta? A: No, sir. Q: Not at all? A: I don’t recall. Q: How about in the election of ’62? Both of you lost. Why? A: Well, I was running against the establishment, and I had never been in a statewide campaign. And I don’t know why Governor Griffin lost, unless maybe the image that had been projected about his previous administrations and the things that had occurred during that time. I think that probably Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Gerogia State University Library had more to do with it than anything else. And then the major media was against it. And of course all the liberals 4 GGDP, Lester Maddox, Date: 6/16/1976 and the radicals, they were against it. And that’s a pretty powerful group. Q: The same people who were against him were against you, weren’t they? A: Generally speaking. But you put them all together, and that’s a big, powerful group and what you’d call the political establishment. They supported young Carl Sanders. (break in audio) Q: -- decent career. A: Huh? I thought it was remarkable that a boy from Hemphill Avenue, a fellow from Hemphill Avenue in Atlanta, part of the Atlanta -- native Atlantan -- the only native Atlantan ever elected governor, the only one ever elected lieutenant governor, I thought it was remarkable that I would get in a statewide campaign against people like Peyton Hawes and Peter Zack Geer and the other various ones that were in there at the time and that I would beat them all in the primary except Peter Zack Geer. And I think the difference was that Peter Zack Geer lined up with Carl Sanders, and I didn’t. Q: They weren’t too compatible, ideologically speaking. Copyright Special Collections and Archives, Gerogia State University Library A: No, but it got to be a strictly political thing in a primary runoff, and Peter Zack made his arrangements with 5 GGDP, Lester Maddox, Date: 6/16/1976 Carl Sanders, and I was certainly an outsider, unknown to most politicians at the capitol, and I don’t suppose I knew five of them myself at the state capitol. I doubt seriously if I knew five people in 1962 at the Georgia state capitol. I did know Peter Zack Geer and I knew Marvin Griffin and Ernest Vandiver. And I didn’t get to know Carl Sanders until the governor’s race in ’66. And he stated to me -- no, it was in ’62 when I met him -- he stated to me at Jekyll Island that he keeps hearing more and more about a Sanders and Maddox win. And I responded back to him that I hear a whole lot also about Griffin and Maddox. (laughs) Q: You and Marvin didn’t consult during the campaign? A: No, sir, not about political activities. Q: Why is that, typically in Georgia, each person tends to his own garden, they don’t team up? A: I don’t know whether that’s true always or not. Q: It generally is. A: I was still an outsider, politically speaking, during that race.
Recommended publications
  • The Granite Mansion: Georgia's Governor's Mansion 1924-1967
    The Granite Mansion: Georgia’s Governor’s Mansion 1924-1967 Documentation for the proposed Georgia Historical Marker to be installed on the north side of the road by the site of the former 205 The Prado, Ansley Park, Atlanta, Georgia June 2, 2016 Atlanta Preservation & Planning Services, LLC Georgia Historical Marker Documentation Page 1. Proposed marker text 3 2. History 4 3. Appendices 10 4. Bibliography 25 5. Supporting images 29 6. Atlanta map section and photos of proposed marker site 31 2 Proposed marker text: The Granite Governor’s Mansion The Granite Mansion served as Georgia’s third Executive Mansion from 1924-1967. Designed by architect A. Ten Eyck Brown, the house at 205 The Prado was built in 1910 from locally- quarried granite in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. It was first home to real estate developer Edwin P. Ansley, founder of Ansley Park, Atlanta’s first automobile suburb. Ellis Arnall, one of the state’s most progressive governors, resided there (1943-47). He was a disputant in the infamous “three governors controversy.” For forty-three years, the mansion was home to twelve governors, until poor maintenance made it nearly uninhabitable. A new governor’s mansion was constructed on West Paces Ferry Road. The granite mansion was razed in 1969, but its garage was converted to a residence. 3 Historical Documentation of the Granite Mansion Edwin P. Ansley Edwin Percival Ansley (see Appendix 1) was born in Augusta, GA, on March 30, 1866. In 1871, the family moved to the Atlanta area. Edwin studied law at the University of Georgia, and was an attorney in the Atlanta law firm Calhoun, King & Spalding.
    [Show full text]
  • Study Guide for the Georgia History Exemption Exam Below Are 99 Entries in the New Georgia Encyclopedia (Available At
    Study guide for the Georgia History exemption exam Below are 99 entries in the New Georgia Encyclopedia (available at www.georgiaencyclopedia.org. Students who become familiar with these entries should be able to pass the Georgia history exam: 1. Georgia History: Overview 2. Mississippian Period: Overview 3. Hernando de Soto in Georgia 4. Spanish Missions 5. James Oglethorpe (1696-1785) 6. Yamacraw Indians 7. Malcontents 8. Tomochichi (ca. 1644-1739) 9. Royal Georgia, 1752-1776 10. Battle of Bloody Marsh 11. James Wright (1716-1785) 12. Salzburgers 13. Rice 14. Revolutionary War in Georgia 15. Button Gwinnett (1735-1777) 16. Lachlan McIntosh (1727-1806) 17. Mary Musgrove (ca. 1700-ca. 1763) 18. Yazoo Land Fraud 19. Major Ridge (ca. 1771-1839) 20. Eli Whitney in Georgia 21. Nancy Hart (ca. 1735-1830) 22. Slavery in Revolutionary Georgia 23. War of 1812 and Georgia 24. Cherokee Removal 25. Gold Rush 26. Cotton 27. William Harris Crawford (1772-1834) 28. John Ross (1790-1866) 29. Wilson Lumpkin (1783-1870) 30. Sequoyah (ca. 1770-ca. 1840) 31. Howell Cobb (1815-1868) 32. Robert Toombs (1810-1885) 33. Alexander Stephens (1812-1883) 34. Crawford Long (1815-1878) 35. William and Ellen Craft (1824-1900; 1826-1891) 36. Mark Anthony Cooper (1800-1885) 37. Roswell King (1765-1844) 38. Land Lottery System 39. Cherokee Removal 40. Worcester v. Georgia (1832) 41. Georgia in 1860 42. Georgia and the Sectional Crisis 43. Battle of Kennesaw Mountain 44. Sherman's March to the Sea 45. Deportation of Roswell Mill Women 46. Atlanta Campaign 47. Unionists 48. Joseph E.
    [Show full text]
  • Samuel Ernest Vandiver, Jr
    OH Vandiver 01C Samuel Ernest Vandiver, Jr. interviewed by Mel Steeley and Ted Fitzsimmons Date: 6/25/86 Cassettes #439 (56 minutes) COPY OF ORIGINAL INTERVIEW ORIGINAL AT WEST GEORGIA UNIVERSITY Side One Fitzsimmons: Governor, we were talking about the integration of the university, and you said in making a decision you talked to a number of people, and among them Senator [Richard Brevard, Jr.] Russell. What was his advice? Vandiver: Well, I think you probably know what his situation was. He had fought these battles in the Senate for many, many years. And, of course, he knew from his practice of law and his familiarity with the law that I had no choice except to follow the law. That I couldn't, if I had defied the court, then I had no choice except to try to get the state of Georgia to secede again from the Union. And we'd tried that once and hadn't done too well that time. And so he knew that I had no choice. One thing that Betty [Sybil Elizabeth] Vandiver and I have talked about a great deal was her father was a federal judge; he was a judge of the northern district of Georgia. And he never had to deal with this situation. He knew it was probably coming, but he became ill with cancer, and he died in 1955 before this situation ever came before his court. And we've thought about it many times, that the Lord was kind to him. He would have had to rule in such a way that it would have been extremely difficult for him.
    [Show full text]
  • Harold Paulk Henderson, Sr
    Harold Paulk Henderson, Sr. Oral History Collection OH Vandiver 23 George Dekle Busbee Interviewed by Dr. Harold Paulk Henderson Date: 03-17-94 Cassette # 474 (26 Minutes, Side One Only) EDITED BY DR. HENDERSON Side One Henderson: This is an interview with former Governor George D. [Dekle] Busbee in his law office in Atlanta. The date is March 17, 1994. I am Dr. Hal Henderson. Good afternoon, Governor Busbee. Busbee: Good day. Henderson: Thank you very much for granting me this interview. Busbee: I'm delighted. Henderson: You served in the state House of Representatives the last two years of the [Samuel] Marvin Griffin [Sr.] administration and you served all four years of [Samuel] Ernest Vandiver's [Jr.] administration. Let me begin by asking you: what was your impression of the Marvin Griffin administration? Busbee: Well, of course, if you had to choose sides Marvin wouldn't have said that I was in his camp. I will say, however, that I was reminiscing with some people that served in the legislature with me back then and have served since I was governor, and we don't think it's as much fun as it used to be. I think he was a very colorful character and we had a great time, but I think that was former days for Georgia; that's not the era that we're in now. Henderson: Okay. How would you describe the relationship between Lieutenant Governor Vandiver and Governor Marvin Griffin? 2 Busbee: Well, the first real bitter fight that I became engaged in as a legislator was during the time that I was there [and] Marvin Griffin was governor, and we had the rural roads fight.
    [Show full text]
  • Hugh M. Gillis Papers
    Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Finding Aids 1995 Hugh M. Gillis papers Zach S. Henderson Library. Georgia Southern University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/finding-aids Part of the American Politics Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Zach S. Henderson Library. Georgia Southern University, "Hugh M. Gillis papers" (1995). Finding Aids. 10. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/finding-aids/10 This finding aid is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Finding Aids by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HUGH M. GILLIS PAPERS FINDING AID OVERVIEW OF COLLECTION Title: Hugh M. Gillis papers ​ Date: 1957-1995 ​ Extent: 1 Box ​ Creator: Gillis, Hugh M., 1918-2013 ​ Language: English ​ Repository: Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections, Georgia Southern University, ​ Statesboro, GA. [email protected]. 912-478-7819. library.georgiasouthern.edu. ​ ​ ​ ​ Processing Note: Finding aid revised in 2020. ​ INFORMATION FOR USE OF COLLECTION Conditions Governing Access: The collection is open for research use. ​ Physical Access: Materials must be viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room under ​ the supervision of Special Collections staff. Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: ​ In order to protect the materials from inadvertent damage, all reproduction services are performed by the Special Collections staff. All requests for reproduction must be submitted using the Reproduction Request Form. Requests to publish from the collection must be submitted using the Publication Request Form. Special Collections does not claim to control the rights to all materials in its collection.
    [Show full text]
  • January 11, 1955: Marvin Griffin Sworn in As Governor Learn More
    January 11, 1955: Marvin Griffin Sworn In as Governor Learn More Suggested Readings Scott E. Buchanan, Some of the People Who Ate My Barbecue Didn't Vote for Me (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 2011). James F. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004, 3d ed. (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2005). Harold P. Henderson and Gary L. Roberts, eds., Georgia Governors in an Age of Change: From Ellis Arnall to George Busbee (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988). “Marvin Griffin (1907-1982).” New Georgia Encyclopedia. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-827&sug=y National Governor’s Association: http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors- bios/page_georgia/col2-content/main-content-list/title_griffin_samuel.html Georgia Busbee: Marvin Griffin 1987 interview http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Multimedia.jsp?id=m-2034 www.todayingeorgiahistory.org January 11, 1955: Marvin Griffin Sworn in as Governor Learn More Image Credits Ag Hill Scene with buildings and students Image courtesy of UGA Photographic Services, photographer Andrew Davis Tucker Brown v. Board document, 301669 National Archives and Records Administration, Accessed through archives.gov Camden County Training School Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection, cam032 Carving with Trees Courtesy of the Stone Mountain Press Office Floyd County classroom, 1950s Courtesy of Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection, flo154 www.todayingeorgiahistory.org Governor Griffin addresses GA Assembly Courtesy of Georgia
    [Show full text]
  • Harold Paulk Henderson, Sr
    Harold Paulk (Hal) Henderson, Sr. Oral History Collection Series I: Ellis Arnall OH ARN 02 S. Ernest Vandiver, Jr. Interviewed by Harold Paulk (Hal) Henderson, Sr. Date: May 23, 1981 CD: OH ARN 02, Tracks 1-6; 0:53:23 minutes Cassette: OH ARN 02, 0:53:23 minutes (Sides 1 and 2) [CD: Track 1] [Cassette: Side 1] HENDERSON: Governor, let me begin by asking you: when did you decide to enter the 1966 gubernatorial campaign? VANDIVER: When did I decide to end it? HENDERSON: Enter it. Get into it. VANDIVER: Oh, enter it. HENDERSON: Yes. VANDIVER: Oh, well, I left office in 1963, and I think I left office in good political shape. We endured some pretty hard times—it was during the period of the first integration of the schools. But I think there was general approval of the way that we handled the situation. I still had a lot of strong political ties, and I felt like that I’d have a real good chance of winning the gubernatorial race in 1966. At that time, of course, we were limited to one term. And it later changed to two terms by constitutional amendment. I kept up on political associations during 2 this period. I had suffered a heart attack during my term in office, in 1960. I had some residual angina, but as long as I was able to set my own pace, I pretty well got along all right. As the gubernatorial campaign concourse[?] grew closer, I got into a position where I was not able to control my diet.
    [Show full text]
  • The State Flag of Georgia: the 1956 Change in Its Historical Context
    The State Senate Senate Research Office Bill Littlefield 204 Legislative Office Building Telephone Managing Director 18 Capitol Square 404/ 656 0015 Atlanta, Georgia 30334 Martha Wigton Fax Director 404/ 657 0929 The State Flag of Georgia: The 1956 Change In Its Historical Context Prepared by: Alexander J. Azarian and Eden Fesshazion Senate Research Office August 2000 Table of Contents Preface.....................................................................................i I. Introduction: National Flags of the Confederacy and the Evolution of the State Flag of Georgia.................................1 II. The Confederate Battle Flag.................................................6 III. The 1956 Legislative Session: Preserving segregation...........................................................9 IV. The 1956 Flag Change.........................................................18 V. John Sammons Bell.............................................................23 VI. Conclusion............................................................................27 Works Consulted..................................................................29 Preface This paper is a study of the redesigning of Georgia’s present state flag during the 1956 session of the General Assembly as well as a general review of the evolution of the pre-1956 state flag. No attempt will be made in this paper to argue that the state flag is controversial simply because it incorporates the Confederate battle flag or that it represents the Confederacy itself. Rather, this paper will focus on the flag as it has become associated, since the 1956 session, with preserving segregation, resisting the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and maintaining white supremacy in Georgia. A careful examination of the history of Georgia’s state flag, the 1956 session of the General Assembly, the designer of the present state flag – John Sammons Bell, the legislation redesigning the 1956 flag, and the status of segregation at that time, will all be addressed in this study.
    [Show full text]
  • Harold Paulk Henderson, Sr
    Harold Paulk Henderson, Sr. Oral History Collection OH Vandiver 22 George Thornewell Smith Interviewed by Dr. Harold Paulk Henderson Date: 03-23-94 Cassette #473 (44 Minutes) EDITED BY DR. HENDERSON Side One Henderson: This is an interview with former Lieutenant Governor George T. [Thornewell] Smith in his law office in Marietta, Georgia. The date is March 23, 1994, and I am Dr. Hal Henderson. Good morning, Governor Smith. Smith: Good morning, Dr. Henderson. Henderson: Thank you for granting me this interview. Smith: It's my pleasure, sir. Henderson: You served in the state House of Representatives during the [Marvin] Griffin administration . Smith: Not during the Griffin administration. Henderson: Not during the Griffin administration? Smith: No, I started--my first year in the House of Representatives was 1959, the first year of Governor [Samuel Ernest] Vandiver's [Jr.] term as governor. Henderson: Okay. All right. Did you support Ernest Vandiver in his race for lieutenant governor in 1954? Smith: Yes, I did. Henderson: How actively did you support him? Smith: I wasn't active. I voted for him. That was probably all that I did in 1954. 2 Henderson: Why did you support him in that campaign? Smith: I thought he was the best man in the race. Henderson: He is lieutenant governor at a time when [Samuel] Marvin Griffin [Sr.] was governor. What are your recollections of the Marvin Griffin administration? Smith: Well, the recollection was subsequent to his administration rather than during his administration because all of the scandal came out after the four years was over with.
    [Show full text]
  • Carter Family Papers: a Guide to Its Records at the Jimmy Carter Library
    441 Freedom Parkway NE Atlanta, GA 30307 http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov Carter Family Papers: A Guide to Its Records at the Jimmy Carter Library Collection Summary Creator: Carter, Jimmy, 1924- Title: Carter Family Papers Dates: 1940-1976 Quantity: 87 linear feet (70 linear feet, 3 linear inches open for research), 161 containers Identification: Accession Number: 80-1 National Archives Identifier: 592907 Scope and Content: The records in this collection document Jimmy Carter’s early political career in the Georgia State Senate, his term as Governor from1970-1974; and his membership on the West Georgia Planning Commission. In addition, the collection contains material from the 1970 gubernatorial campaign, gubernatorial trips to South America and Europe, the 1976 presidential campaign, Rosalynn Carter’s gubernatorial papers, and Carter’s pre- presidential speech files. The files consist of correspondence, form letters, memoranda, studies, recommendations, position papers, notes, speeches, drafts, press releases, news clippings, itineraries, newsletters, pamphlets, polling data, photographs, schedules, vote statistics, advertisement flyers, appointment books, and publications. Creator Information: Carter, Jimmy and Rosalynn The Carter Family Papers were transferred to the library by President and Mrs. Carter. These documents and memorabilia were collected over a twenty-five year period. Biographical information on key office personnel is located at the end of the finding aid. Restrictions: Restrictions on Access: These papers contain documents restricted in accordance with applicable executive order(s), which governs National Security policies, applicable statutes/agency restrictions, and material which has been closed in accordance with the donor’s deed of gift. Terms Governing Use and Reproduction: Copyright interest in these papers has been donated to the United States Government.
    [Show full text]
  • George T. Smith Has Grown Accustomed to Standing out in A
    has grown accustomed to standing out in a crowd By Janet Jones Kendall t the age of 13, Smith’s father, on 125 acres of sand land in southwest George Cleveland Smith, became Georgia, there wasn’t much of a future. I A seriously ill, making it necessary noticed the lawyers in Camilla had the for the then seventh grader to drop out of best cars and were the best dressed and school to work on the farm and help sup- when I realized that I said, ‘I want to be a port his family. Under those circumstances, lawyer.’ From then on, I wanted to go to Smith notes, most teens during that time law school. But I had no idea I’d actually would have never gone back to school. be able to go. It was a dream come true However, thanks to his mother Rosa Gray for me that I did." Smith, who was "bound and determined Not only did Smith become a lawyer, that I was going back," Smith re-entered graduating from the University of Georgia school, starting the eighth grade at the age School of Law in 1948, he went on to of 18. And, despite being taunted by his make Georgia history by becoming the younger classmates (who referred to him as George T. Smith in front of his portrait hanging in only person to win contested elections in "Grandpa"), Smith did indeed get his high the State Capitol in Atlanta. Photo courtesy of all three branches of state government. school diploma when he graduated at the Laura Heath Photography.
    [Show full text]
  • Riding with Lester Maddox, Pulling for Stacy Abrams
    Riding with Lester Maddox, Pulling for Stacy Abrams John Huie Emory University n the spring of 1965, I picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Pickrick, the cafeteria on Hemphill Street I in downtown Atlanta owned by Lester Maddox. He was our state’s controversial arch-segregationist and—for an alarming number of supporters—the champion of “true, God-fearing Americanism.” His outrageous and crude racist diatribes embedded in paid advertisements for the Pickrick had been appearing in the Atlanta newspapers since 1950. Although never elected to public office, Maddox had made a strong showing each time his name was on the ballot for Mayor of Atlanta or Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. His reputation as a fierce and uncompromising segregationist was growing throughout the state, and now he was running for governor. “Pickrick here, you pick it out, we rick it up, Lester Maddox speaking, what can I do for you?” he said on the telephone in his squeaky, high-pitched voice. Both surprised and excited to be talking directly with Lester Maddox himself, I introduced myself and explained that I was working on my master’s degree in American Studies at Emory University. “You have quite a following, Mr. Maddox, and I’d like to interview you in order to better understand your background and perspective. Would you give me a chance to do that? I’d be glad to come to your restaurant at a time convenient for you, and I’d like to bring my tape recorder.” “Yes sir, that’ll be just fine.
    [Show full text]